Faith vs. Fear

2 Timothy 1:7

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 

Often times when life is going too smoothly I find myself waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I get a little anxious thinking about what trials the Lord has in store for me, and I begin to worry.  In the last few months I have felt the spirit subtly warning me that there are changes ahead and I need to be ready. Though I appreciate the heads up, it has meant a daily battle between fear and faith. I find myself worrying about what this could mean. Will I get cancer? Will Matt leave me? Will one of my kids get kidnapped?  Is someone going to get hurt? Will we have to move? You get the idea. Sometimes I find myself emotionally distancing myself from people, particularly Matt, and THEN I worry that doing so is actually going to CAUSE the thing I dread. 

Today this verse reminded me that all of that worry does not come from God and will only sew seeds of a fruit I do not want to reap. I need the power, love, and sound mind that is promised in this verse. In fact, those are quite literally the top three things I pray for. I don't say "power" but I do ask for abilities. I don't say "sound mind" but I do ask to recognize right from wrong and to remember all that I need to. I always pray for love.

In our stake conference the visiting authority (named Elder Perkins!) spoke about the faith of the brother of Jared. "Never has man believed in me as thou hast." (Ether 3:15) At the time I thought, "I want to be like that! I want that kind of faith. But, if I am to have faith like him I must choose to act like a person with that much faith. Elder Scott says, "We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day." That means no more indulging in the worry. Do I not trust that God's plan will bring me closer to my goals of happiness and eternal life? He has already proven that to be true in my life. Do I think I know what's better for me than He does? I already know that isn't true. Then why worry? I believe that worry is rooted in pride, which has never occurred to me before. Something to ponder. 

*Eric- I think the worry is a side effect of the spiritual gift to ponder. Also here's a link to that talk.

Pride

Today we had the best lesson in seminary on 4th Nephi particularly around pride. The first question I asked was, "What would be different if everyone in your school was converted to the Lord?" I reminded them the definition of conversion: “changing one’s beliefs, heart, and life to accept and conform to the will of God … [and] become a disciple of Christ” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Conversion, Convert,” scriptures.lds.org).

We had a great discussion. One student mentioned that he thought the teachers would teach differently. Their opinions would be more in harmony with the gospel. 

Then I had the students read the following verses 1-3, 5, 7, 10-13, 15 looking for words and phrases that described what the people experienced because they were converted unto the Lord. It was amazing what they discovered. 

In verses 16-17 we saw what ceased to exist among the people because they were converted unto the Lord. In verse 17 it says "nor any manner of ites". We had a good discussion of what that means in todays world and the significance of it today. 

Finally I had them see what happens when pride enters into the hearts of the people. If you read the following verses 17-23, 34-39, 40-45, you can see what happens when the people were influenced by pride. 

What a great juxtaposition to see the blessings of conversion compared to the devastation of pride. 

It was eye-opening for me and the students to see how dangerous pride really is. 

Elder Uchtdorf has the best definition of pride: 

“At its core, pride is a sin of comparison, for though it usually begins with ‘Look how wonderful I am and what great things I have done,’ it always seems to end with ‘Therefore, I am better than you.’

“When our hearts are filled with pride, we commit a grave sin, for we violate the two great commandments [see Matthew 22:36–40]. Instead of worshipping God and loving our neighbor, we reveal the real object of our worship and love—the image we see in the mirror” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Pride and the Priesthood,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 56). 

True Conversion and Transformation

In studying 4 Nephi I found a great quote from Richard G. Scott:

“Your happiness now and forever is conditioned on your degree of conversion and the transformation that it brings to your life.”

(Richard G. Scott, “Full Conversion Brings Happiness,” Ensign, May 2002, 25)

As you know, 4 Nephi takes place after the Savior has visited the Nephites. The people apply his teachings and become one...no more Nephites or Lamanites. They prosper in the land and rebuild many cities including Zarahemla. 

When we are truly converted and have a real transformation through the Atonement, we will be blessed and prosper too.
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The 49 verses in book cover almost 300 years of history. Towards the end of the book, you'll notice pride comes back and with it, wickedness. It's no wonder we are warned so much about pride.

A New Venue for Family Scripture Study.

Hi everyone,
I thought we could try using this for our family scripture study instead of FaceBook because not everyone has access to FaceBook. What do you think?