Purpose of the Scriptures????

I read the following plea on facebook from a church friend of mine-

"Ok I need help. I'm going to open up and be “real” here....

Scripture study in my house sucks. We try and be diligent but fail more than we succeed. And I think most of it stems from “how” we study scriptures. We’ve tried multiple techniques but I don’t know how to make it anything more than just reading words on a page. We work on discussing, on choosing topics, reading stories that go with the Gospel Art pictures. We try just sitting down and everyone reading a couple verses. But it all feels like we are just going through the motions. And then it seems like...well if they aren’t going to get anything from it, why are we doing this???

Scripture time also seems to be the time that my children lose their ever-loving minds and decide to cause massive contention in the home. I know it is because they aren’t getting anything out of it.

What am I doing wrong?"

As I read this plea for help, insights came into my mind. Also, I have been pondering over the conversation/council from Alma to his son Heleman as well as talking to a dear friend about the scriptures. This has lead to me doing this specific blog post. 

It's great to ask questions, that is a big thing I have learned from the scriptures, is to ASK questions and more questions. I keep a pencil with me when I get the scriptures out. They go hand and hand. 

Q: What is the PURPOSE of the scriptures. Or asked another way Q: What is the intention/design of the scriptures?

Q: What constitutes scriptures/Holy Writ?

Q: What IF the purpose of the scriptures it to bring you to an awareness of others who have been brought back to the presence of God?

Would that give you hope?

Would that give you the faith needed to know that since God is no respecter of persons, then it is possible for you as well? 

That you and I can also receive revelation, and gain our own personal relationship with Christ? 

That the veil can be rent, and you and I walk and talk with God ourselves? 

Are you changed when you read the scriptures/study them? 

Or are you doing it because you are supposed to (duty bound) and the more you do it, you are forming a habit?

If you do the same thing over and over again and getting the exact same results but expecting different results- what would you call that? 

Have you had a mighty change of heart?

Have you been born again? Or in otherwords- Have you had your Baptism of Fire?

Are you a new creature in Christ?

Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness?

What does it mean to wrest the scriptures?

***Do not wrest the scriptures. Do not make excuses, or justify what the scriptures mean or why you are able to not follow them, or you damn yourself.***

So scriptures are a tool that shows the fullness of the gospel, and the restoration of the gospel ALL have the same purpose/ same goal, right? To show how man can be redeemed from the Fall (now- here in the flesh- while here in mortality) To help bring people back to the presence of God,-even the Eternal Father right?

In a way, it is one and the same. It's all about personal relationship with God. 

Scriptures gives eye witness accounts on HOW others have done it and how they brought others to Christ . I think of Ammon and his Brethren. 

Aid of the Book of Mormon-

as a friend of mine reminded me-

The scriptures have been changed, whether inadvertently or not, which inhibits them from the fulfillment of their purpose. Which of course is why the Lord brought forth the Book of Mormon to fix that. 

The following scriptures popped into my mind- 

1 Nephi 9:5

5 Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a ^awise purpose in him, which purpose I know not.

Words of Mormon 1:7

7 And I do this for a ^awise ^bpurpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord ^cknoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he ^dworketh in me to do according to his ^ewill.

1 Nephi 19:3

3 And after I had made these plates by way of commandment, I, Nephi, received a commandment that the ministry and the prophecies, the more plain and precious parts of them, should be written upon ^athese plates; and that the things which were written should be kept for the instruction of my people, who should possess the land, and also for other ^bwise purposes, which purposes are known unto the Lord.

Alma 37:12

12 And it may suffice if I only say they are preserved for a ^awise purpose, which purpose is known unto God; for he doth ^bcounsel in wisdom over all his works, and his paths are straight, and his course is ^cone eternal round.

Before my Baptism of fire- I read the scriptures, studied them. More duty bound then Love bound. I would look to others including scripture study guides to help me understand what I was reading. I was "going through the motions" but I was still constantly making errors, struggling with anger, pride, trying and trying to be better, be obedient, ect. 

I was also a master provoker and contention was my best friend. Sad but very true.

Why did I share that?

To show you what is possible with God. Yay God!!! 

Now for the past decade and a half- (After my Baptism of Fire)

I let the Holy Ghost guide me. By the spirit I understand the words of Isaiah. How exciting is that!!!!

I hunger and thirst after righteousness! 

I tell others to look to the scriptures especially the Book of Mormon as food. Spiritual food!

I don't let the Spirit of Contention in. Meaning inside me anymore. 

I am able to stay calm and just love when those around me are influenced by darkness or have unclean spirits in them or attached to them. 

Here's another way of putting it- thanks to my brother and this post he did. I am just doing an except from it -

"Following the scriptures with a pure heart will get a person filled with the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost will inspire a person to apply the scriptures in their unique circumstance.

Following the Holy Ghost will get a person into the presence of the Saviour..." 

Alma tells  his son Helaman:

 8 And now, it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these things should be preserved; for behold, they have enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls.

9 Yea, I say unto you, were it not for these things that these records do contain, which are on these plates, Ammon and his brethren could not have convinced so many thousands of the Lamanites of the incorrect tradition of their fathers; yea, these records and their words brought them unto repentance; that is, they brought them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer.

10 And who knoweth but what they will be the means of bringing many thousands of them, yea, and also many thousands of our stiffnecked brethren, the Nephites, who are now hardening their hearts in sin and iniquities, to the knowledge of their Redeemer?

In the title page of the Book of Mormon written by the hand of Mormon it reads in part:

"And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God manifesting himself unto all nations—And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ."

______________________________________________________________

Q: Are you not getting anything from reading the scriptures/studying them? Or your family is not getting anything from them, but maybe fighting, contention?

Maybe this will shed some light on the matter? This will not be popular and probably rejected, but's that's ok. I am not here to shove things down peoples throats or to be liked. But to just help and follow the Lord.

1 Corinthians 2:14

14 But the ^anatural man ^breceiveth not the things of the ^cSpirit of God: for they are ^dfoolishness unto him: neither can he ^eknow them, because they are ^fspiritually ^gdiscerned.

Mosiah 3:19

19 For the ^anatural ^bman is an ^cenemy to God, and has been from the ^dfall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he ^eyields to the enticings of the ^fHoly Spirit, and ^gputteth off the ^hnatural man and becometh a ⁱsaint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a ^jchild, ^ksubmissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

Q: What if scripture study is not the problem, but rather a symptom? 

Q: What if the problem is- you are still a natural man/woman? 

Q: Have you ask God for confirmation?

Q: Have I had my complete baptism-water + spirit?

Q: Do I manifest the fruits of the spirit? 

Q: Have I asked God where I am at on the path?

Is it enough to testify that you know the Book of Mormon is true?

Do you understand the purpose of the scriptures especially the Book of Mormon?

Do you realize that Moroni is speaking to US (LDS)- we are the GENTILES?

May we go further then just open up our scriptures and read them. BUT that we will open up our hearts to be taught what the scriptures actually say and not what we have been taught by others what they say. That it will enlarge our memory, that we will see the errors of our ways, see the incorrect traditions of our fathers, that it might bring us all to repentance or in other words-bring us to the knowledge of the Lord our God, and rejoice in Jesus Christ our Redeemer!

Q: What if to "know" means more then intelligent knowledge?

Q: What if to know or having knowledge = to having experiences?

Food for thought

Love, Sister Sally

The Shower Squeegee

Monday morning I found myself in Walmart buying things that were on my list. This squeegee was one of them. I didn't know the layout of this store as well as the Super Center that I usually go to. But since I had dropped off my hubby at work (that's another story in itself) this regular Walmart was on my way home, so I stopped by. I found an employee that worked there and asked if they carried any squeegees. She replied, "Yes we sure do, shower squeegees" and proceeded to point and tell my which aisle to go to and where it would be found. 

So I heeded her directions and pushed my cart that had David who was asleep and few of my other items till I saw the aisle with the toilet seats and turned to go down that aisle. My search for the squeegee was on. I mean how hard could it be for me to quickly find it, grab it, and put it in the cart and move on to my next item on the list, right??????

I looked down the left aisle passed the toilet seats passed everything else on that aisle then turned the cart to go down the other side of the isle looking and could not find the squeegee. I did this a few more times, even going slower, checking to see if maybe it was in different packaging like in a box or something. Still no luck in finding this squeegee that the employee was confident that they had. So again I went up and down the aisle being very careful that I didn't overlook it. Another 5 minutes pass by. I thought, "O well, I will just have to get it later and somewhere else." and proceeded to go to another part of the store to finish my shopping. I saw in a distance the same employee. I approached her and told her, "I could not find the squeegees. Either you guys are out, or I must be blind because I have spent this whole time searching and could not find it." She stopped what she was doing and invited my to follow her and together we walked back to the aisle I was previously in and toward the end of the isle and half way up she pulled off this thing that looked like a hanger . The label was hiding the handle part and at the time thought it was hiding most of the squeegee. But right there on the label it did say "Shower squeegee" and handed it to me and said, "Here you go." It was next to those shower organizers and other stuff. I replied, "Oh-this is not was I was looking for, this is clear" (it didn't register on my brain that this was the squeegee. I thanked her. Without her help I would not of found it. I was indeed blind. (reflecting on it now, I realized I was so focused on the handle part)

I was blinded by my "ideal" of a squeegee from all my past experiences of using squeegees in other people's homes, of what THIS squeegee that I was going to buy should look like.  I had never used a clear one like this, it didn't exist in my mind. So that is why I wasn't able to find it in the store. I was looking for something that wasn't there. Sound familiar???

                                                                            Verses


How often do we do this in our journey here we call life?
Having expectations, our perception of things, our past experiences, traditions, our IDEALS?

may I offer the following definition given by another for the word IDEAL?

 Ideal is my knowledge of what ought to be, and if I know what ought to be, then I’ve got a struggle and a conflict to make it come to pass. And if what is never what it ought to be, if I compare it to an ideal, because I can never have everything that’s ideal because ideals contradict ideals.

When we have "ideals" on what is good and what is evil, expectations on people, God, LIFE, then we will run into problems. We will continue to be stuck partaking of the Tree of Knowledge of Good AND Evil . Do we really even understand what good= what evil= if we are still partaking from this tree and have not gone through the flaming sword and are partaking of the Tree of Life? 

Q: What is the purpose of partaking of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?

Q: Is this how one gets a broken heart?

Q: Isn't entering mortality from leaving the safe, warm, secure womb of your mother and taking a breathe in mortality the same thing as partaking of the Knowledge of Good AND Evil?

The following that is in italic are excerpts taken from a transcript- Max Skousen-Moroni 7 Discussion. I listened and read it prior to my little shower squeegee experience.

"All judging is believing in ideals. Ideal is the knowledge of what it ought to be and it’s always different from what is, even when everything seems to be perfect. It won’t last, so it’s not totally ideal. I want to use this word, and it might be a shocker, for we have a lot of respect for ideals. But there is something far greater than ideals,
because an ideal is an illusion in a conclusion of what ought to be. As far out as that seems, somethings gotta happen to our minds to get us out of our vanity and unbelief, and we’ve got to turn our world upside down, to go through that flaming sword of truth that turns everyway, or we will never get off of the tree of knowledge and onto the tree of life. It’s got to be that dramatic and that drastic. So he is gonna let us enter into the rest of the Lord because it’s only by eating that fruit that we may enter into the rest of the Lord, to experience that which is most ”precious above all.” [1 Ne. 11:9] 

I wish I was as computer savvy as I am with sketching things out with my hand and writing things out. I feel handicapped doing this blog on this computer. Ugg- Sorry got distracted for a moment. 

Tree of Life=Tree of Spirit
FLOWING
Life + Love
it's UNION
no need or greed
real intent

Tree of Knowledge of Good AND Evil=Tree of Judgment
Separates and Divides
Tree of conclusion
Tree of ideals

another way to look at the words- good and evil without using ideals.
Good=to flow
Bad/Evil= to go rigid

(I pulled the above from the information below) I am a very visual person. So for me it is helpful to pull things out of a text, out of a sea of words. To make charts, draw outlines and  pictures, ect. Continuing on.

"To do anything with real intent when we have a double mind, that is split between good and evil, because a part of our mind does evil and a part does good, so when we have that it’s impossible for us to do it with real intent, and if we do not do it with real intent, it profiteth us nothing, because of the nature of the mind. If I have a knowledge of everything that’s good, and did nothing else I have no self-condemnation, I didn’t condemn you. But we notice that we are not that way. There’s no way anyone can live the tree of knowledge of good and evil perfectly. No one is ideal. Nobody can be perfect. We can only try, but that’s not what it says - be

HOWEVER- if and IF you are looking from it from partaking of the Tree of Life THEN being Perfect is possible. I am NOT talking about the IDEAL of perfection.

Remember, we are dealing with the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which was the forbidden tree that kills us, it’s the tree of judgment. And we are dealing with the tree of life, the tree of spirit. To be of the tree of spirit, you are of the love of God, you are of the flowing. You are flowing with life, you don’t have to stand on your rights, you don’t have to defend this knowledge of good and evil. It’s the tree of the non-ideal, because what was right yesterday may not be right today. It might have been wrong yesterday to kill that person, and today it might be the most appropriate thing. It’s flowing and when a person comes from not judgment, but from the spiritual life and love, they never do harm, they never will harm anybody and they will work with wisdom and expediency and flowing, and a beautiful thing happens. Now we define, then, that evil is to go rigid and good is to flow. The devil’s plan was to come down here and make everyone good. Jesus plan was, ”No, no, no, don’t do that. Let ’em flow!” ”Yeah, but people will get hurt.” ”I understand, but it’s the only way to work.” The whole plan was to let people learn from their mistakes as well as their successes and Christ would come down and take care the death. But we don’t want to do that, see we want to get in there and fix it and use compulsion. Like the prophet said, ”We see that all men want to exercise power and dominion over their fellow man.” []D&C 121:37] They want to become satanic. When we want to push the right we are in a sense do the devil’s plan, in the name of good, but it’s not good. The peaceable flowing of spirit, which is to truly understand that everybody is all of the same process and that God’s plan is working, and out of that knowledge we begin to understand that those who are rigid can not do that which is flowing, and those who are flowing cannot do that which is rigid. And that’s how we have real intent, because when we have real intent and we are flowing we are not trying to get, we don’t come from need, we don’t come from greed. We are coming from spirit and spirit can not lose. Spirit is love and love is union. It’s never separate, whereas knowledge is always separate. It always divides, and that’s our experience living from that level. I’m not condemning it, because it’s part of our growing process, but we will never get to the tree of life until we go through that flaming sword and get cut of from all of our knowledge, all of our illusions of conclusions
Let’s read: ”[For] behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; (if we put in there, ”That which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do the ideal continually”, we never find that, because the ideal is contradicted by the ideal. But if we say, ”enticeth to be peaceful, to be harmonious, to be flowing continually,] wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do[flowing and to be flowing and to be unconditional love, to be with love, to do good] and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God. Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God,[He’s saying, ”Watch it, brethren! Don’t judge that which is evil to be of God] or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
[He’s talking to members of the Church because they have all this knowledge of good and evil which is all part of their growing process. But he says, ”I’m gonna wake you up now. You’ve come to a peaceable level. It means you are not to rigid on our standard or you wouldn’t be peaceful. You are more flowing and you are more considerate and more understanding, and I see that. That’s why you are ready to enter into the rest of the Lord. And he’s saying that they will never enter into that rest being rigid, for sure. Because either you lie to yourself and you’ll judge yourself along with everybody else.]
For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.[What’s weird here, see this is a paradox of truth, ”judge not, and I’m gonna show you how to judge.” If you come back to the ideal of judging, that it’s bad to judge, you judge judging. That’s why it contradicts itself. Everything
- do not kill; kill, do not judge, judge... He’s trying to teach us that the knowledge of good and evil, the inflexibility of conclusions is not spiritual, it’s not life, it’s separateness, and it’s what the devil is all about. It’s the devil’s plan. It won’t work. So don’t judge those things that are flowing to be of the devil, and don’t judge those things that are rigid to be of God, because God is flowing, God is peaceful, God is love. Not hate, not resistance. Resist not evil. Don’t resist it. And we say, ”I gotta resist it!” There’s a beautiful alternative. This is what he says.]
For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil;
[Since we don’t understand the spirit and we think that the spirit is knowledge of good and evil, because we have our knowledge of good and evil, we have the spirit, then we are in a conflict here. We can not go with this chapter. We cannot accept this gift that he’s given permission to give to us. We are gonna be stuck in our tree of knowledge and we are gonna stay children of the devil. We are gonna be children of resistance, children of compulsion, children of dominion; or we are gonna be children of peace, children of righteousness. We have everybody the spirit of Christ, the spirit of flowing that flows through the universe. It’s like the wind. To be born of the spirit is to be born of the wind, it’s to be born of giving, it’s to be born of going beyond need, it’s beyond fear. It’s like what John said, that through the spirit you have the perfect love of God which casts out all fear [1 John 4:18]. All of this rigidity, praying without real intent, it all comes from fear. We are afraid not to pray. We pay our tithing so we won’t lose the reward. As long as I serve the Lord to get to heaven, I don’t do it with real intent. As long as I serve the Lord to escape hell, I don’t do it with real intent. Real intent is to do it out of the love of doing it. So we all have been given this spirit of flowing, but the light shines in darkness and the darkness comprehends it not [Joh. 1:5; D&C 10:58; 34:2; 45:7; 88:49]. But all of them have been given that light so that they can know this peace, this perfect peace that passeth understanding [Philip. 4:7], this perfect love that casts out all fear, because he says, ”fear is torment, he that feareth is not yet made perfect in love.” [1 John. 4:18] Torment has nothing to do with Christ. It has to do with the devil.] For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, [that a person has to understand what the spirit is. If he thinks that the spirit is giving him judgment, to divide up everything, than he will judge evil as good. It’s given to ever man]
that he may know good from evil; [that he may comprehend flowing from resistance. We have two choices in life: to resist what is or to accept and flow with what is and see the hand of God in all things, or to resist it and fight it and then have our problems with it.]

There is much more then I shared. It goes deep and I mean deep. But for now what I have shared today will suffice.

Food for thought. As always, believe nothing I say. Don't take my word, or Skousen's word, or anyone else's word for it. You must work these things out for yourself and take it back to God. God will continue to work in you and through you through the Holy Spirit.

May we all be as a little child- humble, meek and, submissive.

I close with the following scripture that just came to my mind-
 
Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. (3 Nephi 14:7-8)

fun little fact- went back to the same Walmart this morning after dropping my hubby off to work- so that I could take a picture of the isle where that little squeegee was hanging up and take a closeup of what it looked like when it had the packaging on it. 

Testimony

(I wrote this yesterday- on Sunday. Meant to have it done before going to bed last night. But like many things, I got delayed/distracted.)

My daughter spent the night at my parents house last night. She didn't want to stay for all their church meeting (as we have ours right after their ward finishes) and my parents didn't want to have to drive her to my house before their morning meetings like they did last week. I asked my parents if it was ok with them, to let her still spend the night and I would pick her up during their Sacrament meeting and I would just take my husband to church for Bishopric meeting instead of us taking 2 cars to church. So I got up this morning planning on just taking Cliff and picking up our daughter. Little did I know that I would for sure be up at the podium sharing the following scriptures and my testimony of them.

August Testimony
"I don't know who is more surprised? Some of you seeing me up here or myself? I just thought I was getting my daughter-she spend the night at my parents and I woke up this morning and 2 scriptures I knew I was to share, I just didn't know it was with you (my parents ward) until driving up here. So I apologize and my heart is racing, usually that doesn't happen-that the 2 scriptures is Isaiah. We are told by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ how and the prophets how great are the words of Isaiah.

Isaiah 28:21 For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

and I testify that that is true. That we don't understand everything of God and I think it is so cool that it says his strange work and going down I am to share um what Isaiah shared with the people. Everything kind of repeats itself. God uses patterns and his people kind of do the same thing. That's why it is so important that we read the words of Isaiah and we ask to have the gift of the Spirit, the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit to teach us and it says:

vrs 23-29 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

Here's the question- Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? Doth he open and break the clods of ground?  

When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cumin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?

         For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him

        

For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cumin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cumin with a rod.

        

 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen

        This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. 

and then I am to share um I love Nephi. I love the Book of Mormon. There is so much that we can learn from it and in 2 Nephi 6 verses 12 through 14 it says:

12 And blessed are the Gentiles, they of whom the prophet has written; for behold, IF it so be that they shall repent and fight not against Zion, and do not unite themselves to that great and abominable church they shall be saved (sorry, I am a kinesthetic learner, so I like to move around when I talk) and do not unite themselves to that great and abominable church, they shall be saved; for the Lord God will fulfil his covenants which he has made unto his children; and for this cause the prophets has written these things.

  13 Wherefore, they that fight against Zion and the covenant people of the Lord shall lick up the dust of their feet; and the people of the Lord shall not be ashamed. For the people of the Lord are they who wait on him; for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah.

14 And behold according to the words of the prophet, the Messiah will set himself again the second time to recover them; wherefore, he will manifest himself unto them in power and great glory, unto the destruction of their enemies, when that day cometh when they shall believe in him; and none will he destroy that believe in him.

and last, Jacob was given the allegory which I'm so grateful he wrote because we don't have the Brass Plates with the records of Zenos and Zenoch but because Jacob obeyed the Lord we have the allegory (Jacob quotes Zenos) and here it says:   

And the day that he shall set his hand again the second time-There's that phrase again to recover his people, is the day , yea, even the last time , that the servants of the Lord shall go forth in his power, to nourish and prune his vineyard; and after that the end soon cometh. Jacob 6:2

 and I testify that those things are true, that the Lord is doing his strange work and his hand is set forth a second time and that there are servants there in the field to bring all the branches back into the trunk of the tree- the family of God. These things I testify as one of his servants in the name of Yeshua Messiah, Ahmen."
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Down below is my draft from about a month ago (beg of July). I didn't get it finished until now.

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Just realized that sharing my testimony for the past 3 consecutive months (in Sacrament mtg) go hand in hand. Or rather it's a continuation of one testimony broken up in 3 parts. How cool is that! We have an awesome God!

Here are the transcripts of them starting with May 2017

May- Believe it or not I can be brief. I just want to stand and testify that I am coming to know My prophet, Priest, and King-Yeshua Messiah! I am his! So interesting as we learn or rather unlearn things .

Briefly I am to share -in the car a few months ago I was with Emma- she was singing her ABC'S and she got down to opqrXtuv, and both times I tried to correct her, I told her it's Ssss like Sally, Snake. "No, mom it's X!" and in that moment the Lord was teaching me something- I do the same things sometimes, a lot of us do. We get things wrong sometimes. We have our traditions, we have ways we learn things and we think that's the way it is. But until we are willing to realize we are wrong it doesn't matter how much you talk to a 5 year old you know about the S and X thing, same thing with us.

I am so grateful for the scriptures. They are a launching pad for our own relationship. You are to have this (I raised both arms straight up and motioned up to heaven and back down to myself-signifying heavenly relationship) and I have that with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ  and I am getting that with our Heavenly Parents as well. When he forgives us, when we come unto him and repent, it's not 1 thing, it's ALL. When we put EVERYTHING on the table then we untie his hands and he is allowed to bless us as much as much as we are willing to be, be-come . If we truly love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we obey the commandments.  

(When) we read in the scriptures we can understand what those commandments are. When we get the promptings of the Holy Ghost, we can know what those personal commandments are for us from the Lord. All I know is that is how we get on the path. As we love him we obey him. As we obey him, he shows forth his love and we become like him.

In the name of Jesus Christ-Yeshua Messiah, Ahmen.

June- I think I can be brief again, like I was last week (meant to say last month) I don't know who picked out the music for today but it was timely um as we sang 146 Gently Raise the Sacred Strain, I want to add my testimony to that of William Phelps that that is true. That as we REPENT or Shube in Hebrew and turn our mind and our hearts, and our thoughts  everything we do back to our Lord, back to our Heavenly Parents, that's what repentance is, to gain more light and knowledge, to forsake our sins, to forsake the errors. To cast off those things that are not correct but we think that they are. I testify that we have a God that is no respecter of persons. Yes, we have the Book of Mormon, we have the Bible. Since God has many children, many places, many eras of time, but there are many scriptures we don't have yet they will come, they are coming for those that can discern. How important it is that we know who we are. To ask who we are. That Jesus Christ, Christ means anointed one. That there's titles given. There's names and also labels that we do...
it's important that we don't group-label people. That as we pray to be able to see clearly, to be able to feel that we will be given opportunities to be tested. I was given the opportunity as I visited Mara in the hospital um there was a lady she was in a car accident standing outside the hospital. The Lord spoke to me, "Give her a hug". I am getting a lot better with the hug thing. I don't know if you knew I hated hugs, I didn't like to be touched (growing up). So I gave her a great big hug and I said Jesus loves you SO much. And we were talking a little bit and gave her another hug  and she explained how she was in a car accident and how she was grateful she was able to get out and I said well your grandmas love you. I knew one of them had past away. But I knew that she was near by. We are given opportunities to serve, personal opportunities and it's funny when it's not  convenient. That the angels do stand as sentinels, I do testify of that. That it is here in this life that we are tested. What we are taught in the temple is the path. What we are taught in the endowment, it comes to life. To have a complete baptism, to have your Calling and Election Made Sure, to have the Second Comforter what Marty was talking about, that is the Second Comforter. To have Christ come to you and then he is your teacher. I am learning that for myself. I testify of that, and sense God is NO respecter of persons and if he can do it for someone who has been sassy, and caused contention and provoked. I was not an agent of the Lord for many years and can burn that out of me through the Baptism by Fire and give me a new heart, the heart of Christ. I testify that it can happen to everyone of you. You must be born of God and understand what that means-to become a Saint, to become Elected, to do his will and his pleasure.
 I testify too that hard times are coming. That as you have  that personal relationship and have the Holy Ghost you will wakeup. War is coming. But you need not be afraid. In the name of Yeshua Messiah, Ahmen

July- It's good to be back, I was gone visiting family. I am coming to understand what Nephi talked about in the close of his book, when he talks about how at night his -he wept the pillow with his tears. The Lord's given me the opportunity to see what's going to happen, I'm not going to share that with you. But I will share this. That we are to do this (I had my both arms up high and outstretched) like I don't know if you have little kids but do they over go like this (put my hands up again) want you to hold them? We are to completely surrender. That's part of that broken heart and contrite spirit.
If we want ALL of Jesus then we have to give him ALL of us.

Are we willing to give up our traditions?

To give up our pride, to give up those things?

Wouldn't it be amazing if we all are childlike like King Lamoni, and willing to give up all?

He (Christ) is real, I know he is real. I have conversations with him. I don't say this to boost but rather to let you know that if it can happen to me, it can happen to you. It goes back to this (my hands outstretched signifying COMPLETE SURRENDER to him)
The peace that you seek is through him, and by him. In the name of Yeshua Messiah, the lover of my soul, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Embraced by the Savior (Yeshua Messiah)

Here's a journal excerpt from almost 2 years ago
Sunday June 14th, 2015

HC=High Councilor
EX Sec.=Executive Secretary
D&C= Doctrine and Covenants

It is Sabbath night and wanted to record before going to bed. What a beautiful morning! After church Cathy commented on me, I said yeah-Carol did my hair. She said,

"No, your face, it's like you are glowing!"

I smiled and said, 

 "Yes, that would be because I had a great morning! Paused then said, I have Christs' countenance."

(the 2 dreams I had early Sunday morning)

Dream-nursing a little girl. She just drank a bottle. I knew I needed to let her nurse or I would lose producing milk. First put her on right side and remember the left side needed to be done. Upon waking- nursing being connected with the Queens be their nursing mothers. (This is the 3rd dream that I am nursing a baby/child and not necessarily my own).

Dream- My dad was on the stand during a Sacrament mtg. He needed to leave to get to work on time. He was running down the stairs and accidently bumped into another man (either the HC or the EX Sec.) The man got hurt and the other man took him out of the chapel to care for him. My dad was already gone. 2 speakers had spoken and the EX Sec was to speak but he left. During the long pause, there was like a small testimony meeting. I was outside the chapel on the left side in a glass hallway that led directly outside. The Lord opened up a vision to me. He was speaking to me AUDIO. He let me know I would be the 3rd speaker and told me what to teach/proclaim. It was the 6th Lecture from the Lectures on Faith. I popped my head into the chapel, Marty Hughes who was conducting whispered in my left ear asking if I remembered who the new Ex Sec. was-they had forgotten, I didn't answer but told him I was to speak and he could verify with the Lord.
 
I went up to the stand and explained how when we hear the Lord speaking to us directly, we need to do EXACTLY as he says. I raised both hands in the air and spoke quoting parts of the 6th lecture of faith while having a vision. Saw only a few people in the chapel then it went back to regular. Then I used a word that wasn't given to me. I used my own word. As soon as I did that my heavenly vision closed and the power and authority was gone and I was left to myself, like having the microphone turned off. I explained what just happened about how we are to be EXACT when the Lord gives specific instructions. (no freelancing)To learn from me and do/be better.

 Dream shifted-now I was on a side pew in the back of the chapel and the Ex. Sec was speaking. He was reading an account of the Savior from D&C. I was seeing it play out before my eyes (vision) about the Savior and how they saw him as the Redeemer from Roman control. They tried placing garments on him connected with titles- trump him up. He would not be apart of it and walked pass them. He walked down the pews and came to me-We embraced and I didn't let go. It felt so good being in his arms-He sat down on the pew and I was on his lap. (I realize now I did not see his marks) I was too focused on his face and being embraced by him. I remember thinking I wanted to be twirled but couldn't because of the pew in our way. I told him how I truly trusted him now and thanked him for taking the incident from earlier and making good out of it. He knows what he is doing. I asked him if he would come back again soon and visit me again. I didn't want him to go.
I woke up (from 1st layer) but I was still asleep. Told mom about my dream.... she didn't understand why she wasn't having these manifestations like me. In that moment the Lord opened my eyes to understand. I then said to her-what is different about what you do and I don't do or rather something you take into your body and I don't. She wasn't getting it. I said-medications, you need to let the Savior heal you. You don't need those medications-they get in the way of being in-tuned- she didn't believe that. I told her, there are cures, but depending on medicine through (arms of flesh) was not the way. Later I woke up. Thanking Father and the Lord for that dream and embracing the Savior....END of Journal Entry

Although this happened almost 2 years ago. Being with Yeshua (Jesus) even if it was only a dream has become apart of me. I still remember his eyes, his hair, his smile. Snuggling up to him like a young daughter does with her Daddy. The immense love -radiating from him, even after "I messed things up". He came to me and just held me and loved me and let me just sit on his lap and be his little girl! I was home!!!

I am his! Through the baptism of fire (spirit) I was spiritually begotten of him. He is my Father/my Daddy! I hear his voice (in my head) before this experience/dream and since then.

*Remember the attributes of God. He is no respecter of persons. I am no more special then you or anyone else.  Many times what hold us back is ourselves!  Doubt, unbelief, traditions, pride (speaking for myself), lack of faith. If you truly want to understand Faith may I suggest you read, ingest, digest- The Lectures on Faith.


 

Taking the Lord's Name in Vain

What is vanity?
Is saying, "O my G_D!" taking the Lord's name in vain?
Is that what it's talking about in the scriptures or is it something more?


Over the past few years the Lord has been teaching me about this.
I was really shocked to find out from the Lord that I have been taking the Lord's name in vain.
I told him, "what...what?, But I haven't ever said, O my G_D? and I have been very careful with how I say the name."




So one Family home Evening I gave a lesson about this and what the Lord had been teaching me. I closed my lesson with just a simple Amen.


How do most people close their talks, lessons, primary talks, testimonies, ect? We usually close by saying- "In the NAME of Jesus Christ, Amen."


But are the words and messages we give actually from HIM? Or do we just close that way because we were taught to do that and that's just what we do? This was HOW I was taking the Lord's name in vain.


I understand more clearly now about the parable of the wheat and the tare. One has fruit and the other is hollow (empty) inside.


We are told in the scriptures, "By their fruits ye shall know them."