Excerpts from the talk
"A Personal Relationship with the Savior"
There is a great humility and timidity in my soul
as I presume to speak about
coming to a personal knowledge of
Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world
and the Son of God.
Recently in South America,
a seasoned group of outstanding missionaries was asked,
“What is the greatest need in the world?”
One wisely responded:
“Is not the greatest need in all of the world for
every person to have a personal,
ongoing,
daily,
continuing relationship
with the Savior?”
Having such a relationship can unchain the divinity within us,
and nothing can make a greater difference in our lives
as we come to
know and understand
our divine relationship with God.
We should earnestly seek
not just to know about the Master,
but to strive,
as He invited,
to be one with Him
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
John 17:21
We may not feel a closeness with Him
because we think of Him as being
far away,
or our relationship may not be sanctifying
because we do not think of Him as
a real person.
How can we receive the personal blessing of
the Master’s divine and exalting influence
in our own lives?
Since our own feelings are sacred to us
and cannot be disputed by others,
let us begin with those quiet assurances
which occasionally can come to all of us
and which we know
are true.
We cannot always prove these verities to others,
yet they come as a form of knowledge.
Is this part of the divine which
ferments within us,
reaching to its source?
Is it not like a personal
witness of truth
flowing through the thin curtain
which separates
this world
from another?
Is there not a yearning
to understand in your mind
what is in your heart,
a feeling which you cannot give utterance to
because it is so unspeakably personal?
The Master said that this
quiet reality can
“speak peace to your mind concerning the matter.”
"Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter?
What greater witness can you have than from God?"
D&C 6:23
May I suggest
five beginning, essential measures
which will
greatly clear the channel
for a daily flow of “living water”
from the very source of the spring,
even the Redeemer Himself.
First: A daily communion involving prayer.
A fervent, sincere prayer is a two-way communication which will do much to bring His Spirit flowing like healing water to help with the trials, hardships, aches, and pains we all face.
What is the quality of our secret prayers when only He listens? As we pray, we should think of Him as being close by, full of knowledge, understanding, love, and compassion, the essence of power, and as having great expectations of each of us.
Second: A daily selfless service to another.
The followers of the divine Christ have to be weighed on the scales of what their actions are rather than on solemn professions of belief. The true measure is found in Matthew:
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these … , ye have done it unto me.” (Matt. 25:40.)
A wise man observed, “The man who lives by himself and for himself is apt to be corrupted by the company he keeps.” (Charles Henry Parkhurst, quoted in The International Dictionary of Thoughts, Chicago: J. G. Ferguson, 1969, p. 659.)
Third: A daily striving for an increased obedience and perfection in our lives.
“What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am,” said the Savior. (3 Ne. 27:27.) Because of the perfect atonement of Jesus, just men may be made perfect. (See D&C 76:69.)
Fourth: A daily acknowledgment of His divinity.
To have a daily, personal relationship with the Master, we must be His disciples. “For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” (Mosiah 5:13.)
Fifth: A daily study of the scriptures.
President Kimball has said: “I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures, the distance narrows and the spirituality returns.” (“What I Hope You Will Teach My Grandchildren … ,” address to seminary and institute personnel, July 11, 1966.)
For those who have honest doubts,
let us hear what
eyewitnesses had to say about Jesus of Nazareth.
The ancient apostles were there.
They saw it all.
They participated.
No one is more worthy of belief than they.
*Said Peter: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables,
when we made known unto you
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Pet. 1:16.)
*Said John: “For we have heard him ourselves,
and know that this is indeed the Christ,
the Saviour of the world.”
(John 4:42.)
*Peter counsels us to be
“partakers of the divine nature.”
(2 Pet. 1:4.)
The influence and teaching of the Messiah
should have a transcendence over
all other interests and concerns in our lives.
We must constantly
be reaching upward
for the riches of eternity,
for the kingdom of God is within us.
(See Luke 17:21.)
Speaking through the Doctrine and Covenants,
God promises that you may be
told in your minds and in your hearts,
of whatsoever you ask,
by the Holy Ghost.
(See D&C 8:1–2.)
By sanctifying yourselves,
the day will come when
“he will unveil his face unto you.”
(D&C 88:68.)
“If your eye be single to [His] glory,
your whole bodies shall be filled with light,
and there shall be
no darkness in you;
and that body
which is filled with light
comprehendeth all things.”
(D&C 88:67.)
In the many trials of life,
when we feel abandoned and when
sorrow, sin, disappointment, failure, and weakness
make us less than we should ever be,
there can come the healing salve
of the unreserved love in the grace of God.
It is a love that forgives and forgets,
a love that lifts and blesses.
It is a love that sustains a new beginning
on a higher level
and thereby continues
“from grace to grace.”
(D&C 93:13.)
“The spiritual knowledge of truth
is the electric light illuminating the cavern;
the wind and sun dissipating the fog. …
It is the mansion on the hill
replacing the shack in the marshes;
the harvester shelving the sickle and cradle. …
It is the rich nourishing kernels of corn instead of the husks. …
It is much more than all else. …”
(Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle,
Deseret Book Co., 1972, p. 14.)
I have also felt the crushing burden, the self-doubts of inadequacy and unworthiness, the fleeting feeling of being forsaken, then of being reinforced an hundredfold. I have climbed a spiritual Mount Sinai dozens of times seeking to communicate and to receive instructions. It has been as though I have struggled up an almost real Mount of Transfiguration and upon occasion felt great strength and power in the presence of the Divine. A special sacred feeling has been a sustaining influence and often a close companion.
“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.”
(D&C 121:7–8.)
... I recognize that I am a very ordinary man.
Yet I gratefully acknowledge
one special gift.
I have a certain knowledge that
Jesus of Nazareth is our Divine Savior.
I know that He lives.
From my earliest recollection
I have had a sure perception of this.
As long as I have lived,
I have had a simple faith that has never doubted.
I have not always understood,
yet still I have known
through a knowledge
that is so sacred to me
that I cannot give utterance to it.
I know and I testify with
an absolute awareness
in every fiber and innermost recess of my being
that Jesus is the Christ,
the Messiah,
the Divine Redeemer,
and the Son of God.
May we be obedient to His wish,
“Come unto me thy Savior”
(D&C 19:41),
I pray humbly
in His holy and sacred name.
Amen.
Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
- Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home,When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He:His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
- Refrain:I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
- “Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
- Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
No comments:
Post a Comment
hey, what's on that yummy little mind of yours? let me know!