Pray Without Ceasing

I am so grateful for the power of prayer which enables us to call on the powers of heaven and reminds of the great love our Heavenly Father has for us.

Pray without ceasing...
Give thanks in all things.
Mosiah 26:39

With His Stripes We Are Healed

In my personal study this morning, I reviewed the prophecies of Isaiah, recorded in Mosiah 14, regarding the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  This time of year as I ponder His birth and the years of service and sacrifice that would follow, I am grateful for his eternal love for me as evidenced by price he willingly paid.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.
Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.
He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities.
With his stripes we are healed.
The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.
He bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Turn to the Lord

This week we're going to ponder the great promise that the Lord will deliver us if we will turn to, trust, and serve him.

But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.  (Mosiah 7:33)

Believe in God

This week we're going to ponder Mosiah 4:9:

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

Serve One Another

This season more than ever we need the Savior's example of service. This week we'll be pondering these teachings of the prophet king Benjamin.  These verses remind me why I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, because they make men and women better friends, spouses, parents, and brothers and sisters, children of God.

Wisdom...
   Mosiah 2:17-19

When ye are in the service
of your fellow beings
ye are only in the service
of your God.

If I, whom ye call your king, 

do labor to serve you, 

then ought not ye to labor 

to serve one another?

If I, whom ye call your king, 

who has spent his days in your service, 

and yet has been in the service of God, 

do merit any thanks from you, 

O how you ought to thank 

your heavenly King!

Walk in His Paths

I'm so grateful for covenants that protect us and point us to a loving Savior.  This week we will ponderize Alma 7:9 and the words of Elder Ronald A. Rasband:

Repent ye, and prepare the way of the Lord, and walk in his paths, which are straight.  (Alma 7:9)

As we stay on the covenant path, we need not fear.  (Elder Ronald A. Rasband, October 2018 General Conference)

The Savior knows you and loves you

It's sometimes hard to remember that the Savior loves each of us.  Let us remember what he did to prove his love...

Arise and come forth unto me, that ... ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world. --3 Nephi 11:14

None are forbidden

This week I wanted to ponder how good the Savior is to everyone and how that example should lead us to love and serve one another.

Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden.  (2 Nephi 26:28)

He doeth that which is good...

With a world that needs more love, kindness, forgiveness, patience, and equality, I thought 2 Nephi 26:32-33 would be the perfect verses to ponder. They point us to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

32 And again, the Lord God hath commanded that men should not murder; that they should not lie; that they should not steal; that they should not take the name of the Lord their God in vain; that they should not envy; that they should not have malice; that they should not contend one with another; that they should not commit whoredoms; and that they should do none of these things; for whoso doeth them shall perish.
33 For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come ​unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.

Be of Good Cheer

“Lift up your head and be of good cheer…”  (3 Nephi 1:13)

In his April 2018 General Conference talk, "Am I a Child of God?", Elder Brian K. Taylor of the Seventy said, "When you feel hurt, lost, scared, upset, sad, hungry, or hopelessly abandoned in life’s extremities—open the Book of Mormon, and you will come to know that “[God] will never desert us."

Take Upon Us the Name of Christ

This week we'll ponder what it means to take upon us the name of Christ, to be a "Christian." As we take the sacrament each week and show our willingness to follow the Savior, we recommit to serve others and lift their burdens.  Moroni 4:3 gives us the sacrament prayer on the bread:

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

In the last General Conference, we learned a few things about this principle:

 - By your being willing to take His name upon you, you will lift the burdens of countless others.  (President Henry B. Eyring)

 - To take upon ourselves the name of Christ … we must do His work and serve as He served.  (Elder Robert C. Gay)

Redeemed from Death

In an old book my father gave me, The Great Hereafter or Glimpses of the Coming World (published in 1897), I found this verse from Charles Wesley (page 465) along with the etching below (page 361) which both give me hope in Jesus Christ of his resurrection and the resurrection of us all:

I feel a strong immortal "hope,"
Which bears my mournful spirit up
   Beneath its mountain-load:
Redeemed from death, and grief, and pain,
I soon shall find my friend again
   Within the arms of God.

The etching is titled THE THREE MARYS AT THE GRAVE.  "HE IS NOT HERE, BUT IS RISEN."

The Lord shall comfort Zion

This week we'll be pondering the words of Isaiah which give me so much hope: "the Lord shall comfort Zion...." (2 Nephi 8:1-3) This goes along beautifully with Elder Rasband's message yesterday that we need not fear because "the Lord is with us, mindful of us, and blessing us...."

  Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness. Look unto the rock from whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye are digged.
  Look unto Abraham, your father, and unto Sarah, she that bare you; for I called him alone, and blessed him.
  For the Lord shall comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
- 2 Nephi 8:1-3 (quoting Isaiah)

Why am I angry?

While pondering and wrestling with the political events of the week, I read the prophet Nephi ask "Why am I angry because of mine enemy?" (2 Nephi 4:27). I need to do better in loving all people as the Savior did. He loved friends and enemies alike. So this week, I'll be pondering Nephi's question. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon that was written so long ago for me today.

"why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?"

The Armor of Righteousness

This week we plan to ponder the counsel Lehi gave his sons, to achieve freedom from sin through Christ by choosing personal righteousness:

Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust.
-- 2 Nephi 1:23

By small means

We see examples all the time in our everyday lives of the power of small things (our cell phones, a car key, a remote control, etc.), yet it can be hard sometimes to trust the small means of the Lord (like prayer and daily scripture study) to bring about great things in our lives. So this week we will ponder 1 Nephi 16:29:

by small means the Lord can bring about great things.

Ye can do all things

This week we are pondering Moroni 10:23 from the Book of Mormon.

And Christ truly said unto our fathers: If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me.

The background of this image comes from the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon.

Let Us Be Faithful to Him

For the past few years, I have put up a new scripture next to our refrigerator nearly every week to ponder.  I will start posting them here.  This week we are pondering 1 Nephi 7:12 from the Book of Mormon.

"the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him. Wherefore, let us be faithful to him."