Maintaining Our Spirituality

So in my Book of Mormon class, we have an assignment to apply what we have learned into our lives. I chose to do a post on this blog so you guys can all read about it here!

Every week we watch these “Digging Deeper” videos, usually of talks given by prophets and apostles. This week I watched a talk about “Maintaining our Spirituality” by President Marion G. Romney. He talked about repentance playing a huge role in maintaining it. If we don’t repent, the Holy Ghost isn’t with us. We need to repent and be spiritually clean so we can maintain that spirituality.

I really like how this applies to this week’s lesson. We read the book of Ether, and it talked about how the people were wicked and prideful. The Lord sent down serpents and plagues to the people, and even then it took them forever to become humble. Ether 9:35 says, “And it came to pass that when they had humbled themselves sufficiently before the Lord he did send rain upon the face of the earth; and the people began to revive again, and there began to be fruit in the north countries, and in all the countries round about. And the Lord did show forth his power unto them in preserving them from famine.” I think this verse is important and can be applied to our lives. We need to humble ourselves and come unto Christ so that we can receive blessings. Especially in the world that we live in, we can’t afford to miss out on any blessings.

So in my Book of Mormon class one of our assignments is to put what we learn into a real life situation, so here I am, blogging about what I learned this week in my class!

One of the digging deeper videos I watched was of Elder Dallin H. Oaks about the importance of tithing. He said, “Some people say I can’t afford to pay tithing. Those who place their faith in the Lord’s promises say I can’t afford not to pay tithing.” I love this quote because it’s so true! The blessings we would miss out on are worth way more than any money we could keep!

I’m so grateful we have the opportunity to pay tithing because those are blessings I could definitely use.

So for my Book of Mormon class my teacher has us do a “Putting It All Together” assignment. We’re required to put what we learn into real life. So here I am writing a post for my blog.

I really enjoyed the Digging Deeper videos we watched this week. Specifically Elder Dallin H. Oaks’ video clip on “The Language of Prayer.” He talked about how we shouldn’t be concerned what other people think of them, just what the Lord thinks of them. A lot of people get caught up in how wordy or educated their prayers sound, rather than how sincere they are.

Another issue he addressed was how prayers sometimes get repetitious. We need to be wary of how often we repeat things because sometimes repetition makes a prayer less sincere.

Our main concern is making our prayers genuine and sincere. We need to have conversations with God. He cares about us and genuinely wants to know what is going on in our lives. If we aren’t being sincere with him, or only caring about how we pray in front of others, that will do absolutely nothing for our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Powers Given to Us

For my Book of Mormon class, my teacher wants us to apply ourselves with what we’re learning at the moment. We are required to watch these “Digging Deeper” videos that have to do with what we are currently reading. One of the videos I watched was of Elder Jay E. Jensen and his talk, “Remember Also the Promises.” I thought this video clip was an awesome reminder of the powers we get as blessings. He gave a list of the five powers as follows:

1.     Power to overcome evil.

2.     Power to live righteously.

3.     Power to teach convincingly.

4.     Power to call down the powers of heaven.

5.     Power to change the heart and disposition.

All of these powers are so important for us to make it through this life. Satan is constantly trying to bring us down, and we need all of the help we can get. As Elder Jensen was going through the powers, I thought the last one was most interesting. “The power to change the heart and disposition.” I think this power is extremely important because if we constantly have hearts that are hardened, we won’t progress, and we won’t be able to act Christ-like.

What a great talk by Elder Jay E. Jensen!

So this week in my Book of Mormon class, I listened to a clip from Elder Neal A Maxwell about enduring.
He said that we think we improve because we endure, but we actually improve because of the patience that the Lord has with us. He said, "Moreover, enforced change usually does not last, while productive enduring can engrain permanent improvement." We need to endure, and we need to improve. We all can improve, because none of us are perfect. We need to, "act for ourselves by magnifying what is allotted to us."
I know that what Elder Maxwell is saying is true, and I know that this church is true. I'm so grateful to be apart of this organization and to have a living prophet and apostles on this earth.

So for my Book of Mormon class that I'm taking, my teacher wants me to take what I've learned and bring it to the world outside of the classroom. I'm doing this by writing a blog entry!

I really liked the video clip of President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in the digging deeper videos. He starts off by asking, "How can we receive a personal testimony?" Then he lists how:
1. "Desire to believe."
He mentions how some people struggle with this, but the blessings that God promises us just for having a desire should make it that much easier. "But it has to be a true, and not a pretended desire."
2. "Search the scriptures."
He says we need to have questions, and we need to search them out. We need to be looking for answers to our daily problems. We need to grow our "good seed" with diligent scripture study in order to get a testimony.
3. "Through the will of God, keep the commandments."
He says that we need to get in on the action ourselves, "and that means learning, and then doing God's will.

I love these simple three steps that we can all take in order to have a testimony. I know it's sometimes hard not to base yours off of your parents, or it can be a struggle to grow it. But I know by having a desire, searching the scriptures, and keeping the commandments, you can receive a personal testimony of this gospel.

So I think my favorite part from this week’s lesson was the clip of Elder Maxwell’s talk “Repent of Our Selfishness.” I guess it was one of the few times that I listen to a talk or red an article that I was just like oh my goodness this is so relevant to my life right now. Just with all of the gay marriage issues going on, he was so right when he said a group of people that have become selfish and are indifferent to "general values once widely shared," will lead society down to hell. It’s scary that all of this is happening now, but I’m confident with my testimony and I’m confident that I’ll be fine with the Lord on my side.