I have set a goal for myself a couple weeks ago, it is to "Know God and Be Like Him."
I need to break this goal down in the smaller goals but wasn't sure exactly what the steps would be. I had an idea that prayer and feasting upon the scriptures would be involved but wasn't sure about any other parts of the process. It has been on my mind but I haven't been seeking answers or pursuing it, just pondering my desire to know God and be like Him. Then yesterday in my morning scripture study I came across a scripture that said we must "Deny yourselves of all ungodliness." I love to look up the definitions of words and research them more, so I searched "ungodliness" on LDS.org to see what the prophets and apostles had to say about it. And I came across a lesson from President Ezra Taft Benson, Ch. 24, "A Christ-Centered Life." I have to admit it is not a lesson I was have chosen to read based on the title, but it was exactly what I needed and was looking for.
In this amazing lesson from President Benson it talks about following in Christ's footsteps. In primary we are learning the song "Come Follow Me" and His words went so beautifully with the message of that Hymn I am working on this month. But is also goes in to great detail about how to become like Him and put on the divine nature; and even more, how to Know Him.
"The process by which a person can be made a partaker of the divine nature: And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." 2 Peter 1:5-7
"We must ask how we come to know God, the process of adding one godly attribute to another, as described by Peter, becomes the key to gaining this knowledge that leads to eternal life. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:8
I am so grateful that God "reads my mind" and puts answers in my path in random ways. I love gaining greater knowledge and understanding. It is empowering! The scriptures are truly God's way of speaking to me and I hope and need and wish and will try to read them as often as I can to commune with Him and be guided by Him and learn of Him so I can KNOW Him and become like He is.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Priesthood Blessing
I have faith in my Heavenly Father. I know He lives and is real and knows who I am. I know He hears and answers my prayers. I know He loves me because He answers my prayers and blesses me so abundantly. And sadly amidst all my blessings and the beauty of my life that abounds, I have been struggling. I feel like I fight a war every day inside myself. I fight a war of good vs bad. Anger vs Patience. The Spirit vs the Natural Man. Every good and calm action takes so much effort it is exhausting. I wake up in a pit of negativity, so tired and confused trying to figure out even what day it is and then rushing through all the chaos and feeling like I am not making any progress. There is no joy, just work and stress and feelings of complete overwhelmness.
Then last night I asked for a priesthood blessing from Josh. I knew that the war I am fighting is more than just myself. I knew that there were deeper factors at play... like perhaps trapped emotions, energy field imbalances, false beliefs my subconscious is running off of, etc. But it never crossed my mind that it could be evil spirits.
In the blessing that Josh gave me he commanded the evil spirits to depart far from me and to never return. I did not feel any thing different until the next morning. When I woke up the deep pit of negativity was gone. I felt free, clear, like I had a clean slate in front of me. It was the most amazing feeling! And I realized that I had been feeding in to the horrible negative thoughts of evil spirits. They were feeding me junk and I was just sucking it in. Without them in my head all I could feel was gratitude, peace and desire to praise my living God. It is the most wonderful feeling to be freed from the negative, pessimistic, condescending, critical thoughts that were consuming my mind and actions and thoughts.
I love faith. I love my Heavenly Father. I asked Him to remove anything that He was willing that was hindering my progress and growth and He did. Sometimes we carry around excess baggage that isn't necessary. Sometimes we make our path harder than it needs to be. With the help of Christ's atonement and power we can overcome these stumbling blocks and move on! It is glorious and wonderful!
I am so very grateful for my loving, kind, wise Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for the answers to prayers that he gives me so immediately when I need them most. He is so good.
Then last night I asked for a priesthood blessing from Josh. I knew that the war I am fighting is more than just myself. I knew that there were deeper factors at play... like perhaps trapped emotions, energy field imbalances, false beliefs my subconscious is running off of, etc. But it never crossed my mind that it could be evil spirits.
In the blessing that Josh gave me he commanded the evil spirits to depart far from me and to never return. I did not feel any thing different until the next morning. When I woke up the deep pit of negativity was gone. I felt free, clear, like I had a clean slate in front of me. It was the most amazing feeling! And I realized that I had been feeding in to the horrible negative thoughts of evil spirits. They were feeding me junk and I was just sucking it in. Without them in my head all I could feel was gratitude, peace and desire to praise my living God. It is the most wonderful feeling to be freed from the negative, pessimistic, condescending, critical thoughts that were consuming my mind and actions and thoughts.
I love faith. I love my Heavenly Father. I asked Him to remove anything that He was willing that was hindering my progress and growth and He did. Sometimes we carry around excess baggage that isn't necessary. Sometimes we make our path harder than it needs to be. With the help of Christ's atonement and power we can overcome these stumbling blocks and move on! It is glorious and wonderful!
I am so very grateful for my loving, kind, wise Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for the answers to prayers that he gives me so immediately when I need them most. He is so good.
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