Jesus Christ's Millennial Reign

I'm continuing on in my tradition to study different aspects of Christ for the month of December, leading up to Christmas.  I started with Jesus Christ, Millennial Reign because it's something I know very little about and I was curious.

Most of the scriptures I started looking up at first I was thinking what does this have to do with the Millennium since they are just about him being a ruler.  Then I realized that the Millenium is really the only time he will be the absolute ruler- it wasn't when he was on earth.  Although most descriptions of him as a ruler pertain to him on earth, the Millennium will be the only time where he rules supreme.

As I read, I became more and more interested in what these descriptions of him as a ruler say about Christ as a person.  I feel like I learned a lot about his nature and personality from this line of thinking.

Isaiah 11:2 ... the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.."

      It's interesting here it seems like the Lord is someone other than himself since it describes him as filled with "the Spirit of the Lord."  The Lord is himself, but the Spirit isn't.  I think he was filled with the Spirit of his mission.  Also, it describes him having "fear of the Lord."  I think here the scripture is distinguishing between his role and his person.  He must have known his role a little separate from himself.  Jesus the person, Christ the Savior.  That would instill fear in me if I understood the role and need for a Savior and I knew that had to be me.  At least fear in the sense of deep respect and anticipation for the job to be done.  Interesting insight into what must have been going on in Christ's head as he figured everything out.

Isaiah 11:3 ... he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears..

    I think this says a lot about Christ- the fact that he didn't judge after what he saw.  This is incredibly hard for mortals and probably for him too as a mortal, but it goes on to say in verse 4 that he judged "with righteousness."  He didn't make quick judgments, he knew how to look on the heart and see someone's true character.

Isaiah 16:5  And in mercy shall the throne be established and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment and hasting righteousness."

     He reigns IN mercy.  So should we in leadership positions.  We should give others the benefit of the doubt.  Also the fact that in his role as judge- he both judges AND seeks judgment is a very interesting insight.  I think it denotes humility to seek other's judgment since he could very well do it all himself perfectly- gives us the opportunity, or at least his disciples.

None of these verses specify millennium but I guess they must since Christ wasn't a ruler on His time on earth.  This is why the Jews denied Him because they were waiting for the millennial leader described in the scriptures.

Isaiah 33:22  For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.

      These roles kind of seem at odds- judge, lawgiver, king, savior but considering he is perfect, all-knowing and all-merciful.  Who else could fill all these roles we need filled?  Humans need a judge, a lawgiver, a king and savior.

Zeph 3: 15-20  .... the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt to see evil anymore

     No wonder the Israelites were excited and waiting for a might king.  These verses describe a super star ruler.  In verse 17 he is described as mighty, save, will rejoice over thee, rest in love with thee, drive out enemies, praise and fame them who've been put to shame.  Wh wouldn't want that in a king?  Sounds too good to be true.  No wonder they didn't recognize Christ when He came.  These millennial scriptures confused them.

Zach 14:9  ... the Lord shall be king over the whole earth: in that day shall there be one Lord and his name one.

     I think there's something really comforting about just having one leader for everyone to look to.  Its less confusing having everyone go to the same source.  It puts people on equal ground.  The key is being able to trust the one leader and really we can only trust Christ who is perfect (although prophets are a close second).

Luke 1:32  talks about his ruling right through the line of David, as do many of these scriptures.

     Why this obsession with David?  What's the connection between David and millennial reign?  Maybe inheritance of total power?

1 Cor 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet

    Sounds like Christ will tackle his enemies one at a time.  So should we tackle challenges one at a time.  Just take one enemy at a time.

1 Cor 15:26   The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

    He saved the hardest enemy/challenge for last.  The resurrection ends His millennial reign.

1 Cor 15:24  Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God... when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

      Most times power, especially complete power is very difficult to give up once you've experienced it (that scripture in D & C about the natural inclination of man when he gets a little power to abuse it), but Christ gives up his power willingly- submitting all power to the Father.

1 Nephi 22:24  ... the Holy One of Israel must reign in dominion and might and power and great glory.

      Just a few characteristics of Christ as king.

v 25  ... he gathereth his children... he numbereth his sheep and they know him.

       This is our test- to know him.  This is why its important to study every aspect of his character and life because in the end, it's our ultimate test.

v 26  And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power.

      In the millennium, it's not because God or Christ binds Satan, its because of righteousness of the people.  I think we can achieve some semblance of Satan having no power over us here in this life as we increase our righteousness.

Jacob 5: 75 [Christ glories with his servants over the fruit of the vineyard] .... blessed art thou... because ye have been diligent... ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit....

      Christ shares the work and glory- even though He did most of the work, he still shares all the glory. This says a lot about Christ as a ruler that He wants to share his glory and joy with his subjects.  He really likes them and wants to be with them.  It's what brings him joy.  An excellent leadership quality- the love of your subjects and wanting to be around them.  When you compare that to the actions of a king, who generally only deals with the 'high ups,' Christ seems so full of compassion and love.

D&C 29:13 .... they shall come forth- yea even the dead which died in me, to receive a crown of righteousness and to be clothed upon, even as I am, to be with me, that we may be one

     "That we may be one."  Christ puts people on his level even though he is so much higher and greater.  He elevates his subjects to greatness.  He crowns them.

D&C 43:29 ...my people shall be redeemed and shall reign with me on earth...

    Same idea here.  We reign with him.  He shares his power and control with those who have proved themselves.  He does not wish for power or control.  He wants to share it all.

D&C 76:107  When he shall deliver up the kingdom and present it unto the Father spotless, saying: I have overcome and have trodden the wine-press alone, even the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God...

     I guess this doesn't have so much to do with his millennial reign as it does with his atonement, but I found it so interesting that he would say the "wine-press of the fierceness of God" over all the ways he could have described that wine-press.  Over all the horrible things he experienced in the atonement- Satan, temptation, sorrow, illness, physical death.  Here it sounds like the worst was the wrath of God.  I kinda understand that.  The worst feeling is the guilt you feel knowing you messed up and let down someone who gave you so much.  The guilt of letting God down can be extreme.  I think that's kind of how we feel His wrath- guilt.  It must have been pretty awful.

Article of Faith 1:10 ... that Christ will reign personally upon the earth....

    A personal reign.  That's pretty cool.  He won't be up in heaven giving orders to a few, he'll be down with us reigning personally over everything.  Pretty cool.

I learned a lot about Christ in studying his role during his millennial reign.  I look forward to seeing it.  These scriptures describe the most kind, loving, compassionate, humble and fair ruler I've ever heard of.  His love of his subjects and his lack of desire for power make me yearn to have him rule over the whole earth.

Why I'm a Mormon

 I wrote this as an email on my mission 7 years ago.  My writing style has changed a little since then, but the ideas haven't :)

Why I am a Mormon
By Celeste Mahlum

Well I'll be honest, I am a Mormon because my parents are Mormon and raised me in the church. This however is no trite statement. This thought fills my soul with love and gratitude form my wonderful parents who let me experience years of family prayer and scripture study, Family Home Evenings and church services. Most of all, they shared their testimonies with me and lived by example. I knew that they knew and this in a large means carried me through. I would not be a Mormon if they didn't know. I owe everything I hold dear in life to them—both who they are and how they raised me. I cannot adequately express my gratitude for them both.

No one can survive however on borrowed light. I can remember, in my days as a lifeguard—my fellow guards there found it humorous to imagine me at college, on my own, mistakenly accrediting my mormonistic ways to being under my parents 'rule.' (they obviously weren't well acquainted with my parent's parental methods…) They jovially predicted me letting down my hair, painting the town red and other otherwise worldly, nonmormonly pursuits. Yet when I experienced the freedom of living 4 states away from my parents, I found myself continuing to go to church every Sunday, reading and praying everyday, refraining from even a sip of alcohol and I mean c'mon I even walked away from R rated movies. Ultimately accumulating in sacrificing a year and a half of my life to live in this weird European country just to tell people about it. (not to mention the creation of this email) Why on earth would I do that just because my parents were Mormon?? What a good question… why would I do all that? Either I've been pretty well brainwashed, or…. an actual light has been struck inside of me, not a one time strike, but growing and growing- eventually resulting in all these sacrifices for a cause of truth that I can not deny.

I would like to say, like we sometimes like to say to our investigators that my testimony started with me getting on my knees and praying about Joseph Smith, but it didn't, in fact I was largely unsure of the whole 'angelic visitation' business and conveniently left that part out upon any discussion of my faith with my nonmormon friends. Instead, the light of my own testimony began to burn as I tried out principles taught to me in church and from my parents and saw that they actually worked. I prayed and got the things I asked for. I read the Book of Mormon and got that peaceful feeling promised. Simply, as I was obedient, I was happy and when I wasn't, I wasn't. This perhaps 'selfish' motivation started me out on my mormonly ways, but with time my motivations changed, I wanted to do what God wanted me to because through the years, I had developed some type of idea, fuzzy though it was, of who God is and thus desired to do the things He wanted me to do, out of both a love for Him and an understanding that He knows best. As this understanding began to be driving motivation behind my decisions, I grew and grew both in testimony and faith. Simple process really- hear it, try it, see that it works  believe and grow in faith.

So now that we've affirmed why I am a mormon, lets clarify why I have remained one. This leads us back to that bit about Joseph Smith. In some way this whole Mormonism deal all leads back to one question—was Joseph Smith called by God as a prophet or not? This answer came far from overnight for me. Instead it was the accumulation of years of reading the Book of Mormon. At first, I understood maybe 7% of what I read, but still remember the nice feelings I had while reading it to fall asleep at a young age. With time I began to feel literally that through the book, God speaks to me—I mean directly to me. I received answers to my personal questions and prayers- advice and guidance I needed. Mostly I just felt good, peaceful and even tingly sometimes, which I came to later recognize as the Spirit. Eventually I came to realize this meant that the Book was true. And if the Book was true and of God, Joseph Smith, who obtained and translated the record must have been called of God. There was the answer. Finally, I had come to find out for myself that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that through Him, God restored His one true church on the earth to spread the fullness of the gospel of Christ, so we could all have the knowledge, authority and ordinances necessary to return back to our Heavenly Father. With time and continued study, prayer and commandment keeping, my testimony has grown and grown and today, I relate with Joseph Smith as he said—I know it. I know that God knows it, and I cannot deny it.

Ok, so that's my story. I write this not to prove my piety, or so you all will think 'oh, what a nice little story Celeste has typed out for us,' rather I felt I had write it, because this testimony burns inside of me to the point that I have to share it. I don't think that God has given the knowledge or experiences He has, just so I would be a better person or something. He has given it to me so I can share it, so I can let others know the truth. So, now you all know that I know that this church is true and all it claims to be. I'll be honest, I really really want all of you reading this to become Mormons, active ones. And not just you, I want everyone to become a Mormon. Not just because I think is the best comparatively of all religions, not just because I would get amusement out of everyone having lots of kids, making funny jellos and wearing out-of-fashion turtlenecks, but because I know that it is the only path that will lead us fully into God's kingdom and all of His blessings forever with our families. Because of God's mercy, one day, you will all know all about it, but it would be best if you start that journey of knowledge now because the feelings and assurances of peace given by the Holy Ghost when we really come to know God (which is what has been restored with Joseph Smith), is worth any reading, prayer, church service or commandment keeping we can do. So, what I'm getting at is that I really want all of you to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it (You can get one free at www.mormon.org.), and then you can know all these things for yourselves. Wouldn't that be nice? It's worth it, I promise.

Desire

This is a topic I studied a few months ago, but I keep coming back to it.  I feel like desire keeps coming up as the answer to my problems. If I could just acquire a desire to change, to be more productive, be a better missionary, have more faith, have more charity, be more patient, then I would be able to set goals and work toward it, use the atonement and do it already.  But it all has to start with a desire- without one you can't or won't change.

Have you ever known someone who has a big problem (health, money, addiction, stress, anything) and you know they could fix it.  Heck, you even know HOW they could fix it, but they just won't?  Lack of desire.  Nothing can ever change without first the desire to change- for us or anyone else.

So the golden question is:  how do we acquire that desire?  How can you foster a desire when there just isn't much there?  I'm going to just be focusing on ourselves here- how to foster desire in ourselves.  Because try as we might- we have little to no control over other people's agency or desires.  That's tricky business, we'll stick with ourselves.

And honestly, I'm going in with no idea as to what the answer is to this question, in fact, I'm quite curious what I'll discover because I feel like I've been in a funk lately.  I know I could change and be better, more motivated, more productive, but I just feel like why?  I don't feel like it.  I can't summon up the desire for it even though I know I'd be happier- a better wife, mother, friend and Christian if I could summon that desire.  So, here's hoping.  Let's look at the scriptures.

(Other topics on desire to consider:  ultimately it all comes down to desire, if we desire, it will be given us- just need to summon a great enough desire.  We'll also ultimately end up whereever we desire (one of my favorite parts of the plan of salvation)- whether that be with God or not.  Have you ever tried to make someone do something they don't want to do?  Hard, very hard.  Desire must come from within to bring about effective change- can't force it- that's why God's plan won over Satan's).  Inactives will never come back until they desire it)

Psalms 37:4-5  "Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.  Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."

       Verbs here offer some suggestion- delight, commit and trust.  Good verbs to bring about or strengthen desire.

Psalms 40:8  "I delight to do thy will.  O my God, yea thy law is within my heart."

         Here again, it starts with delight or to take pleasure in.  Delight leads to desire.  I guess that makes sense.  You can't gain true and faithful desire if we're depressed or unhappy esp with God.  So first, delight in God.  Gratitude.

Ps 145:19  "He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he will also hear their cry and will save them."

         Fear of God, or respect and honor also seems to be a pre-requisite to the fulfilling of our desires.

Prov 10:24  "..the desire of the righteous shall be granted."

Prov 11:23  "..the desire of the righteous is only good."

        This verse explains the previous one.  Desires of the righteous are granted BECAUSE they are good.  So, you need good desires.  Meaning, you need to be good AND your desires need to be good.  Both.

Isaiah 53:2 "...when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him."

      We can't desire Christ for worldly reasons (popularity, wealth, power, praise)- he has none of these things.   We can only desire him spiritually.

Haggai 2:7  "...the desire of all nations shall come."

       Everyone will get what they want in the end.

Mark 9:34  In this verse, the disciples want to know who will be the greatest.
v 35 "...if any man desire to be first, the same shall be last and servant of all."

        Wanting to be greatest means being least or serving all.  Interestingly typically if you want to be greatest, it's for selfish reasons and this will come to nothing.  You'll lose in the end.  Wanting to actually be greatest means giving 100% and being entirely unselfish.  Our desires need to be unselfish in order to come to pass.  Usually our selfish desires get in the way of our unselfish ones.  We need to find a way for our righteous ones to trump and become more powerful than our selfish ones.  How?

Luke 22:31  "Simon, Satan hath desired to have you."

         Satan works according to his desires too.  We all do.  He desired his own selfish desires and he got them.  He's just never been happy.

Romans 10:1  "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved."

      Paul's righteous desire of his heart- he prays for it.  Figure out what the desire of your heart is and pray for it.

1 Corinthians 14:1  "Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts."

       Here we go.  To gain righteous desire- follow after charity.  Good advice.  We also have to desire spiritual gifts- we need to want faith, charity, miracles.

Eph 2:3  "....we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind."

         Desires of the flesh include lust, being overly fixated on looks, physical appetites and and indulgence.  Desires of the mind include pride, honor of men, intellectualism.  The mind can trick you.  Make sure your thoughts are in accordance with your righteous desires.  This is how we can ensure our righteous desires trump our selfish ones- think about them often and don't think about your selfish ones.  Desires lead to thoughts, which lead to actions which lead to who we are.  Desires lead to thoughts, but also thoughts can lead to desires.  We must squelch unrighteous desires (don't humor these thoughts) and encourage righteous ones (humor these).

1 Tim 1: 6-7 "...some have turned aside unto vain jangling.... desiring to be teachers of the law..."

          The desire to be a teacher of the law seems like a good desire, but if God isn't our #1 desire- if the desire to teach the law starts to trump more righteous desires, it can be bad, even deadly to our spirits.

James 4:2  "Ye lust and have not, ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain."

      If desires are placed on the world or evil, you will never obtain.  You will never have enough.  I think you will get what you want to a degree- worldly success or wealth, power, beauty, but once your desires are fixated there, you are never pleased.  Even when you've gotten what you wanted, you want more.  That's the irony of selfish desires- there's no end in attainment.  Compare that with righteous desires- if you desire, ask and labor, you will obtain.  But this attainment is coupled with fulfillment and satisfaction.

1 Peter 2:2-3  "As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.  If it so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious."

     If you taste his grace, you'll want more.  This is how to change desires.  Experiment.  Ask for grace- obtain it and you're righteous desires will grow and grow.  Love the image of newborn babes.  Innocence like a child desires Christ.

1 Nephi 8:12 "And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great ^ajoy; wherefore, I began to be ^bdesirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was ^cdesirable above all other fruit."

     Once you've experienced the 'exceedingly great joy' of the Lord, you want more of it and want your family to have it too.  So, to gain desire- partake of the fruit- try, experiment, walk the path.  The desire will spread on it's own once you experience the fruit.

Enos 1:9  "...when I had heard these words [about his own faith] I began to feel a desire for the welfare of my brethren; wherefore I did pour out my whole soul unto God for them."

     Same as Lehi, when he was saved (repented), he began to desire it for others.  It's the natural progression of conversion that once you've experienced something wonderful- conversion- you desire it for your loved ones and then for your enemies, or all men.  Repentence could be another spark with desire.  Clean slate.

Enos 1: 11 after the Lord speaks to him again, "...my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord and I prayed unto him with many long strugglings for my brethren the Lamanites."

    Once his prayers are answered for himself and then his brethren, he doesn't just stop, say thanks and rest or basque- he immediately struggles with many long struggles in praying for his enemies.  This shows true conversion.  It also shows the power of real desire-of-the-soul type of prayers.  It's hard, he struggles, he prays like everything depends on God and he is answered every time.

v 12 "..after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me, 'I will grant unto thee according to thy desires because of thy faith."

     Once we gain desire, our desires are met by faith, prayer, labor and diligence.  I think this is how our desires grow as well.


Alma 29:4  "I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their ^adesire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their ^bwills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction."
 v 5 "....he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless, but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires."

         Interesting.  Knowledge is a caveat to getting what you want I guess because maybe you understand the consequences better, or at least your choice better.  Maybe if you increase knowledge, God will increase the granting of your desires.  Or maybe desires become more holy with increased knowledge.  (Knowledge here means an understanding of good and evil) Increased knowledge is how we gain holy desires.  A vision of the eternities, our potential, what we can be, what God is and what He sees in us.  THIS is how we gain desire.  Knowledge is power.  This kind of knowledge can only be gained by personal searching and study.

Alma 41: 5 "The one raised to ^ahappiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh."

    Same idea as Alma 29:4, desires for happiness brings happiness, desire for misery brings misery.  Every time.  We just have to make sure we always WANT to be happy.  And we don't always.  During those times, we can't wonder why we're not happy.  It's because we don't really want to be.  Once we really want it, we can start our desires for good, gaining knowledge and faith and we will be happy again.
       So why would we not choose happiness all the time?  We feel we don't deserve it, we don't believe we can obtain it, we think our circumstances are too bad to dictate happiness or just apathy.  But I still think once we truly desire to be happy and are done desiring misery for whatever of the above reasons, we can find it.  Verse 7 says it well:
"These are they that are redeemed of the Lord; yea, these are they that are taken out, that are delivered from that endless night of darkness; and thus they stand or fall; for behold, they are their own ^bjudges, whether to do good or do evil."

3 Nephi 11:23 This verse basically says whoever desires baptism- baptize them.  Which teaches us, if others have righteous desires- help them meet them.

D & C 3: 4 "[whoever] follows after the dictates of his own will and ^fcarnal desires, he must fall"

           We all have our own will and carnal desires.  Just having them shouldn't incur guilt.  We just can't follow them or entertain them or else we will fall.  Fall from grace, progress, the church, righteous goals?  Depends I guess, but fall from something.

D & C 7   In this chapter John the Beloved desires to live forever to preach the gospel and it is granted.  Peter desires to speedily come into God's kingdom.  God says both desires are good, but John's is better.  However, he grants both.
v 8  "...ye shall both have according to your desires, for ye both joy in that which ye have desired."

      I love, love this last verse.  God wants us to be our most happy, but will never force us.  It is always our own choice.  It also just shows how much God wants us to have joy.  He granted their desires FOR ye both joy in it.  I think most all of us choose what we do because we think it will grant us happiness.  Unfortunately we seem to be pretty bad judges of what will actually make us happy, or what will make us eternally happy (indulgence isn't the answer, idleness, pleasure).  The only we way we can achieve real happiness is by submitting ourselves to God's will- by figuring out what HIS plan of happiness is for us.  We must align our desires with His.  But even still, even though He knows what will make us truly happy- he never forces it on us.  We can always choose and He will always respect and even grant our desires.  It's a very loving God we have.

D & C 18: 38  "..by their desires and their works you shall know them."
v 43 "... and after you have received this, you must keep my commandments in all things."
D & C 137: 9  "... I will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts."

      Desires and works are linked to define us.  They must go together.  We will be judged by our desires AND our works.  Can't just have desires without acting on them.  Perhaps righteous desires aren't quite strong enough if we aren't willing to act and they need to be augmented.

Ok, so in conclusion, here are some ways I've found that we can gain or augment righteous desire:
-  delight, commit and trust
-  delight, gratitude
-  make sure our desires are righteous and not selfish
-  figure out/analyze what the desire of your heart is and pray for it
-  follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts- want miracles, faith, charity, etc
-  humor righteous thoughts and don't humor selfish ones
-  experiment- if you experience grace, you'll want more
- partake of God's fruit- try, walk the path
-  repentance
- faith, prayer, labor and diligence
-  Increased knowledge! A vision of the eternities, our potential, what we can be, what God is and what He sees in us
-  want happiness- squelch the reasons you don't want to be happy
-  do not follow carnal desires
-  align your desires with God's desires for you
-  figure out what His plan of happiness is for us and submit yourself to it
-  be willing to act on desires

Out of all these wonderful ways to gain desire, it's hard to know what the first step is.  But I think it might be repentance.  I think in order to do a lot of these things- we need the spirit, meaning we need a clean slate.  Repent of having a lack of desire or apathy or whatever has been holding you back from righteous desires.  Then, I think we need to increase our knowledge and vision by studying and searching.  We need to seek what God's plan of happiness is for us, what our potential is and what God sees in us.  Then, we need to do some more soul searching to discover the true desires of our heart.  Once we've discovered what those are, the real work begins.  We must guard those desires from Satan.  Pray like everything depends on God, have faith, pray, pray, pray, pray.  Pray that we will no longer humor our selfish thoughts, pray for faith to believe God will answer our sincere prayers for the desires of our hearts.  Create a plan, goals to accomplish your desire.  Ask for grace, ask for help all the time.  Always think of what you can be doing to change your circumstances.  Ask for the power to change your circumstances, not to have your circumstances changed.

Formula for gaining desire:

1. Repent.  2.  Increase knowledge and vision.  3.  Discover desires of our hearts.  4.  Make a plan- goals.  5.  Pray, pray, pray.



As a PS I'll include some good quotes from Neil A Maxwell's talk "According to the desires of our hearts."
"Remember, brothers and sisters, it is our own desires which determine the sizing and the attractiveness of various temptations. We set our thermostats as to temptations."
   -  Fascinating.  We often act like our temptations are just inflicted upon us, and maybe they are initially, but we can determine their size and attractiveness, or the extent of the temptation by how much we desire that sin. And desires can be trained and changed- that's very encouraging.

"Only by educating and training our desires can they become our allies instead of our enemies! ... educating and training our desires clearly requires understanding the truths of the gospel, yet even more is involved...... knowing gospel truths and doctrines is profoundly important, but we must also come to love them. When we love them, they will move us and help our desires and outward works to become more holy."
     - First off, I love the idea that our desires can be educated and trained.  Educated?  How?  I guess it's by knowledge of gospel truths and how God and Satan work.  But then training them requires loving those truths.

"Even a spark of desire can begin change.....Each assertion of a righteous desire, each act of service, and each act of worship, however small and incremental, adds to our spiritual momentum. ....Brothers and sisters, a loving God will work with us, but the initiating particle of desire which ignites the spark of resolve must be our own!"
      -  That's encouraging that the littlest spark of desire can do the trick.  The trick is then adding those little acts of service and worship.  I love the way he says "the initiating particle of desire which ignites the spark of resolve."  Here he does not say spark of desire, but spark of resolve- that's the difference and the key.  It has to be a desire leading to resolve to act, to change.
 

A difficult topic

So for last week's study, I decided to tackle an extremely difficult and touchy subject- homosexuality.  I, like so many other Christians have felt a lot of confusion on this topic in recent years.  I wanted to go to the best source for inspiration- the scriptures instead of the many, many voices of the web/media which can often be so conflicting, confusing and contentious.

I started my search by looking in the topical guide for any references to homosexuality.  So here we go.

Leviticus 18: 22 "Thou shalt not lie with the male as one lies with the woman.  It is an abomination..."
verse 29 "For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.."
      The footnote on "cut off" is excommunication.
      This scripture is pretty harsh.  The doctrine is clear, it's just pretty harsh toward homosexuals, but I think the time of the law of Moses was just a strict time.  Love is the greater/harder law.  They had to start out with strict rules.  Milk before meat.

Leviticus 20:13 "If a man lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death: their blood shall be upon them."

Romans 1:18 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness."
       This wasn't in the topical guide under homosexual behavior, but it shows that sometimes God is wrathful and that's ok- they are His laws that His children are breaking.  BUT   " I, the Lord, will ^aforgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to ^bforgive all men".  - D&C 64:10
Judging is God's role and God's role alone- of us it is only required to forgive, not to judge- not to condemn.

Romans 1:19-26  Worth reading through.  It basically says that God is not at all happy with sinners who profess Him in their sins.

Romans 1:27 ".... also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another... men with men working that which is unseemly..."
     So that's how God sees it, but how should we see it?
Romans 2:1 "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judges: for wherein thou judges another, there condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things."
     There ya go.  God's role should not be confused with our role.

1 Timothy 1:15 "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners: of whom I am chief."
       An apostle speaking here.

Those are just a few scriptures touching a few of these topics.  Very much just a skimming representing a week's worth of scripture study.  The thing that really brought me peace on this topic though was actually from this re-reading through this blog.  I was reading through the last two posts I wrote around Christmas time- one a post about Christ as our advocate and one about Christ as our judge.  I wrote that these two roles seem at odds- our advocate should be like our lawyer against a judge, right?  Actually, the fact that Christ is our advocate and has gone through every single trial we have, knows exactly how hard it is, is what makes him our PERFECT judge.  The plan is so perfect really.  ONLY Christ knows exactly how hard it is to be gay, how it feels, the rejection, the wanting it to stop- and He will be their judge.  Not us.  Not me.  Him.  And He is the perfect judge- the only perfect judge.  Christ's role is to judge- mine is to love. 

Prophets

In order to prepare myself for General Conference, I decided to study up a little on prophets and their divine role.  I'll admit I don't have any burning questions regarding the topic of prophets as I often do on topics in my weekly study questions, but it has been a really great experience merely to augment my testimony of them through a directed study.

A few questions I went in with:  Why do we need prophets?  What is their role to receive revelation for us when we can receive it for ourselves?

I started my search in the Book of Mormon Topical Guide with
1 Nephi 11: 27 "... a prophet should prepare the way before Redeemer..." 
        A prophet prepares the world for Christ- both when he came to live on earth and when He will come again.  We can't do that individually.  We need a leader- one leader- to hold that role and purpose with God showing him how to do it.

1 Nephi 22:20 "the Lord will surely prepare a way for this people ... a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me, him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you."
         A prophet is the means God devised to watch out for His people.  A prophet is how God speaks to us through a medium we recognize and understand- another person, a leader.  We are used to listening and following leaders throughout history.  It makes sense.  God cannot come down and speak to us because that would negate faith, but we need faith to listen to prophets.

1 Nephi 22:23  "... all churches who are built up to get gain ... to get power to become popular in the eyes of the world...."
        Churches and church leaders can easily go so terribly awry, God must be at the head and the only way to make sure the church doesn't veer off on its own is through a LIVING prophet.  A constant check and security to make sure God and not man is running the church.

2 Nephi 25: 20 "There is but one Messiah spoken of by the prophets."
         A role of prophets is to clarify Christ- who He is, what He does, what the atonement means for us.  There is one Christ and all prophets, ancient and modern know the same one.  With so many differing opinions of Christ, we need the strength in numbers of clarification from those who know and have known Him so very personally.

Jacob 4:6  "... we search the prophets and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy ; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope and our faith becometh unshaken."
        We wouldn't have scriptures without prophets. We need their words- both past and present.  We need their combined witnesses.  They prophecy.  They strengthen faith and give us hope.

3 Nephi 1:13 "... come I into the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets."
        This struck me as interesting- this verse makes it sound like Christ came just to prove the sanctity of prophets.  He was the one who caused them to speak and prophecy of Him and then He came to fulfill their words.  Interesting thought. 

3 Nephi 11:10 "I am Jesus Christ whom the prophets testified shall come."
     The very first thing He says.  Same idea as above.  Obviously proving the sanctity of prophets was/is a top priority to Christ.  And so should be for us as well.

3 Nephi 12: 11-12 "... blessed are you when men revile against you and persecute you... for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.."
       Prophets are an example of the believers- they give us hope.  People gain a lot of hope from the thought that Christ went through all the same trials everybody goes through.  Like Christ, prophets can often be a source of comfort and hope amid persecution.  They have had about every trial out there, though not as personally as Christ has gone through our trials.
      Also, it's important our faith isn't based on the popularity of the church or prophets.  Prophets have never been popular.

Finally, I checked the Bible Dictionary, which outlines the role of prophets in ancient Israel.  I believe the duties of prophets are the same today.  Some of these duties include:
- ".... to act as God's messenger and make known God's will (message usually prefaced with 'Thus saith Jehovah.'
- teach men God's character
- show full meaning of God's dealings with Israel in the past
- preserve and edit records
- denounce sin and fortell is punishment
- redress both public and private wrongs
- remove false views about the character of God"

So the roles of a prophet, that an individual cannot do include:  preparing the world for the Savior, speak for God to the world, lead the church and make sure it runs according to God's rules/will, clarify the character of God and Christ, write scripture, provide a faith-strengthening example of persecution to the world, and redress public wrongs.  In short, the world desperately needs a living prophet.  Always has, always will.

Jesus Christ, judge

So, last post I explored Christ in his role as advocate.  I delved into who Christ was advocating against, which I had previously thought was God/justice, but am realizing there is more to it and more to advocate against.  This week I wanted to study Christ as our judge.  Since I've always thought of God as taking on that role more so than Christ I thought it would be interesting particularly in light of my discoveries as Christ as advocate.

First off, Christ as our advocate and Christ as our judge -these roles seem to be a little at odds.  Wouldn't an advocate advocate against a judge?  Like a lawyer?  He's advocating for us, why would he then turn around and judge us?  These are some of the things floating around my mind as I start researching this in the topical guide.

Gen 18:25 "...Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?"

Psalm 9:8  "... he shall judge the world in righteousness..."

Isaiah 5:16  "... Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgement.."

Isa 33:22 "... Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver...."

Jer 23:5 "... our King .... shall execute judgment and justice..."

       Interesting- we see here that his role as judge comes with his role as King.  Makes sense.

John 9:39  "... for judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind..."
      
        So how does judgment enter into this?  How does Christ's role as judge help to enlighten the blind and blind the seeing??  Is it because blind means innocence here?  Christ is judging innocence and sin?  Bringing knowledge through judgment?

Acts 10:42  "...ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead..."

        I've always thought of God being the judge (justice) and Christ being the advocate (mercy) but I guess God delegated/ordained His judging authority to Christ.

Romans 2:16  "... God shall judge the secrets of man by Jesus Christ..." 

       Perhaps Christ is in a better position to judge since He's here.  He has been here.  He has felt and experienced all our sins personally.  You can't really ask for a better judge than that.  A better judge or a better advocate.

Rev 19:2  "....true and righteous are his judgments..."

1 Jn 2:1  "... we have an advocate with the Father..."

     WITH the Father, not against, but with. 

2 Nephi 2:10  "And because of the intercession for all, all men come unto God; wherefore, they stand in the presence of him, to be judged of him according to the truth and holiness which is in him..."

      So, because Christ is our advocate we are able to be in His presence and be judged of Him.  Because of the intercession we come to Him and because we come to Him, we stand in His presence to then be judged.  It is his role as advocate that qualifies Him to be our judge.

Verse 9 "..... inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all... and they that believe in Him shall be saved..."

        He is the one on the front lines making intercession- going through what we go through.  It's Him we have to accept.  That is our criteria for being saved, so of course He is he perfect judge of that.  Who knows better than He whether or not we accept Him or to what degree?  Only He can judge our relationship with Him or the degree to which we have become like Him.

John 1:1  ...the Word was with God, the Word was God...

        Christ is IN God, so the justice and mercy isn't God versus Christ.  Since they are one, it's two different aspects of the same Being. 

Every scripture under Christ, relationship with Father in the Topical Guide are about unity, not justice versus mercy.  They are one.

To further understand this relationship I looked up Jesus Christ, mediator.  Here are a few of the scriptures I found:

John 14:6 "No man cometh unto the Father but by me."

      Again, here the thought that Christ isn't mediating between us and God He's mediating us to God.

1 Tim 1:5   For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.

        Interesting that here it does say that Christ is mediator between us and God and furthermore it lists Christ as a man as opposed to a god. 

Heb 8:6  ".... he is the mediator of a better covenant..."

Gal 3:19   "[the law] was added because of transgression, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator...."

      Here it describes Christ as the mediator between transgression and the law.   This makes more sense than putting him against someone- someone upholding justice.  Rather it's just law or justice itself, not a person, not God even though God represents justice- Christ and God are not at odds- they are one. 

Verse 20  Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

      I'm not sure exactly what this is saying, but I think it backs up my idea that God and Christ are one.  Christ is not a mediator for one side or another, but for all.  For us, for God.  Against sin and transgression and injustice.  He is judge, he is advocate, he is with God and He is perfect in all of these roles.

Jesus Christ, advocate

So for December I've decided to research a different aspect of Christ for each week.  A tradition I hope to continue.  I'm starting off with Jesus Christ as advocate.

At the risk of sounding like a LAME-o church talk, the definition of advocate from dictionary.com is three-fold 1.  a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, cause, etc. 2. a person who pleads for or in behalf of another; intercessor.   3.  a person who pleads the cause of another in a court of law.

Now think of Christ in those definitions.... Gooood.  :)

2 Nephi 2:9 ".... he shall make intercession for all the children of men and they that believe him shall be saved..."

     So, what does intercession mean exactly?  Before looking it up, I'm guessing it is talking about intercession from the justice of God.  Again, dictionary.com to the rescue.  It says the definition of intercession is, "1.  the act of interceding.  2.  an interposing or pleading on behalf of another person or 3.  a prayer to God on behalf of another person."  So, then what does to intercede mean?  "1. to act or interpose in behalf of someone in difficulty or trouble, as by pleading or petition: to intercede with the governor for a condemned man.  2.  to attempt to reconcile differences between two people or groups; mediate."  Those I would say are pretty great definitions of what Christ has done for us and I find them very useful.  Adding the definition of intercession into the above scripture:  He shall plead on behalf of all the children of men and they that believe him shall be saved.  

   This scripture led me to a main question I had throughout my study of Christ as the advocate:  what or who is He advocating against?

Verse 10 of the same chapter reads, "And because of the intercession for all, all men come unto God, wherefore they stand in the presence of him to be judged of him."

        So, Christ's intercession is what makes it possible for us to stand before God.  Intercession is what Christ has doen to make us holy enough.  His sacrifice that enables our repentance and cleansing.  His role as advocate cleanses us so we can stand in God's presence.

2 Nephi 8:22 "... [I] the Lord thy God pleadeth the cause of his people..."  
      Pleadeth to who?  Advocate against whom?  I keep thinking God, but that's not what it says.
"...behold I ahve taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of my fury, thou shalt no more drink it again."
             Thine hand.  He is advocating against ourselves and also God's fury (justice).
Verse 23 "I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee, who have said to thy soul Bow down, that we may go over...."

         In this verse, it describes Christ as our advocate not against ourselves or God but against some unseen power saying to our souls "Bow down!"  Christ advocates against this power.  

2 Nephi 13:13  "The Lord standeth up to plead and standeth to judge the people."

         Interesting that he both pleads and judges -- He represents both justice and mercy.

Jacob 3:1  "....he will plead your cause and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction...."

       Here Christ advocates against those who seek our destruction.  Who is that?  Satan?  Men?  He's pleading our cause to devils?  or He already has?  Maybe he did during the atonement.  Something to think about.   

It's also interesting that He pleads our cause AND sends down justice.  The more scriptures I read, the more I think my assumption that Christ is our advocate against the justice of God is not complete, since Christ seems to represent both mercy and justice himself.  Advocate and judge.

Mosiah 14:12 "...he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors.."
  
       Christ advocates by being numbered with us and making intercession for us.

Mosiah 15: 8  "..God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men..."

       It's interesting that God is the subject here.  God gave the Son power to be our advocate even though Christ is advocating to God for us.  Right?  Again, I think my initial idea that Christ is our advocate against God's justice is not complete.  I was thinking of advocate as that second definition of to intercede, "to attempt to reconcile differences between two people or groups; mediate." And I was assuming the two people or groups were us and God.  I don't think this is the case anymore.  I think Christ pleads our case, but I don't think it's to God.  I think He pleaded our case when He suffered for us.  Christ is our advocate against sin, Satan, temptation, and ourselves sometimes.

John 1:1  The word was with God and the Word was God.

    Christ is IN God.  They are one, so the justice and mercy isn't God versus Christ- since tehy are one- it's two different aspects of the same Being.  Furthermore, every scripture listed under "Jesus Christ, relationship with the Father" in the Topical Guide are about unity, not justice or mercy- never anything that puts them at odds with each other.  They always stand together.

1 Jn 2:1  "...we have an advocate with the Father."

      With, not against.  Christ is our advocate with the Father.