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

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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)