“Yea, he that repenteth and
exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without
ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall
be given to reveal things which never have been revealed;
yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance,
even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.”
Is there a word or phrase that stands out to you?
The phrase that really stood out to me was “Mysteries of God”. How would you define mystery?
It is defined as a religious truth or doctrine revealed only
to the initiated; and made known only
by divine revelation and accepted through faith.
“Only to the initiated”.
Revealed truth given only to the ONE who is seeking. Not to a group, or an organization, or an
entire church but to the individual.
Heavenly Father is a personal God who reveals His mysteries one on
one.
So who was the “one” individual who was speaking in this
verse? I didn’t know, so I went back to
the heading of the chapter and found it was Ammon.
What do you know about Ammon? Who was he?
What did he do? (He was one of
the four sons of Mosiah and a friend of Alma the younger. Rebel then a convert)
In this chapter, Ammon and his brethren proposed to take the
Anti-Nephi-Lehies to Zarahemla, and Ammon prayed to know if this was the Lord’s
desire. He was instructed to return to
Zarahemla with his brothers and the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. On their journey to Zarahemla, do you
remember who they encountered? (Alma)
They were overjoyed to see each other again. Ammon was so full of joy over the missionary
success among the Lamanites and how the Lord had truly been blessing them in
their efforts. Ammon was even accused of
boasting. Yet, he made it clear he
wasn’t boasting in his own strengths, but in the Lord’s strength and mercy.
(verses 11-12)
Here on this road, Ammon was reunited after quite some time
of separation with his once “buddy in crime”, Alma.
Let’s read what Ammon chose to talk about with Alma. Start in verse 17:
17 “Who could have
supposed that OUR GOD (Interesting? The God they knew then in their rebel
days. They created an image in their minds of who God was) would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful,
sinful, and polluted state?” (They
were shocked that God was merciful to them)
18 “we went forth even
in wrath, with mighty threatening to destroy his church”.
Alma, Ammon and his
brothers were rebels, they became wicked and idolatrous men, stealing away the
hearts of the people, causing much dissension among the people. They had full intention of destroying God’s
church.
19 “why did he (GOD)
not consign us to an awful destruction, yea, why did he not let the sword of
his justice fall upon us, and doom us to eternal despair?” (“Our” God would have destroyed us)
20 “Oh, my soul,
almost as it were, fleeth at the thought” (even just thinking about what
God should have, could have done to them makes Ammon want to shutter) “Behold,
he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us
over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our
souls.”
Ammon is reminiscing about how their idol God should
have consigned them to an awful destruction, their God should have allowed them
to die because of their sins, their God could have exercised justice upon them,
yet He didn’t. Those were all the false
impression and beliefs Ammon had created in his mind of who God was. Ammon thought God was a punishing,
destructive, just God with no mercy when it comes to sinners.
But, then Ammon discovered God and realized the true God
wasn’t who he thought he was.
How did Ammon discover the one and only true God?
In verse 22, Ammon shares that through “repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth
forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing – unto such it is
given to know the mysteries of God”.
God revealed His true identity to Ammon through Ammon’s willingness to
repent, show faith, good works and prayer.
The mystery of God’s true identity will be revealed to us through the learning process of
repentance, faith, good works and prayer. His true character is made known to
us as we do those
things not because we do those things like a
reward to us.
I love this quote by C.S. Lewis;
Every image of Him we create,
He
must in mercy, shatter
Just like Ammon, I
subconsciously created false images of who God was. I created an image of my
Heavenly Father by the relationship of those people that were close to me. My father,
for instance, was a demanding father. He was quick to punish and his punishment
was hard. He wasn’t around very much
because he was diligently trying to provide for a large family. I turned to him only when I needed money, to
borrow the car or to fix some equipment that was part of my chores. I have come
to realize that the image I created of my Heavenly Father was very similar to
my relationship with my father.
I was afraid that God would
treat me harshly when I made a mistake. I didn’t trust or have faith in him
because I doubted whether or not I was important or worthy of his love. I
wondered if he would be there to hear my prayers. I only turned to my Heavenly
Father when I needed help, I called them my 911 calls (prayers).
Can
you think of other false images of Heavenly Father that we might create in our
minds from relationships or experiences?
What
about the parent that protects you from everything? Who comes to your rescue all the time? Who doesn’t let anything bad happen to
you? Do you think subconsciously the
child believes “Heavenly Father won’t let anything bad happen to me”.
Then
later in life, the child is now a teenager or adult and he experiences a terrible trial
like losing his job, accident, injury or death of family member etc. and he
doesn’t know how to handle it. In his
mind, he is thinking “I can’t possibly turn to Heavenly Father because He
didn’t protect me” or “He can’t be God
because “my” God wouldn’t let that happen.”
Can
you see how Heavenly Father has to shatter every image we create of Him and can
you sense how He does it?
I
have a friend who at the age of 14 years old, his father picked up and
left, abandoning his wife and children. There
was nothing he could do that could convince his father to come home. My friend was raised in the church,
served a mission, married in the temple and they have four
children. Ten years ago my friend lost his job, couldn’t find work so they lost their home, had to
claim bankruptcy and moved in with her parents for a little while so they could
get back on their feet. Unfortunately,
my friend hasn’t been back to church since and his wife is left raising their children in the gospel alone.
Do
you think my friend believes Heavenly Father abandoned him too just like his earthly
father?
Do you think I set out in life to create false
images of Heavenly Father? NO!
Do
you think I consciously knew I had created false images of who God was? NO!
Could
it be possible that you have created some false images of your Heavenly Father?
How
do you think these false images affected the way I worshipped?
Sure, I knew
the church was true. I was raised in the
Gospel. I did my best to keep the
commandments. I watched my daddy serve
in callings at church, even Bishop for a good part of my childhood. Yet dad acted different at home. Appearance seemed to be very important. So I
dressed my family up each Sunday so they looked their best. I served in the callings the Lord gave me. I volunteered here and there and everywhere I
could. I
worked my tail off trying to please Heavenly Father, to earn His approval, to
earn His acceptance.
But keeping
up that appearance of, “Tresa, can do it all.
Tresa, the overachiever” was killing me physically and mentally. I felt drained and empty inside. I wasn’t feeling any closer to my Heavenly
Father by doing it all.
I wanted to just give up! At this time of my life I really asked
myself, “So where is God?” “Is He even
there?”
I finally decided to pray to find out,
“God, are you there?” No answer came,
nothing. No bright lights, no burning
feelings…nothing.
I felt disappointed and even a little
angry. I had learned
to deal with the feelings of being punished by God, but this felt different.
This was abandonment.
It
was a very humbling experience to feel so utterly alone. I realized I couldn’t survive on my own. I needed help.
I
thought more about my situation and realized I had not read my scriptures,
pondered and prayed as diligently as I could.
One day a friend of mine invited me
to institute class. I learned firsthand
that when we are humble, we are teachable.
I felt every lesson was meant for me.
The lessons helped me recognize what was inside of me. Who I am and what I am here for. I learned a great deal about my Savior. And I realized that I didn’t really know Him
nor did I have a personal relationship with Him. I came to know that Heavenly Father hadn’t
abandoned me, that I had abandoned Him.
I was hearing the same gospel principles that I’d heard all my life, but this time it was different. This time I was getting it. I was feeling the Holy Ghost testifying of the truthfulness of what I was hearing.
What do you think was the difference
now as I attend these church meetings from when I had the past 39 years?
What is this?
What is the purpose of a ladder?
What is this?
What is the purpose of this track?
They look the same, don’t they? The
only difference is the direction they are headed. I was on the right track, moving along full
speed. I covered lots of territory and I
didn’t venture off the track much. But,
my focus was in the wrong direction. I
had no idea, my family and my friends had no idea that I was going in the wrong direction because
from appearance the ladder and the track look the same.
I was trying to earn God’s love, earn
his attention and earn his approval.
Once my perspective changed, I started to change.
The truths I was learning caught fire
in me and I was thirsting for more truth and more knowledge. I started a quest of reading and praying more
diligently to get to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I will never forget the feeling I had when the
teacher bore testimony that Heavenly Father knew me personally and loved me
personally and I started to recognize that this was a “new” God. I had, up until that point, believe in my
father’s God, my mother’s God and my husband’s God. All of them acting and behaving according to
their own image of who God was. I was
determined to stop the cycle.
I knew I needed to gain my own
individual personal testimony of the one and only true God and make Him mine.
Thus began the process of allowing
God in His mercy to shatter the false images I had created of Him in my
subconscious mind. And it has been a
process; an ongoing and continual process because I’m still learning and
gaining knowledge about God, the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I have an open and honest relationship with
my Heavenly Father and I trust Him with my life.
I am not going to say it has been
easy, but I can honestly say I know the meaning of the scripture found in
Matthew chapter 11.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
So why didn’t Heavenly Father answer
me the 1st time I prayed asking Him if He was there?
If He had, would I have ever studied,
prayed, served, worked and learned as much as I have?
Am I earning His love? Earning His attention? Earning His approval?
No, now I am learning!!
Would you have ever learned to walk
if your mom carried you in her arms all day long? Would you have ever learned how to swim if
your father was still holding your head above water?
God’s delays are not always
denials. He tests our faith, but by
doing so He educates it. A God who asks
nothing of us is making nothing of us, and that is not the case. He created us to become like Him.
I’m reading a great book by Brad
Wilcox called The Continuous Conversion.
I love these quotes and can truly
relate.
I know when
I hear those lists of “to dos” like read daily, pray daily, serve, visiting teaching, FHE and
I am not doing them all perfectly, it’s hard not to get discouraged and be
tempted to give up. Heavenly Father doesn’t
judge us by what we have done or haven’t done like they balance on a scale. I believe Heavenly Father cherishes us for
what He created us to BECOME and what we’ve learned along the journey to get
there.
“Heavenly Father’s plan is called the
great plan of happiness. And happiness
is found not merely by making the grade so we can be advanced from one estate
to another. It is found by gaining an
education all along the way.”
“Our ultimate goal is not just coming
to Christ but becoming like Him. Our
coming to Him allows Him to help make the rest of the journey possible.”
“Mortality is a time of probation,
but also a time of preparation. Heaven
is not a prize for the perfect, but the future home of all who are willing to
be perfected.”
“We don’t pray because we’re worthy,
we pray because we need help. We don’t
take the sacrament because we are perfect, but because we are willing to be
perfected. We don’t go to the temple
because we’ve made it (we passed the exam), we go because God is making us
better there.”
My goal is to become like
Christ. I learn how to become like Christ by reading my scripture,
attending church, praying and doing good works. I don’t earn Christ and
His Atonement. He is a gift; not a free gift because Christ paid a huge
price for our salvation, but a gift given freely to each of us by our loving
and perfect Heavenly Father and Christ’s willingness to sacrifice for us.
I can honestly say from my
personal experience that true conversion occurs when we stop trying to earn our
way to heaven and start trying to learn it.
I tried to think back through my
conversion and remember what was the most important thing I did that taught me
God’s true character and taught me who I could become?
I remembered my institute teacher
giving the class a challenge a couple years ago. It was called the “Educate My Desire” 30 day
prayer challenge.
He introduced it as a
way of allowing the Lord to educate you in what He desires you to become. Asking the Lord with an honest, willing heart
and with pure intent, “I don’t know what I want or need, educate me of your
desires for me”.
What does a willing heart mean? (Willing to do my best at everything that the Lord asks of me)
What does pure intent mean? (Not doing it for social gain, economic gain,
approval, acceptance but to learn how to become heavenly)
Educate My Desire
30 day prayer challenge
1) Primarily express gratitude, asking
for very little.
2) Explain that “all I want is what you
want”.
3) Ask, “what is it you want me to do”?
4) Listen for the guidance
I have to admit, the first time I accepted the challenge I didn’t last the entire 30 days. Even the 2nd time he questioned us and asked how we were doing, I hadn’t felt successful to stick with it for 30 days. I know it’s because I didn’t fully trust Him at the time. I still had false images that needed to be shattered.
Yet, with time after many trials and
struggles teaching me to trust Him, I can testify that even the short amount of
consistent days focusing on this prayer, changed me. He taught me how to pray, how to surrender,
and how to rest with Him.
I can testify that God has mercifully
shattered the false images I created of Him. And through the learning process of
discovering the mysteries of God, He also shattered the false images I had created
of myself and my earthy father.
I am truly blessed to have had my spiritual awakening when I did so I could go to my father and explain all that I just shared with you. My dad is not responsible for the false images I created in my mind. I unintentionally created them because I lacked a personal and intimate relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
I know the one and only true
God. He is the Father of our spirits and
by His authority His Son, Jesus Christ created each of us to become like
Him. I know that Jesus Christ lives and He
is our Savior and Redeemer. He loves
each and every one of us. I have
experienced both His redeeming power and His enabling power. I can testify that these powers are real and
available to you. Reach out to Him, get
to know Him. I promise that you will not
be disappointed.
I say these things in the name of
Jesus Christ, Amen.
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