Our God Given Gifts

             Gifts, gifts, gifts. Oh how we love when we get gifts from others. It gives us the feeling that we are loved at that moment. We see that gift and feel super happy about it. But although we may love just getting gifts from others and that moment of receiving it, do we feel the same as using said gifts?

            We see gifts as just an act of love and just accept that as it is. But can we return that love with using that gift as well. A mother might buy some Play-Doh for a child and the child is ecstatic about it, but if the child ignores it or doesn't use it, it seemed that gift was for nothing. We probably have all been sort of through this experience whether being the giver or the receiver. We may see a present and say, "Well, that is nice. Thanks!" And really never touch it again. Or you may see the person do that with your present and feel like you failed them in giving.

           How do we show love back to the person who gave us to the gifts? By using the gift, of course! If you don't use that gift that the person gave you, you don't really show the appreciation of that gift. My mom for Christmas bought me a X-Box 360 controller which I use for my computer when playing games with my roommate. I really thank my mom for this. I use this a lot of the time and the same can be said about my other gifts from others.

           But probably the biggest example of this concept is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He gave us the perfect gift. He sacrificed Himself for us so that we may be able to return to Heavenly Father again. He provided a way for us to be forgiven by applying the atonement in our lives. Although many of us know about this, how many of us use this gift constantly? Many of us just think we need to use this gift once and then we are done with it and just store it up in the "attic" never to be touched again? Is that the way all gifts should be used? No. If we did this, then what was the point of that gift? Sure, we would still return to our Heavenly Father, but we wouldn't progress. We wouldn't be able to make ourselves better. We wouldn't find the joy of using this gift.

          This is how I see the Atonement. It is a gift. It has always been a gift. It was meant to be a gift. We need to use it as a gift. To show love to both Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we use this gift constantly by taking the sacrament and repenting of our wrong doings. And this is not the only gift that God has given us. He gave us talents such as music, art, communication, language, etc. And what does the Lord say to us according to our talents? We should use them! Not hide them, or just use them once. We should use them constantly. (The scripture of the story of the talents is Matthew 25: 14-30)

        As many of you know, or now will know, I love to produce music. I like to write my own songs or do covers of different songs that I like as well. For some reason, when someone calls me out on it or wants to compliment me, I shy back and feel like I don't want to show this. It is a weird feeling. There are many of those who ask me to play for certain events or sacrament meetings and although I usually say yes, my natural instinct is to hide this and say, "Oh, I don't really play." But if I want to grow in my God given gift and shown my appreciation of this gift to Heavenly Father,  I should use this more often.
     
        We shouldn't hide our talents or gifts from others as the foolish man did in Matthew 25, but expound on it. Our gifts could become better and we can discover more of the gifts that God has given us as the wise men did by multiplying their talents. Use your gifts for good! Use them to show that your thankful. Use them, so that they may show love to all. I promise that if you do, you will gain more love of our Heavenly Father and His love for you.

The Ministry of Christ to the Nephites

We have heard many times throughout the Church that the biggest highlight of the Book of Mormon is when Jesus Christ comes and administers to the Nephites. What better way to learn of Jesus Christ gospel than to hear it from himself? Many wonderful things happened while Jesus visited the Nephites. But I am going to talk about one of my favorite moments of that whole ministry that can be applied to us in our needs.

This particular moment happens in 3 Nephi chapter 17 where Jesus is teaching the Nephites many things and he sees that the Nephites can't comprehend all of his teachings and tells him that he is going to depart so that they can study out in their mind. Does Jesus sometimes do this to us? Although we hear multiple times that he never leaves us, do we feel like Jesus leaves us for a bit so that we can understand his teachings? There were many times in my mission where this was the case. We were told many things both by members and non-members of the gospel that were pretty deep. But it just took some time thinking about it and going back to the basics so that we could find out for ourselves if what they said was true.

But that isn't the part that I wanted to focus on. It is the part after this moment that really hits me. In verse 5 we read, "And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were in tears, and did look steadfastly upon him as if they would ask him to tarry a little longer with them." I am sure we all feel this feeling. We wish that we can feel the love of God all the time in our lives, but there can be distractions that pull us away from that or draw our minds somewhere else. 

Listen to what Jesus says in the next two verses:
6. And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you.

 7 Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.

This is a personal invitation from the Savior for us to bring others or ourselves to him so that we may be healed. But you may say, "I am not lame, or blind, or halt, maimed, leprous or death. So this invitation is not really directed towards me". To these people, I say they have forgotten one thing that Jesus said in that verse. He invites those who "are afflicted in any manner. What fits into that category? I would say everything! Whether it be depression, addictions, or anything that we are having a hard time going through, that category covers it. So not only was Jesus healing the Nephites physically here, he was also healing them mentally and spiritually. And this invitation is to all.

Patrick Kearon of the Seventy reaffirms this in his General Conference talk in October saying, "The invitation given to the Nephites, when He ministered to them as the resurrected Christ, is still in force for you and for me: “Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them.” ^.

In closing I would like to read one more scripture, Alma 7: 12 "...and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." May we be able to continue to come to Him and have him be able to heal us.

The Strengthening and Enabling Power of the Atonement

There are many who tend to forget what the Atonement does for all of us. Sure, it satisfies the demands of justice and helps us be able to repent of the wrong that we do, but it does so much more than that. But I must admit, we, even myself, don't usually think of the Atonement of Jesus Christ as something to help something else than just our sins. 

We are told multiple times throughout Sunday School, Church talks, and in General Conference stories of someone who recognized something they did wrong and finding Jesus Christ in their life and applying the Atonement in their life to fix the wrong they have done. This is a great example of the Atonement! We love to hear these stories like the Prodigal Son parable where someone goes astray in life and then recognizes that he has done wrong and came back into the fold. For me, these are a type of spiritual awakening for me as I pay attention to the things that I have done wrong and try to step foreword in doing right.

But is this all that the Atonement does? Of course not! There is so much more that the atonement does. How do we know this? Let us go to probably one of the favorites of scripture that talks about the atonement, Alma 7:11: 
"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people."

Notice how in this verse it doesn't say the word sin even once! Does that disqualify sin as something the atonement covers? Of course not! There are plenty of scriptures that say otherwise, but this scripture brings up a good point of the different things the atonement covers. It says, "pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind". EVERY KIND! So does the atonement cover that moment when you got your heart broken in elementary by a boy you liked? Sure does! Does the atonement cover when you are struggling through school work? Sure does! Does the atonement cover depression? I like to think so! Look at the scripture. That is what it says.

Now this isn't the end of the scripture segment I want to share. Let's go on to a specific part in the next verse: 
"...and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."

Let us break down the scripture. First, it says that Jesus Christ will take upon himself our infirmities. He will take upon himself the justice of our sins if we take the gift that he has given us which is a chance to repent. Second, that his bowels may be filled with mercy. Why does Jesus Christ do this? What motivated him? What was the reason that He went and did this for us while suffering himself? Was it because he was getting a reward for doing so? Was it because He was expected to do it? That is a pretty good question. But in a book I read by Brad Wilcox, he explains all these motives and he found them that they were true, but that wasn't the main motive. Jesus Christ did it because His love for us. He did it because that was the right thing to do.

Now third is probably the most important part of the scripture when addressing this certain subject. So it says, "that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities". What does succor mean? According to the dictionary, succor in old times means, "run to help". So if we replace succor with run to help, we get, "that he may know according to the flesh how to run to help his people according to their infirmities". See that? Because He knows our troubles, our trials, our problems, our struggles or however you want to word it, He can run to help us when we need it. Pretty cool, right? 

But you are probably thinking, "I have had this problem or struggle a while and I haven't felt like it has been helped or that Jesus is running to me." Very good point! There are times where we feel like no one is there to help us. We don't feel like we have any kind of motivation. Does that mean that Jesus Christ isn't there for us? I don't think so. I think he is always there for us no matter what. I believe that in some situations, not always, we need to recognize or search for Jesus Christ's help in order to be ready to receive that help. We can't always just sit there and wait for us to recognize Jesus is there. We need to search for him and ask for His help when we are in need of him.

Dallin H, Oaks said, "Our Savior’s Atonement does more than assure us of immortality by a universal resurrection and give us the opportunity to be cleansed from sin by repentance and baptism. His Atonement also provides the opportunity to call upon Him who has experienced all of our mortal infirmities to give us the strength to bear the burdens of mortality. He knows of our anguish, and He is there for us. Like the good Samaritan, when He finds us wounded at the wayside, He will bind up our wounds and care for us. The healing and strengthening power of Jesus Christ and His Atonement is for all of us who will ask. I testify of that as I also testify of our Savior, who makes it all possible."

I love the way that Elder Oaks compares the Savior to the good Samaritan. He doesn't pass us by and lets us do this all by ourselves. He helps us up and points us to the right direction. He loves us! He truly does! He doesn't do everything for us, for we need to put in our effort as well, but He still is always there. 

In Alma 42:15 it says, 

And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.

I also know that without the atonement, mercy could not be extended towards us. There would be no mercy and life would just absolutely suck. But we don't have that! Because Jesus Christ went through with the atonement, we don't have to walk through this life completely alone. He is there for believers and non-believers. He is there for those who curse him and turn their back to Him. He is there no matter what. People may not realize it then, but they will later on see that the Lord never left their side. I know this to be true and we can all know this to be true by continuing to study more about him and continuing to search for Him in everything that we do. This is my invitation to all. I hope that you may see that you are never alone.

Scriptures: Alma 7:11-12, Alma 42:15

Talks: 

Strengthened by the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Dallin H. Oaks, Web, October 2015, November 6, 2015

Dictionary Definition: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/succor

My Short Thoughts on Missionary Work

Missionary work is one my favorite topics to talk about. However, it is not so for others. When we think of missionary work, what people usually think of is go knock on doors like missionaries before or some missionaries do. But we need to realize that this is not the only form of missionary work out there. We can do so many different things to do missionary work without saying much. Now I am not saying that we should avoid talking when it comes to missionary work. I am saying that this is not the only way to do missionary work.
Some of you may recognize that I post daily messages, whether spiritual or non-spiritual, and share my thoughts about them. This is a form of missionary work. It may not be as big as you expect, but it helps both others and myself of the subject I post and the importance of missionary work. I would invite you to find a form or missionary work that is suitable for you, but not to just stop there. Try other ones as well whether it comes by itself or you have to do something about it. I promise that as you do so, not only the person or persons that you share your thoughts with will come closer with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but you will as well. Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Enjoy the rest of your day! 

Obedience to God’s Commandments

Let me first open this topic up with a little video I edited of the apostle Elder Holland speaking of keeping the commandments.

So why do we keep the commandments? What is the main reason why we keep the commandments that God has given us? The answer may be in many different varieties. Some people do it because out of fear. Some others do it just because it is the normal thing that has been asked of them. 

Let us see what the Savior said about keeping the commandments. 
John 14: 15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.

What I believe is that all, if not, most of the reason why we should keep the commandments is because of love. Compare it to when your parents ask you to do something. Why do you do what they said? Are you just afraid of punishment or do you love your parents to do what they ask? It is most likely because you respect them and love.

While I was on my mission, there was this phrase constantly passed around that was, "Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles". At the beginning I rejected this because I thought it was stupid. I first tried to be exactly obedient seeking that whatever I do I would get investigators non-stop and lessons. I didn't get what I expected that I didn't realize that I also strengthen my ability to talk to people. 

Gordon B Hinckley said, “The happiness of the Latter-day Saints, the peace of the Latter-day Saints, the progress of the Latter-day Saints, the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, and the eternal salvation and exaltation of this people lie in walking in obedience to the counsels of … God.”

People may think that obedience is just something secondary. That it is something that we don't have to do all the time. We only have to do it when we feel like it. For those who do say so, let us go to President Joseph F. Smith and what he said. “Obedience is the first law of heaven.” As we see, obedience was the first law in heaven. We need to do our best to obey all the Lord's commandments. When God sees that we are doing our best to keep the commandments, he will bless us in many different ways. It may not always be the way that we think we should be blessed, but he does bless us in many different ways. My hope and prayer is that we all do our best to be obedient to the commandments that God has given us. As we do, we can come closer to God and also become like Jesus Christ.

Who is Jesus Christ?

There are some people out there in this world who don't know who Jesus Christ is. There are also some people who know about Jesus Christ. But there are only a few of the entire world that actually know who Jesus Christ is. Why is that? How can someone who has passed through this life and not on this world anymore come to a knowledge of others? Have these people actually seen Jesus Christ? Have they touched him like the apostles did when Jesus came back as a Resurrected being? How did some people come to know Jesus Christ?

James E. Faust said this, "We may not feel a closeness with Him because we think of Him as being far away, or our relationship may not be sanctifying because we do not think of Him as a real person." Is this true? Do others think as Jesus Christ as just some story? Do others see Him as just another person that lived and died like anyone has?

Let me tell you who I believe Jesus Christ is. He is the Savior of this world. He came down long ago to teach His gospel to all who would receive it. He is the most selfless person who ever was. He did many and great miracles. He healed the sick and comforted the weak and afflicted. He did the Atonement which means He felt every hardship and trial that everyone who was on this earth would go through. He suffered alone so that we wouldn't suffer alone. And He is there for me everyday. 

How have I come to know that? In the Book of Mormon, there is a certain promise not just for the book itself, but also in all truth that we seek. It is in Moroni chapter 10 verse 3-5: "
Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things...I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

As we read the scriptures such as the Bible and Book of Mormon, we can come to know of who Jesus Christ is. This is one of the many ways we can come to know who Jesus Christ is or what His teachings are about.  I have done this and I have prayed about it, and I have come to know for myself that Jesus Christ is a real being who loves me and everyone. But sometimes, once isn't enough to do this. There are many times that I can forget just for a bit of who Jesus is. This is where the repetition comes into play. I need to keep doing this so that not only I can know who Jesus is again, but also learn new things that I didn't know about of what He has done.

But I am not the only one who has done this. There are many others who have done this and they also have come to know who Jesus Christ is too. This coming to know is for everyone to try. One of the Prophets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said this: “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.” 

<sup>How has coming to know Jesus Christ helped anyone you have asked? Let me give you one more experience that I had. I had made a very bad mistake in my life and instead of resolving it, I decided to hide it from myself and continue to lie to myself that I was ok. But I wasn't at all. I was even scared of what God was thinking of me while doing this. I kept this for a long time until my mission where I finally had enough of it. I was just on the verge of giving up, saying I wasn't good enough to go on a mission, not even good enough to be accepted in anyone's eyes. I called my mission president who told me to hold on and to discuss it with God. As I opened up to God, I could feel something comforting me. Like it gave me a boost of energy or hope that I was ok and that I can make it through this. As I talked with my mission president and had gone throughout my mission, I have come to realize that was Jesus Christ comforting me and helping me by giving me a little push to continue on strong. My Savior knew what I was going through and He knew the way out and was guiding me there. He has done that to me. He can do it to all of us.

A proclamation made by the Apostles of the Lord said this: We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles— that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.

With their testimony, I will give mine as well. Jesus Christ is the Savior of this world. He is the hope and light. He is stretching out His hand to all of us on this earth to come to him and find peace and hope. He loves us no matter what. I love Him with all my heart! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.</sup>

The Living Christ: https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/36035_000_25_livingchrist.pdf

A Personal Relationship with the Savior by James E. Faust: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1976/10/a-personal-relationship-with-the-savior?lang=eng