The Power of the Scriptures

Artwork by Kerri Guthrie

THE STORY BEHIND THE PAINTING

"The things that we choose emulate who we are; defining the environment we surround ourselves with. Out of all of the books in the library, this young man has chosen to open his heart and mind to the scriptures. The great truths that he absorbs fill his heart and mind to the extent that they become a part of him. The book is the focal point of the painting. It emanates light. The angels that surround him are representatives of truth and light, reminding us that so long as we engage in the scriptures we are protected. The young man is visually unaware of his guardians yet the presence of their love and power of protection settles upon him like armor. After reading long into the evening hours, drinking from the fountains of living water, he is assured that the Holy Ghost can offer him knowledge in a quiet place."

Forge a New Friendship

I loved this quote from General Conference, and the reminder that there is so much power for good in the scriptures:

Created by me, so feel free to download HERE or share if you wish.

How Do You Read The Scriptures?

“Do you read the scriptures, my brethren and sisters as though you were writing them a thousand, two thousand, or five thousand years ago? Do you read them as though you stood in the place of the man who wrote them? If you do not feel thus, it is your privilege to do so, that you may be as familiar with the Spirit and meaning of the written word of God as you are with your daily walk and conversation.” 
(Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 7:333)

Behavior & Doctrine

"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior."

--Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, May 2004, 79

Ain't that the truth!

He Will Honor Our Efforts

"Certainly there are times when getting the family together to read the scriptures does not stack up as a spiritual experience worthy of a journal entry. But we must not be deterred. There are special times when the spirit of a son or daughter is just right and the power of these great scriptures goes down into their heart like fire. As we honor our Heavenly Father in our homes, He will honor our efforts."
Neil L. Andersen, "Prophets and Spiritual Mole Crickets," Ensign, Nov. 1999, 17

This Should Rivet Us

“There seems to be no end to the Savior’s desire to lead us to safety. And there is constancy in the way He shows us the path. … Those means always include sending the message by the mouths of His prophets whenever people have qualified to have the prophets of God among them. Those authorized servants are always charged with warning the people, telling them the way to safety…

“In our own time, we have been warned with counsel of where to find safety from sin and from sorrow. One of the keys to recognizing those warnings is that they are repeated.

“One of the ways we may know that the warning is from the Lord is that the law of witnesses, authorized witnesses, has been invoked. When the words of prophets seem repetitive, that should rivet our attention…” — Henry B. Eyring, “Finding Safety in Counsel,” Ensign, May 1997, 24

Every Day

"It is certain that one who studies the scriptures every day accomplishes far more that one who devotes considerable time one day and then lets days go by before continuing."

Howard W. Hunter

Seminary or Surfing

Come To Know Who They Really Are

"It is not sufficient to have a vague understanding of truth or the reality of the Father and His Son, our Savior. Each of us must come to know who They really are. You must feel how very much They love you. You must trust that as you consistently live the truth the best you can, They will help you realize the purpose of your earth life and strengthen you to qualify for the blessings promised. To be obedient to the commandments of God requires an understanding of them. It necessitates faith in them. That comprehension is best obtained through personal study of doctrine."

Richard G. Scott, "Truth Restored," Ensign, Nov. 2005, 80-81

Parental Influence

M. Russell Ballard:

"Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it. [Alma 56:47–48; emphasis added]

Our youth need steadfast, courageous mothers--and they need fathers like Enos had. As you will recall, Enos was Lehi's grandson, the son of Jacob. Enos recorded that his father was "a just man" who "taught me in his language, and also in the nurture and admonition of the Lord--and blessed be the name of my God for it" (Enos 1:1).

The scriptural record seems to suggest that Enos had a spiritual change of heart one day while hunting. He wrote that during this quiet time alone, "the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart" (Enos 1:3).

Notice that this moment of spiritual enlightenment did not come at the height of a lecture from a concerned father to a troubled son. As important as those occasional lectures are, they rarely result in immediate long-term change. Nor did it come in the midst of one of Jacob's great gospel sermons. It may be that Jacob wasn't even alive to enjoy his son's spiritual rebirth. None of that matters. The important thing is Jacob made sure that he taught his son "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Enos heard, and eventually he understood. And, as Enos said, "blessed be the name of my God for it."

Spiritual Snoozing

President Ezra Taft Benson, said as he spoke to regional representatives of the Church in 1977, while he was president of the Council of the Twelve Apostles:

"Do you know what peace and prosperity can do to a people—It can put them to sleep. The Book of Mormon warned us of how the devil, in the last days, would lead us away carefully down to hell.

"The Lord has on the earth some potential spiritual giants whom He saved for some six thousand years to help bear off the Kingdom triumphantly, and the devil is trying to put them to sleep. The devil knows that he probably won't be too successful in getting them to commit many great and malignant sins of commission. So he puts them into a deep sleep, like Gulliver, while he strands them with little sins of omission. And what good is a sleepy, neutralized, lukewarm giant as a leader?

"We have too many potential spiritual giants who should be more vigorously lifting their homes, the kingdom, and the country. We have many who feel they are good men, but they need to be good for something—stronger patriarchs, courageous missionaries, valiant genealogists and temple workers, dedicated patriots, devoted quorum members. In short, we must be shaken and awakened from a spiritual snooze."
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Given a choice (and maybe we were given such a choice long before we came to earth), who wouldn't choose ease and affluence rather than pain and suffering? It sounds so attractive, so generous of the Lord. And all we have to do is keep the commandments, using our affluence to build the kingdom of God and serve others. Why is that so difficult? Because ease and affluence tend toward self-indulgence and self-importance. We can become spiritually flabby and casual in our prayers because we seem to need nothing, indifferent to the needs of others because we do not know how it feels to go without. Not liking to be reminded that others have needs, we remove ourselves from the inner city of life to the "quiet hedonism of suburbia," both temporally and spiritually. We can gorge ourselves with temporal things to the point of spiritual death.

Alma provides the answer to where the spiritual 'smelling salts' can be obtained to bring us back to a conscious state:

"Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; ..." (Alma 5:7).

A love for, and a relationship with the Saviour is what gives us life. As we come closer to Him through studying the scriptures and prayer we will be snoozing no longer.

Gaining Knowledge

Alma 12:9
"And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him."
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Spencer W. Kimball
"The knowledge of the spiritual will not come to an individual without effort any more than will the secular knowledge or college degrees."
(Conference Report)

His Hands

Daily Priorities

I worked in a temple office in Europe for several years and so I would have to show my temple recommend to enter each day. One week I wasn’t at work from Friday until Tuesday, so my recommend hadn’t been used between those days, and when I got to work on Tuesday morning I had to have a bit of a hunt for it in my wallet, as it had worked it’s way down to underneath my bank card and library card, those being the cards I had used most recently.

I thought about that in relation to the account of the children of Israel in the wilderness, and how the Lord provided substance for them during their journey. It says:

“Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.”
(Exodus 16:4)

The Lord could’ve rained enough ‘bread from heaven’ to last a week or a month at a time, but chose to only send down enough to last the day. He wants us to remember Him and have daily experiences where we know that we need Him, and that He will daily provide for us.

Whilst my recommend being under those two other cards bears no eternal significance, it just reminds me that it’s easy to sometimes put other things first in our lives. Life can get so hectic; we have meetings to go to, errands to run, family to support, friendships to develop, problems to solve, assignments to get done, callings to serve in etc. etc. etc., whilst these are 'good' things in and of themselves, if we are neglecting our personal relationship with the Saviour, developed mainly through personal prayer and scripture study - then application, it becomes more and more hidden, and life becomes harder and harder as a result - the good covers the great, instead of the great UNcovering the good.

So, I suppose what I am saying is that I hope that our daily priority will be our relationship with the Saviour, as all the other things really do take care of themselves, because He will take care of us if we do.

By His Power

Alma, in speaking to the people in the land whose families were previously in bondage to the Lamanites said:
"I say unto you, they were in captivity, and again the Lord did deliver them out of bondage by the power of his word;.."
(Alma 5:5)

The kind of bondage that we experience is of more of a spiritual nature nowadays, but the method of delivery is still the same. We are delivered by the power of His scriptures, the power of His teachings, by the power of Him - and when needed, He will deliver us again and again, until He has us back.

Life's Formula

President Thomas S. Monson:

"May I leave with you today a simple yet far-reaching formula to guide you in the choices of life:

Fill your minds with truth.

Fill your hearts with love.

Fill your lives with service.

By doing so, may we one day hear the plaudit from our Lord and Savior, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord' (Matthew 25:23)."

("Choose You This Day," Ensign, Nov. 2004, 70)

Scripture Reading

"We don't need to be natural students to read the scriptures; we just need to love the Lord and desire to believe on his word."

—Joseph B. Wirthlin, Finding Peace in Our Lives

But...

Here's todays.....

These verses give an important message to us all:
“And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way,a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
“And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
“And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said,Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
“Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead:but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
“And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
“And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
(Luke 9:57 - 62)

Are we like these men - do we say, 'Lord, I will follow thee'? These men all said that, but when the time came for them to do it, in effect they said ‘But,let me just do this first, and then I’m all yours’.

Sometimes we may feel that living that gospel, really living the gospel, isn't convenient for us. We can have that attitude towards, home/visiting teaching & sharing acts of kindness - we can put it off. Sometimes it’s our scripture study, prayers or temple attendance. Sometimes it’s with overcoming our weaknesses and developing our true character.

Elder Russell M. Nelson said: "Our busy lives force us to focus on things we do from day to day. But the development of character comes only as we focus on who we really are. To establish and accomplish those greater goals, we do need heavenly help."
("Getting Where You Want to Go," New Era, May 2003)

Life is busy, and will ever be so. We need heavenly help, we need our Saviour. He will help us to focus on who we really are and accomplish the goals which are of real worth, but we must be focused on Him first. He knows us and loves us perfectly.