Today has been a sunshiny day. The sky is blue, the temperature is comfortable and I've done some good things.( and it's only noon hour) After breakfast, a read of my conference issue, and tidying the kitchen, I headed off for a nice hour plus walk. I do enjoy walking, and just observing people as they go about their day. I'm always interested to see who will reply when I randomly say hello to people as I pass. After making it home, I relaxed for a few minutes then headed to my office/craft room. I checked my email/facebook....then pulled out my Sunday school lesson to work on.
Being called as the Gospel Doctrine teacher, confirms to me how well Heavenly Father knows me. He knows that I struggle to be a disciplined scripture reader/student.....so voila...he makes me the teacher. ( lesson to note...study your scriptures more diligently) Anyway, all kidding aside, I do enjoy this calling, and the discipline that it has given me. I'm teaching from the Doctrine and Covenants, an amazing book of latter-day revelation. Last week we learned about the Grand Plan of Salvation. This week we are discussing The Kingdoms of Glory. Section 76 is a key chapter of study, as are 131;132 and 137. Section 76 is loaded with instruction....137 was my favorite. I plan to focus on the Celestial Kingdom ( and why it is not out of our reach) Now the reason that I felt I should post about this is because of the following quote:
“What does it mean to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus?
“It is to be
courageous and bold; to use all our strength, energy, and ability in the
warfare with the world; to fight the good fight of faith. … The great
cornerstone of valiance in the cause of righteousness is obedience to the whole
law of the whole gospel.
“To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to ‘come unto Christ,
and be perfected in him’; it is to deny ourselves ‘of all ungodliness,’ and
‘love God’ with all our ‘might, mind and strength.’ (Moro. 10:32.)
“To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to believe in Christ and
his gospel with unshakable conviction. It is to know of the verity and divinity
of the Lord’s work on earth.
“But this is not all.
It is more than believing and knowing. We must be doers of the word and not
hearers only. It is more than lip service; it is not simply confessing with the
mouth the divine Sonship of the Savior. It is obedience and conformity and
personal righteousness. …
“To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to ‘press forward with a
steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God
and of all men.’ It is to ‘endure to the end.’ (2 Ne. 31:20) It is to live our religion, to practice what we preach, to
keep the commandments. It is the manifestation of ‘pure religion’ in the lives
of men; it is visiting ‘the fatherless and widows in their affliction’ and
keeping ourselves ‘unspotted from the world.’ (James 1:27.)
“To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to bridle our passions,
control our appetites, and rise above carnal and evil things. It is to overcome
the world as did he who is our prototype and who himself was the most valiant
of all our Father’s children. It is to be morally clean, to pay our tithes and
offerings, to honor the Sabbath day, to pray with full purpose of heart, to lay
our all upon the altar if called upon to do so.
“To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to take the Lord’s side
on every issue. It is to vote as he would vote. It is to think what he thinks,
to believe what he believes, to say what he would say and do what he would do
in the same situation. It is to have the mind of Christ and be one with him as
he is one with his Father” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1974, 45–46; or Ensign,
Nov. 1974, 35).
Having read it several times made me most definitely desire to reflect on how diligent or valiant I am. It spoke to me saying....this is what you need to do. How grateful I am to have read this today. It strengthened me to be a little bit better, and it told me that I am loved. I know that my Heavenly Father blesses me daily with direction to find my way home.
How grateful I am for his Plan of Happiness for us all.
