Awaken and Remember Your Duty to God.

(as Elder Hollend says, "Here I ask your indulgence as I take some nonscriptual liberty in my partial of this exchange." Bare with me as I summarize my studies with you.)

MAT 26:37-45 (to read verses see link)

I was reading in The Gospel of Mathew the other day where he writes about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. After Jesus prays to God for the first time he comes back to find his disciples asleep. Jesus says to Peter, could you not stay awake with me for just one hour? If you look at the word "could", in the verse, under the Joseph Smith Translation it reads "are you so powerless that you could not stay awake with me." 

Peter falls into the mortal temptation of sleep deprivation. He is pulled from his duty, which is being with Christ, by falling victim to Satan's temptations and tricks. We are all victims. I'll admit it. It happens to me. What is holding you back from fulfilling your duty as a member of the Church?

How often do we "fall asleep" like Peter did? (meteorically fall asleep) How often are we distracted from our duty of building up Gods Kingdom? Satan works very hard to divert us from our purpose here on earth. If Satan can't fully divert us off course he uses other means to slow our effectiveness towards fulfilling our duty to God.  Today's message is about staying on course to fulfilling our duty's in the Church by not falling victim to Satan's tricks.

Strengthen Self-worth

Satan tries to destroy self-worth with negative thinking. Giving into negative thinking can cripple our self-worth and slow our effectiveness in fulfilling our duty to God. Satan attempts to have us focus on our own faults and short comings. Do not ever doubt your worth. Think positive. Be Positive. Remove from your mind how the world teaches you to think. (Proverbs 1:10) "...if sinners entice thee, consent thou not." Do not listen to those negative thoughts. Don't fall victim to this. Stay strong by praying to God for strength. I know it can be hard sometimes. I go through hard times but knowing that I can turn to the Lord through prayer for strength refuels my soul. Fight back!!!

During 11th grade in high school I had a football game against our school rivals. We dragged ourselves into the locker room after the 2nd quarter for halftime. The score board read 7-21. We had gotten our butts kicked all game long. The entire team sat in the locker room and not a word was said. We lost hope and doubted ourselves. I remember the coach got up in front of us and gave a speech. He asked us some questions that recharged our motivation and pierced our hearts. I'll never forget it. Our Coach said, Do you know what your capable of? Do you remember what we've achieved together before? After his speech we went on to win a come back victory 27-28.  



Imagine if the Savior was asking you these questions:

• Do you know what your capable of? 
• Do you remember what we've achieved together before? 

In the premortal life you choose to join Christ. (for more information see link) We have fought on the Saviors side before and won. You won the first battle and were given the opportunity to have a body here on earth. You are capable of so much. Start seeing yourself how the Savior views you.  "The greatest gift I could give you is for you to see yourself the way I do." "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." (D&C 18:10)  Do you know how much the Savior loves you? President Uchtdorf tells us why we matter to Christ in a talk published in the October 2011 General Conference, he says, 

"No matter where you live, no matter how humble your circumstances, how meager your employment, how limited your abilities, how ordinary your appearance, or how little your calling in the Church may appear to you, you are NOT invisible to your Heavenly Father. He loves you. He knows your humble heart and your acts of love and kindness. Together, they form a lasting testimony of your fidelity and faith." 

President Uchtdorf continues to encourage us,

"Please understand that what you see and experience now is not what forever will be. you will not feel loneliness, sorrow, pain or discouragement forever. We have the faithful promise of God that He will neither forget nor forsake those who incline their hearts to Him. Have hope and faith in that promise. Learn to love your Heavenly Father and become His disciple in word and in deed."

The  message  our  Church  brings  to  the  world  is  a  message  of  encouragement.  A  message  of  happiness.  A  message  of  hope.  A message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. As  members  of  the  Church  we  carry  this  message  with  us. Lift up you hearts. "Awake  and  arouse  your  faculties..."  (Alma 32:27)  Remember  who  you  are  and  who  you represent.  You  are  a  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ.  (3 Nephi 5:13)  I  wrote  this  post  so  that  you  may  awake  to  a  sense  of  your  duty  to  God. Do all you can in your power to magnify this mighty calling. Walk  blameless  before  Him  with  no regrets. You can receive all the Father has. I know this to be true.





A STRONG RECOMMENDATION

• You Matter To Him a talk given by President Uchtdorf 

Ways to Boost Self-worth:

• READ YOUR SCRIPTURES. Grow in knowledge to better understand your purpose.
• Live all the commandments of God
• Cast out negative thinking 
• Read some of Elder Callister's words on how to improve your self worth

Further Study: Alma chapter 4

Worry Ends Where Faith In God Begins.

    

     I know that God cares about us and watches over us. I know this because I've seen God work in my life. There was a time when I needed a job to support myself. At the time I was living on my own, currently renting an apartment and attending Utah Valley University. I just lost my job and needed some income to help continue paying rent. I had put out resumes and been to job interviews in hope of a job offer, but nothing was coming of it.

     I felt I had done all I could. There was nothing else I could think of doing and with only two weeks till rent was due time was running out. There was no way I could provide a job for myself. I needed an opportunity. I knew if I wanted to get a job, God would need to provide an opportunity for me. Knowing that I needed a job and with a sincere desire I decided to pray to God for help. I exercised faith that everything would work out, not knowing how it would unfold, but knowing that God would provide away for it to work. After praying my worry was removed and I felt peace. Two days latter I received an interview and got a job that paid more then I had anticipated. I was able to continue living in my apartment and attending school.

          It is my personal testimony that God cares about each of us. As Ammon says in (Alma 26:37) "Now my brotheren see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in...his bowels of mercy are over all the earth..." God truly does care. We just need to let him work in our lives. I do all I can to provide for myself, but when I know I can't do any more or need some help to go on. I know I can ask God in prayer for help and He will help me. We just need to exercise the faith, get on our knees in humble prayer and ask for help. There will be times in our lives when we don't have answers. Jesus teaches the nephites in 3 Nephi 18 to pray always. " Therefore ye must always pray unto the father in my name." (3 Nephi 18:19) I can promise you that with a little faith and a sincere desire God will answer your prayers.

Challenge:

Pray always even if you are not in need of anything.

Mormon Messages: Learn from a humble women's example how the power of prayer can work in our lives. 

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages?lang=eng&start=37&end=48&order=alpha#2010-01-01-prayer