The Power of the Priesthood

     In the course of my scripture study over the past several days, I have come across a couple of wonderful passages about the power of the Melchizedek Priesthood.  The first is found in the Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis 14:30-31.  These verses refer to the power available to those who are ordained to the High Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek:

For God having sworn unto Enoch and unto his seed with an oath by himself; that every one being ordained after this order and calling should have power, by faith, to break mountains, to divide the seas, to dry up waters, to turn them out of their course:

To put at defiance the armies of nations, to divide the earth, to break every band, to stand in the presence of God; to do all things according to his will, according to his command, subdue principalities and powers; and this by the will of the Son of God which was from before the foundation of the world.

      The second passage is probably more familiar to most Latter-day Saints.  It is found in Doctrine and Covenants 107:18-19:

The power and authority of the higher, or Melchizedek Priesthood, is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church--

To have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly and church of the Firstborn, and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.

     And, finally, Doctrine and Covenants 84:19-20:

And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God.

Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.

     Does any priesthood holder truly understand the power the Lord has blessed us with?  What are the challenges we face today that the priesthood could help us overcome?  We can break down mountains of pride, divide seas of uncertainty and confusion, and dry up rivers of doubt.  We can set at defiance the armies of Satan, and break the bands of sin and transgression.  Ultimately, the power of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and the ordinances thereof, will bring us back into the presence of God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ.  It is the power that seals us up unto eternal life.
     Having been blessed with the Melchizedek Priesthood, "let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed" (D&C 123:17, emphasis added).

Beauty for Ashes

     I love the pioneer-era buildings in downtown Provo, Utah.  Like many other people, I was very sad to hear of the fire that gutted the tabernacle several years ago, but elated by the announcement by Pres. Thomas S. Monson in October 2011 that the tabernacle would be rebuilt as a temple.

     While I was in the Mount Timpanogos Temple recently, I was reading one of my favorite chapters of scripture, Isaiah 61.  As I pondered this beautiful passage, thoughts of the destruction of the Provo Tabernacle and its subsequent rebuilding as a temple came to mind:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

     Christ's Atonement has the power to restore what is lost and repair what is broken, and the restoration of the Provo Tabernacle as a temple is the perfect symbol of this power.  Many lives on both sides of the will be greatly blessed by the ordinances that will be performed in this temple.  As Isaiah said, the Lord is blessing us with "beauty for ashes."  The blessings far exceed the sorrow that we experienced at the loss of the building.  As the psalmist said, "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Psalm 30:5).

Service to Others: Pure Religion

Recently I read the first chapter of James in the New Testament. The final verse really stood out to me:

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Why is visiting the fatherless and widows (or, in other words, serving others) so important? Toward the end of Christ's mortal ministry, He taught the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46). The sheep represent those who "inherit the kingdom prepared for [them] from the foundation of the world" (verse 34). The goats represent those who are cursed and cast "into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (verse 41). According to the parable, what is it that separates the sheep from the goats? Service to our fellowmen. The sheep are those who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, take in strangers, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and the imprisoned. The goats are those who fail to provide these acts of service.

The baptismal covenant, as described by Alma in the eighteenth chapter of Mosiah, also emphasizes the importance of service:

And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

This passage makes it clear that members of Christ's church are under covenant to bear one another's burdens, mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort; or, put simply, to serve others.

Since the parable of the sheep and the goats in the New Testament and the baptismal covenant as explained in the Book of Mormon both teach that service is a requirement for eternal life, "then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?" (Mosiah 2:18).

Be Content

A few weeks ago, I wrote a Facebook post about the importance of contentment. Paul said, "for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content" (Philippians 4:11). This morning, I read another verse that explains why we should be content. Hebrews 13:5 says, "be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

A few years ago, we were living in Arizona. We had family and friends there, we were part of a great ward, we owned a home, and life was generally good. Other than the heat, we didn't have much to complain about. Then in the summer of 2011, Catherine and I got the feeling that we should move to Utah. The feeling was very strong and wouldn't go away. After being prompted for several weeks, we decided it must be time to move. (Around that time, I was also stung twice by a scorpion in my garage, and that sealed the deal!).

At the time, I had a stable job with benefits, but I put in my notice. I had no solid prospects for a new job. We didn't have a place to live yet. Catherine was pregnant, and because of Utah law at the time, our whole family lost our medical insurance when we moved. It was a little scary, but it was a time of great contentment for our family. We recognized that we were being prompted by the Spirit to move, and if God wanted us to move, He would certainly take care of us. As that verse in Hebrews says, we can be content because God will never leave us or forsake us. If we trust in God and have faith in Him, He will provide what we need.

God did provide what we needed. Before our move, we had a quick trip to Utah. We had one day to look for a home, and we were able to rent out the first place we looked at. I had one job interview while I was there, and it led to one day per week of work. Later, as I was driving the U-Haul to Utah, my friend called and asked if I would like to work for him a day or two a week. Things started to fall into place for us.

Initially, I was only working a few days a week after the move. I was building up my own practice, and things were pretty tight financially for a while. When we were in Arizona, we had been focusing on paying off all our debts and therefore hadn't saved a lot of money, but things worked out. We always had what we needed, and anytime we wondered how we might survive the next little while, someone would give us some apples, or an unexpected $500 escrow check would show up in the mail. We never lacked for the necessities. And even though we had lost our health insurance, everyone in the family stayed healthy and our medical bills were minimal. Since we were paying cash for the delivery of our baby (who was born about six months after the move), the hospital and doctor's office gave us huge discounts. We ended up paying much less for our medical care during this time than we would have if we had been paying a health insurance premium each month. We got through the whole process without going into debt.

This was a challenging time in the life of my family, and I must admit that I worried quite a bit. But we were content. We knew that a loving Heavenly Father was watching over us and would never forsake us. We had faith that all of our needs would be met--and they were. Because of this experience, our trust and faith in God have increased, and our family is stronger now.

This whole experience brings to mind one of my favorite scriptures:

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness (Isaiah 41:10).

If we have faith, we can be content, knowing that God will provide. He will never leave us. He will allow us to struggle, and we might reach the limit of what we can handle, but God will never forsake us. I hope that as life becomes more prosperous for our family that we will continue to remember God's love and tender mercies in our lives, and that we will always be content with what we have.

Run With Patience

Those of you who know me know that I like to run. This photo was taken in September 2014 after the South Jordan Half Marathon. If you look closely, you will see that I am wearing two medals: a participant medal, and a winner's medal. Yes, I actually won the race! First place overall. I don't claim to be a great runner, but my consistent training and focused effort (and, I must admit, a small number of race participants) led to my victory! My overall time was 45 seconds slower than my goal, but it was enough to win.

Winning a race gives a person a great sense of accomplishment. The thing that made this victory particularly satisfying to me was the fact that four months earlier, I ran my worst half marathon ever. Yes, even worse than my first half marathon in 2007. Runners often talk about their PR (personal record), but in May 2014 I got what I call my PW (personal worst). It was very disappointing, but instead of choosing to give up running forever, I decided to train harder, and the result was my one and only half marathon victory!

This morning, I read Hebrews chapter 12. In the first verse, Paul (or whoever it was that actually wrote Hebrews) said, "let us run with patience the race that is set before us." The thing that caused me to pause and think in this verse was that running and patience don't seem to go together very well. How can we be patient when we are running our hardest?

I believe the answer lies in our understanding of patience. I have usually thought of patience as calmly waiting for something, but we won't accomplish much in life if we just wait for things to happen. We have to work hard and get dirty and sweaty if we want results. Is it possible to be patient while putting forth maximum effort? I think it is. My half marathon in May 2014 was a disaster, but I believe patience was a key factor in my success the next time out. It takes a lot of patience to wake up early and run several times a week. It takes patience to keep your feet moving on a long run when your body is exhausted. It takes patience to train for four months to get ready for a race. It takes patience to choose to run rather than pursuing other interests. It takes patience to work through the sore muscles and injuries that slow us down. It takes patience to pick ourselves up and keep going after we have experienced disappointment.

So what does patience really mean? I think when we are patient we hope for better things in the future. We recognize that great results are not obtained without great effort, so we continue to work hard day after day, keeping our minds focused on the ultimate prize. Regardless of what we want to accomplish in life, it will likely take hard work and patience.

So, run hard. Keep your head in the game. Don't give up. And if you experience disappointment, keep working hard and strive for improvement, believing that better things are ahead. As Paul admonished, "[R]un, that ye may obtain" (1 Corinthians 9:24).