THURSDAY DEVOTIONAL

Life Lesson #6  SPEAK LIFE

Start noticing and living in the present. – Right now is a miracle.  Right now is the only moment guaranteed to you; Right now is life.  So stop thinking about how great things will be in the future.  Stop dwelling on what did or didn’t happen in the past.  Learn to be in the ‘here and now’ and experience life as it’s happening.  Appreciate the world for the beauty that it holds, right now.

So the verse of the day is from Jeremiah 29:14. The Lord promises that he will be "found in us". What does that mean? In Sunday school last week, a sister asked this  very question after a 5 minute rant about how many times she had read the Book of Mormon, attended church her entire life, raised her kids in the Gospel, married in the Temple, etc etc. After all was said and done, she said "Why are we doing this? What is it all about, I have forgotten. The words she seem to leave unsaid were these: Why are we doing this if the world is falling apart day by day, what is the use?
So I remembered reading in Matthew where Jesus's disciples asked a similar question. "Master" they said, "when is the end?" And what is the sign of your return. Jesus gave them a long laundry list of signs and warnings and spoke of wars and storms. And after all of this, I am sure that the disciples were as anxious at these dire predictions as we are now. The Savior then said: "But the end is not at that point, before the end My gospel must be preached to the ends of the earth," in effect my gospel must be preached so that everyone has a chance to come to the table and eat. And then that is the end.

And here is Jeremiah, banking on a promise, even in his time, they surely thought that the end was near, with wars and captivity, being driven from their homes. But in Jeremiah 29:14 the Lord is in effect speaking to what he says in Matthew. The Gospel will be taken to the ends of the earth, to every nation, kindred and tongue. And when He is satisfied that everyone has had an opportunity to eat and drink at the table, then He said that He would be found in us. We will abide in him and He in us.This is cause for rejoicing, Help is on the way.  
         

Jeremiah 29:14

“And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive