Labor in the Spirit--Alma 17:5, Book of Mormon

Alma 17:5. What does it mean to labor in the spirit?

I think it means that we work hard--that we work hard at understanding what God wants us to do and then doing it.

President Ezra Taft Benson taught that the secret to missionary work is work! That if a missionary works, he will get the spirit.

I think that President Benson learned the virtues of work in his youth. As a boy, he took over his father’s farm as his father was called on a mission! (No surprise that each of the Benson children followed in their father’s footsteps and served missions!)

So, what does it mean to labor in the Spirit? I've been thinking about this a bit. I've also been impressed lately by another statement in this chapter about the sons of Mosiah:

. . . they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God (Alma 17:2-3).

What struck me here, is that they didn't teach with their own knowledge. They read the scriptures and studied them that they might know the word of God, but to me it seems that they still relied upon God and upon His spirit to give them utterance. As I studied this scripture, I also came across this interesting verse from 2 Nephi 28. 

And they [rival churches] shall contend one with another; and their priests shall contend one with another, and they shall teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance (2 Nephi 28:4). 

I realized when I read this, that I am sometimes, and perhaps often, guilty of using my own knowledge, wisdom and pride to teach. The point of reading the scriptures, as I see it, is to get the Holy Ghost in our lives. I need to learn to trust more in that spirit (see Doctrine and Covenants 11:12).

Jesus Christ, Mothers, Marriage and Family: A Foretaste of Eternity

I declare before God and before His holy angels that I know that Jesus is the Christ, the living Son of the Living God. I have perfect faith in the efficacy of his all-encompassing atonement for all human sin and for all human suffering, and I believe in mothers. I believe in women.  Women who sacrifice. Women who care. Women who heal. Women who love. And, I believe in marriage. I believe in the deep, soulful union, body, soul and spirit, of a man and a woman, joined under God in holy wedded matrimony. And, I believe in family--unified family. Family where love prevails, along with kindness. Family where each member is heard. Family where each member is recognized and nurtured and encouraged. Family where parents and children and siblings counsel together and nurture one another in love. And, I declare before God that this is the order of heaven. When we arrive in a perfect heaven, what we will see is family. What we will see is order. What we will see is counsel, and harmony. What we will see will be awesome. These are the things I aspire to. These are the things Jesus teaches me, even and these are the things that I love. I know that God loves us, His children. I know that Jesus Christ is our brother in deed. I know that everything good that we do and that we know is a reflection of the goodness and knowledge that is in them.

Isaiah in the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ

Isaiah in the Book of Mormon:

Abinadi does Isaiah better than the KJV! "Skousen has noted that Abinadi’s quotation of Isaiah 53:7 more consistently uses the past tense than does the KJV. In the KJV translation, the second occurrence of the verb “open” is rendered with present tense “openeth not his mouth” instead of the past tense “opened not his mouth” as it is rendered earlier in the verse. Mosiah 14:7 consistently renders the verbs in the past tense, “opened not his mouth.” The Book of Mormon version renders the underlying Hebrew verbs of Isaiah 53:7 more correctly than does the KJV. Again, this observation can be seen to support the thesis of this essay. Skousen, Analysis of Textual Variants, Part Two, 1321–1322." as noted in <https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/why-did-book-of-mormon-prophets-speak-of-future-events-as-if-they-had-already-happened#footnote5_4qgnam9>, accessed on 9 June 2020. 

https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/hebraisms-and-other-ancient-peculiarities-book-mormon

Never Say Die

Sometimes, I'm really determined. "Never say 'die'," if you will. That's how I feel about school this semester. 

I have a lot of things going against me: family obligations, financial challenges, family health and wellness challenges--a number of things. Sometimes, I think I should drop out of school, that this would be easier and make more sense. Sometimes, I've even decided that's what I should do. Then, after I sleep on it, I can't. I need to stay. I can't seem to quit!

Provocation

In The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, reference is made to "the days of provocation in the wilderness." I sometimes had wondered what this meant. Last semester in PathwayConnect, an article we read enlightened me significantly on this question (see "The Provocation in the Wilderness and the Rejection of Grace," M. Catherine Thomas).

God swore in his wrath that the Israelites would not enter into the promised land. What was the nature of their offense? After witnessing the plagues sent upon Pharoah, The Passover and slaying of the Egyptians' firstborn, being delivered from Egypt and from the Egyptian armies, passing through the Red Sea on dry ground, and being fed in the wilderness with manna and quail, the children of Israel still did not comprehend the nature of God! After so many benevolent acts of saving, these delivered captives did not comprehend. The straw that broke the camels back was their unbelief at Massah and Meribah.

Words of Jesus

Recently, I was deeply impressed by these words of Jesus:

16 ¶ Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to ^afast. Verily I say unto you, They ^bhave their reward.

(--sincerity. We should do things with God in mind, not men!)

17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

18 That thou appear not unto men to ^afast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall ^breward thee openly.

19 ¶ Lay not up for yourselves ^atreasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves ^bbreak through and steal:

20 But lay up for yourselves ^atreasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor ^bsteal:

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine ^aeye be ^bsingle, thy whole body shall be full of ^clight.

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that ^adarkness!

24 ¶ ^aNo man can ^bserve two ^cmasters: for either he will ^dhate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and ^emammon. (Either we are serving God, or we are serving the god of this world.)

25 ^aTherefore I say unto you, Take no ^bthought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? ^aConsider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, ^ashall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little ^bfaith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father ^aknoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 ^aBut ^bseek ye first the ^ckingdom of God, and his ^drighteousness; and all these ^ethings shall be ^fadded unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take ^athought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

(From Matthew 6, The Holy Bible)

To My Children: Letter 1, Jesus Christ, The Center of Heavenly Father's Plan

 Dear Children,

Jesus is the Christ. He is the Living Son of the Living God. He created all things from the beginning.

Jesus is the Son of our Heavenly Father. We lived with them in heaven before we were born on earth. 

Heavenly Father wanted us to become like Him. He has a body of flesh and bones like we do. (Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 130:22). And, He has knowledge. But in that state with Him, we did not yet have physical bodies! Our spirit bodies gave us the opportunity to choose. Our mortal bodies would give us an even greater opportunity to choose. By obtaining a mortal body, we could become like our Father and Mother in Heaven! We would choose what we would become!

In the Father's plan, all of His children were to come to earth. A veil of forgetfulness gives us the full opportunity to exercise our agency--our freedom to choose. We come to this earth not knowing anything! This was the state of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were the first two people whom God placed on the earth. They are our first parents and the ancestors of the entire human race!

One of Heavenly Father's sons opposed the plan. He did not believe in Jesus Christ, the central figure in God's plan. Jesus would come to redeem the world from sin (willful violation of God's law) and death (the natural consequence of choosing to become mortal). Adam and Eve willingly chose mortality. This they did so that all of us could also receive bodies and come to earth.

Satan, or Lucifer, fought against God's plan! There was a war in heaven. It was a war of words. Lucifer and his followers fought for their plan--that all would come to earth and all would be saved. We would have no choices! We fought for freedom because we knew that only through choices would we find knowledge and become more like our Heavenly Parents. When all had made their choice and chosen whom he or she would follow, Lucifer and his followers were cast down to the earth. You and I fought valiantly. We overcame Lucifer, the dragon, by the word of our testimonies of Jesus Christ! 

To help us decide what we want and whom we want to follow, Heavenly Father allows Satan and his followers to tempt us on earth. We do not see them, typically, but they are here, striving to lead us astray! Every person who is capable of knowing right and wrong is sometimes if not often tempted by Satan and his followers.