God Wants a Powerful People: Conclusion

I ran out of time and this part of the lesson was never given...which means you are reading it the way it was written and not necessarily the way it would have been presented.  This really shows how I almost always have way more material then what I can use.  But I guess better too much than not enough!!

Purity/Obedience/Commandments

The Army of Helaman is a great example of how obedience gives us power.  Review:  we have 2000 young men who decide to fight the Lamanites because their fathers had made a covenant to not take up their weapons of war again.  They had great faith that this was what they should do and then knew that God would protect them.  And I believe they may have believed that if God didn't protect them that that would be okay because they were in His hands and it would be His will.  

Alma 57: 21 Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.

Alma 56: 56 But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites,

Alma 57:26 And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.

Obedience gave these young men great power.  I believe that you can have that same power when you are obedient to God’s commandments.  And as we obey with exactness, we become pure and holy.

Pg.41  Sheri Dew talks about the importance of purity….

"It is possible that there is no key to accessing the power of God that is more important, more crucial than purity.  While modern-day prophets have made it clear that the perfection we seek will not come in this life, they have also taught that it is possible to become increasingly pure--pure in our hearts, pure in our minds and motives, pure in our judgments, pure in our desires and intents, pure morally, and even pure in the way we treat and respect our physical bodies, including how we feel about everything from food and eating to exercise, health, piercings, tattoos and so on."  

How do we keep pure in today’s society??

Pure in Heart--starts with a desire.  Comes with prayer and scripture study.  It comes with obedience.  It comes in how we treat other people.  Remember the golden rule--treat others the way you would want to be treated.

Pure in Minds—we can keep our minds pure by what we put into it—magazines, books, internet, movies, music, tv shows--it really shows the importance of our choices of what we watch and read.  King Benjamin said,  Mosiah 4:30 But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not ^awatch yourselves, and your ^bthoughts, and your ^cwords, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and ^dcontinue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.

The way we speak to others shows what kind of person we really are.
Sheri Dew p. 43:  "Thoughts lead to words, (including the conversations we have with ourselves, whicha are often the most destructive), and words in turn lead to our actions or deeds.  It is a progression that can be either productive or destructive.  Hence the need to fiercely protect our minds from anything of an unholy or impure nature.  "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly...then shall they confidence wax strong in the presence of God." (D&C 121:45)    more power!

Physical Bodies—exercise on a regular basis, have good eating habits--which not only includes what we eat but when we eat. Keep all aspects of the word of wisdom—Coffee shops are really trendy right now.  we need to be careful that we are not joining in the excitement and drinking the exotic coffees that are out there—Redbull type drinks (high energy boosters) are really not healthy and can cause a caffeine overload which can cause death, albeit is rare.  Be careful and I personally think you should stay away from them, even if you think you've got to pull an all nighter.  IF you are doing all nighters, look at your schedule and make sure that you are using your time well.  This is an unnatural substance to enhance our poor habits.

Live the Law of Chastity:  Council to you young women:  When you’re making out on the couch (cause I know you are :) ) ...be the one to say “Whoa Cowboy!”  Time to be done.  Don't let your standards down.  Keep yourself clean and pure.  It will be a decision you will NEVER regret.

           

Dress Modestly—Elder Ballard gave a great talk a couple of years ago on modesty.  He said if your clothing is too low, too tight, or too short to throw it out.  Do you know how hard that is?  I have thought of this often, especially since serving here with the Young Single Adults and knowing I have to be the example.  I have had to get rid of some of my clothing because they were border-line of too low, too short or too tight.  Dress to cover the temple garment even if you haven’t been to the temple.  Cover the temple garment if you have been to the temple—don’t adjust it..  It is a sacred clothing item that should always be worn properly.

The scriptures-The word of God

Joseph Smith said a man could get closer to God by abiding by the precepts in the Book of Mormon than by any other book!  There is great power in the scriptures-particularly the Book of Mormon.

Alma 31:  5 And now, as the ^apreaching of the ^bword had a great tendency to ^clead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.

The Word of God had more effect on the people than the sword.  That’s pretty powerful!

We can learn so much about our own lives from the lives of women in the scriptures.

Esther is one of my favorites:

Quick review of her life:

Esther was an orphan.  She was raised by her adult cousin, Mordecai.  When she was a young woman the queen of the land was dismissed, so the King was in need of a new queen.  He asked for all the available maidens to come to his palace so that he might choose a new queen.  Mordecai felt that Esther should go before the King.  She went and consequently she was chosen to be his queen.  The King loved Esther.  Unbeknownst to the King, Esther was a Jew.  The King, being advised by one of his men, issued a decree to have all the Jews killed.  When Mordecai found out, he told Esther she must go before the King and plead with him to take back the decree. Esther was frightened for the queen was not allowed to go before the King uninvited.   And that’s when Mordecai said to her:

Esther 4:14  “. . . who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther realized the great responsibility and role she had to try and save her people.  She said she would do this and then said, “and if I perish I perish.”  She than asked for all the Jews to fast and pray for her for 3 days.  She prepared a great feast for the King and then went to him and asked him to take back the decree.  He did take back the decree and her life and the lives of all her people, the Jews, were spared.

Esther had a great role in her life.  She knew that God had a plan for her and she had the faith necessary to accomplish that plan.

God has a mission for each of you sisters as well.  I would like to alter that scripture to say,

“who knoweth whether thou art born on the earth for such a time as this?”

CoNCLUSIoN:

We are here on the earth at a marvelous time!   This is an amazing time to be alive.  There are so many opportunities for us to participate in.  There is so much knowledge.  God has given us so much.

Where much is given, much is expected.  We have been given much to help us so that we can be a powerful people and bring The Lords’ Gospel throughout the world.  We can return to live eternally with our families and with our Heavenly Father.

Be pure

Read Your scriptures

Use the atonement in your life

Be obedient--even with exactness

Build & maintain family relationships

Be worthy of and use a temple recommend

Pray daily--at least twice, morning and night

Walk along side the Priesthood
Listen and Follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost

God wants a Powerful People......even YOU!