Typically I will try to write about one certain topic, but I can't help myself - I loved this weekend. This
past weekend was AMAZING with spiritual insights and goals to be made. I belong
to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Within my church, we have
something called stake conference once to twice a year. This weekend was Stake
Conference and on top of that we had CES Fireside. Stake Conference and the CES
Fireside consist of speakers, church leaders, talking about various things of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so enlightening. I loved it. Here are some
things I learned:
Elder Clayton:
You are a royal army.
Be deeply rooted in the Gospel. If you are, you will be able to withstand challenges. – How can I become deeply rooted? Rooted means to be “firmly implanted."
Don’t be lulled to sleep by meeting, be livened by them! I love this. It is SO true. Sometimes I do struggle to learn something from church meetings, but that should NOT be so. I remember hearing something about President Kimble. Someone had asked him what he does in a boring church meeting. He responded, “I don’t know. I have never experienced a boring meeting.” What a great example he is. There is always something to be gained and learned. Always. I believe, we should be learning every moment of our lives.
Real worship = real conversion. Now that is a true statement. I agree. If we are truly converted, we will truly do everything God has asked of us. We will manifest the doings of real worship.
Don’t starve your souls.
Elder Clayton talked about giving time to the Lord, to His words and His prophets and apostles words. He also made reference how it is not good to read things that will make us question things – reading blogs of people who have gone away from the church, from the teachings of Jesus Christ. This made me think of someone I know personally. This person likes to read blogs and listen to talks from people who are members of the church, but who are not apostles and prophets. Now don’t get me wrong, it is not bad to read or listen to those things. But those things should not be the priority. Those things should not be our daily scripture study. Those things should not be the things we are “feeding” our soul with. We should be “feeding” our soul with godly words. Therefore, His words, His prophets, and apostles words. We should be “feeding” our souls on the scriptures. The Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, General Conference talks, and the such. Those are the things that will truly “feed” our souls and give light. Those things will give our spirits hope, joy, love, faith. Those things will increase our testimonies.
Elder Clayton:
You are a royal army.
Be deeply rooted in the Gospel. If you are, you will be able to withstand challenges. – How can I become deeply rooted? Rooted means to be “firmly implanted."
Don’t be lulled to sleep by meeting, be livened by them! I love this. It is SO true. Sometimes I do struggle to learn something from church meetings, but that should NOT be so. I remember hearing something about President Kimble. Someone had asked him what he does in a boring church meeting. He responded, “I don’t know. I have never experienced a boring meeting.” What a great example he is. There is always something to be gained and learned. Always. I believe, we should be learning every moment of our lives.
Real worship = real conversion. Now that is a true statement. I agree. If we are truly converted, we will truly do everything God has asked of us. We will manifest the doings of real worship.
Don’t starve your souls.
Elder Clayton talked about giving time to the Lord, to His words and His prophets and apostles words. He also made reference how it is not good to read things that will make us question things – reading blogs of people who have gone away from the church, from the teachings of Jesus Christ. This made me think of someone I know personally. This person likes to read blogs and listen to talks from people who are members of the church, but who are not apostles and prophets. Now don’t get me wrong, it is not bad to read or listen to those things. But those things should not be the priority. Those things should not be our daily scripture study. Those things should not be the things we are “feeding” our soul with. We should be “feeding” our soul with godly words. Therefore, His words, His prophets, and apostles words. We should be “feeding” our souls on the scriptures. The Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, General Conference talks, and the such. Those are the things that will truly “feed” our souls and give light. Those things will give our spirits hope, joy, love, faith. Those things will increase our testimonies.
Sister
Stephenson:
Missionary work begins in our families, then our neighborhoods, and then our communities.
Paint a missionary badge on your heart with the Spirit of God. Have it always there – forever and eternity. If we do this, we will catch the fire of missionary work and help His cause move forward! Blessings are in store when we participate in missionary work. You can participate in this work in small in simple ways.
Elder Richard G. Scott:
Communication with our Heavenly Father is not a light matter. We should take it VERY seriously. We should take the time to ponder and listen as we pray to Him. We should confide in Him in all matters – especially the serious ones. He is there. Willing to listen to everything and anything we want to tell him. He will listen no matter. Even if it’s random facts, or dull mundane things. They are not dull and mundane to Him. He loves to listen. He will listen. As we do this, our relationship with Him will increase and we will have further guidance from the Holy Ghost, small packets of inspiration. It will be easier to recognize His presence in our lives. It is a step by step process. But it is possible. We can reach this special, valuable connection with our God.
YOU are His precious child.
What is expedient for you? First off, expedient means to a desired object. In our lives, we should ponder what is expedient – necessary for us – to come closer to God.
Sister Nelson:
What could you do to receive more help in your life? Family History Work! Family history work is a spiritual work. Not only do you receive earthly blessings, but you are able to connect to those who have passed on, who live in the spiritual world. Within the next 3 weeks, start your family history work.
Elder Nelson:
Jesus Christ is the good news of the gospel.
This dispensation opened with Heavenly Father saying, “Behold, this is my beloved son. Hear him.”
CES Devotional, Opening Song, Be Still My Soul:
What does “be still my soul” mean? To stop, listen, allow room for the Spirit in your life. Take time to ponder – or in my case to write. (Writing allows me to think deeper and delve further into subjects.) Write about spiritual things. It also means allowing time for your soul to be still – to allow room for further discussion with Heavenly Father. Like in reference to Elder Scott’s talk to have deeper, meaningful conversations with Him. So, how can I better my prayers with Him?
Elder Christofferson:
“Whomsay ye that I am?” Who do you say that Christ is? Who do I say that He is? He is my older Brother. My Redeemer. My Savior. He is the One, the Only One, who can give me peace and relief from this world of tribulation. He is someone I can rely on. He is someone I want to emulate my life on. And because of that, in return, I will serve our brothers and sisters, those I come in contact within my life.
Whoever wants to come unto Christ, deny yourself and come unto Him. Deny yourself. That means giving up on your worldly pursuits. That means serving Him and doing His will. Not your own. What are things that we spend more time on? What do we love most? Do we love Him? Are we dedicating our time to His cause? What are better things we can do with our lives that would show dedication unto Him? In the scriptures it says to take up His cross daily. How can we implement that into our own lives? I think part of that involves looking around ourselves and finding others who are in need of your (or His) help. Service. Service is key. “When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service ofyour God.” When we are putting Him first in our daily lives, we are manifest a higher love. A higher love that is seen through the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus, He spent His whole life in service – for Heavenly Father and for each of us. Love others with this higher love. As you serve others, you love will sweeten and become this higher love. As you are more focused on others and serving them, you will grow and be refined. One way you can serve others is keeping your promises in all things, including the little things. People will be impressed. They will trust you. Be truthful person, like Christ. You will find that this will help you to find ways to serve others.
Put His will first. Make this the theme of your life. Don’t be ashamed of Him or of His gospel. Make it the theme of your life. Give your life as an offering unto Him.
Overall:
So that was a lot, but I loved every bit of it. I felt very inspired and uplifted by these words. Most of all, I feel a desire to have a better connected with my Heavenly Father – to take more time to pray unto Him. To communicate with Him more than just the basics, but every piece of my life. I wish I were already good at this, but honestly, I go in and out of having good prayers. More often than not, they are basic prayers, not long communicatory prayers like they ought to be. But now, after hearing and be reminded and already implementing it in my life – I see the difference. Talking longer to Heavenly Father makes me happy. Really happy. J I know that He hears and listens. I know that He love me. I know that He loves you! He loves each of His children. It is really amazing to think how He loves each one of us. There are so many of us! But He is a pretty awesome guy, who is capable of many things! I know He loves each and every one of us. I know.
The other thing I got out of conference was to do my family history work! I have been thinking for the last year how I would like to start…I started once…but that was about it… So now I am determined to do it! Either, I need to dedicate an hour to it, like my roommate is doing – just follow her around. Or I …well I just need to DO it. My neighbor and I were talking about how our houses should get together once a week and just do it. So, maybe in order to get myself going – I will make that happen. J Family History is a good work. A spiritual work.
The last thing that impressed upon me was during the CES Devotional. It wasn’t anything that was said, but the questions that came. I used to think that “asking questions” wasn’t always a good thing. But yesterday I realized, it depends on the type of questions you ask and how you ask them. I realized that for me personally, asking questions that help promote my testimony and explore where I am at during the moment, those are the type of questions I should be asking myself. For example, when I asked earlier, “What does ‘be still my soul’ mean?” Or “what do we love most?” Those questions help me see where I am in my life and in my testimony. For me, those are good questions.
We are each in our process of developing and growing our faith in Christ. We each receive revelation and answers differently. This is my process, my new insights from this amazing weekend of talks from the apostles of God.
Missionary work begins in our families, then our neighborhoods, and then our communities.
Paint a missionary badge on your heart with the Spirit of God. Have it always there – forever and eternity. If we do this, we will catch the fire of missionary work and help His cause move forward! Blessings are in store when we participate in missionary work. You can participate in this work in small in simple ways.
Elder Richard G. Scott:
Communication with our Heavenly Father is not a light matter. We should take it VERY seriously. We should take the time to ponder and listen as we pray to Him. We should confide in Him in all matters – especially the serious ones. He is there. Willing to listen to everything and anything we want to tell him. He will listen no matter. Even if it’s random facts, or dull mundane things. They are not dull and mundane to Him. He loves to listen. He will listen. As we do this, our relationship with Him will increase and we will have further guidance from the Holy Ghost, small packets of inspiration. It will be easier to recognize His presence in our lives. It is a step by step process. But it is possible. We can reach this special, valuable connection with our God.
YOU are His precious child.
What is expedient for you? First off, expedient means to a desired object. In our lives, we should ponder what is expedient – necessary for us – to come closer to God.
Sister Nelson:
What could you do to receive more help in your life? Family History Work! Family history work is a spiritual work. Not only do you receive earthly blessings, but you are able to connect to those who have passed on, who live in the spiritual world. Within the next 3 weeks, start your family history work.
Elder Nelson:
Jesus Christ is the good news of the gospel.
This dispensation opened with Heavenly Father saying, “Behold, this is my beloved son. Hear him.”
CES Devotional, Opening Song, Be Still My Soul:
What does “be still my soul” mean? To stop, listen, allow room for the Spirit in your life. Take time to ponder – or in my case to write. (Writing allows me to think deeper and delve further into subjects.) Write about spiritual things. It also means allowing time for your soul to be still – to allow room for further discussion with Heavenly Father. Like in reference to Elder Scott’s talk to have deeper, meaningful conversations with Him. So, how can I better my prayers with Him?
Elder Christofferson:
“Whomsay ye that I am?” Who do you say that Christ is? Who do I say that He is? He is my older Brother. My Redeemer. My Savior. He is the One, the Only One, who can give me peace and relief from this world of tribulation. He is someone I can rely on. He is someone I want to emulate my life on. And because of that, in return, I will serve our brothers and sisters, those I come in contact within my life.
Whoever wants to come unto Christ, deny yourself and come unto Him. Deny yourself. That means giving up on your worldly pursuits. That means serving Him and doing His will. Not your own. What are things that we spend more time on? What do we love most? Do we love Him? Are we dedicating our time to His cause? What are better things we can do with our lives that would show dedication unto Him? In the scriptures it says to take up His cross daily. How can we implement that into our own lives? I think part of that involves looking around ourselves and finding others who are in need of your (or His) help. Service. Service is key. “When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service ofyour God.” When we are putting Him first in our daily lives, we are manifest a higher love. A higher love that is seen through the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus, He spent His whole life in service – for Heavenly Father and for each of us. Love others with this higher love. As you serve others, you love will sweeten and become this higher love. As you are more focused on others and serving them, you will grow and be refined. One way you can serve others is keeping your promises in all things, including the little things. People will be impressed. They will trust you. Be truthful person, like Christ. You will find that this will help you to find ways to serve others.
Put His will first. Make this the theme of your life. Don’t be ashamed of Him or of His gospel. Make it the theme of your life. Give your life as an offering unto Him.
Overall:
So that was a lot, but I loved every bit of it. I felt very inspired and uplifted by these words. Most of all, I feel a desire to have a better connected with my Heavenly Father – to take more time to pray unto Him. To communicate with Him more than just the basics, but every piece of my life. I wish I were already good at this, but honestly, I go in and out of having good prayers. More often than not, they are basic prayers, not long communicatory prayers like they ought to be. But now, after hearing and be reminded and already implementing it in my life – I see the difference. Talking longer to Heavenly Father makes me happy. Really happy. J I know that He hears and listens. I know that He love me. I know that He loves you! He loves each of His children. It is really amazing to think how He loves each one of us. There are so many of us! But He is a pretty awesome guy, who is capable of many things! I know He loves each and every one of us. I know.
The other thing I got out of conference was to do my family history work! I have been thinking for the last year how I would like to start…I started once…but that was about it… So now I am determined to do it! Either, I need to dedicate an hour to it, like my roommate is doing – just follow her around. Or I …well I just need to DO it. My neighbor and I were talking about how our houses should get together once a week and just do it. So, maybe in order to get myself going – I will make that happen. J Family History is a good work. A spiritual work.
The last thing that impressed upon me was during the CES Devotional. It wasn’t anything that was said, but the questions that came. I used to think that “asking questions” wasn’t always a good thing. But yesterday I realized, it depends on the type of questions you ask and how you ask them. I realized that for me personally, asking questions that help promote my testimony and explore where I am at during the moment, those are the type of questions I should be asking myself. For example, when I asked earlier, “What does ‘be still my soul’ mean?” Or “what do we love most?” Those questions help me see where I am in my life and in my testimony. For me, those are good questions.
We are each in our process of developing and growing our faith in Christ. We each receive revelation and answers differently. This is my process, my new insights from this amazing weekend of talks from the apostles of God.
