|
HOW TO PREPARE FOR
THAT WHICH IS TO COME By Barbara Wilkinson Women's Council Retreat, Outreach Branch
I greet you in the name of
Jesus Christ, He is the reason for this gathering, should be the center of
our life and our work. I was asked to talk on HOW TO PREPARE
FOR THAT WHICH IS TO COME. I seem to always get the "How To"
jobs, probably because I am a “how to” person. I'm
concerned about what is to come, but I don't waste a lot of time worrying
about when, where or how it will happen, I leave all that to God and just ASK
Him to show me how to prepare for it. When
I was asked to talk, I asked myself what are the things we must prepare
for? Most people think we must prepare for the bad times, so we have
had lots of seminars on how to physically prepare for them. But I
always think of the good things to come and ask how to prepare for them,
because I realize that "...it was the more righteous part of the people which were
saved," [3 Ne 4:66] during the calamities at the death of Christ. So I
figured if we work to become one of the more righteous, God will care
for us during the best and the worst of times. I came up with 6
wonderful things we need to prepare for: 1. The Endowment; 2. The Kingdom; 3. The return of Christ in his glory; 4. 5. The DAY of Judgment; which
will lead to 6. Eternal life [OR Eternal damnation, depending on
what we do or don't do.] So I
ASKED God to show me what we need to know AND
DO, to prepare to have an ACTIVE
PART in each of these good things. As I study I continually ask God to, "Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things
out of thy law." [Psa 119:18] He
is faithful to show me things as I read the Scriptures; in Scriptures
read by the preacher;, quoted in a class; and last but not least though the
still small voice in my mind,
I was told to: Be ye doers of the word, and
not hearers only, DECEIVING YOUR OWN SELVES. James 1:22 This scripture continually came to my
mind, till it dawned on me that it was to be the main
theme of my whole talk. I realized that no matter which direction our life goes, to
prepare for God's
will we must DO WHAT HE TELLS US TO DO. At
Wednesday night's prayer service, the opening scripture added emphasis to
what I had been told: 95:3a And I give
unto you a commandment, that ye
shall forsake all evil and cleave [stick like super glue] unto all good, that ye shall live by every word which proceedeth
forth out of the mouth of God; for he will give unto the faithful, line upon line, precept
upon precept; 95:3b and I will try you, and prove you herewith; ... DC 95:3a,b Let
me paraphrase it so it is easier to understand: ·
If you will
faithfully do what I command you to do, ·
You will automatically
give up the evil and do good. ·
Then I can
guide you step-by-step, line-by-line throughout your life. ·
This way I can
try you and prove to you that my way is the best way That's the end of my talk we can go home now. But Ann
Taylor asked me to talk about preparing our heart, mind, and be obedient,
witness and serve the Lord, so to make Ann happy I ASKED GOD to give me ideas
and examples that could help you PERSONALLY TO SEE HOW TO PREPARE: UNDERSTAND: this is a personal walk we all must
take. God doesn't have us all take the same route, or go at the same
time etc. SO YOU MUST PERSONALLY ASK GOD TO SHOW YOU WHAT HE WANTS YOU PERSONALLY TO
DO. When
my husband, Max, decided to turn to God he was a heavy smoker and coffee
drinker, an occasional drinker, would take a bet once in awhile, etc.
Now if I was going to have him begin to change I would have told him to give
up some of those glaring sins. But as Max read the Scriptures
EVERYTHING SAID PAY HIS TITHING. What did that have to do with him
returning to the Lord????? UNDERSTAND: God doesn't do things the way we
do things. He sees things different than we do and He starts working with us
as soon as we reach out to Him and begins to tell us WHAT HE WANTS US TO
DO. Our job is to DO IT. 55:6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be
found, call ye upon him while he is near; [That is, you take the first step toward God, He
gently and continually calls you, but never forces you to come to Him. So step one is you turn to Him. ] 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts [That's what DC 95:3 told us to do]; and let him
return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God,
for he will abundantly pardon. The following is the how
to part. God showing you HIS SUPERIOR WAY THAT IS JUST RIGHT FOR
YOU PERSONALLY, so listen to what He asks you to do and DO IT.
Others won't understand or often believe you that it is what God is asking
you to do. IGNORE THEM!!!! 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways, saith the Lord. 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts. Isaiah 55:6-9 Don't ask me why God started Max out with paying his tithing, I
still don't understand it. To me it is absolutely illogical when he had
so many glaring sins to work on. Not only that, but it was a real
hardship on Max. At the time he had 3 kids and a spendthrift wife who spent
money even when there wasn't any in the checking account. It took all
his wages just to keep up with her spending. So he took a second 8-hour
a day job that was to go for tithing. He did that, 16 hours/day 5 and
sometimes 6 days a week for 2 years to pay his tithing. God learned
that Max believed He had spoken to him and he wanted to DO WHAT GOD TOLD HIM
TO DO. Nephi
gave us one of the best admonishments found in the Book of Mormon. Wherefore,
I said unto you: Feast upon the words of Christ, For behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things
what ye should DO. 2 NE 14:4 Remember everything Max read in the Scriptures alluded to paying
his tithing GOD WANTS WOMEN TO PREPARE FOR
THE GREAT ENDOWMENT While working on the thoughts for
this talk, God dropped into my lap an inspired paper written by Earl Curry. Don't
ask me where it came from... it just sort of showed up. The paper is
called Womanhood Possibilities In Development Toward Divine Endowment.
Such Is God's Will. See the attached copy. He
began the paper by saying.
The Lord wants womanhood, far and wide, to become increasingly
spiritual, having experiences with the Holy Spirit.
He wants womanhood to press toward endowed living themselves
and also help others to likewise press. Truly
the results will be wonderfully rewarding. It
again inspired me to tell you that WE WOMEN DON'T HAVE TO HANG ON TO THE COAT- TAILS OF THE
PRIESTHOOD TO EXPERIENCE THE ENDOWMENT. We seem to think that is the priesthood's responsibility,
nothing we need to worry about. Don't you believe it! If you want to be in on the great
endowment you must prepare for it. How? Ask God how he wants you
personally to prepare for it. Then read the Scriptures looking for what he
wants you personally to do. Bro.
Curry ended the paper with a wonderful prayer, indicating that he saw that
women were more spiritually minded than men: Our marvelous Father in heaven, Thou
who has created us, lead all these Thy very precious daughters into ever more
fruitful lives for an empowered Restoration, and dynamic outreach to
all mankind, in these days and years preceding the return of our Lord Jesus
Christ. In your wise providence you have placed more of a
tendency toward spiritual mindedness in womanhood than seems to be generally
true of men. May these thy daughters treasure this Thy providence as a
jewel of immense worth! Help them! Inspire them! May they always reach
up toward the fulfillment of their exalted potential and destiny! In the name
of Him who gave himself for all mankind! Believe
what Bro. Curry says about us is true, and begin to WORK AND PREPARE to be
ENDOWED YOURSELF, don't just sit back and wait for it to HAPPEN to the
priesthood. We
women need to be at the forefront of spiritual growth BECAUSE WE ARE THE
NURTURERS OF OUR FUTURE PRIESTHOOD and of the WIVES OF THE CURRENT PRIESTHOOD
MEMBERS who need support as they strive to prepare for the Great
Endowment. UNDERSTAND: You are either a strong or weak spiritual
companions to your priesthood husband right now. I can tell you which
women in every branch I've attended who were the weak links for their
priesthood husband and how his priesthood suffered because of it. UNDERSTAND:
If these 6 things come very, very soon, will you and your family be prepared
to be a part of it? There may not be time to rise up another generation
to do the work? BE PREPARED NOW TO HAVE AN ACTIVE PART IN THESE 6 THINGS,
and help, guide and/or direct your spouse, children and your friends, because the spiritual capacity is within you. We
can be a guiding force in teaching others to prepare for the Great
Endowment. Unfortunately
we have been taught at some point in time, ready or not, the priesthood will
some day be ZAPPED with the great
endowment of the Holy Ghost, and if we [non priesthood] are some where near,
we to will feel the Spirit
too. UNDERSTAND
the power of the Holy Ghost isn't JUST A FEELING; it is strength given to help those who are
serving the Lord. I made a list of the functions of the Holy Ghost and
found roughly 116 of them, all related to working for the Lord. So UNDERSTAND
the Holy Ghost is not a FEELING but a FUNCTION. Corrie
Ten Boom said it well when she said, "the holy ghost is not for our enjoyment, but for
our employment." Read
the Book of Mormon looking for miracles etc. Notice that they happen to
men who were busily engaged in the Lord's work. For example, arrows and
stones could not hit Samuel the Lamanite while he preached on the wall. The 4
sons of Mosiah could not be killed while on their missionary trip to the Lamanites.
Some of the ministers were imprisoned and protected by a circle of fire
etc. Specifically notice that they were not afraid to be boldly valiant in testimony of Jesus
Christ, and preached in great power converting whole towns, or thousands of
heathens. This didn't happen just
to make a group of people feel good, but to bring about God's work: "... this
is my work and my glory to bring about the immortality and eternal life of
man.” DC 22:23b Which
goes along with our
work: 10:10a Behold, this
is your work [Hyrum
Smith and to all who have good desires. DC 10:11a,c],
seek not to
declare my word, but
10:10b then, if you desire,
you shall have my Spirit, and my word; yea, the power of God unto the
convincing of men; DC 10:10 First of all we are to keep His commandments. Keeping the commandments is part of the
requirement for almost every promise given in the Scriptures. DC 6:4b
suggests that the definition of repentance is to keep the commandments.
Second we are to study His word
which goes along with Nephi's admonishment to Feast upon the words of Christ
which will tell you all things to do. Third, IF you desire to witness, you are promised to have His
Spirit and His Word and THE POWER OF GOD to convince men. WOW what a promised blessing. Notice this promise isn't just to priesthood but to
"ALL WHO HAVE GOOD DESIRES," that can include you and me IF YOU DO WHAT DC 10:10a,b tells you to do WHAT DID MINISTERS DO TO BE SPIRITUAL ENDOWED? As
I studied the Scriptures I looked to see what the most spiritually endowed
ministers did to receive the power of the Holy Ghost. I found that they ALL
seemed to ·
Prayed and fasted mightily and ·
diligently studying the Scriptures, looking and asked the Lord what He wanted them to do. ·
They ASKED to receive the power of the Holy
Ghost. That's
what I've been preaching, teaching, exhorting, expounding, proclaiming etc.
for years now!!!! It's called the" WHAT'S YOUR HEART'S DESIRE? plan and exactly what the 4 sons of Mosiah did to prepare
to witness to the murderous, heathen Lamanites. [ WHEN AND WHY DID I START MY STUDYING OF BEING
ENDOWED? I
really started this study eleven years ago when I was asked to give a talk on
"The Power Within Us" I was led to talk about the Holy
Ghost, so I asked God to give me the Scriptures He wanted me to use. For
2 months He made certain Scriptures stand out, I printed them onto the
computer. Those Scriptures became a SIGNIFICANT SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE, which totally changed the direction of my teaching.
What I was shown was many things we can do to receive the power of the Holy Ghost,
that is the great
endowment. I
asked why I had never seen this before and was told, "Now is the time
for us to prepare for the great endowment, or I will raise
up a people who will." I have been teaching our women these
understandings ever since. So I was thrilled when I saw what Bro. Curry
said about us doing THINGS that will cause us to be
spiritually endowed. People seem
to have trouble believing that we can do things that will increase the amount
of the Holy Ghost within us. It
has caused me to look for women in the Scriptures who had the Spirit within
them. For example, ·
·
Mary, mother of Jesus and ·
the mothers of the 2060 sons of Helaman. ·
But one of my favorites is the wife of King
Lamoni, who was a heathen with a tender spirit. Ammon, an endowed
minister, said of her, "Blessed art though because of thy
exceeding faith; I say unto thee woman, there has not been such great faith
among ALL THE PEOPLE of the Nephites." Notice that includes the men and the women. NOTICE: Ammon saw what Bro Curry saw in that woman... I
became discouraged because so few people seem to see or be interested in the
things we could do to increase the amount of the Holy Ghost within us.
Then I remembered what my patriarchal blessing said: ...remember
that sometimes men and women move slowly, so very slowly in their growth in
spiritual affairs. Do not expect too much in too short a time, for God
in His patience waits through the centuries. [My continual answer in frustration is, "But Lord, we
don't have centuries!"]] Be
courageous as you speak out for the work of God, but avoid the aggressiveness
which might enable others to lose sight of your inter desires to help
them, which are in your heart. You
need to be admonished with the same understanding. When you begin to
grow spiritually you become excited, but frustrated because others don't see
and understand why you are so excited. Also
understand that you
will be frustrated with your own slow improvement. I've been working on and studying this for 11
years, and I'm frustrated that I have grown so slowly spiritually, I figured
I should be FILLED TO BURSTING WITH THE Holy Ghost BY NOW. It took me a
long time to realize that God is making it slow and hard for me so I can better understand
other people's slow progress. If
it were easy for me, I wouldn't have one ounce of sympathy for you who were
slow to grow. BUT don’t
under estimate your potential for influencing those around you as you grow
spiritually by DOING WHAT THE LORD IS ASKING YOU TO DO. UNDERSTAND " ...
unto whom much is given, much is required." [DC 81:1c, Luke 12:57] The Lord will
require you to set the example before our children and our husbands and before each
other. I was
thrilled when I moved to WE need to challenge our
friends and family members to be among the more righteous... calling them to
higher grounds by what we say and what we do. Why? Because only the MORE RIGHTEOUS will
have an active part in the 6 wonderful things that are to come WHAT SORT OF HELP ARE YOU TO YOUR HUSBAND AND
CHILDREN When
I quote work, I SELFISHLY spent all my time studying because I was working to
write lessons on EXERCISES IN GROWING SPIRITUAL. I was building a card
catalogue on the best Scriptures on every subject imaginable. I daily
told Max about the neat Scriptures I found and we grew together spiritually. DO
YOU HOME SCHOOLING MOTHERS DO THIS FOR YOUR HUSBANDS? We
discussed each concept and he soon learned that when he was to preach he
could take cards from MY file to use in his sermons. He called me "his
research assistant." Do
your lives reflect some of those appalling modern values? We
are told that the Christian value system is the same as the world’s; it just takes them 20 years longer to accept it. Look
at your life now verses 20, 30, 40 years earlier. How has your value
system changed? Are you now accepting movies that came out 20,30,40
years ago and you wouldn’t have thought of going to see them at that time,
but you watch them now on TV or video because they are among the MORE
RIGHTEOUS movies available? That is just a small indication of what
they are talking about. Listen to the language in the movies now, that
you put up with, but wouldn’t have put up with 20, 30, 40 years ago. The list
goes on and one I see
a few mothers in BUT I ALSO SEE AND HEAR OF CHILDREN WHO ARE
NOT BEING TAUGHT. Sunday school
teachers have told me how heart sick they are because the children don’t even
know their father is in the priesthood; let alone what office, or what he
does in that office. Some don’t even know the principles of the gospel;
the name of the first prophet, or the location of the church headquarters .
the PARENTS RESPONSIBle
for teaching their children about the Lord and His principles. Doctrine
and Covenants 68:4 tells exactly what PARENTS are to
have taught their children by the time they are 8 years old, OR THE SINS WILL BE UPON THE
HEADS OF THE PARENTS. Ray
Treat has pounded in to our heads the Parable of the Sower. He has
continually told us that the next to highest level are those who ·
Because of cares of
the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke
the word and he becometh unfruitful.
[Mat ·
Are choked with
cares, and riches, and pleasures of life and bring NO fruit to perfection [Luke Our
children are our most precious fruits. We give them all the
materialistic things we can afford by 2 parents working, but we fail to TEACH
THEM the word of God and therefore
THEY ARE not doing it. Unfortunately we loss a large percentage of our
natural increase to the world. How many of your children are grown and
working in the church? HOW TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO BE DOERS OF THE WORD Train up a child in the way
he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Pro 22:6 That
scripture always bothered me because I couldn't see that it was true. I
was raised in the church and we kids were PROGRAMMED to be there every time
the doors opened and to be on time. But my brother is now an atheist or
agnostic, so Proverbs 22:6 has to be wrong. I thought that until I
recently heard the Hebrew [and English] definition of Training: "to teach a
principle and then PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE until it becomes an ingrained
habit." My
brother was TRAINED to attend regularly. He still attends regularly
with his good Methodist wife. He even goes to help with the building of
their new church while she is at work. These things
he was TRAINED to do, but he doesn't believe, doesn't have faith, for some
reason he obviously was never trained
in the gospel or doctrine of Jesus Christ. I
also have been frustrated by the scripture that says QUESTION:
how many commandments were you TRAINED to do in your childhood? Here is
our problem in these latter days. We have not been trained to keep the
commandments, nor are we training our children to keep the commandments.
Did you notice that Luke 1:6 [above] gave the DEFINITION of RIGHTEOUS as: "... walking in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." So we
need to begin to TRAIN ourselves and our families in the commandments of God
if we desire to be DOERS OF THE WORD. I
pray that you don’t think I am asking more of you than you can bear.
Laman and Lemuel complained that Nephi said hard things that were more than
they could bear. Nephi told them,”... the
guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very
center." [1 Ne 5:2] When that which is taught OFFENDS YOU and
YOU CAN'T BEAR IT understand that the Lord is
pricking your conscience and you'd better look carefully at what is offending
you. Is it true of you? Then mend your ways. Nephi went on
and told his brother that if they were: 1. righteous 2. HEARKENED [hear and do ] to the truth, and 3. gave heed to it that they would walk upright
before God, and they would not murmur
because of the truth. Then Nephi EXHORTED his brothers to DILIGENTLY keep [DO] the commandments of
God.
Keeping the commandments is one of the main parts of "Be ye doers of the
word, and not hearers only, DECEIVING YOUR OWN SELVES." Jam I
think, James 1:79 And now, I say unto you, my
brethren, that after ye have known
and have been taught all these
things, if ye should transgress [definition: to break or violate a civil
or moral law. That is to NOT DO IT.], and go contrary to that which has been spoken, [don't do what you have been taught] that ye do withdraw yourselves
from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom's path,
that ye may be blessed, prospered, and preserved. 1:80 I say unto you, that the man that doeth this, the
same cometh out in open rebellion against God; 1:81 Therefore he listeth to obey the evil spirit, and becometh
an enemy to all righteousness; 1:82 Therefore, the Lord has no place in
him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples. 1:83 Therefore, if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth
an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice doth awaken his
immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, 1:84 Which
doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his
breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire,
whose flames ascendeth up for ever and ever. Mosiah 1:79-84 James
and King Benjamin both make it clear that you are deceiving yourself if you
think you are going to live with God eternally IF you are NOT DOING THAT
WHICH YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT. One
of my favorite teachings came from Delbert Smith, Mildred's husband. He
taught me to look for principles with a promise. They
are Scriptures that say if you will do
this, you will receive this blessing, or in contrast there are PRINCIPLES WITH A CURSE. If
you find a principle with a promise that you want, DO IT and watch for
the promise. ASK God to show you principles with promises that He wants
you to do. Then testify of the promised blessings you received because
you did what He said. ....the Lord esteemeth
all flesh in one; He that is righteous is FAVORED of God; 1 Ne 5:121, 122 Are we, His people, sufficiently righteous so that we are
FAVORED of the Lord? I fear we are like Laman and Lemuel who couldn’t
even see the unrighteousness of the people in We tend to blame this lack on the priesthood because of
the problems and contentions in our branches, when in reality we are a part
of the problem, because of OUR lack of faith and obedience. If we are not
seeing the blessings in this day and time, understand that we are not
prepared for that which is to come. Don’t procrastinate the day of your
repentance and miss having an active part in the wonderful events that are to
come. No
longer be content with our degree of righteousness. Today ASK God to show you what He wants you to do
and BEGIN
DOING IT. These 6 blessed events are coming, the question is: will you
be prepared to have a part in them? Top of Form
|
