Things of My Soul

We live in a day very similar to the Prophet Joseph Smith, in which there is a "war or words" and a "tumult of opinion." The solution is still the same: Hear Him! and not the crowd.

When we understand the many ways God speaks to our heart, we invite more revelation and our confidence grows.

When we understand the many ways God speaks to our mind, we invite more revelation and our confidence grows.

The journey of the Jaredites to America reveals several key rules of revelation.

Perhaps the best way to Hear Him is to pray better and more frequently.

We all have a spiritual navel; a connection to the divine. How we treat our body has a tremendous effect on the flow of nutrients through out navel.

The Lord will pour out blessings in our lives if we forgive others.

One of the biggest challenges in our day is distinuishing between friend and foe. Too ofter we let in poison and avoid those who would have blessed our lives.

For many of us, the biggest tares disguised as wheat are the stories we tell ourselves and what Paul calls 'doubtful disputations.'

Far too often we keep the Savior at a distance, loving Him and being terrified of Him at the same time. He is pleading for us to open the door and let Him in. Not when we are all dressed up and the house is clean, but where we are dripping with mud and standing in a mess. It is not condemnation He will bring.

It is our human nature to compare ourselves to others and see ourselves as not enough. We are the wheat that we keep out as a tare.

The scriptures promise increased communication and help from Heaven when we diligently study the scriptures.

Understanding some simple study techniques will help us get more our of the scriptures.

We build temples to give God a place to manifest Himself to His people and to allow us to be in His presence.

Revelation will flow more readily when we seek learning in His house.

Revelation will flow more readily when we seek to better understand the symbols in His house.

His house is also a house of preservation and healing.

Christ sends us blessings as we obey the words He sends through His prophets.

The Book of Mormon opens with a powerful lesson on hearing God in our challenges.

Nephi illustrates how to hear God in adveristy.

We can learn some tremendous lesson from Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail about hearing Him in the Dark.

Part 2. We can learn some tremendous lesson from Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail about hearing Him in the Dark.

Part 3. We can learn some tremendous lesson from Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail about hearing Him in the Dark.

Heavenly Father's children often forget Him the very moment He blesses them. We must learn to hear Him in prosperity in order to break out of the vicious pride cycle described in the Book of Mormon.

Heavenly Father is not very far away. He is not difficult to find. He has placed Himself in His children. Learn to look for Him in others.

We often pray that God will change our circumstance. But He is often causing the circumstance becasue He knows they are for our good. We must also learn to pray for God to change US.

The Book of Mormon has a dilemma. Each of us is part of the solution. Accept the invitation the book extends to overcome the dilemma.

Our Savior answered the ends of the law in order to reclaim us from the demands of justice. We explore what He accomplished in answering the law and what He can then do in our lives.

Our Savior experienced the totality of mortal exisitence and knows each of us perfectly. That allows Him to tailor the mortal experiences we each need.

To claim the blessing and power of the Atonement of Christ, we must have hope. Growth comes line upon line through a process called Grace for Grace.

We now turn to Topic #2: The Book of Mormon Was Written For Our Day. The Book of Mormon warns that one of our greatest challenges in the latter days is avoiding Noah Blindness. The book of Mosiah provides solutions.

Four Anti-Christs in the Book of Mormon teach us how to combat the influence of modern-day Anti-Christs.

The great war in the Book of Mormon is a pattern of the war that began in pre-mortal life. These chapters are our instruction manual to end the spiritual war in our day. Amalickiah is a type of Satan and reveals Lucifer's strategy.

After Captain Moroni's preparations, the Nephites were prepared for the Lamanites and had all power over them. The war should have ended after one battle. However, the Nephites opened the front door and let them in by making two mistakes. Many, today, make the same mistakes and let the enemy in.

Within the story of the war chapters, there is a smaller story which seems to illustrate the very point these war chapters are trying to proclaim. The preservation of the strippling warriors is a prophecy of the preservation of the righteous in the war against Satan. We must be modern-day strippling warriors.

The coming of Christ in the Book of Mormon is a pattern of His Second Coming in our day. Therefore, the days BEFORE His coming in 3 Nephi are a pattern of the days BEFORE his Second Coming. The Book of Helaman is a guide to succeed in our day.

The Book of Helaman predicts that the wars of our day will be wars of the heart. We cannot use the sword. Only the Gospel of Christ will work.

The prosperity of the Book of Helaman and its subsequent pride are patterns of our day. We must learn the shortcut.

The Devil has a secret, which he tells to those who follow him. They form secret combinations. Modern-day secret combinations are much more advanced. The Book of Helaman teaches how to succeed when we face secret combinations

The Book of Mormon testifies of the role it should play in our lives.

Chapel ordinances help us overcome telestial habits and become more terrestrial. Temple ordinances help us move from terrestrial to celstial.

Connecting several dots, we can better understand the purpose of being washed in the temple.

Like the Israelites at Passover, we need to mark ourselves with the Savior's atonement in order to receive His blessings. In our day, the world is also seeking to place their mark on us.

Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we all need to take off the fig leaves we use to cover our sins and put on the coats of skins that the Father offers us. Also, when we take upon us a name, we accept an new identity and a new way of living.

The covenants of the Endowment are made within a storyline. It is vital to understand that storyline. It also reveals some key truths about our convenants, like our Father's expectation for this probationary state.

In retelling the story of the creation, the Lord reveals His greatest purpose: to exalt families. When our greatest purpose matches His, we will enjoy the fullness of His happiness.

The first law of Heaven and the first covenant of the Endowment is the Law of Obedience. If we first made this covenant at baptism, how is the temple version difference?

How do we know what to obey and what to sacrifice? The Law of the Gospel is the set of instuctions that allow us to keep the first two covenants.

How is the temple version of the Law of Chastity different than the chapel version?

Our Heavenly Father is willing to give us all that He has. We must, therefore be willing to give Him all that we have. We must obey the inner law of consecration.

Part 2 of our discussion about the inner law of consecration.

Consecrating all we have to the Lord will only be the first step of living the outer Law of Consecration. In this class we discuss the other 2 steps.

The Lord has given 2 requirements to make marriage last for eternity, but we often emphasis the wrong one.

Often, we think that ordinance work is the only reason to attend the temple. In this class, we explore other reasons we build temples.

Truths were restored in the order of their importance. The greatest of all truths that have been resotred, and the foundation of the Restoration, is the knowledge of the true nature and identity of God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ.

Second, in order of restoration, was the restoration of lost truth. We must not make "more of less" of the truth.

Pres. Nelson warned that too many men and women in the Church do not understand nor claim their priviledges of the pristhood. We explore the difference between hierarchical and patriarchal priesthood as well as the difference between authority and power.

We are led by Seers, who see the danger while it is a far off. While they are not perfect, they do see what we do not. Our spiritual survival depends on heeding their warnings.

Like in the days of Enoch, the people of God are going to build a city of safety for the saints to dwell. We examine the history of that city, its current state, and our hope for the future.

As modern-day Abraham, it is our responsibility to bless all the families of the earth with exaltation. Someday we will offer to the Lord a book containing the completed ordinances of all our families.

In our chapels, we preform ordinances that invite us to leave the telestial world and enter a terrestrial world. In our temples, we perform ordinances that then invite us to leave the terrestrial world behind and be more celetial.

Each of us are missionaries. The Book of Mormon shows us how and how not to.

The Doctrine & Covenants is a sacred book of scripture, unique in our cannon. Learning the role it plays in the restoration is vital.

The Lord revealed a law unto Joseph Smith in Kirtland, Ohio. This law should define the members of the Church.

Part 2 of our discussion of the Law of the Church.

How do we make the things most important to us last the longest? The Lord has given 2 requirements. We often emphasis the wrong one.

In this class, we explore some of the reasons that may have contributed to the early saints practicing plural marriage. There is so much we do not know.

What led Brigham Young to withhold the priesthood from black males? New information may help you see the situation differently.

Faith requires a correct understanding of God's character, attributes, and perfections. List first among His character is that He is The Greatest of All, even greater than all my challenges.

Too many people do not reach out to Christ because they lack hope. We explore what hope is and how it works in our lives.

Christ came to know the totality of the human experience in Gethsemane. He also knows each of us perfectly. That allows Him to tailor our individual mortal experiences to what we each need for salvation.

Much of fear of God stems from an incorrect understanding of His judgement. God does not throw stones.

The Savior will forgive each of us a quickly as we forgive others, including ourselves.

It cannot be pleasing to our Savior when we focus on our flaws, compare ourselves to others, and tear ourselves down. When we instead rejoice in OUR creation, we can then more fully enjoy the success of others.

Our Savior does only that which is for our good. However, He does not explain why what He does is best for us. As a result, many walk away from Him. Will you?

Many doubt their exaltation because they do not see a clear path to it. Jesus came through the veil and forgot pre-mortal life to show us that path. It is called, "Grace for Grace." You can do it!

Understanding how Jesus loved children teachs us all a vital lesson: Perhaps the best way to please our Savior is to love, care for, and be like a child.

Christ is our strength in our darkness. We were His strength in His darkness. We are inseparably connected to him.

Christ's defining character is Love. We break down love into it's components, and see them in their fullness in Jesus

Christ's defining character is Love. We break down love into it's components, and how to better apply them in our lives.

Jesus uttered 7 statements from the cross. They are not only profound insights into His character, but marvellous invitations for us to live like Him.

When we invite Jesus into our life, it is for the long journey. He will fix our immediate shortcomings, for sure, but He will not stop there. He is deterined to walk with us all the way to His Father's Kingdom. Only YOU can stop Him.

Pitfall #1 is the tendancy to jump right to relationship dating. It is often awkward and uncomfortable. There is a better way: Friendship Dating.

Pitfall #2 is when you do not understand not take full advantage of relationship dating. We are looking for a match; which is the absence of deal-breakers.

Pitfall #3 is when we let our hearts jump to marriage before we know if we are a match.

Pitfall #4 is when you are dating at one level (ie. on a date with a 1), but your focus and purpose is at another level (ie. you're looking for a match).

Pitfall #4 is when you are dating at one level (ie. on a date with a 1), but your focus and purpose is at another level (ie. you're looking for a match). In this class, we look at appropriate dating at levels 4, 5, and 6.

Pitfall #5 is not knowing the difference between 'Being in Love' (the thrill) and love (the choice, the committment).

Pitfall #6 is not considering that perhaps your best partner is someone who sees what you do not.

Pitfall #7 is not jumping in when you should (preference on the deal-breaker list) and pitfall #8 is not jumping out when you should (deal-breaker on the preference list).

Pitfall #9; Part A is not allowing others to repent or change; expecting them to be perfect. That is hypocritical since none of us will offer our spouse a perfect partner. We must grant each other and ourselves a probationary state.

Pitfall #9; Part B is staying in a relationship with deal-breakers and hoping change will occure and not recognizing that change is not occuring and will likely result in a broken relationship. In this class we talk about how to recognize then change is and is not occuring.

Pitfall #10. Like the one who only received one talent, our human nature often causes us to be so afraid of failure that we do not try. This, the Lord rebuked in the parable. He wants a people that would rather fail than not try.

Heavenly Father's greatest priority is helping create eternal families.

Heavenly Father will help you find an eternal companion, but we must understand some of the rules of revelation the apply to dating.