"[The doctrine of the priesthood] is that our Eternal Father enjoys this high status of glory and perfection and power because His faith is perfect and His priesthood is unlimited"
"His faith" meaning His belief in His ability to create change. It is perfect since He has no doubts.
These things command and teach.
I should recognize right things as imperative to do.
I can feel infused with power as I choose to do right things.
"To enter into the order of the Son of God is the equivalent today of entering into the fullness of hte Melchizedek Priesthood..."
It's not being ordained to bear the priesthood, the fulness is being taught how to use His power to change people's lives for the better
In learning how to be kind to others, I learn how to be kind to myself, which is the first essential step
Using His power in the way He intends, changes me to become more like HIm
These changess are cumulative, but not necessarily permanent. They are subject to slow decay. Because entropy must increase.
"Thou are after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years..."
The order isn't bearing the priesthood, it's using priesthood power [the ability to cause change] the way He would use it - only to bless and improve the lives of others or myself
"Walking with the Savior will change the way you look at others... If you walk with the Savior long enough, you will learn to see everyone as a child of God with limitless potential... [and be able to] help people see that potential in themselves and so repent"
I can see the limitless potential in myself, repent, and become more like Him
"...glimpse the wonders of that power by which the worlds were made."
Power = the ability to change myself, or others, or my environment
"Perhaps we can see how... we... may uses this same [priesthood] power to bless our fellows and save ourselves"
I should only use power to bless others or to pursue joy
If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
I should discover, learn, and memorize empowering beliefs
I can use empowering beliefs in the moment to ease me through heart-hardening situations.
What if everything I do is right?
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
I should think about what godliness means, so that the Holy Ghost can teach me what I can do to become more like Him.
I can choose to think like Him as a way of becoming more like Him
Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
I should choose empowering beliefs to help me prepare for every situation
I can feel better, by choice, at any minute of the day.
"Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; [/] and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; thereforewalk with me."I will be your God - providing all the power you need to change what needs changing Ye shall be my people - do what I command. Not just the general orders I give to all, but the specifiic oncs I give to you. And learn to tell the difference between My voice and anyone else's. Only obey My voice, but do so scrupulously. Jeremiah 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
I should seek His guidance in any matter where my experience falls short.
I can know how to proceed in new areas with wisdom He imparts to me through the things I already know. That's why study is so important. The more I know, the more He can use to draw upon to help me.
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
I should act, in kindness, seeking to emulate Him earnestly
I can be a good example
"[The atheist said] our belief in God was a deception that made us feel better about our lives"
How can something that's not true make us feel better about our lives?
Two ways: either it takes our focus away from unpleasant things we can fix, preventing us from improving our lives, OR it takes our focus away from unpleasant things we can't fix, which allows us to feel joy, which is a far more resourceful state than misery. All things being equal, it's better to spend your time feeling joy rather than misery.
I've never met God. I can't prove He exists. All I know is that when I do the things that a person who believes in God would do, I feel happier.
"God can reveal His existence, purposes, and truths to us by spiritual means that are just as real as physical scientific observations."
Spiritual means = thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations
What do all these spiritual truths allow us to do better? What advantage does reading, studying and living all this stuff give us?
Emotional control. The ability to get into the mood to do something good or kind or productive that is also - short term - uncomfortable or inconvenient.
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
I should still my clamoring mind, and in peaceful silence, let truth and wisdom pour into my soul.
I can find peace, and let Him fill me
To put at defiance the armies of nations, to divide the earth, to break every band, to stand in the presence of God; to do all things according to his will, according to his command, subdue principalities and powers; and this by the will of the Son of God which was from before the foundation of the world.
I stand in His presence all the time. I have the gift of the Holy Ghost. He is not lesser. He is fully God, one in purpose with Father and Son. And He is with me every day. This is normal. This is natural. And this is now.
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
I should give myself over to His will. I fear losing control.
I can always have my fear replaced with peace.
Arrogance = the unwillingness to change in the face of a clearly superior alternative, to avoid having to admit I was wrong.
Humility = the willingness to change in the face of a clearly superior alternative.
Pride is good until and unless it hits the point of "...and that makes me better than you"; instead of "everyone has something to be proud of, and those somethings are all different, and they're all good, because they all recognize and admire the principle of justice.
For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
This is liberty - the right to pursue the dictates of my conscience, without interference from others, ao long as my actions don't interfere with the equal right of others to do similarly
See also: Article of Faith 11
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
I should be thankful for ALL men.
I can find something to be thankful about, about anyone.
Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
I should keep an open heart, ready to accept new knowledge
I can ask of any experience "what can I learn from this?"
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
His grace can make up for whatever I lack. I just need to ask for His help. The answer will always be yes.
Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
I should ask for His kindness, even when I don't feel like I deserve it.
I can feel like I'm enough.
Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
I should strive to Hear Him
I can be willing
I think the real key is you have to keep your ears open, you have to listen, and you have to fit with the guy... You can't change him... the thing for you to do is make something out of what he does. Make him sound good. Then you'll have fun and so will he.
Mercy = not getting a punishment I do deserve
Grace is a reframe that removes a spiritual roadblock to progress by allowing me to no longer believe it exists. It allows me to give myself permission to move forward.
I can't because x is stopping me
I can remove x if you ask me.
Please remove x.
I have removed x.There is nothing stopping you. Proceed.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
I should accept His grace to make up for any shortcoming I have.
I can try, and fail, and His grace allows me to try again without penalty
What's the difference between grace and His atonement?
Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.
I can have peace always
But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
I should turn to him for strength when I'm tired
I can be strengthened above weariness if I ask for His help
For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
I should seek His peace at all times today and follow in His way with kindness to all I encounter
I can seek peace, strength, and power 200 times a day
Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.
I should seek His peace, over and over to comfort my heart.
I can seek the comfrot of His peace every single time I'm uncomfortable. There's no upper limit to the number of times I can ask for His help to feel better. 200 times a day would not only be reasonable, it would make Him happy to see me trying so hard.
"A small animal on a space rock in a tiny corner of the universe" is also true.
Which one is more useful to focus on?
And why am I asking the question? Do I want the answer to empower me to find joy, or to justify my surrender to despair and misery?
I am what I have done and thought up until this point in my life.
Am I the good things I do or the bad things? Or all the things?
If I'm all the things, I can't reduce the disparate existants into a concept. I have to omit something. What can I properly omit? The non-essentials. Which are non-essential?
Non-essential for what? What is the goal of asking "who am I?"
If I know who I am, and I choose who I want to become, I can design a path to get me from start to finish. There is no point in knowing who I am except to know where I'm starting so that I can progress to where I want to be.
In order for knowing who I am to help me become something else, I need to find a useful pattern within the sum total of my thoughts and actions.
Consider a checkerboard. How many different patterns can I extract? Rows, columns, diagonals, zigzags... Which is it? All of them. But if I want to win at checkers, the most useful is black diagonals.
If I declare that I want to become a checker player and follow the black diagonals, the adversary will point out times that I moved vertically or horizontally and say "see? you're no checker player". God will point out the times I DID move on the black diagonals, and say "See? You can do this. I will help you"
"Child of God" allows me to feel that it's possible for me to choose an empowering pattern. Christ's atonement and grace allow me to feel worthy to choose it.
Which experiences are non-essential? The ones that don't continue to shape me when I stop doing them.
There are things that I do, that I think about even when I'm not doing them.
This is who I am. This is who I'm becoming
Who I am is who I'm becoming. I am becoming the things I think about doing even when I'm not doing them.
I have become them when I use those things to help me to do other things, because they're now a habitual part of me. I can now focus on becoming something else, because the thing I was trying to become is now a part of who I am. I don't have to think about reading or walking or talking anymore.
I have to seek out a spiritual physician who I believe is capable of healing me.
He will ask me about my spiritual habits, and I must answer Him honestly - even if the answers don't make me look good.
He will tell me what I need to change.
I have to choose to be willing to be healed, despite the short-term discomfort the necessary changes will cause.
I must be completely obedient to His prescription for treatment.
[Credit for information on medical diagnoses: text from Larry Peterson]
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
I should seek to have Him send me peace, strength, and power
I can have these things and use them to bless the lives of myself and others
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
I should look for His hand in my life
I can take the time to notice His helps and briefly appreciate them
That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I should open my heart to Him an dlet Him do His work in me.
I can join in this gentle transformative process
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
I should release all thoughts of anger and retribution, knowing that those who offend me will get what they deserce without my having to expend any effort or a moment of attention. God will handle it without me.
I can feel satisfied with His justice
Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
I should seek the peace that is the sign of feeling worthy.
I can feel peace regularly, until I can feel it continually.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
I should seek His help in finding peace and strength
I can remember that I don't have to do it all alone. The only part I have to do by myself is make the choice to seek.
Quench not the Spirit.
I should invite the Spirit freely and without resistance or impediment
I can set myself aside and let the Spirit flow through me unimpeded. This will not wash me away and make me less, it will infuse me and make me more.
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
I should seek peace, which is the essential root of patience.
I can make peace my habit, and patience follows, because it is just peace, repeated.
Patience = the choice of either a small reward in the short-term, or a more valuable reward in the long-term.
Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
I should try to walk closer to His way, and be thankful for His atonement that allows me to try again when I notice myself drifting, without the need to waste time with self-inflicted penance.
I can seek His peace 100 times a day without penalty; I am entitled to this by my covenants.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
I should be kind
I can set aside my fear, feel peace, and reach out to others
"...the Lord will bless you with strength and wisdom to accomplish the impossible"
He provides the power, I provide the strength and wisdom that comes through me.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
I should find things to be cheerful about
I can feel cheerful, and I can begin from a position of peace
With practice, I will be ablt to go straight to cheerful
"Ask your Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ how He feels about you and your mission here on earth"
He said "supportive"
This includes doing unpleasant, uncomfortable, and inconvenient things, while counting them all blessings; knowing that there are pleasant, comfortable, and convenient things that will outweigh them.
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
I should lift my gaze to view the ways I can become more like Him.
I can start with His peace, and then go purposefully where I need to go.
To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
I should desire the things of God
I can make wanting the things of God a habit
And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
I should trust in His ability to strengthen me
I can be made strong, no matter my weakness
For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;
I should be aware of the good things in my life
I can notice and focus on the good things in my life and be thankful for them
