Sword of the Spirit

Okay so it's time for my favorite! The sword of the Spirit!

If you look at all the armor that we've talked about, they are all for protection. Don't get me wrong, protection is wonderful and safety is essential, but it is only a covering for ourselves. It will safeguard us from the evils of the world, but it will not fight it or diminish it. Only weapons can do that.

The Spirit is the only weapon of the armor of God. Weapons are used to stop the adversary, but also to protect and help other people. With every prompting of the Spirit that we follow, we are weakening the devils forces and strengthening heaven's.

The Spirit will guide you in what is right, but it is also from the Spirit that we gain a testimony of truth. Moroni 10:4-5 says:


4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. 

 Do you hear that? You can know the truth of ALL THINGS! if you ask Heavenly Father with a sincere desire to know the truth, and really intend to act on His answer, and trust that God will answer you, then you CAN gain that knowledge for yourself.

I know that this is true because I have studied and then laid it all before my Father and asked if it was true. The Spirit testified to my heart and mind peace concerning these things. It is by following this formula that I have come to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God lives and loves me, that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and that this church is true.

If you ever have any questions or doubts, go to your Father in Heaven. I do not know all things, but He does (he's the source of all truth, so by definition, he knows more than Google ;). Trust him. He will answer you and show you the truth.

I love that and am going to end with that. Sometime soon I'll talk about acting on prompting a (because that is extremely important as well) but I want you to know that through the Holy Ghost, I know by myself that this church is true. I say these things in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

<3 Eliza

Image source

How can we get closer to God?

I was sitting in Young Women's and just felt a strong impression that you needed to hear this.

The topic of the lesson was "how can we know Heavenly Father loves us, and how do we get closer to him?"

The teacher took out three objects and laid them out. They were a cell phone, a flashlight, and a map. She said these were ways we can reach a destination. The most important place we want to get to is back to our Heavenly Father. We also have spiritual tools: the cell phone represents communication with God through prayer, the flashlight is the Holy Ghost lighting our path, and the map is the scripture which lay out God's plan for us and answers any questions we have about what directions we need to take.

First we talked about the Holy Ghost. Many times, the Holy Ghost will be sent to us in answer to our prayers. The Holy Ghost (aka Spirit) will tell us truth to our hearts and minds about anything we want to know. The Spirit is God's messenger and tells us what he wants us to hear, and as we feel the comfort and peace of the Holy Ghost, we can know for sure that God loves us.

The scriptures (bible, Book of Mormon, etc) shows us the will of God and gives us examples of other people who have had to overcome the same problems we are going through. Many times, as we read the scriptures after we pray, the Spirit will show us things we need to know at that moment in the scriptures. As we act on the answers we recieve, and follow what the scriptures say, we will come to know God better and get closer to him. For example, the scriptures tell us we should serve others. As we actually go out into the world and help people, the Spirit will witness to us that what we are doing is right and that God loves us.

Lastly we talked about prayer. Heavenly Father knows even the smallest sparrow, and he knows the thoughts and desires of your heart. Just like any father, he wants us to talk to him, to tell us our problems and victories, to ask for help. As you exercise faith in God by praying, he will answer your prayers. Miracles come by simple prayers.

God will answer EVERY prayer. But how will we recognize the answers to those prayers? Sometimes the answers will not be what we want to hear, or will not come as quickly as we want them to. But if you pray with real intent and listen for an answer with an open heart, the answers will come.

Answers to prayers may come as peace, the voice of the Spirit, an idea, a dream, calm, love, or through the words of the scriptures. This is called revelation.

There was a time when I needed an answer to a question I had, and I needed it NOW, because I felt uneasy and unsure of everything. But God didn't answer my prayer immediately, because he wanted me to learn patience and to trust him. He knows what is best for us, and will give us the answer we need in the exact hour when we need it. And he did. 

Remember, you are a child of God, and he loves you. 

(Copyright Intellectual Reserve)

Run to Him

So tonight I thought I would tell you a story. You can find this story in the book of Enos in the Book of Mormon, on page 136-138.

 Enos was this guy. He lived with the Nephites, who are supposed to be the good guys, but most of the Nephites have been sinning lately, and do not believe in God any more. They do not put their trust in him like they used to.

 Well, Enos was caught up in all of this and didn't know what to do. His dad was the prophet (which means the person who received revelation from God for the group of people, who could talk to him and was a spokesperson for him), so naturally, Enos had been taught from a young age about the gospel. But now that all the good guys were kinda becoming bad guys and doubting, Enos didn't know what to believe.

 In Enos 1:1, he says his father was a just man. He knew his father loved him and was trustworthy. He also says his father had taught him the words if The Lord, and also the love of God. He was grateful that his dad was loving him enough to tell him these things, and knew his dad wouldn't lie to him, but he had to know if these things were true for himself.

 So one day he goes out to hunt. Basically he goes to work. When he's alone out in the forest, probably looking around him and wondering for the thousandth time if there truly is a creator, if his dad was telling the truth, if God really was there and loved him. He is remembering what his father said about eternal life, about the gospel, and then he remembers the "joy of the saints. " he says that these things sunk deep into his heart. He wanted the joy that the saints had, the joy that people who believed in God had, and he wanted to know if the words his father said were true. (1:3)

 Then in verse four, it says some of my favorite lines:  "And my soul hungered, and I kneeled down before my maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for my own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him."

 What happens when you are hungry? Your body is telling you that you are in dire need of nutrients and substance in order to have energy and continue working. But Enos had spiritual hunger. His spirit needed some nourishment, needed knowledge of the truth and needed to feel God's love. And he knew it. So he had to go find it.

 Matthew 5:6 says ( and really listen to this, this is Jesus Christ literally speaking) "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."

 And who better to fill that void than our Heavenly Father, who knows every need, every tear, every word?

 But notice Enos is not just praying. Prayer is an important part to gaining a testimony, but it is not everything. In verse two, it says he wrestled before God before he gained this knowledge and felt God's love. This means he was fighting with himself, his mind was telling him one thing while his heart told him another. He had to lay down his pride and ask for help. He had to struggle and labor in order to receive these blessings. God expects us to work hard and be patient for his blessings. Sometimes, it is extremely hard to trust this when it feels like he is not answering our prayer right away, or with a grand manifestation of his power.

 In verse five, he gets an answer: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed. In verse six, he says he knew God could not lie, so he was troubled no more and at peace. But then he asked how in the world he could be blessed with this gift of forgiveness and knowledge.

  Verse 8: "And he said unto me; Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years shall pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh. Wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole. "

 Check out the last verse, verse 27. Listen to all the things that he knows. This is many years later, after he has been faithful and believing for a while, and is on the right path. He says he will:
•soon die, but is not scared
 •knows he will see his redeemer (Christ)
•knows he is forgiven of his sins and has joy that comes with that
•is looking forward to the day of resurrection when the righteous will receive perfect bodies and will live forever in happiness
•knows he will see God face to face (imagine that!)
• and Heavenly Father will be proud of him, and has a place in heaven reserved for him

 Don't you wish you could have that knowledge? I know I do. I'm far from that faith, but I'm slowly getting there :). When I have those days of doubt and despair, I think of all these things that Enos mentioned, I think of the end result: someday I will get to run into Jesus's arms and hug him and thank him and thank him and thank him for all that he has done for me. I will be able to see him and say "i love you" in person. That is what helps me have faith to reach up to the light through all this darkness.

I can't wait to hug him. 

<3 Eliza

Ps. This is David Bowman's painting titled Security