I
have been inspired to entitle my talk “Faith to find through good works and the
spirit: the art of staying focused and in-tune.”
Faith to find is a whole subsection of Preach My
Gospel. It reminds us we are all
children of God and can be blessed by the restored gospel. Just a few of these blessings are greater
peace, direction, purpose in life and eternal families. All can benefit from this message. If we have faith in the Holy Ghost, he will
guide us to those who need help and/or are ready for the gospel. He will give us what to say, and when he is
there, the person you are conversing with will not be offended. That is a
promise given by Elder Ballard. How can
we as members help those we come across prepare to receive all the Father
hath? There is a way that was revealed
in this last October General Conference.
Did you hear it? It was very
simple, not very scary, and has numerous blessings attached.
Just a few of the blessings that were explicitly attached
to keeping this commitment include: the constant companionship of the Holy
Ghost which will guide us to those who are prepared for the gospel, more joy
and peace, we will become truly converted and true disciples of Christ, be an
answer to someone else’s prayer, bring love and compassion to our own family
and others searching, become more meek, gentle and longsuffering, have charity,
virtuous thoughts, no longer have any desire to do evil and most importantly,
do and become like Christ. Besides all
these personal and family blessings, there are also large-scale blessings
promised which are as the church does this one simple thing daily; the world
will be sweetened with faith hope and charity, and we will transform the barren
desert wasteland. Now our ward is not a
“barren desert wasteland” but it is suffering a drought in investigators and we
need your help.
My brothers and sisters, that simple instruction
mentioned and expounded upon in 9 talks this conference alone is to pray each
morning for an opportunity to give service, then go about the day looking for
and acting on promptings. Like Naaman, we
may think it too simple, but let us have faith that the Lord really did inspire
9 different people to issue the same call including his prophet Thomas S.
Monson. He stated at the close of conference
“May we pray for the inspiration to know the needs of those around us, and then
may we go forward and provide assistance.”
This day to day service does not have to be gathering hurricane relief,
or working in an orphanage in Zimbabwe, but small acts of kindness. Elder Ballard made an inspired forecast that
“Over time this would have a transformative effect upon all of our Heavenly
Father’s children through the extension of His love to them through us.” Notice he did not say members only, but all
of Heavenly Fathers children. People’s
hearts are softened through service and seeds are planted. These smiles, phone calls, sitting next to at
lunches and shoveling of driveways have tremendous power. They lead the way for other meaningful
service including the sharing of gospel truths and our testimonies down the
road. Everyone is at a different stage
in their life and may feel differently about our church, but together with this
simple practice we can obtain all these promised blessings together with our
neighbors and friends. If you are too
busy for this simple task given by the Lord, you are working for Satan, for he
teaches a man not to pray. Some of us
may need adjusting like I did when this commitment was made, but with faith and
an increased desire all can achieve this challenge.
Alright, now that we have accepted this challenge, how
can we stay focused and remember? The
Lord says that he has engraven us upon His palms and will never fail us nor
forsake us. Have we done the same with
Him? Have we truly been converted and had
the gospel planted deep in our souls? We
have covenanted at baptism to always remember Him and keep His
commandments. Are we keeping the first
two great commandments? Do we love the
Lord with all our heart and soul, and do we love our neighbors? In a talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks called Desire he discusses this difficult task:
“Readjusting our desires to give highest priority to the things of eternity is
not easy. We are all tempted to desire that worldly quartet of property,
prominence, pride, and power. We might desire these, but we should not fix them
as our highest priorities.” He then goes
on to give a gruesome tale of a man trapped by a boulder while hiking. While waiting to die he saw a vision of him
and his future son. This vision gave him
the desire and courage to cut off his right arm and save himself and his
future. He goes on to explain that “Most
of us will never face such an extreme crisis, but all of us face potential
traps that will prevent progress toward our eternal destiny. If our righteous
desires are sufficiently intense, they will motivate us to cut and carve
ourselves free from addictions and other sinful pressures and priorities that
prevent our eternal progress.” This
vision of the future we desire can be a powerful motivational tool to help us
reevaluate our everyday decisions and remember our commitments to our Lord and
Savior. Joseph Smith also stated a
similar thought process: “what we insistently desire, over time, is what we
will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity.” Let us daily check our priorities to see if
they include family, scripture study and prayer. Another way to daily remind ourselves could
be to record what act of service you rendered that day in a journal, or make a
jar of “warm fuzzys.” Every time you
serve, you add a pom-pom to a jar and over the next few months you can remember
the “warm, fuzzy feeling” you got every time you acted like the Savior. Whatever you decide, keep up with it.
Elder
Oaks closes with this statement: “Let us remember that desires dictate our
priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. In
addition, it is our actions and our desires that cause us to become something,
whether a true friend, a gifted teacher, or one who has qualified for eternal
life.” Let me add that we may become
true disciples of Christ, and the best neighbors anyone could ask for, always
abounding in good works. The task is
simple: just add asking for an opportunity to serve in your morning
prayer.
Let
us all be a little more Christian, let us observe and then serve, let us be
anxiously engaged in the work of our Lord like a hive of diligent honey bees
and let us follow the prophet for he knows the way. Let us pray for opportunities to serve each
morning then go about doing good. Let us
all pull together and serve our fellow brethren that these blessings may be realized. Our ward will be strengthened and transformed
in Christ through His love and together we can find those prepared.
