Below is an excerpt from Randall J. Brown’s book, Experiencing Christ: Your Personal Journey to the Savior (pp. 45-46). Experiencing Christ was published in 2009 by Cedar Fort, Inc. Brown shares about the need to have a Christ-centered life. Brown belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes inadvertently called the “Mormon Church”), and is a devoted follower and disciple of Jesus Christ.

Experiencing Christ-centeredness

Often, as we aim for the target in gospel living, we become proficient at hitting the areas near the center of the target while never actually hitting the bull’s-eye…. Personal experience and personal contact with Jesus Christ is the bull’s-eye.

We must live with Jesus Christ at the very center of our hearts and lives. We must walk and talk with Him daily. We must surrender our lives and our wills to His continuously. We must allow Him to own us and make of us what He desires for His purposes.

King Benjamin [a prophet in the Book of Mormon], in his address to the Nephites, taught that there is salvation in no other activity, person, or thing except in Christ: “And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:17).

In the Book of Helaman, Nephi quotes King Benjamin: “O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world” (Helaman 5:9; emphasis added).

Alma also taught: “There is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness” (Alma 38:9; emphasis added).

The things we pursue in our gospel living must allow us to experience Jesus Christ as the center of our lives. There is no other way.

Inviting Christ into our lives.

Once of my favorite hymns is “Abide With Me tis’ Eventide,” which depicts the story from the Holy Bible in Luke 16, where two disciples unknowingly walked with the resurrected Jesus Christ on the road to Emmaus. These men were sad. But the Savior taught them. They must have liked Him and what He had to offer, for they invited Him to tarry with them in their house. Because they extended an invitation to Jesus Christ to enter their home, they were blessed to participate in a sacred experience with the Resurrected Lord. I witness that as we invite Him into our lives, and feast upon His teachings, we will be encircled about in the arms of His love (see Henry B. Eyring “Come Unto Me,” Ensign, May 2013).

I invite you to learn more about our Savior Jesus Christ and His teachings by prayerfully studying the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I have done this and have been blessed beyond measure because of it—it teaches the truths of eternity and more fully enlightens us regarding the truths found within the Holy Bible.

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Below is an excerpt from Randall J. Brown’s book, Experiencing Christ: Your Personal Journey to the Savior (pp. 31-33). Experiencing Christ was published in 2009 by Cedar Fort, Inc. Brown shares that Jesus Christ is our Great Physician. Our choosing (or not choosing) to be healed by Him spiritually actually affects us physically as well. Brown belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes inadvertently called the “Mormon Church”), and is a devoted follower and disciple of Christ:

Experiencing Living Waters

While working as a seminary teacher, I heard the analogy that in our fallen state, each of us is like a person stranded in a burning desert, dying of thirst. At the point of complete exhaustion and dehydration, we suddenly notice a pitcher of cold water sitting on top of a sand dune. If we choose to crawl to the water and drink it, we can be saved. In this example, what actually saves us? Is it our own efforts to crawl to the water, or is it the water itself? While our efforts to crawl to the water are necessary and essential, they alone cannot save us. Only the water possesses the elements sufficient to sustain life. We can crawl to the ends of the earth, but without the life-saving elements contained in the water, there is no salvation.

My carnal-minded understanding of the gospel had me crawling like a crazy person but never arriving at the life-saving refreshment only the Savior offers. I was desperately trying to do what I thought was necessary without experiencing that which was sufficient. Carnal-mindedness kept me from believing in Christ’s almighty power of deliverance. It kept me trying to resolve life’s problems on my own, and it caused me to forsake the fountain of living water. The Lord, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, said, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living water, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

While in mortality, we journey in a distant land. This fallen world is not our home; we are but strangers here. As the hymn “O My Father” says, “Yet ofttimes a secret something whispered, ‘You’re a stranger here,’ And I felt that I had wandered from a more exalted sphere.”[1]

On this journey, many of us have lost sight of our dependence on the Savior to direct our way; many of us seek to quench our nagging thirst in ways that will never satisfy or sustain life. Our broken cisterns cannot sustain spiritual life because they contain no living water. They represent our false gods with no life-giving water to offer. We erect these barriers to grace as we seek happiness in and of ourselves and as we cling to vanity and unbelief. These broken cisterns can be anything from our personal aspirations to our man-made philosophies for happiness.

In our search for that which can satisfy our parched spirits, Satan may present fulfillment in the false god of self. This broken cistern will impede us from coming to our Savior and experiencing life in Christ.

For some of us, the modern god of self beckons us with programs for self-development, fulfillment, and achievement. We may feel that the next goal or the next diet will finally satisfy that for which we deeply thirst. Perhaps our personal ambitions or our hunger for personal achievement become the barriers that keep us from taking Christ’s yoke upon us and relying wholly upon Him. Maybe our hearts are set on the next bonus check, the incentive trip, or even the next promotion. Maybe it’s a certain income, an award, or an academic degree. For others it might be the showplace home, the new car, or the dream vacation. None of these things in and of themselves are evil, but when our hearts are set solely upon them, they become our gods and deprive us of living water.

As we continue on our wilderness journey toward realizing the privilege of beholding our Savior’s face, we will experience an emptying or hollowing process. Spencer J. Condie said, “Ofttimes we must hollow our lives before the Lord can hallow them. . . . Emptiness precedes the fulness.”[2]

Rather than hallowing us and leading us to the deeper levels of humility, these false gods fill us with pride and self-centeredness. They are distractions from the hallowing process, and they will deter us from experiencing Jesus Christ. They will keep us living far below our spiritual privileges as they prohibit us from surrendering our lives to Christ. They will keep us from “com[ing] boldly to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16) and claiming the gifts and privileges the Lord is eager to grant us.

Our broken cisterns will never allow us the experience of coming directly to our Savior, that He may receive us into the arms of His love and quench our thirst with living water. His invitation to each of us is this: “Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely” (Alma 5:34).

We are all invited to come and partake freely of all our Savior has to offer. No one is forbidden. There is no other way.

I marvel to know that there was a perfect being who came to earth to “descend below them all” (see Modern Revelation, Doctrine and Covenants 122:8) in order to offer Himself as a Savior. My heart yearns to continually thank Him for this perfect gift. I often feel the intense heat of a spiritual desert, in dire need of nourishment; every time I humble myself during these moments by getting down on my knees and pleading for help, the Lord is there, with His arms stretched out, offering the living water. I will ever be grateful to Him. I invite you to learn more of Him, in a greater capacity than you ever knew possible, by meeting with Mormon missionaries. They are called of God, and have the commission to invite others to come closer to Jesus Christ. I witness that Christ’s Church, The Church of Jesus Christ is the true and living gospel on the earth—it has the fullness, and it is an empowering experience when you receive that knowledge.

[1] “O My Father,” Hymns, no. 292.

[1] Spencer J. Condie, The Song of Redeeming Love, 1–2.

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Randall J. Brown shares in his book, Experiencing Christ: Your Personal Journey to the Savior, and published in 2009 by Cedar Fort, Inc.(pp. 21-23), that we don’t need self-help books—we need the help of our Savior Jesus Christ. As we go to our Savior, He will help us—there is no other source that can completely rid ourselves of the natural man. Brown belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes inadvertently called the “Mormon Church”), and is an avid follower and disciple of Christ:

A family member recently told me of her friend’s struggle with perfectionist tendencies. She related how her friend had taken her children to a midnight movie. The movie ended in the early hours of the morning, and, I assume, that if she did go to bed it was long after that. Yet she was up at 5:00 am, ready to do her daily five-mile run. As far as I know, this woman was not a world-class athlete training for the Olympics, yet she apparently felt driven to maintain a certain body weight and level of appearance.

Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose Driven Life, addresses an important question: What is it that drives us in our lives? We should seriously consider this question. Warren said, “Many people are driven by guilt. . . . Many people are driven by resentment and anger. . . . Many people are driven by fear. . . . Many people today are driven by materialism. Many people are driven by the need for approval.” As we put Christ first in our lives, everything else will fall into place or fall out of our lives. Our desires, or that which drives us, will either come into alignment with the Savior’s purposes or fall out of our lives.

People whom we consider Christ like are probably not the self-made men or women who are driven by success. They are probably not those who visit the gym on a daily basis to maintain the perfect physical appearance.

On the other hand, they most likely are those who are humbly relying on the Savior’s grace to strengthen and enable them. They probably are those who counsel with the Lord for guidance regarding their infirmities and weaknesses. Most likely, they are the men and women who, through the experience of their trials and afflictions, are developing the gifts of compassion, charity, and divine nature. They are the men and woman who are experiencing Christ in ways that are changing their hearts so the things of this world are losing their grip upon them. They are those who have come to know that without Him, there is no other way.

In society today, we pride ourselves on self-sufficiency, self-mastery, and self-discipline. Reliance on anyone or anything is looked upon as weakness. In fact, the word surrender is often thought of in a context of losing.

Today, self-help programs and personal-power philosophies exist in abundance. We are seduced by the modern god of self. If we were to search the scriptures for evidences of self-sufficiency, we would find no support for this man-made philosophy. In fact, we would find that the scriptures support just the opposite position—the position of “relying wholly upon the merits of [Christ], who is mighty to save” (2 Nephi 31:19).

Colleen Harrison, in her book He Did Deliver Me From Bondage, said, “True self-mastery comes from turning our ‘self’ over to the Master, and true self-sufficiency is found turning to Him only who is sufficient.”

 

The prophet Ether taught the doctrine of Christ’s grace to his people in these words: “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me” (Ether 12:27).

The Lord, speaking through the Apostle Paul, taught the Corinthian Saints the same doctrine: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Robert Millet said, “We incorporate the powers of divinity only through acknowledging our own inabilities, accepting our limitations and realizing our weakness. We open ourselves to infinite strength only through accepting our finite condition.”

Self-sufficiency skews our understanding of the Savior’s infinite grace. Sometimes we hear people in Sunday School trying to compare grace to a race or a marathon, proclaiming that grace only comes into play if we get close to the finish line on our own efforts. Then Christ will come and pull us across, but we’d better get close enough! Some might say we earn as much of it as we can and then the Savior pays the rest.

This line of thinking insinuates, for the most part, that we do not need a Savior and that most of the merit for our salvation is earned by us. This is vanity and unbelief!

How wonderful and freeing it was for me to gain an experiential knowledge of the Savior’s infinite part in my covenant relationship with Him. How glorious it is to know that His infinite contribution is sufficient. How amazing it is to know that there need be no anxiety on my part because it is in His infinite merits that my reward is assured through faith.

I witness that our Lord Jesus Christ is the source of true and lasting change, the kind of change that actually helps us become like Him. He has helped me, and continues to help me as I strive to improve my natural man tendencies—He is qualified to do this because He has conquered all of the pains, sicknesses, and consequences of sin that have ever and will ever be.

I invite you to seek Jesus Christ in a greater capacity than ever before by prayerfully studying the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. This is an account of his ministry to the people on the American continent, after His resurrection. His ministry there was what He was referring to in the Holy Bible that “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:16). If you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon, and ask God if it is true, then the Book of Mormon promises that you will receive an answer to your prayer (Moroni 10:3-5). I have followed these steps many times, and each time I do I grow closer to God, rid myself of un-wanted behaviors, and have the Holy Ghost confirm to me the truthfulness of this sacred book.

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We can learn to pray effectively and then to recognize when and how our prayers are answered.

Joseph Smith, the first prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often inadvertently called the Mormon Church), read a verse in the Bible at a time when he had questions he needed answered. He read in James 1:5, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” In his history he writes about that moment:

Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did. . . . I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture.

Like Joseph Smith, we can be sure of the same blessings when we pray to God, our Heavenly Father. He gives “liberally” to all His children, and He will listen to our questions and our problems. He will answer our prayers.

How Do We Prepare to Have Our Prayers Answered?

Prayers are more readily answered when we prepare to receive the answers. One of the first steps is pondering. This step is somewhat instinctive because when we have a problem, we think about it and the possible courses of action.

God told Oliver Cowdery, an early leader in The Church of Jesus Christ, “You must study it out in your mind” (Doctrine and Covenants 9:8). After we have thought about our problem, we “must ask” God for His help and for His answers (Doctrine and Covenants 9:8).

Another way to prepare to receive answers is to think about and express gratitude for all the ways God has answered your prayers before. Thanking God in our prayers, before we start asking our questions or asking for answers, will prepare us to hear and feel His answers more easily.

How Are Prayers Answered? 

Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ, said that “answers to prayers come in a quiet way. The scriptures describe that voice of inspiration as a still, small voice.”¹He also noted:

That sweet, quiet voice of inspiration comes more as a feeling than it does as a sound. Pure intelligence can be spoken into the mind. The Holy Ghost communicates with our spirits through the mind more than through the physical senses. This guidance comes as thoughts, as feelings through promptings and impressions. We may feel the words of spiritual communication more than hear them and see them with spiritual rather than with mortal eyes.²

How Do We Recognize a “Yes” Answer?

God also told Oliver Cowdery that if the answer is yes, “your bosom shall burn within you” (Doctrine and Covenants 9:8). Others have described this feeling as peaceful, enlightening, warm, comfortable, happy, confirming. These feelings come from Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost.

How Do We Recognize a “No” Answer?

If the answer is no, God said, “you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong” (Doctrine and Covenants 9:9). This feeling is also described as unsettled, agitated, worried. These feelings are also conveyed through the Holy Ghost.

How Do We Recognize a “Wait” Answer?

Our prayers are answered at a time and in a way that our Heavenly Father knows will help us the most. Sometimes answers to prayer don’t come immediately. Sometimes we need to ponder longer, or continue to ask God over a longer period of time. Waiting for an answer tests our faith and require our patience. But God will answer.

Answers Often Require Our Action

Sometimes we feel inspired to follow a course of action. He often gives us the power to do what we need to do to answer our own prayers.

Answers Often Come through Other People

Sometimes we feel that God has heard us, but our prayers are answered through other people. We may feel prompted to confide in someone, or to ask someone for help. Our friends, family, and neighbors can be inspired by God to perform acts that will be the answers to our prayers.

President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ, told about help one of his daughters received through her visiting teaching companion. (Women in The Church of Jesus Christ watch over each other through a program called visiting teaching, where two sisters [female members of the Church] visit the homes of a few sisters each month to teach them and care for them.)

Our daughter Elizabeth, who lives in another state and time zone from us, was at home with her three-year-old daughter. Her other child was in her first week of kindergarten. Elizabeth was six months pregnant and looking forward to the birth of her third child. . . . Her husband, Joshua, was away at his work.

When she saw that she was passing blood and that the flow was increasing, she called her husband on the phone. He told her to call for an ambulance and that he would meet her at the hospital, which as 20 minutes from her home. Before she could place the call, she heard a knock at the front door.

At the door she was surprised to see her Relief Society visiting teaching companion. . . . Her companion had simply felt she ought to come by to see Elizabeth.

She helped her into the car. They arrived at the hospital minutes before Joshua arrived from his work. The doctors decided in less than 20 minutes to take the baby by surgery to save Elizabeth and her baby. So a tiny girl came into the world, crying loudly, 15 weeks ahead of schedule. . . . She was alive, and so was Elizabeth.³

God answers our prayers even when all we can utter is “Heavenly Father, please help me!”

A Word of Caution

When we feel the answer to our prayers, we need to be confident and do what we have felt inspired to do. The adversary, Satan, wants to shatter our confidence by placing doubts in our minds. He wants us to fear. He wants us to forget.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ, said that “opposition . . . so often comes after enlightened decisions have been made, after moments of revelation and conviction have given us a peace and an assurance we thought we would never lose.”⁴

When we feel Satan attempting to oppose the answers we have received, we can learn from what God told Oliver Cowdery: “Cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart . . . . Did I not speak peace to your mind? What greater witness can you have than from God?” (Doctrine and Covenants 6: 22, 23). Remembering God’s answers to our prayers can help us disregard Satan’s attempts to cause us to doubt and falter.

Submitting to God’s Will 

When answers come, sometimes they are not what we hoped or prayed for. The challenge, then, is bending our will to Heavenly Father’s. This is possibly the greatest test of our faith and trust in God. The purpose of personal prayer is not to give God a list of everything we want in life. The purpose is to communicate our needs and the desires of our hearts, listen for His answers, then adapt and submit our will to His as necessary.

God is our loving Father in Heaven who wants the best for us. He will nurture and help us in ways that are the best for our growth and happiness.

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The first Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often inadvertently called the “Mormon Church,” states, “We believe in God the Eternal Father and in His Son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost” (Articles of Faith 1:1.)

The Lord Jesus Christ is the glorious Being adored and worshiped by Latter-day Saints (“Mormons”.)

The reestablishment of The Church of Jesus Christ in modern times began by an event known to Latter-day Saints as The First Vision.  After studying the tenets of religion and wanting to follow God’s commandment to be baptized, Joseph Smith read James 1:5 which states, “If any of you lack you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not.”  Emboldened by God’s promise to answer his sincere prayer, Joseph knelt alone in a grove of trees to ask God which church he should join.

Joseph recorded,

I saw a pillar of light, exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. … When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other–This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him! (See Joseph Smith-History 1:16-17.)

God the Eternal Father and His Beloved Son Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith!  The First Vision revealed God the Eternal Father and the Lord Jesus Christ again to mankind.  Their personal visitation corrected erroneous beliefs about the nature of the Godhead.

God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate and distinct personages.  “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us” (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22.)

The Plan of Salvation and the Mission of Jesus Christ

Mormons believe that mankind existed before this lifetime in the presence of God as His children. “All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and … has a divine nature and destiny” (The Family: A Proclamation to the World).

Before gaining physical bodies, each soul lived as a spirit. God the Eternal Father prepared this earth for His children to receive a body, experience mortality, and hopefully choose to return to live with Him again. He chose His Son Jesus Christ to be the Savior and Redeemer of the world, for He knew mankind would sin and need a way to repent and return to Him. Part of Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation and happiness includes life after death. A soul determines its eternal destination based on life choices, which includes correctly accepting Jesus Christ’s Grace and Atonement.

Who Was Jesus Christ?

God the Eternal Father, an immortal and exalted being, and Mary, a mortal being, parented Jesus Christ. After He was born in a stable, angelic hosts proclaimed his birth to shepherds who left their flocks to find the Christ Child. Wise men from the East followed a heavenly star to Bethlehem and acknowledged Jesus as their Savior and King. Jesus escaped the murderous destruction of King Herod when his earthly step-father Joseph heeded an angelic warning to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt until Herod’s death. Jesus “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

At age twelve, Jesus answered the chief priests’ questions in the temple. His ministry began at age 30. Jesus sought out John the Baptist so He could be baptized according to the commandments of God. He began to preach the Gospel and called Twelve Apostles from among His followers. By the power of God, Jesus healed any who would receive Him—the physically blind, lame, deaf, diseased, and possessed, as well as the spiritually blind, lame, deaf, diseased, and possessed. He taught the people how to repent, changing from old habits and sins to a higher, and more obedient, standard of living. He proved the importance of God’s commandments as an example of living them and reiterating them throughout His ministry. (See 2 Nephi 31:5; Matthew 22:37-40; and Matthew 5:17.)

Jesus exemplified love. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).  He taught the people that God was His Father. “[I] ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17).

At the close of His ministry, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. As He entered the city, throngs of people heralded Him as the promised Messiah. Jesus celebrated the Passover feast, which became known as the Last Supper, with His Apostles, and instituted the Sacrament, and even identified His betrayer, Judas Iscariot. After Passover, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus wrought the Atonement—where in an incomprehensible act of love and mercy, Jesus took upon Him the sins, pains, sorrows, and sicknesses of mankind and paid Justice’s horrific price to ransom men from corruptibility to incorruptibility.  Betrayed by Judas to the Jewish leaders, Jesus was arrested in the garden and taken to  the halls of judgement where He was illegally tried and condemned to death based on His assertion to be the Son of God. The Jews did not have power to exact capital punishment, so they took Jesus to the Roman ruler Pontius Pilate, and accused Jesus of sedition and demanded His crucifixion. Pilate declared that he found no fault in Jesus, but delivered Him up to be crucified. Three days after His death, Jesus Christ rose from the dead with a perfected body of flesh and bones and showed Himself to His Apostles and disciples as a witness of His resurrection.

Jesus Christ truly is the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of the World. The Old Testament prophet prophet Isaiah extolled Jesus’ glory and kingship, “[H]is name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

“I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked”

As a child, my mother often sang a favorite song, “I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked” which describes the songwriter’s experience of walking the streets of Jerusalem and eventually climbing the hill of Calvary where Jesus died. This song instilled a deep, burning desire for me to do the same. When I was 19 years-old, I went to Jerusalem for a summer to walk where Jesus walked. I loved Jerusalem’s Old City, its limestone streets, the temple mount with the gorgeous Dome of the Rock, the Garden of Gethsemane’s ancient olive trees, and especially the Garden Tomb. The city infused itself into me. I loved every moment spent in those holy places. One day while sitting on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, I realized that my quest had changed. While my experiences were amazing and life changing, my true quest in life was not to walk WHERE He walked, but HOW He walked. I needed to know for myself and testify to others that He LIVES and that His Atonement can be a tangible reality in every person’s life! I needed to repent of my sins and follow Him in every thought, to believe Him when He said that only through Him can we return to live with God the Eternal Father!

I know He lives! His restored Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has the fulness of His Gospel on the earth today! I invite you to pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ to know if He lives. You are His child and He loves you. I know He will answer your sincere prayer in a way that you can understand because He promised to do so in James 1:5.  Joseph Smith received an answer to his sincere prayer. I received an answer to mine.

Additional Resources:

The Lord Jesus Christ in Mormonism

Jesus Christ, Our Savior

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Growing up, I was taught to recite a little prayer. At the end, I could tack on requests, but I never really gave any thought to getting results from my prayers until I became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From the Mormons (the nickname sometimes used for members of the Church), I learned that most prayers should be two-way conversations, not recited routines given without thought. It was a new way to look at prayer for me.

Once I understood that I could talk to God in the same way I talk to others, I also understood it was not a monologue. I was supposed to give God a chance to answer, as well. This was confusing. How would that happen?

Sometimes it was obvious. If I needed to find ten more dollars for textbooks and got offered a babysitting job that paid what I needed, I knew I’d gotten my answer. However, what if I only needed advice? How did I get advice in the form of a prayer answer?

How to Pray

The first step was to learn how to pray. Although Mormons don’t recite most of their prayers, they do follow a pattern most of the time. They start out by addressing God by name (Dear Heavenly Father or something similar) and then thanking Him for their blessings. They try to be specific about those blessings and not to recite the exact same list every time. The goal is to recognize the good in our lives at even the worst of times and to remember who gives us the good.

Now that we’ve done that and chatted with God about whatever else is on our mind—sharing with Him what we’ve learned or what we’re thinking about or even just the things that happened—we can ask for what we need.

God loves us and wants us to have our heart’s desires—if what we desire is best for us and if we’re willing to do our share. A good parent never gives his children everything they want because so often children want things that seem wonderful but really aren’t. They also want to be given those things they ought to work for. God understands that if we get things too easily we don’t appreciate them enough and we never learn how to set goals and work. We lose the wonderful sense of accomplishment that comes of having worked hard for something we really wanted.

Doing Our Part in Prayer

It is important for us to contribute something to what we want, leaving for God the parts we can’t do ourselves. In other words, we shouldn’t pray that our house will magically get cleaned up if there is no reason we can’t clean it ourselves other than desire. If we are very ill, however, we can pray for someone to come by to help with the critical aspects of work if we don’t have anyone to help.

If we pray to become a better piano player, to be a published writer, or to do well in school, we need to practice our piano, write and submit our work, and study our schoolwork. God does not help us shirk life’s responsibilities. His goal is to help us become all we can be, and that requires us to make a serious effort.

Praying for information requires some effort on our part, as well. Mormons learn that they need to first approach the topic through research, using the intelligence God gave us. We can study the problem out by using appropriate sources. For instance, if we want to know if the Book of Mormon is true, we will start by reading it and by reading what Mormon leaders have said about it—this helping us to understand points we might have missed. Then we should make an informed decision as to what we think is correct. Now we take that decision to God and pray to know if we are correct. If we are, we will have a warm and comforting feeling in our hearts, which some describe as a swelling. The more often we pray, the easier it will become to recognize the answers because we will be able to compare what we felt to the later results.

The final step, of course, is to act on the answer. It is inappropriate to ask God what is right and then to decide that He didn’t give us the answer we wanted so we will simply ignore it. If we go to God for truth, we must be willing to accept the answer and live by it.

God doesn’t always answer prayers instantly. Sometimes he lets us travel on faith or makes us wait a while. Often it requires multiple prayers to get an answer, giving us a chance to prove our trust in Him. Sometimes the answer isn’t what we hoped it would be—but it will always be the right answer at the right time.

Learning how to pray and get results is one of the most important skills we can learn. It gives us the ability to get through life safely, following God’s plans, rather than the limited wisdom of men.

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Randall J. Brown shares in his book, Experiencing Christ: Your Personal Journey to the Savior, and published in 2009 by Cedar Fort, Inc.(pp. 19-20), his insights on how trials and weaknesses turn us to Jesus Christ. As we turn to Christ, He can lift us—regardless of the problems we face. Brown belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes inadvertently called the “Mormon Church”), and is an avid follower and disciple of Christ:

Our Father in Heaven does not condemn us for our weaknesses; they are gifts, meant to humble us and turn us to Christ. In fact, it is because of His deep love and compassion for each of us that He sent his Only Begotten Son. The Apostle John wrote, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16–17).

Many of us find Christ in our darkest hours, once we have endured the depths to which opposition can take us. For some of us, these painful snares will be the catalysts that finally turn us to Christ. These yokes of bondage will become our greatest benefactors if we allow them to lead us into a relationship with the Lord.

Do we, like Nephi, know in whom we have trusted? Do we, like Moses, trust that the Lord will part the Red Sea for our escape? Do we truly believe that Christ is the answer to our dilemma? Can we “come boldly to the throne of grace” and claim the deliverance He promised us through His great atoning sacrifice? Can we put aside our carnal-minded- ness and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and our only hope for deliverance and salvation?

Soul-deep healing does not come from the power of man. Recovery from spiritual wounds comes only through a recovered relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jeffrey R. Holland, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, said in the April 2006 general conference:

I speak to those who are facing personal trials and family struggles, those who endure conflicts fought in the lonely foxholes of the heart, those trying to hold back floodwaters of despair that sometimes wash over us like a tsunami of the soul . . . to all such I offer the surest and sweetest remedy that I know…

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:28–30).

Are you battling a demon of addiction—tobacco or drugs or gam- bling, or the pernicious contemporary plague of pornography? Is your marriage in trouble or your child in danger? Are you confused with gender identity? . . . When [Christ] says to the poor in spirit, “Come unto me,” He means He knows the way out and the way up. He is . . . the Master over every problem and fear. He . . . is the solution to every discouragement and disappointment (Jeffery R. Holland, “Broken Things to Mend,” Ensign, May 2006).

The prophet Isaiah, speaking Messianically, eloquently described the Lord’s promise to each of us: “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6).

For those caught in the snare of addictions and compulsive behaviors, I offer you great hope. This affliction can be turned into your greatest blessing. On your journey of deliverance, you will experience Christ. You will come to know the reality of His almighty power of deliverance. Understand that it will take place on His time frame, and that might be years. However, we have this promise: “Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage” (Mosiah 24:13).

No matter the length of His time frame, the Savior works in us every step of the way if we keep our trust in Him. His mercy, merits, and grace are the remedy for every malady we experience in mortality. They are living water and healing balm to each of us in our fallen state.

As we come unto Christ, we will be tutored through our own unique set of experiences, trials, and afflictions. These struggles can become the catalysts that turn us to Christ and allow us to experience Him in ways that would not otherwise be possible.

I invite you to come unto Christ and allow His redemptive power to bless and heal your soul. He can lift, strengthen, and infuse our souls with the hope that we can one day become like Him (Moroni 7:48). I witness that with His strength we can do all things (Holy Bible: Philippians 4:13). There is not any darkness that the Savior’s light cannot penetrate. How can you come closer to Christ, start by prayerfully study the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ and observe the miraculous force of good that will enter your life. You can also, “Ask Mormon missionaries! They can help you!”[1]

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What is the grace of God?  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes inadvertently called the “Mormon Church”) teaches that “Grace is a gift from Heavenly Father given through His Son, Jesus Christ. The word grace, as used in the scriptures, refers primarily to enabling power and spiritual healing offered through the mercy and love of Jesus Christ” (see Bible Dictionary). Who wouldn’t want this great gift from God? And yet, there are billions of people who deny the gift that Christ has already paid for.

Barriers that Blockade Us from God’s Grace

Randall J. Brown, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ, shares in his book, Experiencing Christ: Your Personal Journey to the Savior, and published in 2009 by Cedar Fort, Inc.(pp. 15-17), his insights on some of the barriers that blockade us from receiving the grace of God:

Our barriers to the Savior’s grace are the enemies of our souls; they keep us entrenched in battle, as enemies of God. These barriers to grace are exposed to our view when we experience fear, guilt, and resentment. These emotional states are the inverse of faith, hope, and charity and can become like spiritual cancers within our hearts. Life in Christ cannot be fully experienced under the restraining power of these deadly emotions. While we carry them, we are living in the carnal mind.

Fear exists in the absence of faith in Christ. It keeps us from placing our trust in the Lord’s counsel, direction, and power to provide for our temporal and spiritual needs. It deters us from surrendering to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Master.

Guilt keeps us from believing the Savior’s promise that if we turn to Him, His atoning blood will cover our sins. It traps us in the carnally- minded state of believing that we are more powerful in ruining things than Christ is in redeeming, and it robs us of hope in Christ and buries us in a life of shame.

Resentment keeps us from giving and receiving the pure love of Christ. It prohibits us from receiving the crowning spiritual gift of mortality—charity.

The presence of these malignant emotions demonstrates that we are still fighting against the yoke of our Savior Jesus Christ, that we have not fully accepted Him as our Savior, and that we do not yet possess sufficient faith to cast our burdens upon Him. Without faith, hope, and charity, we are susceptible to philosophies of men that teach us of pride, self-sufficiency, and perfectionism.

Even as members of the Savior’s restored Church, we can be lured into [Satan’s trap] through prideful, carnal-minded philosophies that entice us into believing that either we are beyond the reach of our Savior’s Atonement or that we can somehow merit salvation through our own righteous performance.

Neal A. Maxwell said, “Pride at its core involves a measure of self-worship, however mild. After all, we are to ‘have no other God’ before the real God, including self-pleasing and self-worship” (Neal A. Maxwell, Not My Will, But Thine (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 
1988), 64–65). The existence of these barriers will produce in our hearts the desire to seek pleasure, escape, power, wealth, achievement, recognition, worldly comforts, popularity, fame, and other temporal aspirations. These enemies of our souls cannot satisfy our deepest longings because they lead us away from the source of living waters and into bondage.

We will all experience spiritual bondage to some degree. The grace of our Savior Jesus Christ is the only weapon ever devised with power sufficient to break our yokes of spiritual bondage. The only path to spiritual freedom lies in taking His yoke upon us. No human power is, or ever will be, sufficient.

As a young boy, I watched the movie Ben Hur with my family. The scene depicting Roman soldiers transporting Ben Hur and other prisoners through the desert has had a great impact on me. The prisoners were chained to each other, and as they walked, they endured beatings, fatigue, and thirst. One by one they fell. When Ben Hur finally collapsed, the Savior appeared before him, offering him lifesaving water. Ben Hur found himself in a form of bondage from which he was powerless to deliver himself. He had to rely completely on the mercy and grace of his Savior.

The scriptures provide many symbolic accounts of prophets whose spiritual journeys took them into the bondage of a prison or a wilderness experience in which they relied wholly on the Lord for deliverance or survival. Daniel, Jonah, and Joseph each experienced such forms of bondage. Their only hope for deliverance was in relying wholly on the Lord’s mercy and grace. Lehi [a prophet in the Book of Mormon] and Moses were called to lead people through a wilderness experience. These types and symbols from the scriptures teach us in whom we can trust as our only source of deliverance.

The design of the adversary is to ensnare us in bondage, strip us of agency, and bind us in iron yokes of bondage. Nephi [Lehi’s son] said, “[He] bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity” (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 13:5). The scriptures describe this state as “the chains of hell” or “the bonds of iniquity” (Alma 5:7; Mosiah 23:13).

We see in our society today an epidemic of people in bondage to mental, emotional, and spiritual disorders. We are plagued as never before by depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and many other mental and emotional illnesses. Addictions to drugs and pornography, and behavioral compulsions are widespread. Many people are trapped in financial bondage, living beyond their means and becoming imprisoned to debt.

We become ensnared in these things, believing that they will provide a temporary deliverance from the pain of our spiritual wounds and emptiness. However, in our attempts to escape using our own strength, we can become caught in a downward spiral that possesses the power to drag us down to the “gulf of misery and endless woe” (Helaman 5:12).

Many people today are trapped, wallowing in the mire of self-destructive and addictive disorders. Many have felt so trapped that they have experienced a complete loss of hope. Because God has given us agency, He allows us to experience spiritual bondage. We are free to experience these spiritual prisons for the same reason we are free to experience any of our mortal afflictions—so that we will know that we have nowhere else to turn, so we will know of our absolute need to turn to our Savior. He allows our afflictions to buffet us that we may know from our own experience that there is no other way. The Lord allows it that He might show forth His almighty power of deliverance.

A Personal Witness and Testimony

I have a burning witness that Jesus suffered for us; that He is able to be there with us with perfect empathy in order to lift us higher, make us stronger, and become like Him. We do not have to be perfect, we just have to allow Him to help us on the pathway to perfection. And it is completely normal to have moments of depression. These are the moments that we can go to Him and rely on Him. I love the blessing found in a verse of scripture he Book of Mormon: “And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart …, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 9:19–20).

Jesus Christ lives and loves us, and is there to succor us every moment of every day as we go about the daily sojourn of life. I invite you to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ by reading the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and by meeting with Mormon missionaries. As you do so, I promise you will have a strengthened relationship with Jesus Christ—and an even greater happiness will enter your soul.

Additional Resource:

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In the English language, the word “disciple” can be used as both a noun and a verb. When used as a noun, the word refers to “one who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another.” In the realm of Christianity, the term suggests “a personal follower of Jesus Christ during his life, especially one of the twelve Apostles.” Used as a verb, to disciple someone means to “guide (someone) in becoming a follower of Jesus Christ or another leader.” And so, it follows that suitable synonyms for the word “disciple” are: follower, pupil, adherent, student, apprentice, and learner.

The word “disciple” is very closely related to the word “discipline” which can be defined as “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior.” Therefore, it could be said that a disciple is a disciplined pupil or adherent. The prophet Mormon, in the Book of Mormon (Another Testament of Jesus Christ), declared to the people, “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life” (3 Nephi 5:13.)

However, a disciple is more than a learner or a pupil, but rather he is one who strives to imitate his teacher. In the case of His disciples, Christ Himself was their Teacher, and He taught them, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:9.) The Apostle Paul in speaking to the church at Corinth exhorted the people, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1.) “ And in the Book of Mormon, in 3 Nephi 27:21-22, the Master teaches the people, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do; therefore, if ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day.”

A Disciple in the Jewish Culture of Jesus’ Time

In the Jewish culture of Jesus’ time, a rabbinical student, or a disciple of a rabbi, would leave his home and family and take up residence with his teacher. While in the home of his teacher, the pupil served his teacher in humility and respected him as one who had absolute authority. The pupil was not only expected to learn all that his teacher knew, but to become like him in disposition and devoutness. In return, the rabbi provided food and shelter, and received the blessings of seeing the knowledge which he had imparted to his pupil, transmitted through his disciple to future generations.

And so, the question that perhaps begs an answer is, “What is required to become a true disciple?”

Be ye therefore perfect. . . .

The word perfect may be defined as “that which is correct to the last detail.” And so, when many people think of something or someone as being perfect, they envision that something or someone as not having any flaws or imperfections.

When applying this definition of “perfect” to our own lives, we must admit that we are indeed found wanting. For, if we are honest with ourselves, none of us are perfect. We are all a continual work in progress, striving for perfection, but having not yet obtained it.

Perhaps it is this misunderstanding of the word “perfect” in the spiritual sense, such as “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), that causes some to give up even before trying because they realize how far short of the perfection of the Father they fall.

Job, a true servant of the Lord, was a man who was “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). When Abram was ninety-nine years of age, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Genesis 17:1). “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9).

But, how is it possible to be “perfect” when Scriptures clearly teach us:

There is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10), For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)? This is a truth that we cannot deny and John is very clear on this subject when he says in 1 John 1:8-10, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

What does it mean to be perfect? Is this perfection something that we have no hope of obtaining? The Greek word “perfect” as found in Matthew 5:48 is telios. According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, it means “brought to its end, finished, wanting nothing necessary to completeness, perfect, full-grown, adult, mature.” The following are a few examples of how the word “perfect” is referenced in the context of the New Testament:

1. Beyond keeping the Ten Commandments, perfection is having love and concern for the poor by attending to their needs.  - Matthew 19:16-22.
2. Perfection is being a daily living sacrifice of service, and not being conformed to this world, but transformed by the Holy Spirit to act upon the perfect will of the Almighty. – Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16.
3. The purpose of the ministry is for the perfecting of the saints, that we will be united in the one true faith, complete in the knowledge of the Messiah, a perfect man like He is perfect, no more children tossed about. – Ephesians 4:11-16; Colossians 1:27-29.
4. Those who are becoming perfect have the Creator’s mind – a mind of humility and service to one another. – Philippians 2:2-5, 19, 20; Philippians 3:15. Epaphroditus, or Epaphras, is an example of perfect service to the brethren. -  Philippians 2:25-30; Colossians 4:12-13.
5. Unless we have advanced beyond the basic doctrines and beyond the milk of the word, and are able to teach others, we are not mature believers. – Hebrews 5:9 to 6:6. Notice the words translated “of full age” in Hebrews 5:14. The Greek word is telios. We who have been schooled for so many years in the truth ought now to be teachers, skilled in living and practicing the Word and able to teach others.
6. Patiently overcoming trials and temptations results in perfection. -  James 1:2-8,12; I Peter 5:10.
7. Perfection comes from the Father who is perfect. – James 1:17- 18.
8. The spiritual law is a perfect law of liberty. Those who obey it are perfect. – James 1:23-25, 2:22.

Perfection is not an illusory goal; it is our daily way of life. Our every effort is directed toward becoming perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. The Savior is the captain of our salvation, made perfect through suffering and obedience. Once we take our eyes off our Savior, perfection all at once seems to be out of the realm of reality. Indeed without Him, perfection is impossible, but because of Him and all that He has done for us through His vicarious atonement, we can be perfected in Him.

Love is the Key

In a teaching moment, a question is posed to our Great Exemplar by a Pharisee, a lawyer by trade, as to which was the greatest commandment in the law. Without hesitation the Master replies, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:34-40).

Love in its truest sense is not a passive word, but rather it is a word of action. True love is more than occasionally telling someone that you love them. True love springs into action and demonstrates its sincerity through acts of kindness, generosity, and service. The reward of true love is the satisfaction of knowing that someone’s life has been made a little better because of the thoughtfulness and considerations that have been extended to them. If we say that we love others – our neighbor – and that we love God, then we would treat our neighbor as we would want to be treated and we would revere our Father in Heaven.

Consider the words of the Lord to Moses as recorded in Leviticus 19 where we read,

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lord. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:16-18.)

In Deuteronomy we read the following words of Moses to his people,

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7.)

Thomas S. Monson, President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently referred to as the Mormon Church by the media and others) has said,

As we look heavenward, we inevitably learn of our responsibility to reach outward. To find real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves. No one has learned the meaning of living until he has surrendered his ego to the service of his fellow man. Service to others is akin to duty, the fulfillment of which brings true joy. We do not live alone—in our city, our nation, or our world. There is no dividing line between our prosperity and our neighbor’s wretchedness. ‘Love thy neighbor’ is more than a divine truth. It is a pattern for perfection” (Thomas S. Monson, The Joy of Service, New Era, October 2009, 4.)

The scriptures teach us, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:20, 21.) Said the Master, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35.)

Additional Resources:

Jesus Christ in Mormonism

Becoming a True Disciple of Jesus Christ

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In a book titled, Experiencing Christ: Your Personal Journey to the Savior, published in 2009 by Cedar Fort, Inc., and written by Randall J. Brown, (a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes inadvertently called the “Mormon Church”) shares his personal witness of our need for a Savior:

Experiencing Our Nothingness

How freeing it was for me to know that the Lord did not hold me responsible for earning my own salvation. How grateful I am for the understanding that I am, in reality, powerless to do so without His grace.

As we become increasingly aware of the enemies of our souls, we will come to know of our powerlessness to overcome the natural man through our own efforts alone. No mortal being possesses the power sufficient to put off the natural man without the divine help of the Savior.

Enabled by the power of the Spirit, Moses experienced the Lord’s presence and tasted the bitter contrast between the Savior’s infinite glory and his own fallen state firsthand. Moses described the difference by saying, “Man is nothing.” In the book of Moses, we read, “And it came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before Moses did again receive his natural strength like unto man; and he said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed” (Moses 1:10).

The Savior’s work and glory is to make us like unto Himself. This is something we, as fallen, finite beings, can never accomplish for ourselves. In our fallen condition we are limited to the realm of this finite temporal existence. Yet the infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ encompasses power sufficient to transform each of us into beings of divine nature and eternal glory.

Man is nothing. We are powerless to save ourselves from our fallen state and attain divine nature or Godlike attributes without the enabling power of Jesus Christ. C. S. Lewis said, “After the first few steps in the Christian life we realize that everything which really needs to be done in our souls can be done only by God” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, New York: HarperCollins, 2001, p. 165).

In order to change our lives, we must change our beliefs. We must make the shift from believing in our own self-sufficiency to a belief in Christ’s grace sufficient. Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose Driven Life, gave this analogy:

Imagine riding in a speedboat on a lake with an automatic pilot set to go east. If you decide to reverse and head west, you have two possible ways to change the boat’s direction. One way is to grab the steering wheel and physically force it to head in the opposite direction from where the autopilot is programmed to go. By sheer willpower you could overcome the autopilot, but you would feel constant resistance. Your arms would eventually tire of the stress, you’d let go of the steering wheel, and the boat would instantly head back east, the way it is internally programmed (Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, 181).

This is what happens when we try to change our lives through will-power, self-discipline, or self-sufficiency. We may, through our own efforts, try to stop ourselves from overeating, lashing out in anger, or having lustful thoughts. Our willpower may produce short-term results, but we will begin to feel tremendous inner stress because we have not dealt with the issues in our hearts. If our faith is in ourselves, we will eventually relapse and return to our weakness. This occurs because of reliance on our own insufficient strength.

There is only one way to change our internal autopilot: to let the power of the Savior’s grace go to work in our souls and make us “new creatures in Christ.” Only His infinite grace is sufficient to produce soul-deep healing. Jesus taught His apostles, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Robert L. Millet, in his book Alive in Christ, said, “Surely, any effort to improve ourselves is commendable, but such an approach is terrestrial at best. It focuses on proper actions but fails to address the state of the soul. Christ calls us to a higher righteousness. He calls upon us to repent of our sinful deeds and our sinfulness, to be born again, born from above, changed deep down” (Robert L. Millet, Alive In Christ, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997, p. 
112).

Because of our fallen state, we cannot merit anything of ourselves (Alma 22:14). President Ezra Taft Benson taught, “Even the most just and upright man cannot save himself solely on his own merits, for as the Apostle Paul tells us, ‘all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). . . . Repentance involves not just a change of actions, but a change of heart” (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 71).

Even though our present state is fallen and finite, our worth, on the other hand, is infinite. Christ has a perfect knowledge of our worth and paid the infinite price for us. It is essential that we acknowledge our nothingness without our Savior’s grace; otherwise, we remain trapped in vanity and unbelief.

What an insightful realization—we are nothing without God. Yet with Him, we are everything. I love what President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (member of the First Presidency in The Church of Jesus Christ) says about this topic:

Brothers and sisters, the most powerful Being in the universe is the Father of your spirit. He knows you. He loves you with a perfect love.

God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him (“You Matter to Him,” Ensign, Nov. 2011).

I echo President Uchtdorf’s message, you are a child of God. He Loves you and desires only the best for you, and your life’s situation in its entirety. I invite you to learn more about our Heavenly Father’s plan for you by chatting with missionaries online, and by prayerfully reading the Book of Mormon. I promise that as you do these things you will feel God’s power and love, in a greater capacity than you ever dreamed of.

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