Today I was given a message very strongly that I need to remember how happy the Gospel is, and how happy the Kingdom of God is. It truly is a glorious place. It is the happiest place. When I was baptised into Jesus's church I walked through a doorway into the Kingdom of God. God's Kingdom truly is Heavenly, filled with the most beautiful light! It is a place of deep deep soul joy, a place of the most amazing peace and it is the happiest place in the universe. I was reminded of that today as I sat in the Temple.
I know for myself when I see headlines of newpapers it can look like all of life is a dreary, scary, harsh and dark place. However, although these things exist in the world, so does the Christ Spirit which we can feel most strongly at this time of year. That merry, happy, gentle, kind, loving, beautiful, peaceful, generous, giving, Spirit of light that we can feel all around us at Christmas, is truly the Spirit of Christ and that is the Spirit of our church and of the Gospel.
I am so grateful to belong to Jesus's church. I do feel incredibly blessed that it was restored on the earth. How blessed are we that we get to be a part of this glorious organization. The joy and happiness continues to bubble and pour out of us, surround us, immerse us, and surprise us. It is the greatest adventure, and I am sooooo glad that I walked through that door 2 1/2 years ago, and entered the Lord's Kingdom. The number one greatest decision I ever made. The wonderful thing is it only gets better and better. As happy as my baptism day was, it does not even come close to happiness I feel in the church now 2 1/2 years later. I envy those who have been in the church 40 years like my dear friend Marion Burrell. Yet as long as 40 years is, what is even better is I am going to be able to experience this kind of happiness for eternity as long as I stay in God's Kingdom. This I can't even fathom, but it is true! And truly there is no better place to be. Nothing in the world can compare to being in God's Kingdom. My soul loves to be here and is deeply deeply happy.
Today I breathe in the Spirit of Christ that permeates the world at this moment. I thoroughly enjoy living in God's Kingdom and remember that no matter what is in the world, the Kingdom of God is merry, happy, beautiful and truly blesses our souls like nothing else can.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Influence of the Holy Spirit-versus the Gift of the Holy Spirit
In learning more about the Holy Spirit over the last while, I have come to understand the difference between the gift of the Holy Spirit and the influence of the Holy Spirit.
All people can be influenced by Holy Spirit at any time. This is what is happening when we hear a voice to do what is right, warning us from danger, giving us wisdom and answers. The Holy Spirit tries to guide us towards God and the things of God. We have all been given the ability to know right from wrong. Of course family and cultural influences can drown out that voice and create layers over our purity and making it difficult to hear that voice, and making bad and wrong things seem right and good. That is what is happening in our world today especially in our culture more and more. It is the Holy Spirit that is always trying to influence people to do good and live righteously. We all have the potential access to this. How we live determines whether or not we will hear and be influenced by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can not dwell where there is darkness and evil, sin, immorality and corruption. The more we live in sin, the less we will feel the influence of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the adversary will become louder and stronger.
The more we live in purity and goodness, the more we will hear and feel the influence of the Holy Spirit.
The influence of the Holy Spirit is very different than the "gift" of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit truly is a gift we are given when we are baptized by proper Priesthood authority and are then Confirmed a member of Jesus's Church. It is when we are confirmed that we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. That means the Holy Spirit who does not have a body the way Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ does, comes and lives with in us and is our constant companion. I have to admit I have not always taken advantage of this. I forget that I have the Holy Spirit as my constant companion sometimes live almost like I am alone. But this is not true. At our recent Stake Conference there was a lot of emphasis on the Holy Spirit being a Comforter. I have heard this many many times, but not understood it is literal. I have been asking for comfort over the last few days and have felt it in the form of wonderful happiness.
I realized that Heavenly Father gives us this so we do have a way to receive comfort and love when we feel upset, so that we don't then have to act out badly or turn to substances like alcohol, drugs, smoking, sex, pornography, shopping, TV, food etc. We then have someone who can truly comfort us and take away our negative feelings so we are not stuck trying to just escape from them in negative ways. As human beings we do have negative feelings, sometimes we create negative feelings unnecessarily, but there are times when things happen where upset is inevitable. As we do things that are not good, or people do not good things to us, all these things can build up negativity and darkness with in us. There needs to be a healthy, positive way to deal with these feelings, and that is why Heavenly Father gave us the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit gently guides us to do what it is our souls really want. Our souls want to live righteously, in holiness, in purity, in love, kindness, in the light, in gentleness, empowered in true ways. All these experiences, enable our souls to feel the deep beautiful happiness we long for. The influence of the Holy Spirit is always trying to lead all people to the happiness of their souls. Once we have the gift of the Holy Spirit through baptism and confirmation, we then get to have the Holy Spirit living with in us always. How blessed are we that we have such a spirit who is always trying to help us make it back home to be with our Heavenly Father, who is always trying to help protect us, and help us think, speak and act in ways that truly lead us to temporal and eternal happiness. This in itself shows us just how loved by God we are.
Today I do all I can to live in ways that enables me to hear and feel the influence of the Holy Spirit. If I have the gift of the Holy Spirit, I remember this and feel and connect to that presence throughout my day.
All people can be influenced by Holy Spirit at any time. This is what is happening when we hear a voice to do what is right, warning us from danger, giving us wisdom and answers. The Holy Spirit tries to guide us towards God and the things of God. We have all been given the ability to know right from wrong. Of course family and cultural influences can drown out that voice and create layers over our purity and making it difficult to hear that voice, and making bad and wrong things seem right and good. That is what is happening in our world today especially in our culture more and more. It is the Holy Spirit that is always trying to influence people to do good and live righteously. We all have the potential access to this. How we live determines whether or not we will hear and be influenced by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can not dwell where there is darkness and evil, sin, immorality and corruption. The more we live in sin, the less we will feel the influence of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the adversary will become louder and stronger.
The more we live in purity and goodness, the more we will hear and feel the influence of the Holy Spirit.
The influence of the Holy Spirit is very different than the "gift" of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit truly is a gift we are given when we are baptized by proper Priesthood authority and are then Confirmed a member of Jesus's Church. It is when we are confirmed that we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. That means the Holy Spirit who does not have a body the way Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ does, comes and lives with in us and is our constant companion. I have to admit I have not always taken advantage of this. I forget that I have the Holy Spirit as my constant companion sometimes live almost like I am alone. But this is not true. At our recent Stake Conference there was a lot of emphasis on the Holy Spirit being a Comforter. I have heard this many many times, but not understood it is literal. I have been asking for comfort over the last few days and have felt it in the form of wonderful happiness.
I realized that Heavenly Father gives us this so we do have a way to receive comfort and love when we feel upset, so that we don't then have to act out badly or turn to substances like alcohol, drugs, smoking, sex, pornography, shopping, TV, food etc. We then have someone who can truly comfort us and take away our negative feelings so we are not stuck trying to just escape from them in negative ways. As human beings we do have negative feelings, sometimes we create negative feelings unnecessarily, but there are times when things happen where upset is inevitable. As we do things that are not good, or people do not good things to us, all these things can build up negativity and darkness with in us. There needs to be a healthy, positive way to deal with these feelings, and that is why Heavenly Father gave us the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit gently guides us to do what it is our souls really want. Our souls want to live righteously, in holiness, in purity, in love, kindness, in the light, in gentleness, empowered in true ways. All these experiences, enable our souls to feel the deep beautiful happiness we long for. The influence of the Holy Spirit is always trying to lead all people to the happiness of their souls. Once we have the gift of the Holy Spirit through baptism and confirmation, we then get to have the Holy Spirit living with in us always. How blessed are we that we have such a spirit who is always trying to help us make it back home to be with our Heavenly Father, who is always trying to help protect us, and help us think, speak and act in ways that truly lead us to temporal and eternal happiness. This in itself shows us just how loved by God we are.
Today I do all I can to live in ways that enables me to hear and feel the influence of the Holy Spirit. If I have the gift of the Holy Spirit, I remember this and feel and connect to that presence throughout my day.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Holy Spirit versus Spirit
I wanted to share my baptism experience, since I just went through my mother's baptism experience especially regarding my experience when I received the Holy Spirit. There are two parts to being baptized, one is the part where you go in the water, like a spiritual death and rebirth. Then there is the Confirmation, when you are confirmed a member of the church and then given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now what happened for me was later in the day, I became a aware that there was another Spirit with me, not just my spirit. This is a very important point. We are all born with a spirit, or I should say we are all spirits born into a human experience where we get bodies and are then a mixture of spirit and human. Most spiritual paths that I studied, researched or was very much a part of were all dedicated to helping us live more fully from our spirit, rather than just our humanness. This is a good thing. I don't think we should be denying our humanness, just making sure our spirits are in charge and guiding our humanness.
This was the common goal of most of the spiritual paths I embarked on. I was quite surprised on the day I was confirmed and given "the gift of the Holy Spirit" that there was now another Spirit with me. Not just my own spirit, but another one just as I had been told there would be. I didn't understand all of this before. I had been told that there are 3 persons in the God head. That there is Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and then the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ both have bodies but the Holy Spirit does not. This enables the Holy Spirit to come and dwell with in us to help us. I truly didn't understand how literal this would be until I first hand had this experience. I became aware ( and am still aware) that there is a big difference between my spirit and the Holy Spirit.
It is called the gift of the Holy Spirit because it is truly a gift we are given to help us stay on course once we are baptized and we get to enter into God's Kingdom. The Holy Spirit communicates to us whether or not we are on course or not, whether we are moving away from, or towards things that are of God's Kingdom. We are given certain commandments to live by that are for our ultimate happiness. If we live by these we are deeply happy, if we don't, we hurt our spirits and create misery for ourselves. The adversary loves to trick us and give us a momentary pleasure and make us think this is happiness, then to only find out later we were duped and now are sitting in a mess. God knew this would happen, and that in our humanness we would find it hard to stay on course, so He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us. We are not doing it alone.
This is what I discovered that day, I was not alone. It was startling at first, but then I realized how amazing it was to have this second Spirit to tell me the truth, to fill me up with the happiness, power, beauty of Heaven, to help me pray, to reveal all Truth to me, to comfort me, to guide me, give me strong warnings when I might be facing danger, and to constantly communicate with me so that I would become aware of whether I was going towards the light or away from it. The Holy Spirit helps protect me from the lies and tricks of the adversary and to keep me close to Heavenly Father and the Heavenly realm. It truly is a gift!
Monday, November 8, 2010
A Miracle Story
I experienced a miracle this weekend I wanted to share with all those who read this. A few months ago I was preparing to go the Temple and do my Endowment. When I was preparing for this which was quite involved for me, I noticed I kept seeing visions of my mother who had passed on, and I kept feeling her presence. Now was what was amazing was she looked different. She looked like she had done a lot of healing and transforming since she had died. She died about 16 years ago so I guess on the other side she had done a lot of work on herself.
Before she had died she had been a very wounded person based on her child hood abuse and she had been a very negative destructive person. I had cut her out of my life when I was 22. I had given her the option of getting professional help for us to continue our relationship but she would not, so I told her I could not continue knowing her. It was very sad for me, but at the same time I had to do this because she was just too abusive and dysfunctional to keep in my life.
She occasionally tried to have contact with me over an eight year period and everytime she tried it was obvious she had become sicker and sicker and was always much worse than before. This was also a great source of pain for me. I kept hoping she would change, heal and transform. But she did not, so I was always bitterly disappointed and deeply hurt when it was obvious she was even worse than before.
She died with out me having contact with her for those 8 years. The day she died I found out from my Aunt. I cried not because she died but because she died in the state she was in. I cried for her soul. While I was sitting there crying for her, she came to me and said these words "make sure you leave a positive legacy behind, if you leave a negative one it's really painful after you die" I could feel just a little bit of her pain. It felt horrible! That was a life defining moment for me. I became very dedicated to being a loving positive person.
So....as I said as I was preparing to go to the Temple and take out my Endowment I kept seeing a vision of her and I could tell she was transformed and she kept letting me know she was really wanting me to do her baptism. In the Temple we do baptims for those who passed on to give them the chance to enter God's kingdom and to be reborn, if they want it. It's still up to them to accept it. Many of us in the Church have our loved ones who have passed on come tell us they want their baptism, or let us know that they have accepted the work done for them on this side.
So I went to the Temple and did my Endowment months ago, on July 10th actually. Then the next night I dreamt about her, and when I awoke I felt she was making sure I did not forget about her, that she was really wanting her baptism and was waiting. Over the last couple of months I prepared everything and it all fell into place beautifully!
On Saturday I went to the Temple with the plan to do her baptism, confirmation and the other 2 steps so she could have her endowment. Now I don't like putting my head back in water. I just don't. I was very nervous about this. I could have gotten a volunteer to do it for me. I was torn between doing it myself, which I really wanted to do, or just getting someone else to do the actual baptism. We stand in as proxy for the passed on person. On Saturday a nice vision of her came to me and she said "don't stress about it, you are still getting me baptized that is the main thing, whether you do it or not is not important" I felt better. But still a bit torn.
When I got there I got dressed in the baptism clothes, I told them I was unsure if I was going to do it myself or not. I felt sooooo nervous and was praying the whole time. Then a friend who came with me with her sweet, cheery voice said "come on Brianna, you can do it, it will be special, do it for your mom" somehow her voice just made me feel I could do it. It was still a bit hard, but I went in a did the baptism myself for her. I am sooooo glad I did!
Then I really felt a sense of joy from her when I had her confirmed in Jesus's church. She had always loved Jesus, and had been the one to introduce me to Him as a child. So I felt like I was returning the favor.
There are 2 other steps and in one of the steps they said "your sins are forgiven" I felt deep relief and joy at this part. She had done a lot of sins, so this felt like the miracle part. That she was truly forgiven and released from all those sins, all that accumulated darkness.
After it was over I sat in the Celestial room and it felt like Christmas day. I could see a vision of her standing in a white robe looking totally peaceful and happy. I then realized why the Temples are so important, why doing baptisms for our passed on loved ones are so important. I could see and feel how she was now a new person in Christ. She was clear, she was freed from all the darkness, all that pain. She was completely free of her past. No words can ever convey how amazing this experience was. It is truly a miracle that we can ourselves get baptized and have this experience of freedom and newness, and it is even more a miracle that we can do this for our loved ones.
Just like me she had been baptized a couple of times while alive.
But because she was baptized like I was in churches where they were a mixture of scripture, the things of man, and even the adversary those were not the baptisms truly cleansed and freed her or I.
Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Bapist. He then gave the power and authority to baptize to the Apostles. After they died God took the Priesthood authority from the earth because there was so much perscution and hard heartedness towards the Christians, and there was an apostacy. Other churches developed but they were a mixture of scripture, the things and ideas of man, and even things of the adversary. This I could feel when I was a child and adult trying to be in other churches.
Jesus's church was removed from the earth for a long time. Then when it was the perfect timing God restored His church on the earth through Joseph Smith and through the early Latter-Day Saints. Then the Apostles themselves came down to Joseph Smith and gave him the power and authority to once again baptize people into God's Kingdom, and into Jesus's church.
I know when I got baptized in the Church, it was a very different experience than the other baptisms I had. I could feel that I truly did enter into God's Kingdom and was a totally new person. Now this has happened for my mother. I didn't even realize how much pain I was carrying around in regards to her soul until this weekend. Now I am freed from this pain. She is free from her entire past. I know she is well and she is living in the light, a new person, peaceful and happy. All of this was truly a miracle!
A friend of mine is getting baptized in December and I am giving the talk on Baptism. Through this experience it has helped me understand it so much more. It has helped me understand the importance, the gift, the grace, the beauty and the miracle of baptism. It has helped me truly grasp that I too am a new person, living in God's Kingdom. When we receive the Holy Spirit we do receive a spiritual clarity where we can clearly see the difference between the dark and the light, sin and virtue, what true happiness is and what it's not. This then can enable us to see our pasts clearly as well. I can totally understand now why people use and abuse substances, or have addictions. As human beings we do accumulate darkness and pain in our souls everytime we do something wrong, intake negativity, partake in things of the dark. We unknowingly hurt our spirits greatly. I can see how much I did this in my past.
To feel better there has to be some relief. Most people do turn to the things of the world. Unfortunately these are only bandaids. Sometimes they even create more problems, and more pain and darkness if they are addictions. The only cure and release from all the accumulated darkness is baptism, then repentance after we are baptised. There truly is no other way.
When we die we take all the accumulated darkness with us, infact the state of our souls is all we take with us. All the buffers and denial is gone. This is why it is so important to be baptized and why it so important we do use the gift of repentance after we are baptized to be free souls. Truly all of this is a miracle. We are not stuck with all our darkness, we can be forgiven, freed, and made new like a brand new baby! This is the greatest miracle there is! The fact we can do this not just for ourselves, but for our loved ones that have passed on, is even a greater miracle and really testifies of how loving our Father In Heaven is, that He allows us this opportunity and allows those souls who have passed on to still have this opportunity.
That is true love in deed!
In The Name Of Jesus Christ Amen!
Before she had died she had been a very wounded person based on her child hood abuse and she had been a very negative destructive person. I had cut her out of my life when I was 22. I had given her the option of getting professional help for us to continue our relationship but she would not, so I told her I could not continue knowing her. It was very sad for me, but at the same time I had to do this because she was just too abusive and dysfunctional to keep in my life.
She occasionally tried to have contact with me over an eight year period and everytime she tried it was obvious she had become sicker and sicker and was always much worse than before. This was also a great source of pain for me. I kept hoping she would change, heal and transform. But she did not, so I was always bitterly disappointed and deeply hurt when it was obvious she was even worse than before.
She died with out me having contact with her for those 8 years. The day she died I found out from my Aunt. I cried not because she died but because she died in the state she was in. I cried for her soul. While I was sitting there crying for her, she came to me and said these words "make sure you leave a positive legacy behind, if you leave a negative one it's really painful after you die" I could feel just a little bit of her pain. It felt horrible! That was a life defining moment for me. I became very dedicated to being a loving positive person.
So....as I said as I was preparing to go to the Temple and take out my Endowment I kept seeing a vision of her and I could tell she was transformed and she kept letting me know she was really wanting me to do her baptism. In the Temple we do baptims for those who passed on to give them the chance to enter God's kingdom and to be reborn, if they want it. It's still up to them to accept it. Many of us in the Church have our loved ones who have passed on come tell us they want their baptism, or let us know that they have accepted the work done for them on this side.
So I went to the Temple and did my Endowment months ago, on July 10th actually. Then the next night I dreamt about her, and when I awoke I felt she was making sure I did not forget about her, that she was really wanting her baptism and was waiting. Over the last couple of months I prepared everything and it all fell into place beautifully!
On Saturday I went to the Temple with the plan to do her baptism, confirmation and the other 2 steps so she could have her endowment. Now I don't like putting my head back in water. I just don't. I was very nervous about this. I could have gotten a volunteer to do it for me. I was torn between doing it myself, which I really wanted to do, or just getting someone else to do the actual baptism. We stand in as proxy for the passed on person. On Saturday a nice vision of her came to me and she said "don't stress about it, you are still getting me baptized that is the main thing, whether you do it or not is not important" I felt better. But still a bit torn.
When I got there I got dressed in the baptism clothes, I told them I was unsure if I was going to do it myself or not. I felt sooooo nervous and was praying the whole time. Then a friend who came with me with her sweet, cheery voice said "come on Brianna, you can do it, it will be special, do it for your mom" somehow her voice just made me feel I could do it. It was still a bit hard, but I went in a did the baptism myself for her. I am sooooo glad I did!
Then I really felt a sense of joy from her when I had her confirmed in Jesus's church. She had always loved Jesus, and had been the one to introduce me to Him as a child. So I felt like I was returning the favor.
There are 2 other steps and in one of the steps they said "your sins are forgiven" I felt deep relief and joy at this part. She had done a lot of sins, so this felt like the miracle part. That she was truly forgiven and released from all those sins, all that accumulated darkness.
After it was over I sat in the Celestial room and it felt like Christmas day. I could see a vision of her standing in a white robe looking totally peaceful and happy. I then realized why the Temples are so important, why doing baptisms for our passed on loved ones are so important. I could see and feel how she was now a new person in Christ. She was clear, she was freed from all the darkness, all that pain. She was completely free of her past. No words can ever convey how amazing this experience was. It is truly a miracle that we can ourselves get baptized and have this experience of freedom and newness, and it is even more a miracle that we can do this for our loved ones.
Just like me she had been baptized a couple of times while alive.
But because she was baptized like I was in churches where they were a mixture of scripture, the things of man, and even the adversary those were not the baptisms truly cleansed and freed her or I.
Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Bapist. He then gave the power and authority to baptize to the Apostles. After they died God took the Priesthood authority from the earth because there was so much perscution and hard heartedness towards the Christians, and there was an apostacy. Other churches developed but they were a mixture of scripture, the things and ideas of man, and even things of the adversary. This I could feel when I was a child and adult trying to be in other churches.
Jesus's church was removed from the earth for a long time. Then when it was the perfect timing God restored His church on the earth through Joseph Smith and through the early Latter-Day Saints. Then the Apostles themselves came down to Joseph Smith and gave him the power and authority to once again baptize people into God's Kingdom, and into Jesus's church.
I know when I got baptized in the Church, it was a very different experience than the other baptisms I had. I could feel that I truly did enter into God's Kingdom and was a totally new person. Now this has happened for my mother. I didn't even realize how much pain I was carrying around in regards to her soul until this weekend. Now I am freed from this pain. She is free from her entire past. I know she is well and she is living in the light, a new person, peaceful and happy. All of this was truly a miracle!
A friend of mine is getting baptized in December and I am giving the talk on Baptism. Through this experience it has helped me understand it so much more. It has helped me understand the importance, the gift, the grace, the beauty and the miracle of baptism. It has helped me truly grasp that I too am a new person, living in God's Kingdom. When we receive the Holy Spirit we do receive a spiritual clarity where we can clearly see the difference between the dark and the light, sin and virtue, what true happiness is and what it's not. This then can enable us to see our pasts clearly as well. I can totally understand now why people use and abuse substances, or have addictions. As human beings we do accumulate darkness and pain in our souls everytime we do something wrong, intake negativity, partake in things of the dark. We unknowingly hurt our spirits greatly. I can see how much I did this in my past.
To feel better there has to be some relief. Most people do turn to the things of the world. Unfortunately these are only bandaids. Sometimes they even create more problems, and more pain and darkness if they are addictions. The only cure and release from all the accumulated darkness is baptism, then repentance after we are baptised. There truly is no other way.
When we die we take all the accumulated darkness with us, infact the state of our souls is all we take with us. All the buffers and denial is gone. This is why it is so important to be baptized and why it so important we do use the gift of repentance after we are baptized to be free souls. Truly all of this is a miracle. We are not stuck with all our darkness, we can be forgiven, freed, and made new like a brand new baby! This is the greatest miracle there is! The fact we can do this not just for ourselves, but for our loved ones that have passed on, is even a greater miracle and really testifies of how loving our Father In Heaven is, that He allows us this opportunity and allows those souls who have passed on to still have this opportunity.
That is true love in deed!
In The Name Of Jesus Christ Amen!
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