3 Nephi 2 ...and delights to own and bless you..

3 nephi 2:2 and thus did Satan get possession of the hearts of the people again, insomuch that he did blind their eyes and lead them away to believe that the doctrine of Christ was a foolish and a vain thing.

There is that word hearts again- let's replace it with "thoughts." Possession of the thoughts of the people. interesting...

same chapter- verse 3: Satan did go about, leading away the hearts of the people, tempting them and causing them that they should do great wickedness in the land.

There it is again... "leading away the thoughts of the people..."

I'd like to see the flip side. So- instead of Satan taking possession of the thoughts of the people-

Mosiah 5:7 "your hearts (thoughts) are changed through faith on his name; therefore ye are born of him and have become his sons and daughters."

Again, the possession, or determining whose party you belong to, comes through thoughts.

Alma 34:35 For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.

Alma- 34:35- re-mix- For behold, if ye have not procrastinated the day of your repentance , behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the Lord, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the devil hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and this is the final state of the righteous.

Alma 40:13 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house—

These verses are all denoting some possession or ownership. This is not to be mistaken for a lack of agency. The way I am understanding it, especially looking at Alma 40:13 and 3 nephi 2:2, we choose good works, or or evil works, and to the degree to which we do so, there is a part or portion of the Spirit of the Lord or the spirit of the devil that enters into us, and takes possession of our thoughts. The phrase "evil works" sounds so harsh, like something illegal or horrible- but I think the devil is more subtle than that. I would suggest that "evil works" could be as simple as making a poor choice with our television watching, or even more of a situation of omission, such as not praying and actively studying the scriptures. Again, it is just a part or portion, perhaps a small part or portion.

I love the hymn, "Dearest Children, God is near you, watching 'or you day and night, and delights to own and bless you, if your strive to do what's right. He will bless you, he will bless you, if you put your trust in him."

I think this gives me another idea how to get the Spirit of the Lord in my life in greater abundance- good works.

Art by students of the Creative Art Space for Kids Foundation.

Helaman 6:28-31 Always Remember Him

I am reading in Helaman 6 today, trying to keep up with Sunday School. Secret Combinations have started- - -

28 And also it is that same being who put it into the hearts of the people to build a tower sufficiently high that they might get to heaven. And it was that same being who led on the people who came from that tower into this land; who spread the works of darkness and abominations over all the face of the land, until he dragged the people down to an entire destruction, and to an everlasting hell.

29 Yea, it is that same being who put it into the heart of Gadianton to still carry on the work of darkness, and of secret murder; and he has brought it forth from the beginning of man even down to this time...

31 And now behold, he had got great hold upon the hearts of the Nephites; yea, insomuch that they had become exceedingly wicked; yea, the more part of them had turned out of the way of righteousness, and did trample under their feet the commandments of God, and did turn unto their own ways, and did build up unto themselves idols of their gold and their silver.

So- going with what what I was studying yesterday, if the word "hearts" is referring to "thoughts"- Then Satan is putting things in thier thoughts, and has great hold upon their thoughts. What I want, is I want the Lord to have "great hold upon my thoughts."

I did a search for "hold upon heart"- and all of the scriptures were talking about Satan- except for one- which was Alma the Younger talking about his experience after he saw the angel, was unconscious, and remembered what his father had taught:

Alma 36:17- 18 I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.

Enos had an experience with his thoughts: 3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.

I am not looking for an "experience" so much as I want a peaceful state of mind. I want to be able to have my three year old having potty training accidnets, my six year old not doing her homeowork, my five year old putting real food and drinks in her playroom kitchen, my baby taking too short a nap, my husband never installing the baseboards, and I want to be happy and peaceful inside. I am sure this is possible.

Isn't this what the sacrament is supposed to help me with "always have his spirit to be with me"- THAT is what I need. There must be some part of the covenant that I am not keeping up, becasue I feel like I "sometimes have his spirit to be with me" so- here is the other half:

1. we witnessed that we were willing to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ,


2. that we would always remember Him,


3. and that we would keep His commandments.

My guess is that I am messing up on #2. I study early in the morning, like right now, and then go about my day, not always remmebering him. Funny how both Alma and Enos's examples involved "remembering."

My favorite hymn- my favorite version- this is from back when I was at BYU: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUhU0HgTq94&feature=related

Helaman 5:12 Thoughts

I am starting a new blog- this is totally different then my Interior Design Blog- it has nothing to do with cupcakes. I am not sure exactly what this blog is going to be like, or even if I will keep it long, I am just going to figure it out as I go.

Today, I am just going to share what I have been thinking about the last two days.

I teach a Book of Mormon study class in my ward (that is my local congregation). I teach the women, once a month, at someone's home. It is generally not a large group- maybe ten people or so.

In October, I've decided to teach on just one verse, Helaman, chapter 5, verse 12.

12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

So- anyway, I have been giving a lot of thought to that scripture lately, in preparation for my lesson, and yesterday I had a breakthrough!

My bad day:

cleaned the house

went to lunch with a friend

worked in the afternoon

went to Pilates

dinner with the family

spent the evening with the family- FHE

my favorite TV show that night

bed

So- you ask, why was that such a bad day? It really shouldn't have been. My bad day wasn't about something that happened to me- my bad day was in my thoughts. It was regular stuff- my house (no matter how many hours a day I spend cleaning) is perpetually cluttered, which drives me insane, my kids don't obey well enough, and my thoughts started to lay into my husband and my lack of baseboards and my guest bath. (I won't get into that) Poor me, huh?

OK- so when you put things on paper, they sound ridiculous, but the day before someone hurt my feelings, and so everything was blown out of perspective for me. I was in a horrible mood. No matter how I tried -lunch with my friend was great- but my mood was too bad to shake-- I thought Pilates would help, but it couldn't.

By the end of the day, my mood was horrible, near depressed. I started thinking about my scripture that I had studied that morning:

12. And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Clearly, the devil had LOTS of power over me :) The phrase, "no power over you" made me think of the description of the adversary's lack of power during the milenium.

Nephi, says this:

1 Nephi 22: 26 And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth.

and in Doctrine and Covenants 45:55, Christ says:

And Satan shall be bound, that he shall have no place in the hearts of the children of men.

In Revelations, John teaches:

20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.

I liked a few clues. It sounded like there are two different ways that Satan would have no power. In Revelations and the Doctrine and Covenants, it sounds like Christ will bind him, and take away his power. Nephi, on the other hand says, "becasue of the righteousness of his people", saying that the people's righteousness will bind Satan. I do not doubt that it is both. But perhaps, through righteousness I can learn here and now, to let Satan have less power over over me.

In D&C 45- the phrase "in the hearts" was used.

Some other uses of the word "heart":

Helaman 13:5 And he said unto them: Behold, I, Samuel, a Lamanite, do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart

2 Nephi 4:For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them

Alma 31: 2 For it was the cause of great sorrow to Alma to know of iniquity among his people; therefore his heart was exceedingly sorrowful

I could go on and on- but in thinking about the word "heart"- in the scriputures it almost never seems to be referring to the blood pumping organ in my chest- that is not where words are put, that is not where I ponder, that is not where I feel sorrow- those things happen in my thoughts.

The Lord put words into Samuel's mind, in his thoughts. Nephi pondered the scritures in his thoughts. Alma felt sorrow in his thoughts.

So- going back to Doctrine and Covenants 45- Satan shall be bound that he shall have no place in my thoughts.

Back to Helaman 5- when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea his shafts in the whirlwind, yea when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon me, it shall have no power over me- no power to enter into my thoughts, to upset my mind, no power to make me feel sad, or frustrated, or depressed.

OK- so I don't have all the answers yet- but I am now thinking that this scripture is about thought control- what do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbAuTB8uLaQ