THURSDAY DEVOTIONAL: speak Lord for thy servant hereth

“Life is full of voices of God, only we lack the spiritual faculty which discerns them--The responsibility of life lies in listening for Divine voices, and in the response to them that we give. We may cultivate the spiritual faculty that hears God’s call, or we may make it obtuse. We may cherish God’s call, or we may silence it; obey it, or rebel against it.”

The Lord never stops talking to us; we just choose whether or not we hear him. In the book of Moses he tells Moses this: 

And God spake unto Moses, saying : Behold IAM the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name, for I am without beginning of days, or end of years and is not this endless? 4 And behold, thou art my son, wherefore look, and I will show thee the workmanship of mine hands, but not all, for my works are without end, and also my words, they never cease. 

He is a good, good father, a loving parent, who is always, endlessly looking out for us, and working on our behalf. His work and glory is to bring about the immortality and the eternal life of man.  The Lord has been whispering in my ear for a long time, and it has been only recently, that I recognized that voice. For a moment I felt like Samuel, when as a toddler, the Lord called out to him, when he had been put down to sleep. And it wasn’t in a dream state that the Lord called out to Samuel, but the scripture says that the “Spirit of Lord”, stood at the foot of his bed.

1Samuel 3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;4 That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, “Here am I.”

But Samuel was like a lot of us, he heard the voice and it sounded familiar; so we ask others if they have spoken to us. So Samuel ran into the old Priest Eli’s room, to find out if he had called. Now Eli was “going blind”, his eyes had “waxed dim”, he said, I called not my son, lie down again.  So Samuel went back to bed, and 2 more times during the night he heard this familiar voice calling his name. 

We many times receive revelation without recognizing precisely how or when we are receiving revelation David A Bednar: The Spirit of Revelation

The scripture says that Samuel did not “know” the Lord yet and the word had not been revealed to him (yet). It is amazing those words that Samuel had not been taught about the Lord, he had not been properly introduced to Him, neither had the adults who were in charge of him, bothered to teach him.  But the Lord did make his presence known to little Samuel,

10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth

Moroni 7:48…. that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him ashe is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. 

The scripture says that the Lord came, and stood and called. What is the significance that the Lord stood? Does standing mean that in this posture, his voice and message will be clearer? Does it mean that the Lord is presenting himself as the authority?  And in that posture of standing he called. What does the Lord say when he calls, what is that call? Is it a request or is it a statement. I believe that the standing or proclaiming of himself, the authority, is the bid to come unto Christ. When he appears to us in the form of “revelation” or communicating, it can take on various forms of an established pattern. 

When I was a child growing up, my biggest problem, according to my mother at least, was that I “did not listen”, that my “mouth was always running”. She feared that I would suffer because of this obvious defect and I was pronounced “hard headed. But lately, I have tried to overcome this. I have felt like Samuel and maybe Joan of Arc; hearing voices, exploring ideas that clearly I had not focused on previously. The Lord has revealed a plan for my life, that when I look at it, I am sure I have imagined it, that I wished for it like children do. So surely it is not true, right? I have had very “low “expectations for my life, or no expectations of anything changing, and I feel like, the Father decided to stage an intervention, to help me in my unbelief.  He sent messengers, so in effect he “came and stood and called “out to me. He sent 2 priesthood holders, who being guided by the Holy Spirit, asked to know who needed prayer, who needed some interaction in their lives. So they came to my house and said, “We don’t know why we are here”, and I said “I know why you are here, please give me a blessing”.  It was a teaching moment and I did my best to lean into it.

Thursday Devotional: Pass me not O Gentle Savior, Speak Lord, for thy Servant hears

Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior- Hasan Green

Stumbling to Eternity

Psalms 73Truly God is good to Israel,To such as are pure in heart.² But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;My steps had nearly slipped.

So the question was asked, “How do you know that Jesus loves you?”

It’s a simple question, right? I am sure that if this question were posed to a group of kids, they would literally stumble over themselves to give their tiny testimonies of God’s love for them. What do they know anyway? I asked this question to a group of adults, including myself and I can say that for a moment I was temporarily stumped and judging by the deer in headlight stares from the members, they were too. But someone got the ball rolling with a story of a bad day that got better when various friends came to the rescue. I thought to myself, surely I should know that the Savior loves me, right? And I do know, but I thought about the best way to express it, and I came up with a “Gratitude List”. As I think of this, I wonder how sad it is that the Savior seemingly has to literally “glean” our hearts for love and thankfulness. But we are all He’s got, poor, imperfect souls, all stumbling to eternity. We mean well but sometimes we can’t do well.  

A few Sunday's past our Bishop taught a lesson that seemed hard for him to articulate, and hard for many to figure out where he was coming from. (And some of us are still buzzing over it.)  He talked about puzzles, human weakness and sin. His thesis was that all of us are like puzzles, and we all have a few pieces missing. God fills in that missing space, however, I could not correlate where weakness and sin came in. Weakness is a “dirty little secret” to some. What is it anyway? Are we weak in character, or  do we lie and make up stories? Are we spendthrifts, do we secretly drink coffee or tea? That’s one thing about being Mormon, we don’t worry about cigarettes, or wine or beer, it’s that devil Starbucks around the corner. What does God see as a weakness, which is inevitably a character flaw or trait?

Stumbling; when we come to Christ, it takes a lot to do that, and even when we are “invested” in our relationship with him, we are still in a state of coming forward, learning to trust, making our own mistakes, turning away, hiding, coming back, and  eventually leaning in to Christ. We stumble, and trip and flip flop. We all do, and there is no one that is good among us, so put down that stone.

Did you know that Jesus has purposely laid down a “stone of stumbling” for us? What is stumbling, it is “the weakness” of man.

Hence, what is the singular weakness of man? It is that condition of which you and I are most acquainted; it is our fallen nature (see Ether 3:2). We often view this weakness only under negative light. However, Jesus Christ, who “knows the weakness of man” (D&C 62:1) and is merciful unto our weakness (see D&C 38:14), does not -- for, if we will humble ourselves and have faith in Him, it is through our weakness that His strength is seen and made perfect (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). As to our strength we are weak, but in the strength of God we can do all things (see Alma 26:12). Therefore, God has chosen the “weak things of the world [to] come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones” (D&C 1:19), to thrash the nations by the power of His Spirit (see D&C 35:19), to confound the wise (see D&C 133:58), and to show forth His wisdom (see D&C 124:1). And “the Lord God show us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescension’s [i] unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things” (Jacob 4:7). 

(I found this quote in blog in a random search)

(The stumbling of disobedience) Disobedience is a stumble

Our weakness is our “fallen nature”, the natural man, who struggles everyday to be worthy to “put on”, like new clothing, the name of Christ and all of its glory. Did you know that in theory, when we “Come unto Christ and take upon his name, we are in essence putting on “new garments that reflect the attributes of the Savior and also entering into a new relationship with Him? (The new and everlasting covenant). This is why the Lord says that he cannot view sin with the least bit of tolerance. We are sin in the eyes of God, when we have not entered into a covenant relationship with the Savior. The covenants we enter into are designed to make us clean, every whit.  

Ether 3:2 O Lord, thou hath said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou are holy and dwell in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil (the opposite of good) continually. Nevertheless, O Lord, thou has given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires. 

And to this the Lord responds: Ether 12:27 And, if men come unto me; I will show unto them their weakness.(Ether3:2, our fallen nature) I give unto men weakness, that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient (the missing puzzle piece) for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make (restore their fallen nature) weak things become strong unto them.

So I am opening the “Mike” for open mike Friday. I have been listening to a “body” of music by Hill Song Church. You can do your own research on this group, but I will say that in listening to their music, they have a heart for God, and God seems to take notice. Their music is like a psalm, full of praise, shouts and introspection of the human condition

 

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) LIVE -- of Dirt and Grace -- Hillsong UNITED

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

CREATING YOUR OWN PERSONAL HAPPINESS



ROAD TRIP!!!

Happiness to me is a Road Trip.

Start being yourself, genuinely and proudly. – Trying to be anyone else is a waste of the person you are. Be yourself. Embrace that individual inside you that has ideas, strengths and beauty like no one else. Be the person you know yourself to be – the best version of you – on your terms. Above all, be true to YOU, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it. 30 THINGS TO START DOING FOR YOURSELF :marcandangelhacklife.com

 
So how old do you have to be before you decide that being who you are, is OK? Whether you are goofy, or serious, or maybe you are like Clark Kent/Superman. If you want to wear the red cape and blue tights more often, then do so. I found this really great blog/website called MarcandAngel Hack Life. I thought that it was an interesting title, how do you hack life? Maybe you hack the routine parts that need an upgrade.
Speaking of road trips, some friends and I decided to "Road Trip" it to Philadelphia ,Pa
 to see the new LDS Temple there. It is on a short list, bucket list for me. It was awesome and I would invite anyone, regardless of your faith, if an LDS Temple is being dedicated in your town, please go and tour, it is open to the public for a short time. It will be worth it.  

NEW MUSIC WEDNESDAY

Every morning as I drive to work, I have a routine, but it is not a routine but a habit. I love to listen to the gospel and inspirational radio stations for music and sometimes for sermons or talks. I also have some really great music plugged into my music box. I believe that doing this keeps me from having a bad driving day, or worse, road rage. 

So I have been listening to music from Hill Song Church. This is a church in Australia, that have church's in New York, and other parts of the world. They have a wonderful Music Ministry, and their style is to write original worship songs or re-arrange some standards and sing them in an acoustic format or with an accompanying band with soloists. The congregation is really participant in every song. Their affiliation seems to be Church of God or Pentecostal. There is a wonderful spirit accompanying their music, I love it.

So the title of the CD is "YAHWEH", and it seems to be a personal testimony the Savior to each of the singers. Here is one of my favorites "Savior King".    

        

MISSION POSSIBLE

JUST FOR FUN:

Don't you just love the Piano Guys? What!! You haven't heard of them? Can't think of any of their music off the top of your head? They are 2 two guys, a piano and a cello and lots of really beautiful music in between.

Check out this spoof on Mission Impossible, so funny.

courtesy of YouTube

New Music on a Thursday

THE NEWSBOYS

Has anyone out there heard of these guys? They popped up on my You-Tube account, most serendipitous, because I love good music, and sometimes I love a little rock and roll, it's good for the soul.  

So the Newsboys are a Christian pop-rock band that started in Moolooaba, Australia. They have been around since 1985 and recently they have a new lead singer and a different groove, but the same focus and in their words, "that focus is Jesus, and spreading his message through song." See, I thought that maybe Alex Boye' has or is working with this group. They have a lot in common.

So check out this new to me "GOD IS NOT DEAD" by the Newsboys

What I love about this song and the video is the message that we are beacons of light, that our testimony is the light bulb. There is so much "talk" about the big bang; string theories; nothing from nothing, something from nothing; and everything seems to want to marginalize the greatness of God and his Son Jesus Christ. I love the audacity of the message of this video, to stand on your testimony of the Savior at all times, even if its not popular, or even if you think you are the only one. You are not.