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.

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.

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.