Faith

One of the major things that we here a lot about in the Church is faith. So why is it so important? It is important because it is one of the things the Church is built on. You have faith the sun is going to come up. You have faith that you will wake up in the morning. Hey you never know you always hear about people dying in their sleep. You have faith that Jesus Christ lived. So yeah you get the idea. Faith is extremely important to us as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

 21And now as I said concerning faith—^afaith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye ^bhope for things which are ^cnot seen, which are true.

This scripture found in the book of Alma chapter 32 says what I was saying before. I really like the phrase in it and it sums it all up perfectly. Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things. I have faith the Jesus Christ lived and He did perform the miracles that He did. He did live and die for us. I also have faith that He will come again.

Title of Liberty

There is this really awesome story in the Book of Mormon that many know as the Title of Liberty. It is found in Alma chapter 46 verse 12. This is a really good chapter for those who have access to a Book of Mormon. If you don't you can also find it online. Anyways it says,

12And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—^aIn memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.

I will not say much on this because the scripture says it all pretty much. Just remember everything it says. When you are going thorough a hard time remember the Title of Liberty. That is what Moroni did when his people were going through a hard time. Many rallied to this call. Rally to this call like those did of old. Many good things will come because of this. Always remember God because he loves us and wants the best for us. The Title of Liberty will help you if you like I said earlier remember it. It has helped me in many things.

Joy

What is joy. It is happiness. I have decided not to use a scripture this time. I will just talk about joy and what I think it is. Like I said before joy is happiness. It is its own kind of happiness thought. Joy is when you get new things and you are excited about that. Lets say a book. Getting a new book can bring you joy because you have been waiting for it for months now because it is in a series and the author decided to make the series into four books. You don't know when it is coming out but you keep waiting. Then you leave for a number of years for some reason or another and you have to wait just a little bit longer. Lets say you are waiting for a new game to come out. You beat the last one in a series, but when the new one comes out you won't be able to get it because you are gone for a certain number of  years for some reason or another. When you get home thought you will be able to get it and the waiting will bring great joy. Lets see what else about joy. I guess just think of things that have brought you joy in the past that you can remember and just remember that. Next time when something good happens to you and joy comes it is because you are experiencing a type happiness.

Tempted

This one has been on my mind for a while now. Everyone is tempted a lot in their life. Why? I don't really know. All I really know is we are tempted for a reason just like we are given trials for a reason. There is a scripture in the Bible in 1st Corinthians Chapter 10 Verse 13. It says

13There hath no temptation ^ataken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be ^btempted above that ye are able; but will with the ^ctemptation also make a way to ^descape, that ye may be able to ^ebear it.

Read it very carefully. Yes the best part in there is that He will not let you be tempted that you are not able to. Along with the temptation He allows escape because He loves us, and like trials he will give temptation and trials to us with what we can handle. So next time you are tempted remember it is for a reason and God is giving it to you because you can handle that one for the time. There will be and escape from it so bear it for the time. You will become a better person from it in the long run.

One of my favorite stories

Like the title said this is one of my favorite stories. It is in the Book of Mormon. It is known to many people as Helaman's Stripling Warriors. OK so the story goes and I may miss a few details. These Stripling Warriors are the sons of those Lamanties that Ammon went and taught. Their fathers made a covenant with the Lord not to fight. The son's however did not make this covenant. So they decided to take up arms and defend these people and Helaman was chosen to be their leader. So they go into a great battle and they fight hard. So in huge battles like we all know WW2, WW1, Civil war, all those good ones many people die. The amazing thing with these 2 thousand, yes there were 2 thousand of them, none died. There were many deaths but none of them involved these Stripling Warriors. In the 57 chapter of Alma verses 25-26 it says

25And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was ^anot one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds.

 26And now, their ^apreservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous ^bpower of God, because of their exceeding ^cfaith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.

Now I can not say it as good as verse 26. If you have faith in God he will do a lot for you. So have faith in Him and it may not be to be preserved in some huge battle as these young men were but He will do many things for you.

Service

So I have been doing a lot of service on my mission so far and I love it. Since I have been doing this it has turned my mind toward service. A scripture that I reacall says

17And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn ^awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the ^bservice of your ^cfellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

 This is in the second chapter of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. It is king Benjamin talking to his people. He talks a lot about service. I know a lot of young people don't like to go out and help others, I didn't, but as I got older I learned about the joy it brought me and the other people I was serving. As king Benjamin says to his people, when you are doing the service you are serving God. So when someone ask you to go help someone move or to do dry wall. Go and do it becasue you are serving someone else but also God. I enjoy doing service and I hope you can learn to enjoy it as I do.

Be strong and of good Couarge

Bad things happen to us all the time. No one likes it right? I know I don't. Well I was going through the scriptures looking for advice for someone and this sentence of a scripture came to my mind. Be strong and of a good courage. This sentence is found in the Old Testament of the bible and the whole scripture reads

6Be strong and of a good ^acourage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the ^bLord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not ^cfail thee, nor ^dforsake thee.

This scripture has taken affect in my life many times. I can't tell you specific times but I have noticed it many times throughout my life. I love the promises that the Lord gave the children of Israel in this verse. Just because it is given back when the children of Israel were in the wilderness with Moses after he freed them from Egypt doesn't mean that it has no affect on us today. I bear my testimony that if we are strong and have courage. Our Lord our God will not fail us in our time of need and He will not forsake us. He is always watching over us and loves each and everyone us for who we are. We may not know what our lives will be 10 years down the road but He does. So be strong and of good courage. God does live and He loves everyone, He wants the best for everyone so put your trust in Him. I bear you this witness in Jesus Christ name Amen.