Scripture of the day...

  I have really grown to love this scripture in Romans 1:8-12 here is why. "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me."

  I like Paul give thanks each day for all of you that read my blogs. I give thanks that He has allowed me a new way to reach out, and share a small part of my great testimony of Our Master, Jesus Christ. That each day I am able to think of things to say that will hopefully help someone out there increase their faith in our Lord. We have all been given so many gifts, that we should share with others. I am in thanks each day to Jesus Christ for the great faith I have in Him. May we all look around us and give thanks for all that we have been given in life, and share the good news the Gospel brings to each of us.

Jesus is the Way

  Recently, I was thumbing through my scriptures and read these verses and I thought I would talk about how grateful I am for the knowledge that Jesus Christ made it possible for ALL of us to return to God's presence. The verses that I read were these from Acts Chapter 4 verses 10 and 12. "10Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

  I love how powerful of  a testimony was given by two of Christ's apostles, Peter and John given here. Telling us, this is of how, and where our salvation comes from. That Christ came and the people rejected and crucified Him, but God still brought Him back from the dead, so Christ could fulfil the rest of His divine mission, and save man kind and be resurrected.

 I have often wondered, what is the meaning of the word apostle? So, I read the definition of the word apostle in the LDS bible dictionary, and it says, apostle means sent forth to share their witness as a special witness of the resurrected Lord. That's is exactly what Peter and John were doing. Sharing their own special witness that they had seen the Lord again! That Christ was indeed resurrected, that not only did He live, but He still lives now. And that they knew that there is NO other way or name where by man can be saved. It is only through the name of our dear Master Shepard and eldest brother Jesus Christ we can be saved. Because of His endless love for each of us we can be saved. I wish to add my testimony of this as well, that I know that Christ will save us all as we believe His name and follow Him. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The Spirit of God

  The hymn on my mind today is from the LDS hymnal page 2, and it is The Spirit of God. I love this song because the Spirit of God is all around us. And as this song sates it can be that burning we all have inside us. After all the Spirit or the Holy Ghost is that baptism by fire that we are taught about in the scriptures and in Corinthians we are taught that our bodies are a dwelling place for the Holy Ghost. So, it just makes sense that we can have this fire burning within us. The Lord is indeed extending the saints understanding, thanks to the modern day Prophets and apostles on the earth today. Here are the words to the hymn:
 
 

1. The Spirit of God like a fire is burning!
The latter-day glory begins to come forth;
The visions and blessings of old are returning,
And angels are coming to visit the earth.

[Chorus]
We’ll sing and we’ll shout with the armies of heaven,
Hosanna, hosanna to God and the Lamb!
Let glory to them in the highest be given,
Henceforth and forever, Amen and amen!

2. The Lord is extending the Saints’ understanding,
Restoring their judges and all as at first.
The knowledge and power of God are expanding;
The veil o’er the earth is beginning to burst.

3. We’ll call in our solemn assemblies in spirit,
To spread forth the kingdom of heaven abroad,
That we through our faith may begin to inherit
The visions and blessings and glories of God.

4. How blessed the day when the lamb and the lion
Shall lie down together without any ire,
And Ephraim be crowned with his blessing in Zion,
As Jesus descends with his chariot of fire!

  Verse one speaks of visions and blessings returning to the earth, which can cause some people to think or wonder wait a minute this all stopped with the apostles and there won't be anymore of this. Which causes me to look to the scriptures when it says things like this. In the book of Acts chapter 2:17-19 it quotes words from the Prophet Joel that says: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:". There we are told that before the day the Lord comes again these things are going to happen.

  Verse two speaks of how our knowledge and power will be expanded. This is not because men are more powerful, this is because of the spirit the Lord is poured out upon us. Such as the story of David and Goliath, Goliath was clearly favored in that match up, but David had an unseen power on His side and that was the power of the Lord. Thanks to the power of the Lord, David is able to defeat the foe. The Lord has so much power that He is willing to give to the children of men. We have to prepare and be worthy of it, so we can do similar things.

  Verse three talks of how we will gather together as a body of saints. We do that each Sunday and twice a year at our General Conference, which is like Ephesians 4: 11- 13 "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:". We are becoming more unified in our faith. True it is not the whole world yet, but that is the next part of the verse, spreading the Kingdom abroad. That is what I am doing now, and all of my other missionary friends. Trying to spread this glad message with the world. That these things have not ceased. God still speaks! We are still receiving direction and guidance from a loving merciful Father above!

  Verse four, How blessed the day when the lamb and the lion can lie down together without and ire. How wonderful to think that things that would normally would not get along. I guess the lion gets along fine with the lamb, its just in a bit worse shape afterwards... But to think of all animals living together in peace. If it will be that way with animals, it will be the same with us as humans because we will be in the presence of our Father. Wow, what a great feeling it will be, when we see Jesus descending in His Chariot of fire and we will all jump and shout for joy!! Singing Hosanna Hosanna to God and the Lamb and glory to them forever! Amen and amen!!