See Clearly

  No Man Knoweth the Day Nor the Hour I sometimes hear people say we can’t know the day nor the hour of the Second Coming and use this as reasoning to not think about it. The following is found in the article The Prophet Joseph Smith’s Use of the Old Testament. Of the Savior’s words that no man knows the day or the hour of the coming of the Son of Man (see Matt. 24:36), the Prophet asked: “Did Christ speak this as a general principle throughout all generations? Oh, no, He spoke in the present tense. No man that was then living upon the footstool of God knew the day or the hour. But He did not say that there was no man throughout all generations that should not know the day or the hour. No, for this would be in flat contradiction with other scripture. For the prophet says that God will do nothing but what He will reveal unto His servants the prophets. Consequently, if it is not made known to the prophets, it will not come to pass.” ( https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/...

Wedding Feast I have previously shared ( see here ) my story of a spiritual drought I experienced and my awakening therefrom. Part of this time when I was going through the motions and not feeling the power of God in my life was due to the fact that I was very focused on prospering financially. It started with a burning desire to pay of my student loans as I had learned that debt was bad. Even though I knew that student loan debt was a better debt, I was motivated to pay it off within a short time.  Then I went through some rocky times as I started out my career that led me to stress more about providing and I made a switch to work where I could get student loan repayment, which caused us to move to Southern Oregon. I got into the idea of working to retire early (or at least get to the point where I didn’t have to work). Some of the things I was focused on were things that caused my spirit to go hungry. My focus wasn’t on hungering and thirsting after righteousness.  I t...

 President Nelson is Telling Us: Part II What did President Nelson mean by the following? We live in the day that “our forefathers have awaited with anxious expectation.” We have front-row seats to witness live what the prophet Nephi saw only in vision, that “the power of the Lamb of God” would descend “upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.” You, my brothers and sisters, are among those men, women, and children whom Nephi saw. Think of that! Like I said in my last post, I think we’ve heard so often that we’re unique in coming to Earth at this time, that we start to tune it out, or at least it starts to lose its impact.  My thoughts go to the time when Christ stood and read a Messianic prophecy from Isaiah and said it was fulfilled (see Luke 4:17-29). The people listening understood that He was claiming to be the Messiah and they were going to s...

  President Nelson Telling Us: Part I As members of the church we believe the prophet is God’s mouthpiece and the one authorized to receive revelation for the church. We don’t hear the prophets/apostles talking often about visions or new prophecies though. I don’t think this means they don’t have them. However, I think they model their teaching after the Savior who taught in parables. I think they are teaching us what the Lord wants, but for some reason at this stage, they have to do so more in parable. Elder Bednar taught,  The intended meaning or message of a parable typically is not expressed explicitly. Rather, the story only conveys divine truth to a receiver in proportion to his or her faith in God, personal spiritual preparation, and willingness to learn. Thus, an individual must exercise moral agency and actively “ask, seek, and knock” to discover the truths embedded in a parable. So here is a collection of gems that I believe show us how President Nelson is teaching u...

Fandom Versus Discipleship:  Zion Won’t be Redeemed on the Football Field I loved football as a kid. I remember listening to NFL games on my old handheld radio as a young kid since we didn’t have cable. I was a 49ers fan because Steve Young had played at BYU when my dad was there at college. I had a sweet 49ers hat that had cool lightning bolts all over it. I’m sure it was super tacky, but I loved it. I also got to go to a few live Seahawks games once I moved to Washington and I rooted for them too. Those were amazing experiences.  Later in high school I got too busy to follow football and didn’t care so much. But when I got to BYU and got to go to some live games, some of that love of the sport started coming back. But at this point, not only did I root for BYU because I liked my school, but also because I felt like they represented me and my faith.  I remember reading an article a few years ago that talked about how we think when our team wins that it represents a trium...

  Fear Not I have been pondering on the importance of casting out all fear. The scriptures tell us over and over to fear not. I think there is a lot of great work on overcoming fear in psychology, self help books, etc. A personal improvement book that helped me a lot in the early days of my career talked a lot about not letting fear stop us and has a ton of inspiring examples (Success Principles by Jack Canfield). But lately, I started to wonder why the scriptures teach us so often to fear not. D&C 67:10 says “And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you … that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am.” I used to think the scriptures that said to fear not were just calming words. But after reading D&C 67, I wonder why is removing fear important in developing our relationship ...