Thursday, January 27, 2011

Reap what you Sow

  What has been on my mind lately is our reward for our actions. I have often heard the saying, "what goes around, comes around." That is a very interesting topic to me. Of course, God plays a major part in the whole process of who gets what blessings and why, but we need to do good. God will reward us no matter what, but the blessing when we do good can be greater. Just like the saying, "God loves a cheerful giver" so here are some scriptures to describe that very topic. They will come from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants section 6 verses 33-34.

 "Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward. Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail."

  This is so important to remember in the world today. Now days the world seems to focus so much on the bad, and they don't seem to care as much about the good. Why is this? Has the world forgotten God? I would say a there are many things out there distracting us taking our thoughts away from God and what truly is important, causing us to forget Him. I love scriptures in the Bible and Book of Mormon describing the importance of teaching our kids the ways of God when they are young and when they are old they will not depart from it. So, if we teach our children, or the young people of the world to do good, then they will be able to have a greater chance of remembering and sticking to those teachings when they are faced with difficult decisions and all of the distractions in the world.

  What does that have to do with the scripture, I am asking myself? Well, we must sow good seeds, we must do good things such as teaching people about God. Sharing what we know about God, and His gospel to help others in their lives. To share how much God means to you and all of the great blessings He has given to you. To keep doing good even when we don't see immediate results from it. God is up silent note taking of all of the things we are doing, and the end reward will be far greater that anything we can receive in this life. God will protect us as we are built upon His rock, and no one will prevail against us. They maybe able to kick us, but our Big Brother, Jesus Christ, will protect us. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Spirit

  Lately, I have been talking about the Book of Mormon and have been saying that we pray about it to know if it is true or not. Today, I would to talk about the way that we will know it is true after we pray about it, and that is through the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. There are A LOT of scriptures that talk about the Holy Ghost and the many roles it can have in out lives. If I wrote them all down it would take up lots of space so I will share a few of my favorites. The first will be from Galatians 5: 22-25, John 14: 26-27, and from the Doctrine and Covenants 6: 14-15.

  Here is the first; Galatains 5: 22-25 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
Next, John 14: 26-27 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
And finally Doctrine and Covenants 6: 14-15 "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time. Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by the Spirit of truth;"
 
  I love all of these because they each talk about a little different aspect of the spirit. The Galatians talks of how we will feel love, peace, and joy. The scripture from John talks of a comforter. Every time that I have been able to feel the Holy Ghost in my life it gives to me, that feeling of comfort. It helps bring things to your remembrance, helps you to remember those key bits of truth that we have all heard before that will help us return to our Father in Heaven. And the last scripture I quoted, talks of how we are blessed for inquiring of the Lord, for asking Him and studding things out. How the Lord will enlighten our minds, by the Spirit of truth.

  I know that this is the way that the Lord speaks to us, is by a still small voice or by those good feelings of peace, joy, and comfort. That He will enlighten or minds, He will make it easy for us to understand and bring it back into our remembrance. The same way it says in the book of 1 Kings when the Lord was speaking to Elijiah, 19: 11-13 "And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?" That the Lord doesn't often speak in loud noises or through fire and earthquakes, He speaks to us in a voice that we can understand. The Lord is speaking, are you listening?

Saturday, January 22, 2011

The Book of Mormon...

  The topic on my mind today is baptism. Baptism is one of those key saving ordnance's that we can do to show our Heavenly Father that we have faith and are truly committed to following Him and keeping His commandments. Baptism is wonderful for many reasons, but one that sticks out to me is not only is it showing obedience but it is how we can have our sins washed away. After my blog yesterday on the atonement, and what Christ went through for us what a great way to repay and give thanks, and become as a little child and be born again and be clean from our pasts. The scripture from the Book of Mormon that I feel best describes the importance of baptism comes from the book of Nephi chapter 31: 5-7 & 9.3


  "And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water! And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water? Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments." 9 And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them."

  Once again, I love the plainness of the Book of Mormon! There is just one way to read this, Christ was baptized because He was commanded, and it was to fulfil all righteousness. Then it goes on to remind us, hey do you remember the life that Christ lived? He was prefect, He never once messed up, yet He still had to be baptized! So how are you doing? Are you prefect? No, then all the more need for us to be baptized so that we can be cleansed of our sins and be put back on the path to live with our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ.

  I also love verse 9 because it reemphasises the straightness of the path that leads us back to the Kingdom of God. The wonderful thing about that path is we are not left to wonder it alone. This verse tells us along with in the bible, in the book of 1 Peter chapter 2:21, that Christ came to be an example. Like all great leaders, He wanted to go through these things as well, so He would know exactly how hard this life is, to know what we have to go through on a daily bases. I know everyday I am grateful that Christ does love us, that He is willing to help us to over come our struggles, that He will allow us to be washed clean of our wrong doings and have the chance to repent always As much as I wish we were always going to be prefect after we are baptized we know that that doesn't happen, but we can sure try. The Lord will wash away our sins and continue to forgive us as many times as we need, but we need to be sincere. I know this to be true and I leave it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Friday, January 21, 2011

The Book of Mormon

   Since yesterday was about weaknesses, and how we all have them, and how Christ is the one we can look to and go to for help in over coming these weaknesses. I thought I would share one of my favorites from the Book of Mormon about Christ's Atonement. This scripture will come form the Book of Alma chapter 7 verses 11-13. I love these few verses because it covers so many of the things that Christ was willing to go through for us.

  "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me."

  What a powerful testimony that the Prophet Alma had about the great mission that our dear Savior came to do. To suffer for all of the pains, temptations, sicknesses. I have thought many times if only someone else knew what I was going through. If only I had someone to talk to about this, and thats exactly why Christ went through those things, is so that we would never be alone! That when life gets to hard to stand on our own and everything we try by ourselves isn't working, thats when we can turn to him for help. His bowels truly are filled with mercy so Christ can indeed give succor to His people. What the word succor means is to run to and give aid. Who better to come to us and give us aid that the very man that was willing to suffer for all of the same things we go through each day. But we must open the dooor to Him and let Him in. Jesus Christ and our Heavenly father love us far more that we could possibly comprehend. Thats one of the best parts about what Christ did for us is we don't have to know how He did it, just know that He did and do all you can to make sure that suffering was not in vain. Christ lives and loves us all very much, if He didn't he wouldn't have done this for us. I know these things to be true and add my own testimony to it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Book of Mormon...

  The topic from the Book of Mormon I wish to address to day is about weaknesses. Weaknesses are talked about quite a bit in the Book of Mormon. Whether it be the person who was writing, or one of the things that they write about talk about why we all have weaknesses. Since all of us are humans, this means that we have weaknesses, but lucky for us God doesn't dislike us for our weaknesses, He gave them to us for a reason. And here are two fine examples of why we have weaknesses.

  The first I wish to cover comes from the Book of Jacob chapter 4:7 "Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things." And also in the Book of Ether 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

  There are two great reasons for weaknesses, so we maybe able to recognize our constant need for God's infinite love and tender mercies towards us. I know during my whole surgery I was show just how weak I really am, but now looking back I am very grateful because I was able to develop such a greater love for my Heavenly Father, and realize how much He loves me and how much He was able to help me. I used to get so frustrated growing up, because I had a lot of difficulty reading, so when I first started on my mission I was worried that it would slow me down a lot. At first it did, because I would get so down on myself for not being able to read like other people. But as in most things in life there are two ways to approach weaknesses, give up and use it as a crutch or work as hard as you can to try and over come it. After I read that scripture from Ether I wanted to put God to the test and see, if He could help me become better at reading. And I am here to say that He did help me with my reading, and many of the other struggles that I have. And He will do the same for you. God is no respecter of persons, He loves us all the same. So He can and will help you with whatever your weakness maybe. I have a strong testimony of this and I leave it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Book of Mormon..

  Today my thought will come from The Book Of Mormon, in the Book of Heleman chapter 5:12. I love this scripture because it talks about how we need to have a solid foundation built upon Jesus Christ. With the last name House, I know how important a good foundation is! Sorry that was a bad joke, but I couldn't help it. On a more serious note, that foundation that we base upon Christ, will really help us out when we face the hardships that we all go through.

  And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
  There is also a poem that I would like to share, I have almost memorized it and it goes so well with this scripture. Its called the Mighty Oak.
A mighty wind blew night and day It stole the oak trees leaves away- Then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark Until the oak was tried and stark- But still the oak tree stood its ground While other trees fell all around.
The weary Wind gave up and spoke Why are you still standing oak? The Oak tree said: I know that you- Can break every branch of mine and two- Carry every leaf away, Shake my limbs, and make me sway- But I have roots Stretched in the earth- Growing stronger since my birth. You'll never touch them- For you see they are the deepest part of me
Until today, I wasn't sure just how much I could endure- But know I've found, with thanks to you- I'm stronger than I ever knew. As told by Elder M. Russell Ballard
  I love both of those, the scripture and the poem, because they both give to really good examples of ways to keep our selves safe in the face of the adversary. One is a solid rock to build yourself upon, and the other is by sending your roots deep into the earth. I highlighted a part of this scripture because its so key to realize that is not if hard times will come, its just a matter if time. After all this life is the time for us to go through these things. After this life there will be no pain or suffering, so our window to learn from these hard times is such a brief moment when we look at the big picture. The life expectancy is somewhere around 80 years and after this life it will go on forever! So lets not get to discouraged by these small moments. Christ has already suffered for all of the hard things that we have and will go through so lets turn to Him so He will help protect us through the hard times. I know that as we put our trust in Christ, though we may sway, we will never fall! This is my testimony in the name of the Rock of our Salvation, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Book of Mormon...

  Our day was going pretty slow, so we decided to come and see if the website was working, and it is! So here is my thought of the day. People often ask us why we have the Book of Mormon? They say the bible is all we need, and I wonder, so does that mean that God is limited to only talk to one group of people? That doesn't sound like an all powerful God that was able to create us this world and everything that we can see. How can our God that can do all of this only speak to one group of people?! Well, the Prophet Nephi from the Book of Mormon had something to say on this very topic. That is found in the Book of Nephi Chapter 29 verses 7-11.

 "Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever. Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written. For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written."

  Once again, I love how plan the Book of Mormon puts it. Did you forget that God is the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever? Do you think He loves one group of people more than another? NO!! Gods loves us all equally. He is a just merciful God, that is mindful of all of our needs and wishes to help us. We need to make sure our eyes are open and ready to recognize the very signs in front of us. As this scripture states, God is not done speaking, He will keep speaking as long as there are good people left on the earth. This is my testimony, and I leave it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Sorry...

So today I was planning on keeping up with my thought a day from the Book of Mormon, but the lds.org website is down and thats how I get the Scripture copied because I type far too slow, so I will put one up hopefully before Wednesday. Sorry again, Love Elder Kevin House

Friday, January 14, 2011

Book of Mormon...

  Yesterday I talked a little about the Book of Mormon and so I thought I will continue on with that a little bit more. What I would like to do today, is to share one of my favorite passages from the Book of Mormon. I will probably do this for a few days, because there are lots that I really like from the Book of Mormon. The one I wish to start with will be from, The Book of 2 Nephi chapter 25 verses 23, 26,and 29. This does a great job of telling people what we believe in our church.

23For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. 26And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.29And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out.

  Pretty straight forward I must say. We believe in Christ, and we hope to help everyone we can believe in Christ, because we know it is only through Him and His infinite mercy that we can be cleansed from our sins. In our Church we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we teach of Christ, because He is truly our Savior and we could all use to learn more about Him. After all, He was the only perfect person to ever walk the face of this earth, and all of us fall short everyday. So we should be doing our best to apply His teachings in our lives. I love this scripture and many more like it in The Book of Mormon, because like the Bible, it helps bring our lives in closer harmony with the Master Teacher Himself, Jesus Christ.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

The Book of Mormon

  Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite books, and that is the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable with the Holy Bible. It is the evidence that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet, because if the Book of Mormon is true than Joseph Smith is a Prophet because Joseph did not write the Book of Mormon he translated it by the power of God.

  The Book of Mormon liked the title says, it is indeed another testament of Jesus Christ. It tells of the ancient people in this, the American content. It begins around 600 years before Christ was even born. It tells of Gods dealings with the people who lived here and of their prophets and the people that lived here and the ways that God was able to help them. It starts by telling of a family that had to leave Jerusalem because it was about to be destroyed. So they left and God was able to guide them to eventually come over to the Americas. It tells of this peoples rise and fall. How when they would listen to the prophets they were blessed and were able to prosper and when they rejected the prophet they had hard times.

  I could go on and on talking about what is contained in the Book of Mormon but it would be much better if you read it yourself because these men truly were inspired by God to write the the very words they did, because they are able to help us out so much today. God has spoken again to prophets and as He always does, God won't force us to listen, He puts the information out there and wants us to do a bit of testing and come to find out for ourselves if things are true by asking Him. Like I have talked about prayer before, that is the only way to know if something is true or not, is by going to the ultimate source of truth, God, and ask Him. And to not take another person's word for it who may of read the Book of Mormon, is go strait to the source and check it out for yourself. I know these things are true because I have asked for myself, and God told me, Elder Kevin House that the Book of Mormon was true. And because the Book of Mormon is true that means that Joseph Smith is a prophet and all that he was able to do to restore the church is to help us out today. I know this will work if you try it. I say this is the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Prayer...

  So prayers have been on my mind a lot lately. I have been thinking what a marvelous blessing it is that God hears and answers our prayers. I was thinking about God and how He is a VERY busy guy! After all He did create all of us, this planet, and the universe so God could have far more things or people or creations that He could be attending to, and yet He is loving enough to take the time to hear and answer even a child's prayer. I was reading recently in the LDS bible dictionary, where there are definitions on what words mean, I read this:
"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings."

  When, I read how these blessings are already prepared for us I was amazed, but it makes so much sense because if Christ has already suffered for all of our sins then of course God, Our Father will know what we need. Like the scripture is Matthew 7: 7-11 "Ask, and it shall be given 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. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask  him?" 

 God truly does give us the best gifts. We just need to work on getting our will in line with the will of the Father's that we may be able to better obtain these blessings. I know God loves and that He hears better than any of us realize! So lets open our mouths and speak and call on these blessings from Heaven.