You Gotta Have Faith

Faith healings are an interesting thing.  They are dependent on the faith of the participants, all of the participants.  And because it is dependent on the faith of the participants, healing by faith is often looked down upon as not real.  But what about when it is a child?  A baby?  The baby is too young to understand what is going on.  The baby just knows that it is suffering.  When a baby is healed in the name of Christ, is the healing real? 

We visited a young mother in the hospital.  She took us into the care unit where they had her little baby, which was about two months old.  The child was in the hospital because it was having complications in it's digestive system.  We waited at the desk, while the nursed went to get the child.  It was all wrapped up in swaddling clothes.  From behind the desk, the nurse held the baby for the mother and us to see.  My heart went out to the young mother.  Even she did not get to hold her own child.  From that distance, a blessing was given, and the nurse took the child away.  The child did recover enough, and the parents got to take the young child home. 

Some days later, we got a phone call from the very worried mother.  Something had gone terribly wrong with her child.  Her abdomen was distended again, and the child was in great pain.  We prayed for the child, and asked that I could take the problem instead of the child.  Immediately, my belly began to swell.  It swelled so large that it seemed like it would burst!  I lay down in pain.  Then in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I began to overcome the affliction.  It took a while, with steady prayer and focus on the Lord, and the swelling began to subside, until it was completely overcome in Christ! 

We called the parents, and sure enough, the little baby's swollen abdomen had gone down, and she was at peace.  The priestess promised the mother that that affliction would never touch her child again.  That was about a year and a half ago.  I have watch that child grow, and to this day, she is a heathy, happy little girl. 

Glory be to God the Father, for sending His Son to heal us, and to show us the way home!! 

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Glory In God!

But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 
~ 2 Corinthians 10:17

I LOVE writing about all the many blessings which God has given to us.  I love telling everyone of the Great Love of the Saviour!  It is my passion, to help those who are struggling with their faith in God.  Our faith increases, when we hear the word of God.   We find encouragement and strength in the various faith building stories. 

Lately, there have been some who have tried to discourage me from writing about all the miracles that God has done in my life.  They have tried to tell me that I was bragging.  But, I cannot help bragging on my God!  Our Heavenly Parents love for us is beyond measure, and I want everyone to know it! 

I have been accused of bragging, just because I post and share about the wonderful things my God has done.  And much to my dismay, I had stopped posting about all the miraculous things that my God has done.  But, No More!  I will boast of my God!  I will share of those great miracles that He does, both Great and Small.  He is my Redeemer.  He is the Great Judge, of both the Quick, and the Dead! 

But Ammon saith unto him, I do not boast in my own strength, or in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God; yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength, I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but, I will boast of my God; for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. 
~ Alma 14:12, pg. 296

Not of myself do I boast, But I will boast of my God! 

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A Foundational Doctrine!

"And there shall be no disputations among you, as there hath hitherto been, neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there hath hitherto been; for verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention, is not of me, but is of the Devil, which is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.  Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away." 

3rd Nephi 5:9, pg. 478. 

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Gospel of The Son of God!

"Behold I have given unto you my Gospel, and this is the Gospel which I have given unto you:  That I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me; and my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, I might draw all men unto me; that as I have been lifted up by men, even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil; and for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father, I will draw all men unto me that they may be judged according to their works.  And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name, shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father, at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.  And he that endureth not unto the end, the same is he that is also hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence they can no more return, because of the justice of the Father; and this is the word which he hath given unto the children of men.  And for this cause he fulfilleth the words which he hath given, and he lieth not, but fulfilleth all his words; and no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest, save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.  Now this is the commandment:  Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.  Verily, verily I say unto you, this is my Gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do, that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do, even that shall ye do; therefore if ye do these things, blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day." 

3rd Nephi 12:3, pg. 508 

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Basic Beliefs

The first thing is:  God is real!! 

The second thing is:  A man can talk to God face to face, as one man talks to another, as one friend talks to another! 
 
But, How do we do that? 

Which brings us to the third thing:  We need to cleanse ourselves from all unrighteousness!  This means that we need to repent of all our sins, and keep the commandments.  We need to get all that filthiness out of us!! 

Fourth:  We need to covenant before God that we will serve Him.  In other words, we need to get baptized with that covenant that we will serve him, at all times, in all things, and in all places, whatsoever we shall find ourselves in!  That He may more abundantly pour out His Spirit upon us!! 

And when He pours out His Spirit more abundantly upon us, we can move to the Fifth step:  We are follow that Holy Spirit and keep serving Him, and keep getting ourselves cleansed, more and more, keep getting the wickedness out of ourselves, deeper and deeper, drawing nearer and nearer to God, Until we find that Great Day when we are baptized, for real, with Fire and the Holy Ghost, and our sins are actually remitted at that time!! 

And of course, we need to still keep going forward after that!! 

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Trust In The Lord With All Thine Heart

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.   
~ Proverbs 3:5 

Our Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother have all things planned, long before we have come here to earth, and as we go through our lives here upon the earth, that plan is revealed to us.  The problem is, we are often presented with many options.  Some of those options may come from God, or ourselves, or others, or the devil.  It is up to us to figure out from where the plan/option derives, and to choose which option we will follow, or which combination of option parts we will adopt. 

If we choose to accept the first plan of God, we will get the best outcome.  Because God loves us, He will always present to us the best plan, the plan with the greatest potential eternal outcome.  But, unfortunately, we do not always see how God's plan will achieve the greatest outcome, so we second guess if the plan is really from Him.  There is one way to know for sure though, if the plan is from God, and that is to pray and ask!  The witness of the Holy Ghost will come upon us so strong, that we may feel perfectly confident in following God's plan for us.  It is a good idea to write this answer down, and do not depart from it, just because your mood changes! 

Yet, should we fear, because we cannot see how His plan will work?  Or what if we want to accomplish our own plan, and just wish that our plan was the plan of God?  Unfortunately, we might choose to forget the witness of the Holy Ghost, and may opt out of the Lord's plan.  In this case, the case of following our own hearts, and leaning unto our own understandings, then we might choose an altered course.  But the Lord still loves us, and will keep trying to help us.  So, when we choose to go a different direction, the Lord will still offer unto us a second plan, a back-up plan.  The second plan may not give all the best results as the first plan, but the Lord will always offer us the best plan that we will accept! 

Just because we cannot see how the Lord will work out the best possible result, from His first plan, does not mean that it will not yield the best possible results!  It only means that we are not as wise as He.  Do we really think that we are as wise as our Heavenly Parents who can see all things, past, present, and future???? 

Then when we choose the second plan, and we see all the good results that come of following that back-up plan, we say, "See all the good that comes from this path?  This really was the better plan!"  And we in effect, deny the witness of the Holy Ghost. 

The Lord really does love us, and gives unto us every chance He can to work out the best possible results. 

He does not give up on us, just because we do not choose the best plan, or do not see the miracles that He will accomplish if we trust in him, and not "lean unto our own understanding." 

And then we are always caught up in pride, we must beware of pride.  We think that since the back-up plan worked out, "I was right."  We are always trying to prove ourselves right, justifing our behaviour and choices.  When we justify our behaviour like this, instead of following the Spirit of God, that is when we lose our priesthood.  We need to be awful careful not to justify our behaviour, just because we want to be right, and gratify our vain pride, our vain ambitions, things that we want to accomplish. 

We must be so careful,

Following the back-up plan always seems to end up doing things the hard way.  If only we had followed right from the beginning.  But do not give up hope.  The Lord will never give up on you, will never forsake you.  Just turn your heart back to Him, and He will accept you! 

Trust in the Lord, and watch the miracles happen!! 

May the Lord God of Heaven be blessed forever,
In the name of His son, Yeshua Messiah,
Amen! 

O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever.  I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. --  Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh is arm. 
~ 2 Nephi 3:4 p. 71 

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Little Miracles

I have often posted of the more grandios fruits of walking this path, the path of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  These fruits come because of walking circumspectly before the Lord.  They happen, because of true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ! 

This means that faith must be based on correct principles, in order for it to have the desired effect.  If we believe that drinking sand will quench our thirst, we may be dissappointed.  No amount of faith in an incorrect principle will yeild results contrary of the law of God.  In fact, it is not faith at all, because faith is actually aligning with correct principle.  We must also know that what we are doing is actually according to the will of God, so that we can have full confidence in the outcome. 

Today, I would like to tell you about the greater fruits of following the Path of the Saviour.  This is a story that was told to me, and I will try to relate it to you as accurately as I can.  I do know those involved in this event on both sides. 

There was a man who once had a tremendous desire to serve God.  He prayed to God and received a powerful spiritual experience.  This man went forth striving to help others onto the correct path of following the Saviour, but found many were not interested.  They were too busy following the various paths that would lead them to the fulfillment of their worldly desires.  They loved to follow the paths that claimed the name of the Saviour, but were really just compromises with the world. 

Those compromised paths are many, they are the wide path which Christ has warned us against, and yet so many go in thereat.  The path of the Saviour is narrow, it is precise, it is in keeping the commandments of God. 

This man, got discouraged, because he could not get anyone to see and follow the narrow path.  With time, he lost hope.  He began to drown his sorrows in strong drink.  His life went ary. 

Then, as time went on, he met an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, who also walked that narrow path of the Saviour.  Something changed inside him.  The flame of Christ, in this man's heart was re-ignited.  Soon, he was baptized, and started his life anew!  He was instructed and given the priesthood of God.  Then went he forth in great power, the power of God unto the convincing of men!  He spread the Gospel of the Narrow Way to his family, and several others.  Now, there is a striving branch of the Lord's family there.  He left behind the ways of the world, and moved into the ways of Christ!  That joy that he longed for so long ago, is becomming a reality! 

To see someone's heart touched, to see their lives changed, to see peace and love triumph in their lives!!  That is what the Gospel of Messiah is truly about. 

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