...For It Was Founded Upon A Rock

A few years ago my husband and I got really into emergency preparation. Well...he's always been into 'being prepared' but I finally caught the vision. We've tried hard to get our house prepared so that we could eat and drink, heat and cook, wash clothes, have access to medicines, etc. should a natural disaster happen.

But then - the Coronavirus hit and Utah experienced an earthquake which shook our home. With all this time we've had the opportunity, probably like you, to evaluate just how "prepared" we actually are "in the event of an emergency".

I think this virus and the earthquake were very merciful of the Lord. They have claimed very few lives in comparison to others epidemics or earthquakes. Yes, merciful because it gave us the opportunity to be shaken. To wake up.

I'm guessing you, like me, are reassessing your storage room and emergency supplies and reevaluating what you might need for the future.

But more than what you may need physically, do you have the spiritual supply to last you through the next crisis? Have you, like me, been surprised at the level of your trust (spiritual preparedness) in the Lord? Have you, like me, found that your relationship with the Lord wasn't as solid as it could be?

In Hebrews 12 it talks about the Lord shaking things up for us. To see what isn't solid...to see what needs to go. Because if we are built upon Christ - a shaking won't harm us. We trust in Him and are built upon a solid foundation.

26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 

27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

I think most religious people feel they are built upon Christ. At least that's how I felt! But these latest 'shakings' have me finding out who or what I was trusting in instead of the Rock of Jesus Christ. I found out I have more work to do to align my trust solely in Him.

I made up a small 'spiritual quiz' to help self-assess being built on Christ vs. being built on flesh. Maybe it will be of use to you:

1. Are you hungry for General Conference so you can know what the Lord has to say right now for our time? 

Joseph Smith: 

“President Joseph Smith read the 14th chapter of Ezekiel – said the Lord had declared by the Prophet [Ezekiel], that the people should each stand for himself, and depend on no man or men in that state of corruption of the Jewish Church – that righteous persons could only deliver their own souls – applied it to the present state [1842] of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – said if the people departed from the Lord, they must fall – that they were depending on the Prophet, hence were darkened in their minds, in consequence of neglecting the duties devolving upon themselves...”

- TPJS, pp. 237-238

Could your hunger for General Conference be a sign of spiritual unpreparedness? General Conference could be likened to a muli-vitamin...a supplement designed to contribute to your already nutritious diet of intimate and direct communication with the Lord. Only those who are spiritually starved 'hunger' for vitamins. Christ refers to Himself as food for a reason. He is "the Bread of Life" and "Living Waters" - He is teaching us that HE is to be our nourishment. 

If we aren't nourished directly from Him, we hunger for others to feed us from their own experiences with Him. It is, in essence, what the 5 foolish virgins did. They needed others to fill their lamps with oil as they had not been wise enough collect oil, drop by drop, for themselves. When you are nourished by the Lord directly, you will always have enough oil, or nourishment so that when you listen to others teach, its will only enhance your diet - not be the staple to get you through another 6 months. 

If you are hungry to know what the Lord is saying but waiting to hear it from others...that is too bad. He wants to talk to you right now!

We are designed for intimacy with the Lord. Scriptures are filled with the Lord speaking directly to people who hunger and thirst after Righteousness (Him). Scriptures are also filled with people who defer their personal relationship with the Lord, to other 'more qualified' or 'more spiritual' people to give them the word on what the Lord is up to in the world. Those kind of people receive a lesser priesthood, or rather, a lesser relationship with Him.

2. Did you wait to collectively fast and pray for help from the Coronavirus until President Nelson issued a call for members to do so?

Could you have called your own family to prayer and fasting? Or reached out to your friends to join you in a fast and prayer at a specific time? Would waiting for the prophet to issue a call to prayer and fasting be an indication of a spiritually prepared or unprepared soul?

D&C 45: 

56 And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins. 

57 For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived...For the Lord shall be in their midst, and his glory shall be upon them, and he will be their king and their lawgiver.

Wise virgins take the Holy Spirit to be their guide and, as D&C 45 says, Jesus is their King and their Lawgiver. When you have an intimate relationship with Christ, He is Lord over your kingdom and you look to Him in every thought (D&C 6:36).

3. With the Temples shut down, are you mourning the loss of being able to attend and have a "holy place" to go?

The temple robes and garments have been made available for viewing by the Church on the LDS Newsroom website linked here. Consider how ancient the compass and the square are as you view the images below:

The compass and the square are two essential tools used in construction and they are as old as recorded history. To build a solid structure you must have exactness. If not, your tower or structure will begin to lean with each layer of brick. You need to have walls that are exactly 90 degrees so that the walls are perfectly straight and aligned. Imagine building Neuschwanstein without a compass and a square. Observe in the photo below the exactness of the towers. No leaning or tilt to the structure:

Brick for brick it is straight and true.

Look at the Pyramids in Egypt. Did you know the stones are cut so precisely that one can not even slide a piece of paper between them? They were built so exact that they have been able to stand for thousands of years.

Placing the compass and the square onto your body have one purpose: to remind you to build a grand building. A Temple...YOU. 

You are the Temple which God wants to construct. 

Those signs are merely to remind you that YOU are the true temple to which the Lord, whom ye seek, shall come to suddenly:

Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

— Malachi 3:1

You - the Temple are the "holy place" you will need to be found standing in when the abomination of desolation comes:

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place.

— Matthew 24:15

Look carefully at 1 Corinthians with the compass and square in mind, remembering that YOU are the temple God wants to build:

9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 

15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 

16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

— 1 Corinthians 3:9-16

If you are heavily mourning or missing the holiness of the Temple, how could that be in indicator of spiritual unpreparedness if the Lord tells us over and over that we are to be the Temple of God?

Receiving Revelation

I have heard a lot of encouragement from the Church to receive personal revelation and I've struggled to find written or spoken directions on how to do that exactly. Or on how to develop a personal relationship with Christ. It may exist and I just haven't found it yet so I will post a method that has worked for me and I hope it will be of value to you: 

1. Take scriptures, pen, and a notebook. Go in a room or closet where there will be no distractions or interruptions. This can be called: Holy Time. Begin with prayer giving the Lord gratitude and telling the Lord your intention for coming. Ask simple questions to start such as yes or no questions.

2. Get quiet inside

• Let go of distractions and give them to Jesus.
• Let peace come into you.

3. Surrender what you hope the answer will be or what you think the answer is.

• Really give up what you hope the answer will be. Let the right answer be whatever Jesus wants. 
• Only when you surrender can you trust the answer when it comes. 
• Repeat the question over and over quietly.

4. If no answer is coming try asking a 'yes' or 'no' question. "Are you saying 'no' Lord?" Or, "Are you saying 'yes' Lord?"

• If no answer comes right away, don’t worry. Don’t let the adversary come and comment on the lack of response from the Lord. Remember, in the Temple - who is the first person to answer Adam and Eve's prayer? "I hear you...". 
• No answer could be warfare from the adversary (Ephesians 6: 10-18).
• Break 'agreements' you may have unknowingly made with the adversary. Things like: "I can’t hear God’s voice" or "I'm just not spiritual enough," etc.. Agreements are whisperings from the adversary that we consciously or unconsciously agree with and are areas where he then gains a foothold over us (Ephesians 4:27). He can whisper lies to us and when we agree with something like, "I can't hear God's voice," then it becomes so. To break an agreement you break it - out loud. Ask the Lord to help you and show you how to do this. 

5. Consider you may need to ask the question differently or ask a different question altogether. 

6. Write a prayer to the Lord in your notebook. Often the writing will turn into an answer from the Lord. Praise and give gratitude in your writings. Ask your question(s) in writing and see what thoughts or visions come to your mind and write those down. 

7. Try turning to the scriptures, opening them up at random and seeing what the Lord has said in other parts of the scriptures and if they apply to you. Pray for confirmation if you get answers in this way.

8. When you get an answer, ask follow up questions:

• Ask when, where, how. 
• Ask for further wisdom and revelation.
• Double check and test the answers you feel you received.
• Ask Jesus to interpret His answers to you. Often we think we know what the answer meant but when He interprets the answer He gave, it may open up a larger view of what He is showing you.

My Feet Are On The Rock

by

I Am They