Jesus: Look-Seek-Follow

Isaiah 51:1

Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

JESUS is the Rock from which we are to be molded after. We are created in His image; therefore, we have the capacity to become as He is in personal perfection. He is the perfect example for us to follow and seek to become like. We can become more like Him if we (1) Look to Him, (2) Seek the Lord, and (3) Follow after righteousness.

1. Look to Him:  Always remember Him and His Spirit will be with us. Look to Him in every thought, word, deed, motive, and action. Look at all the marvelous creations, and realize that He is God, the Almighty.
2. Seek the Lord: Try to find the Lord through faith and prayer, through scripture study and fasting, through meditating and pondering. Search His commandments and live them.
3. Follow after righteousness: Obey all His commandments, for therein is peace and security. He is the exemplar of righteousness, and the more obedient we are the more righteous we become. Following Him is following righteous, for He is righteous.

Herein lies the formula for happy, successful living in this lifetime, and it will continue throughout eternity. Look-Seek-Follow our Savior Jesus Christ, and He will bless you forever.

Rejoice in Christ

2 Nephi 4:30

Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

Rejoice in Christ. Joy, peace, and happiness are found in Christ. He is our God and the Rock of our Salvation. The more we praise and sing to Him, the more rejoicing we experience. Moments while in the presence of Jesus Christ are delightful, times of gladness for He is the source of true happiness. We can succeed each day if we turn to Christ and rejoice in Him.

Each day can be a jubilation if we cry unto Him and then go about obeying God’s  commandments with exactness. Joy can come in the morning, noon, and at night as we rejoice in Christ. Praise God with all your heart, might, mind, and soul. Immerse yourself in His love and peace.

Serving others opens the door for knowledge and acceptance. “While serving others, we find Christ” (Harold Clyde).

Obeying God + serving others = Rejoicing in Christ

Jesus: His Atoning Influence

What is the most important commandment?

1 John 2:1-2

1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Jesus is our Advocate (Helper, Comforter, Intercessor) with the Father. All have sinned and continue to sin. Disobedience to God’s commandments distances us from Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Thus, we must constantly repent and improve our souls by obeying all God’s laws and statutes and especially work on those that we are having trouble living with exactness.

President Harold B. Lee said, “The most important of all the commandments of God is that one that you're having the most difficulty keeping today. If it's one of dishonesty, if it's one of unchastity, if it's one of falsifying, not telling the truth, today is the day for you to work on that until you've been able to conquer that weakness. Then you start on the next one that's most difficult for you to keep.”  (President Harold B. Lee, Church News, May 5, 1973, p. 3)

Our disobedience separates us from the presence of God, and Jesus, the mediator, reconciles us to the Father, restores God’s peace to our hearts, since He is our Advocate. Jesus propitiates (calms and soothes) us as we repent of our wrongs. This applies to all people through the entire world and the countless worlds beyond this mortal earth. For this earth is only one of the worlds without number Jesus has created under the direction of the Father. His atonement is infinite, which means there are no ends to His atoning influence.

Seek to sin not.

Spiritually Begotten

Mosiah 5:7-8 Spiritually Begotten

7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.

8 And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.

Spiritually begotten means to have been spiritually re-born, to have a change of heart and mind from carnal, sensual, devilish and disobedient to becoming saintly, humble, submissive, and  obedient to God’s commandments. Faith in Christ begets us, makes us new creatures through Him. Christ is the head, and only through Him are we made free. His is the only name whereby we can obtain salvation and eternal life in the forever hereafter.

Three Steps for Eternal Life Assurance:

1. Covenant with God to obey all His commandments
2. Take upon yourself the name of Christ
3. Obey all God’s  commandments until the end of our lives.

The PROMISE:

“If ye keep my commandments and endure to the end, ye shall have eternal life which gift  is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (D&C 14:7).

Eternal Life is attainable AFTER we have been Spiritually Begotten through faith in Christ.

We Must Trust in the Atonement

We must trust in the Atonement. Our only real affirmation of the Atonement is our own repentance. Otherwise, we mock God. President Kimball also said, “God is good. He is eager to forgive. He wants us to perfect ourselves and maintain control of ourselves. He does not want Satan and others to control our lives.” We don’t want other people to control our lives. God doesn’t want Satan and other wicked people to lead us into doing things that are not good. “We must learn that keeping our Heavenly Father’s commandments represents the only path to total control of ourselves, the only way to find joy, truth, and fulfillment in this life and in eternity.”  In the videoThe Faith of an Observer, a documentary about Hugh Nibley, that splendid man said with the accumulated wisdom of his seventy-five years, “There are only two things we can do with distinction in this life: repent and forgive.” I would suggest that we cannot understand the one without experiencing the other.

Ann N. Madsen

“A Voice Demands That We Ascend”-Dare the Encounter: Building a Relationship With God – included in “As Women of Faith: Talks Selected from the BYU Women’s Conferences” edited by Mary E. Stovall, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989

Abound in Good Works

In Alma 7:22-24, Alma2 taught the people in Gideon to:

1. Remember your Duty to God
2. Walk blameless before God
3. Be humble
4. Be submissive and gentle
5. Be easy to be entreated (taught)
6. Be patient and long-suffering
7. Be temperate in all things
8. Be diligent in keeping the commandments of God
9. Pray for spiritual and temporal things
10. Exercise faith-hope-charity
11. Returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things you do receive

As we sincerely strive to live by these principles, may we pray mightily for strength and desire to succeed at it. As we pray, return thanks to Heavenly Father for the things that He actually does bless us with. Remember that Thanksgiving Day is everyday and act accordingly.