As I begin this new week I am excited to start it with the spiritual push of friends that have assembled together in the Facebook group, Walk The Talk. It’ll be nice to begin with a little help from my friends. I’m also going to pick a question that will guide my study for the week. I’ve really gone away from regular study and I’m journeying back now to that strength.
Here are my thoughts on this week’s talks in Walk The Talk:
Questioning
At first I felt a new question should be posed every day, but upon experimentation it seems that one day doesn’t give me adequate time to think upon and bury the roots of my answer deep within my heart. So, weekly, instead of daily, is the new experiment.
The question that will guide my studies this week will be the one that I already posted on:
In the same vane as the apostles of old who each asked the Savior, their master, “Lord, is it I?” to the statement that one of them would betray him, I wish to start asking more soul searching questions to assess my own dedication to the Lord and His work. This first question was posed to me by a friend and counselor, “Am I an enemy to God?”
This question comes from Mosiah 3:19
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit , and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child , submissive , meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
Starting where I often like to start, the dictionary, I kept seeing the word “hostile” come up. When first thinking on this question I simply thought that an enemy to God is one that doesn’t keep his commandments, the natural man. And while I still believe this to be so, I gather that to be a natural man means holding hostilities towards God.
In President Benson’s landmark address “Beware of Pride ” he talked said that pride meant enmity or hatred towards our fellowman and God.
The central feature of pride is enmity-enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.
Here are some questions that I believe are appropriate to ask in the light of these several thoughts:
When all is said and done, I wish not to be an enemy to my Father who, knowing all, has prepared blessings and joy untold for me if I will but let his peace and light into my heart daily.
I love my Savior, for he understands all my shortcomings, pains, and emotional struggles. I know that he died for me, but more importantly, I know that he was resurrected and lives even now for me. I know that his word is not forceful and only those who choose to slow down and be still will hear his voice.
Today, I will be a friend to God by honoring him in my thoughts and progressing his work in my actions.