Come Follow Me- Daily Dose

Doctrine & Covenants 93 teaches us that we obtain grace FOR grace. When we understand that principle the order of teachings here in section 64 makes better sense! Yesterday we talked about the compassion and grace He is willing to offer us and today these verses teach us about the compassion and grace we are expected to give to others! GRACE FOR GRACE!

In these verses, the Savior shows us in beautiful simplicity who He is, and what he desires to do for us. 

In these verses I feel like the Lord is trying to help us understand a sense of the sacred. How sacred things need to be kept holy, and included in those sacred things is his name. How we speaking it and how we represent it.

The promise that "He that is faithful and endureth shall overcome the world," has more meaning than I think we can even comprehend. Overcoming the world is more than just overcoming temptation and being righteous. Overcoming the world means gaining and becoming all that God desires to offer us. But it requires us to be faithful, and if we are to be a faith filled people, it starts with action!

As I was studying today I just couldn't shake the theme of obedience to God's commandments. More than once in my life, when people have heard that I am a member of the church I have ben accused of "blind obedience." My message to them was the same as my message to you. Obedience is never blind when you know who you are following. 

At a time when many of the early saint were struggling to understand and keep God's commandments, the Lord is going to give revelation to teach them what revelation can do for them. How when we follow His will we can obtain continuous revelation in our lives. 

For every good and righteous thing that God has given us, Satan has created a counterfeit to deceive and sway us. Here in these verses the Lord warns us about counterfeits for love and intimacy. He also teaches us that Christ is the only way to overcome the adversaries attacks and stay planted firmly on the Lord's side of the line. 

The scriptures teach us that signs and wonders follow them that believe. That doesn't mean tat God is only blessing those with faith, rather it means that those with faith, those who are converted will always be able to see God's hand in the blessings that come.  

In these verses you can really tell that the Lord is not happy with the actions of some of the saints! But His anger helps us understand and identify an important false doctrine that is being spread in the world today. The world would have us believe that our behavior and actions don't matter to God, that right and wrong is based on what feels right and wrong to us. This simple isn't true. God giv...

In 62:1 and in 61:39 the Lord teaches us that in moments of temptation or weakness we can call upon Him as our Savior because He is our Advocate and our Redeemer! By virtue of His suffering and atonement, in ANY circumstance we can call upon Him for relief!

Here in the middle of massive struggles and trials, the Lord tells the saints to "Be of good cheer." This statement in times of heartbreak is not the Saviors way of telling us to buck up and be glad. Rather it is an invitation to turn to Him and find peace. 

In times of trial and despair it is my belief that if we will take time to turn to the Lord and Hear Him, we can hear and know just as Joseph Smith and these elders knew, that Christ "has all power," is "from everlasting to everlasting, even Alpha and Omega." 

In these verses we learn about 2 distinct patterns of the Lord. A pattern of Christ-like ministering, and His pattern of revelation. The more we seek to understand His patterns the more we are able to turn our hearts to Him and become more like Him. 

I love the last sentence of this verse! "For I am able to make your holy, and your sins are forgiven you." Do we sometimes underestimate or underappreciate all that the Lord is able to do for us by virtue of His grace? His atonement isn't just about helping us to return to God's presence clean, we were clean before we left! His atonement, His grace is able to return us clean yes, but also holy, mo...

I love this principle SO MUCH! At least 5 times in the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord tells His people, "it mattereth not." This doesn't mean that God is apathetic to our questions, rather it means that God is far more interested in growing His people through allowing them to use their agency than He is on making sure we all make the absolute perfect decision every time. The Lord's response "it m...

I absolutely love what these verses can teach us about testimonies. 1st that they are a gift that comes from God in combination with our efforts. But that if we aren't continuously doin the work of testimony, that we are in risk of losing what we have ben given. I love this because so often we think that the efforts that someone makes 10 or 20 years ago, like serving a mission or getting married i...

God's ultimate concern is for our well being and our growth. By asking something of us and asking our obedience to His commandments he can fulfill both of those desires for us. As we surrender our agency to Him to obey His commandments our hearts are changed AND He is able to bless us as a result. Really when it comes down to it there are very few things we have to give God that are really our own...

As the Lord is continuing to give us commandments in section 59, I am continuing to see how most of His commandments are means to bless us and help us draw nearer to Him. In these verses the Lord commands that the saints live the law of the fast, but if we understand the blessing that are promised as we live the law of the fast, then missing out on a few meals can hardly be considered a sacrifice....

The running theme this week is God trying to create a Zion people. Because He wants us to change and grow He gives us commandments and things we can do to draw nearer to Him. The first commandment given in section 59 is to love God, but as I have been reading this week I have noticed that all the commandments He gives after are principles that, if lived, will draw us closer to God and help us love...

In section 59 the Lord continues to teach the saints about building Zion (the people) As part of that building process He reiterates some commandments to them. Just like in the days of Moses and the Savior, the first commandment He gives is to love God. But why? Why is a love of God the first of all His commandments. If we have a deep and abiding love for our Father in Heaven, then trusting Him en...

What does it mean to be anxiously engaged in a good cause? Today we will talk about what it means to do good of our own free will, and how we can be anxiously engaged rather than sporadically engaged. 

In section 57 the Lord tells the early saints that they are to settle in Missouri and build Zion there. Let's remember though that Zion isn't just a name of a city or a geographic spot on a map, it is also a title that God gives to His people, "And the Lord called His PEOPLE Zion." So when the saints get to Missouri and so much trial and struggles follow, perhaps, through difficulty, through hards...

Here, the Lord, having just commanded the saints to gather in Missouri, tells them that they can't possibly see or understand what is coming down the turnpike for them. I guess that is a blessing. If they could have looked ahead and seen how incredibly difficult the next 8 years were going to be, perhaps they never would have made the journey in the first place. However, there was a blessing in st...

There are some lesser understood doctrines here in these verses, but I think the one that is most important for us to understand as the world continues to get farther from Christ is what is says in verse 4 where we are told that the Lord will command and REVOKE according to His knowledge of what will be best. We are used to and understand that God gives continuous revelation to command us, but do...

The deeper and deeper I study the scriptures the more I realize that the Lord is very intentional about His word choices. Here in verse 1 He says that He is speaking to those who profess His name. Perhaps He is teaching us that there is a difference between professing His name and really believing in Him. Once our faith in Him goes beyond a declaration and becomes a way of life, it becomes easier...