All posts by Ryan

Faith, Walk The Talk

Opening Our Hearts – Elder Gerald N. Lund

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The Holy Ghost is a precious gift…

  • Do I harden my heart? Then I’ll receive LESS of the Lord’s word.
  • Do I soften my heart? Then I’ll receive MORE of the Lord’s word.

Responsibilities of the Holy Spirit…

comforts, teaches, warns, enlightens and inspires us.

It will show unto you ALL things what you should do.

How the Holy Ghost Speaks…

He whispereth

– to hearts
– to mind

  • Do I want to be visited by the Holy Ghost?
  • Do I want the Lord to draw near unto me?
  • Do I want joy and consolation in my life?

Then I must carefully assess the condition of my heart. It is one of the most important things I can do in this life.

The heart is a tender place. It is sensitive to many influences. It can be:

  • softened by love
  • hardened by sin (Moroni 10:22)
  • hurt by others

to protect our precious gift of agency: Holy Ghost carries messages TO the heart, but not INTO it….

State of a Heart necessary to feel the Holy Spirit: Purity

When my heart’s on the things of the world…

  • I seek to hide my sins
  • I seek vain ambitions over the things of God
  • I seek unrighteous dominion

+ This is pride

The condition of my heart directly affects the things of the Spirit….this is why anger, bitterness, blame, frustration can leave me feeling empty.

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Sachi’s thoughts on Opening Our Hearts

Family, Walk The Talk

Restoring Faith in the Family

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Elder Kenneth Johnson
Of the Seventy

“Stable families provide the fabric that holds society together, benefiting all mankind, even those who may feel they live in less-favorable circumstances.”

There have been a handful or two times in this life where I have felt so overwhelmed with the Spirit of God that both His existence and the truth of the moment were undeniable. I consider those times my “tender mercies” from a loving Father. Most of those treasured moments have been experienced when I have been taught truth about the importance of the family. They are precious and special to me.

“Although spiritual truths may appear less tangible, to the humble heart their impact is undeniable.”

I have also had many moments of quiet peace in which I realize small and simple truths that help support the deeply personal moments I mention above. I cherish those moments as well and feel the Lord teaching me line upon line and precept on precept. Each time I am quiet enough and ready to hear these soft impressions I have a calm sense of gratitide because I know that my Father in Heaven loves me, is mindful of me and delights in teaching me things of eternal significance.

The things of eternity can only be taught by the Spirit. When we learn things that way, we have eternal truths imprinted on our souls, never to be forgotten. Elder Kenneth Johnson of the Seventy spoke humbly and gratefully about gaining “an appreciation for the core values that are necessary for the development of a sound character.” I’m sure in his home atmosphere of love these qualities are some of his most valuable possessions:

Loyalty, dependability, integrity, selfless service, honor, respect for the daughters of God, provident living, dignity of work, ability to make important decisions, accountability, consideration for others, and encouragement to pursue educational opportunities.

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More:

Walk The Talk

Out of Small Things

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Elder Michael J. Teh
Of the Seventy

“We need to enlarge the circle of our influence” – This reminds me to break free from any cliques that we can quite easily establish and seek to include all.

“To some degree we all depend on each other to be able to make it back to our heavenly home.” – I don’t think to some degree, but to a LARGE degree we depend on each other. It’s with a little help from my friends that I survive. I realized while running in St George and again in the Wasatch Back Relay that without the help of others I would have had a much harder time keeping strong and courageous. Its in the helping hands, the smiling faces, the mutual strength that I draw from my friends and those who serve that I can become anything great.

“Do what you will, there is going to be some benevolence, as well as some malice, in your patient’s soul. The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know. The malice thus becomes wholly real and the benevolence largely imaginary.” – I have enjoyed recently to listen to C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce and have read most of The Screwtape Letters. In a simple way Mr. Lewis clearly exposes the subtle ways we feed ourselves a steady meal of self deceit and garbage. It’s beautiful to me how clearly I see things after reading or listeningn to a few of his thoughts on Christian living.

This statement also reminds me of when Christ said if you can’t be kind to your brothers and sisters who are nearby then how can you show love to a God whom you can’t even see? (paraphrased)

My Walk will be simple. I will not bicker about “dirty dishes,” literally and figuratively and will do one kind, out-of-my-way act for each of my roommates and family members this week.

Walk This Talk Extras

Christ, Walk The Talk

He is Risen…He is Risen Indeed!

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I had a great week leading up to Easter today. I enjoyed studying about the last week of our Savior and felt closer to Him as I did so.

I often feel the pull of the world and today, to know that through Christ’s resurrection I have life was a good feeling. Though I walk through the valley of death I know that He is my Lord and that He knows all my troubles and sorrows.

Though I fall short I know that through him I may conquer all my fears!

He is Risen and I know this to be true.

ioV

10 New Sprouts

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Our company, ioVentures, was never really set up with the intention of servicing a large number of clients, none of us wanted that. Our goal has been from the start to build our own little projects that could provide us multiple streams of income. Here are our first little guys. Just as a newly sprouted plant looks like most other newly sprouted plants our little sprouts are in their infancy, so judge not by their outer appearance.

That’s all for now.