Spiritual Preparation, Are You "Filled"?

Three months ago, Elder Clark of the 70 gave a talk entitled, "Encircled About With Fire" to Seminary and Institute. He said,  "Whatever level of spirituality we now enjoy in our lives; whatever degree of faith in Jesus Christ we now have; whatever strength of commitment and consecration, whatever degree of obedience or hope or charity is ours; whatever level of professional skill and ability we may have obtained, it will not be sufficient for the work that lies ahead. Brothers and sisters, you and I need to be much better than we are now. The scriptures teach us that the world is now and will be in commotion. Wickedness and darkness will increase. Yet in that darkening world there will be increased divine light. The Lord Jesus Christ has a great work for us to do with the rising generation. It is a greater work than we have ever done before. The Lord is working in power to strengthen teaching and learning in His true and living Church. He is hastening His work, and He is preparing the earth and His kingdom and us for His return."

Last Summer I had this same realization. I realized that coming to church every week, fulfilling my callings and assignments and praying my individual prayers wasn't good enough. The war in Heaven didn't end; it just relocated. The enemy is unseen, but very real.

3 Nephi 18:18 "Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat."

The battle for our souls is constant! We cannot start our day in a hurry and forget to fortify ourselves or our families. Every morning I now pray for the full armor of God. I pray for each piece individually to make sure I am fortified, and I pray for my children also.

In 2005, Elder Eyring wrote a talk to deliver to the students at BYU. He was awakened  at 1 am. by the Holy Spirit telling him to write a new talk. So he spent the following five hours re-writing his talk. I'll quote part of that talk entitled, "Raise the Bar".

"The Lord told us in the time of the Prophet Joseph that war would be poured out upon all nations. We see tragic fulfillment of that prophecy, bringing with it increased suffering to the innocent.
The giant earthquake, and the tsunamis it sent crashing into the coasts around the Indian Ocean, is just the beginning and a part of what is to come, terrible as it was. You remember the words from the Doctrine and Covenants which now seems so accurate:
And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people.
For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand.
And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.
And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people (Doctrine and Covenants 88: 88-91)."

He continues, The Lord is anxious to lead us to the safety of higher ground, away from the path of physical and spiritual danger. His upward path will require us to climb. My mother used to say to me when I complained that things were hard, “If you are on the right path, it will always be uphill.” And as the world becomes darker and more dangerous, we must keep climbing. It will be our choice whether or not to move up or to stay where we are. But the Lord will invite and guide us upward by the direction of the Holy Ghost, which He sends to His leaders and to His people who will receive it."

Now I want you to think about the Parable of the 10 Virgins. Just picture them in your mind. Did you picture them with a lamp in their hands? OK I want you to erase that image from your mind. I want you to think instead of your body as the lamp and Heavenly Father is trying to fill you up with oil. Now think about the process for making olive oil.  Olives are picked from the tree and crushed by two giant granite disks. This creates an olive paste. The paste is then spread onto many plates made from basket woven material. The plates are stacked and put into a hydraulic pressing machine. With enormous effort, it presses the oil out of the olives. So Heavenly Father has this plan, and He is willing to pour this oil/His spirit out upon all of us. The scriptures say, "To all who are willing to receive."
Are we WILLING to receive His spirit? I hope the answer from every lip is an enthusiastic "Yes!" So what is preventing us from walking in the power and authority of Christ? What is preventing us from having His spirit always? I want to talk about three things. Think of these as lids that are placed over you, preventing you from your purpose.

#1: Unbelief. It could be that you believe the Atonement is for everyone, except you. Or it could be you believe the Atonement is for everyone, except another person. There have been nations and nations of people recorded in the scriptures who have "dwindled in unbelief." We do not want to be a nation of unbelief! Mormon 1:14 says, "And there were no gifts from the Lord, and the Holy Ghost did not come upon any, because of their wickedness and unbelief." God is unchanging and immovable. He is the same always.  

Moroni asks some questions in Chapter 7:36 "...Have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved? 37 "Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased, wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain."

So how do we take off the lid of unbelief? 

We believe. 

Start with the Articles of Faith. Study them. Pray about each one. Read about Jesus Christ, about His ministry. Increase your level of belief until you are filled with belief in Christ. A great example of this level of belief is in Mark 5. Jesus was ministering to people and it was quite crowded. There was a woman there who, it says, had an issue with blood for 12 years. She had seen every physician and spent all her money, but nothing helped, in fact it says she only got worse. Verse 28, shows her absolute faith in Jesus Christ. "For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." So she secretly reached out, touched his clothes and it says "Straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague." And also because Jesus had all the gifts of the spirit, He knew someone had touched his clothes and been healed. She came forward in fear and he told her "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace and be whole of thy plague."

Another great example is in Matthew 8. A centurion finds Jesus and tells him his servant is sick of palsy and tormented. Jesus tells him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion tells him he's not worthy for The Lord to come under his roof, but he believes if Jesus just speaks the word only, that his servant should be healed. He explained how he understands being a man of authority himself, that if makes a command, it will be done. In verse 10 it says, "When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel." And the man's servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

The second lid I want to talk about is the lid of unforgiveness. In Matthew 18, Peter asks Jesus how often we should forgive. Jesus answers with a parable. He said the Kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king, which would take account of his servants. One was brought to him owing 10,000 talents (money). He couldn't pay, so his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. The lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. Then the same servant went out and found one of his fellowservants; which owed him an hundred pence (a lot less money). He laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. His fellowservant fell down at his feet, saying Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not; but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told their lord all that was done. His lord called him and said, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

So let's take the lid off, by forgiving everyone their trespasses.

Forgive.

 I pray everyday for Heavenly Father to forgive all of my trespasses and mistakes. I also pray for help to forgive others their trespasses. One of my favorite examples of forgiveness is in John 18. A band of officers from the chief priests and Pharisees come under cover of night, with lanterns, torches and weapons. Judas betrays Jesus and the men are arresting Jesus. Peter is standing there, draws his sword and cuts the ear off of a high priest's servant named Malchus. And Jesus reached out, to this band of men holding swords out at him, and He touches his ear and it's healed. Jesus knew everything that was going to happen in the next few hours, everything. And he still reached out his loving, healing hand, even in these terrible circumstances. He was betrayed by someone who should have been his friend. He had just suffered in the garden of gethsemane. He knew Peter was about to deny Him three times. He was spit upon, scourged, and crucified as an innocent man. Do you think our debt to Him is greater than anyone's debt to us? The power of forgiveness sets us free just as Jesus is free.

The third lid blocking our spiritual progression is disobedience, which is rebellion, sin or transgression. In Luke 6:46, Jesus said, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it; for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great."

Do you hear the voice of The Lord and do what He says? Do you do exactly as He says? Do you do it immediately? When Jesus was asked which is the great commandment in the law. He said "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." (Matthew 22:37).

Blessings come when we are obedient to God's laws. D&C 93:1 says "Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am."

Repent.

Remove the rebellion from your life, repent daily of sin, transgression and disobedience. Remove this lid thru prayer time with your Heavenly Father. He already knows what you're doing and how He can best help you. He wants you to realize that you need Him. You need Him every moment of every day! Become well aquainted with repentance until you rejoice in it. The atonement is God's gift to all of us. Pray morning and night, and every time in between. He hears you! Pray until you feel the spirit and then press into His purpose for you. Obedience allows a loving Father to fill us with more of the light of Christ. The saints are to be a light to the world. When we sanctify ourselves thru Christ's atonement, He is able to open our minds to His will. And when our eye is single to His glory, our body will be filled with light and comprehend all things.

We are preparing to meet our God and we are preparing the earth for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I testify that He is coming. What better companion can we have than His spirit to stretch us and lift us to where we need to be? 

Remember to Believe. 

Remember to Forgive and 

Remember to Repent. 

Remember the Lord, your God. 

I trust in The Lord and rejoice in His love and His plan. As we press ourselves into His spirit in believing the atonement is for me, in asking for forgiveness for every mistake, and truly repenting, we will be prepared to see His face. And like an innocent little child, we will run to our Savior with open arms.

I testify that He lives. He loves us. He is full of mercy, grace, goodness, forgiveness and love. He is filled with light. The scriptures are alive with His words. I know the scriptures are truth and all will be fulfilled in Heavenly Father's time and in His perfect plan. It's my hope that we can each come to know Him more. To be filled with His love. And to help one another on this journey.