Come Follow Me- Daily Dose

In this period of church history, much like today, there were groups of people who sought to destroy the church and the faith of the people. Joseph Smith explains that in effort to drive the church out of Ohio, the people began to print false and defamatory information in the newspapers.  Information that is often still circulated today as if it were fact. Because of all this false informatio...

Here, as the Lord is teaching the saints new laws and principles, He also takes a moment to teach them another vitally important principle. He teaches them about revelation. He teaches them that they can know and have a testimony of this law for themselves. The Lord wants us to know and understand that He is the source of knowledge and truth, and that as we approach Him, He will reveal all things...

In these verses the Lord is giving the saints some really interesting direction. Referring to the sick He tells them to use all the medicine available to them AND faith and priesthood blessings. It wasn't an either/or. Healings sometimes require both. And, often times, as much as we have the faith to be healed, we also need to develop the faith necessary when it is not part of God's plan. 

The Lord promised the saints that He would give them His law when they were gathered in Ohio. In section 42 He does. Often times we tend to confuse the Law of Consecration with the United Order. They are indeed tied together but they aren't the same thing. That is important to recognize because while we aren't currently asked to live the United Order, we have covenanted and are asked to live the L...

Every single one of us, whether we are set apart as teacher are not, act as teachers in our lives. Here in this verse the Lord commands that if we don't have the Spirit with us we "shall not teach." Why is the Spirit so vital in teaching the gospel, and what can we do to teach with more power from the Spirit?

It is all about authority! And I love it! Authority to act and preach in God's name is what separates us from any other organization. But think how new and foreign this must have been to these original 12. There was no shortage of religion at the time. No shortage of people preaching. But they were about to do something different. Something no one had done in nearly 1800 years. They were going to...

The Lord is teaching the early saints how to become true disciples, and it goes way beyond sitting in the chapel on Sundays. He says in verse 5 that it isn't enough just to receive the law, we have to be willing to live it. That is discipleship. That is conversion.

I couldn't possibly love this scripture more! I love what we learn about our Savior as He declares that He "delights" to bless those that hear Him! Everything that He is and everything that He does is centered around that joy. It is however, important to recognize that His blessings don't always look the way we want them, or come exactly as we expect. But as we do our best to hear and follow Him,...

In these scriptures the Lord reassures James Covel that He has seen his works and knows him. The same is true for us. He knows our works and our desires and who we are. Because He knows us and our works He promises us certain blessings, but something that I think often times we misunderstand is that those blessings that he mentions to us aren't a fortune of what our future holds, rather is is a pr...

In these verses, the Lord invites James Covel to become His son through covenants with Him. Which raises the question, "Aren't we all son's and daughters of God? Why do we need to make covenants to receive that distinction?" Today we will talk about what that means to be the Lord's son or daughter and what blessings are promised to us as we enter into that relationship with Him. 

Today as we start into section 39 we learn about a man who we never would have heard about if it weren't for this section. James Covel was a Methodist minister who covenanted that he would follow whatever revelation was given to him by the prophet Joseph. However, when the Lord told him to be baptized and preach the gospel James' conviction faltered, and by the net day he had returned to the Metho...

Yesterday we talked about the scripture "for your salvation I give unto you a commandment," and how it applies generally with all of God's commandments. Today we take a look at the specific commandments that the Lord was giving the saints. The commandments to come together, to love one another and to be one. Why is our unity important to the Lord, and how can we develop greater unity as saints tod...

This scripture says that for our salvation God gives us commandments. This is absolutely true. The commandments protect us and as we live them they change our hearts. However I think, when talking about obedience, it is important to remember that we are not saved BY our obedience to the commandments. We obey, and that obedience makes us more like the Savior, but in all things we are saved by Chris...

In section 38, as the Lord is again commanding the saints to gather in Ohio, He makes reference to a parable the Savior taught in Matthew 13. He talks about gathering to Ohio because the world was corrupt and that the tares would be gathered in and destroyed. In the Savior's parable he talks about gathering the wheat and bringing them to safety first. It made me think about how invested the Lord i...

This section is the first time we hear about the saints move to Ohio. He asks them to do a really hard thing. Often times in our lives the Lord asks us to move, or to change or to grow. He asks hard things of us for the purpose of growing us or making us better. But I love what we can learn in verse 4 where the Lord says, "Here is wisdom, and let everyman choose for himself." The Lord will never f...

"My arm is not shortened." This is such a comforting doctrine to me, to know that the Lord is still reaching into our lives and the lives of those we love, to bless and strengthen and help us. But what the Lord teaches Sydney Rigdon here is so similar to what President Nelson taught us a week ago It is BY FAITH that we can seen those miracles and BY FAITH that we can work those miracles.

Sydney Rigdon is told that he was prepared to assist in this great work in the same way that John was sent to prepare the way for the Savior. In like manner President Nelson has told the youth of the church that they have been sent to Earth at this time to prepare the world for the Saviors 2nd coming. Are we doing all we can do to help them fulfill this foreordained mission?

Often times I think we use the words humility and meekness as synonyms, but they don't mean the same thing. I am a giant word nerd, and when two words are found together I LOVE to study what they each mean. And often times in the scriptures meekness and humility are right next to each other. So I studied them... a lot! And here is what I have discovered. Humility is more often the attitude with wh...

In this verse it talks about something that I think often times we misunderstand. Sometimes we believe that just the act of doing missionary work cleanses us from sin. I don't think that it true. Saying it that way turns missionary work into a contract. Rather, and I believe this is true with all the commandments, as we DO the gospel, as we are obedient, conversion happens within our hearts. And a...

Both verses that we talk about today are about affliction, the first is about the sorrows ad afflictions of others and how we can better bear them. The second is about the sorrow that we feel as our loved ones reject our beliefs. But the beautiful thing is that the Lord has beautiful promises for us in both types of affliction. 

These verses are given to David Whitmer, who, as we know is a pretty great guy. But here the Lord is giving him a strict call to repentance. That is a huge reminder to me that repentance isn't just for the monumental sins in our lives but for the everyday ones as well. Today we will take a look at these 6 smalls sins and see have the adversary tries to use them in our day and age to pull us down.&...

"But there IS a resurrection, therefore, the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ."

I think that for the most part we understand that if we can hold out faithful, all will be well in the end. But let me get real for a second, sometimes in the middle of trail or pain, it is hard to remember or even care. However, Christ's atonement is there for us ALWAYS. We can and will experience the "Immediate Goodness of God" as we wait for the Sunday's of life. I testify that we can experienc...

I often times am woefully stubborn and independent. It is who I have always been. But I love the principle taught here in this verse, it says that HE (meaning Christ) will change our hearts. This isn't something we can do on our own, through our grit and willpower. Our hearts are changed as we come unto Christ and turn our hearts over to Him, trusting completely, that He can make more of us than w...

Often times when we think of the Lord's work, we think of what He has already done, His life, atonement, death and resurrection. But Isaiah helps us understand that His work continues with each of us today. Our salvation is continuously before Him and He delights in bringing to pass our eternal life.