As I was reading this week's "Come Follow Me" recommended reading, 3 Nephi 27 - 4 Nephi, the themes of 1) follow Jesus Christ, 2) prayer, and 3) unity quickly came to mind.
The opening verse in this section, 3 Nephi 27:1, states that as the disciples of Jesus were teaching and baptizing in the Savior's name, they "were united in mighty prayer and fasting." This verse encompasses all three of those themes, as the disciples were teaching in the way the Savior taught, praying in the way the Savior taught, and unified together in their purpose.
In the October 2020 General Conference talk, "Watch Ye Therefore and Pray Always," President M. Russell Ballard powerfully stated, "During the past few months I have had the impression come to me that the best way to help the current world situation is for all people to rely more fully upon God and to turn their hearts to Him through sincere prayer. Humbling ourselves and seeking heaven's inspiration to endure or conquer what is before us will be our safest and surest way to move confidently forward through these troubling times."
In the same talk, President Ballard reminds us, "The Savior taught us not to limit who we pray for."
We need more faith in the Savior, more prayers, and more striving for unity as we head into particularly troubling times. Yet, the Savior promises us, "And whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day." (3 Nephi 27:6). I also love this promise because it is for everyone. Nobody is excluded from this promise, regardless of race, gender, how we were raised, what trials we've had in life, or what mistakes we have made, if we turn to the Lord and trust in the Lord. This is reaffirmed in the same chapter in verse 16, "... whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day ..."
In the October 2020 General Conference talk, "By Union of Feeling We Obtain Power with God," Sharon Eubank said, "Each of us is going to have deeply wounding experiences, things that should never happen. Each of us will also, at various times, allow pride and loftiness to corrupt the fruit we bear. But Jesus Christ is our Savior in all things. His power reaches to the very bottom and is reliably there for us when we call on Him. We all beg for mercy for our sins and failures. He freely gives it. And He asks us if we can give that same mercy and understanding to each other.
In the April 2018 General Conference talk, "With One Accord," Reyna I. Aburto referenced when the Savior was on earth as discussed in the Bible, as well as this time in 3 Nephi and 4 Nephi.
She said, "In order to reach our sublime destiny, we need each other, and we need to be unified. The Lord has commanded us, 'Be one; and if ye are not one year not mine.' Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of unity with His Father. They are one in purpose, in love, and in works, with 'the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father.'"
Later she adds. "Miracles happen when the children of God work together guided by the Spirit to reach out to others in need."
The people that saw Jesus Christ and were taught by him and by the twelve disciples were full of joy and wanted to follow his teachings and his example. This is after hundreds of years of warring and contention in the land that eventually ended in 3 Nephi 8 with the city of Zarahemla being burned down, the city of Moroni sunk into the sea and its people drowned, the city of Moronihah destroyed by an earthquake that turned the city into a mountain, and other great destruction for a people and a land that would not repent.
When Jesus visited, the repentant and humbled people came together, followed him, listened to him, and experienced many miracles in the name of Jesus, from healing the sick, to having the deaf become able to hear. The great city Zarahemla, which did "take fire" (3 Nephi 8) among many other cities that were destroyed because of their wickedness, was "built again."
"And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people." (4 Nephi 1:15).
Unfortunately, in the scriptures, we constantly see the pride cycle at work, where the people forget the source of their blessings and begin to sin and create destruction again. In this case, the peace from having personally been visited by the Lord lasted for about 200 years. On the one hand, this was much longer than other previous times of peace throughout the land, which in some cases, lasted only for one year before they forgot and became prideful. On the other hand, they did eventually forget. We see the importance of record-keeping, and how carefully the Lord instructed his prophets to guard the records that became the Book of Mormon. We also see the importance of teaching our children so they can remember and know how to find peace.
How are you striving to follow Jesus Christ, seek him through prayer, and find unity with those around you? Here are a few things I've been doing recently.
1. One of the ways I am trying to follow Jesus Christ better is to committing to saying a five-minute prayer each day. This not my only prayer of the day but this is my prayer where I try a little harder to remember that I'm "calling home" and to really talk. I make it a point to look at a clock and make sure that by the time my personal prayer is over, five minutes has passed. Yes, prayers shouldn't be timed but neither should they be rote and sometimes saying a prayer with that new parameter can help. This is something that our Stake President challenged us to do a while back (a 5-10 minute prayer each day), and that we were reminded of in our last Stake Conference meeting.
2. My calling is that I am an adult Sunday School teacher. I committed to myself when we stopped having in-person church that I would try to do my calling anyway by blogging some of my thoughts. This made me make sure to read not only the scriptures, but the lesson plans, maybe a little more closely and thoughtfully.
3. I have been trying to pause more in my prayers, and write down the things that come into my mind when I ask, "What should I start doing? What should I stop doing? Who needs my help today?" I don't always remember to ask those questions, and I don't always pause, but I am trying to do these things better and more thoughtfully. Sometimes a thought pops into my mind that I'm not sure if it's just what I was thinking about, or if it's divine inspiration. I feel it helps to write it down and ponder on it as I read scriptures and pray.
4. I have been reading and pondering my patriarchal blessing along with my scriptures as I've sought answers to questions. Here are some additional thoughts about patriarchal blessings here (on the Church of Jesus Christ website).
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