Blessed, Protected, and Directed

"We are promised that if we pray sincerely for that which is right and good and in accordance with God’s will, we can be blessed, protected, and directed." - Elder David A. Bednar, Pray Always, October 2008

Notice he did not say that we are granted what we want just by praying about it. He said that "we can be blessed, protected, and directed" (in what ways he did not say) if we seek to do the will of God in our prayers. The blessings and protection come according to the will of our Heavenly Father. The direction comes to align our will to the will of the Father. What a remarkable promise we have as we pray sincerely!

See also 3 Nephi 18:20 and D&C 19:38.

Obedience, Repentance, and the Atonement

This post is in response to a comment on my last post.

Obedience does not lessen the atonement. Obedience to God's law shows our love for him (John 14:15). In the book of Leviticus we read "And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins." (Leviticus 26:21). In Matthew 7:21 the Savior says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

You mentioned that God justifies by faith. How is that faith manifested if not by obedience and repentance? Certainly it is not a mere belief. We read in James that even the devils believe. Why are they not saved by Christ? They rebel against him. If we were to continue reading in James we would see that Abraham was justified by his obedience. He was not justified by his faith in God alone, but because he was willing to offer his son as a sacrifice to God as he had been commanded to do. Obedience it not a trivial thing. We cannot be saved while we refuse to obey the word of God. We must allow him to save us.

Amulek bore a powerful testimony of the atonement. I will share part of it with you. "And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal. And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance. And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption. Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you; Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save." (Alma 34:14-18) From this we learn that our faith in Christ and his atonement will lead us to repentance.

The question we must ask now is, What is repentance? The LDS Bible Dictionary defines the word repentance as, "The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of mind, i.e., a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world. Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined. Without this there can be no progress in the things of the soul’s salvation, for all accountable persons are stained by sin, and must be cleansed in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Repentance is not optional for salvation; it is a commandment of God. The preaching of repentance by John the Baptist formed the preparation for the ministry of our Lord." It is through repentance, when we have failed to be obedient that we are brought to God. Our repentance is the way that Christ's infinite atonement is made to work in our life.

I know that I am nothing without the atonement of Christ. He enables me to be more than I am on my own. For me this has been accomplished though prayer. I have poured out my whole soul to him and acknowledged my own nothingness and unworthiness before him. I have plead for the mercy and the power of Chist's atonement to change my heart. I have felt an actual change it my heart. I cannot say that I never sin, but I can say that with the help of Jesus Christ I do better everyday. I feel sorrow at the thought that my disobedience has caused my Lord and Savior to suffer intolerable pain. I know that I will be saved in the kingdom of God. I have accepted the great sacrifice of Jesus, been obedient to his commandments, and repented when I have fallen short. I know that God lives. Jesus Christ is the Savior of us all. He atoned for us, and with his stripes we are healed.