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I am a Mormon Missionary serving in the Michigan Lansing Mission. I enjoy serving the people of Michigan and love the area. I am also an ice cream addict in the process of recovery :)

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Love of God

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the power of the Love of God. Often times I find myself walking around and getting a feeling of doubt and despair and wondering, "Why? Where is that coming from?" I know that the opposite of Faith is Fear and that all doubt and despair comes from the adversary. This leads me to believe that everytime I feel this doubt or despair come upon me it is because I have lost a little Faith and let some Fear come into me. Some darkness has crept into my temple. How do we overcome this though? It seems like there is a lot of opposition to those who seek to do good. I have come to find out that the only way I can overcome the trials and tribulations of the world is through our Savior Jesus Christ. He and His Father, Heavenly Father, have a perfect love for each one of us. This love has the power to do amazing things.

I did a study on the power of God recently and found some pretty cool things. I will post my notes below:
I looked for a definition of Love in the dictionary and this is one that I liked and have focused on.
Websters: Unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for others.
I also turned to a scripture in the Book of Mormon for some more insights.
Moroni 7:45, 47-48
- Charity is the pure love of Christ.
- Charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily   provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
- CHARITY NEVER FAILETH
How awesome is that! If we do everything out of pure love we will never fail.
- We must pray to the Father with all the energy of heart that we may be filled with this love.
- God bestows this love upon those who are true followers of Jesus Christ.
After I read this scripture I turned to the definition of Love in True to the Faith.
True to the Faith
- Our love for those around us increases when we REMEMBER that we are all children of God.
I think the key word in there is remember. It is an action to remember something and we must act to always remember that everyone around us is a child of God. If we do this we will be able to develop greater love and in turn feel greater love from our Heavenly Father.
I also turned to another scripture for some more insights on the Love of God.
1 Nephi 11: 22-23
- The Tree of Life is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men.
- The Love of God is most desirable above all other things.
- The Love of God is most joyous to the soul.
So the Love of God sounds pretty good... How do we find it? For this I turned to a talk that my sister sent me called The Power of God's Love.
The Power of God's Love - Elder John Groberg
Elder Groberg did an amazing job of explaining how God's love can help us and how we can obtain it. Here are some things that I liked.
- The thought of all of God's blessings is so inspiring and satisfying that any physical discomfort fades away.
- When we understand who God is, who we are, how He loves us, and what His plan is for us, fear evaporates.
This gets back to how we get rid of that Fear that periodically comes upon us. Understanding, Gratitude for that understanding, and Remembrance are the keys to overcoming Fear.
This next idea is something that hit me really hard.
- Our joy now and forever is inextricably tied to our capacity to love.
We receive Grace for Grace. If we can more fully have and show love to others we will receive more love from God and others. This in turn causes us to have joy.
- Being filled with God's love is the most joyous of all things and is worth every cost.
There is nothing worth more than Eternal Happiness. Why would we even entertain the thought of jeopardizing it through sin?
- Never underestimate the power of true love, for it knows no barriers.
This last comment is something I would like put down in order to gather the ideas and opinions of others.
- When we are ready, His pure love instantly moves across time and space, reaches down and pulls us up from the depths of any tumultuous sea of darkness, sin, sorrow, death, or despair we may find ourselves in and brings us into the light and life and love of eternity.
My question is this, how do we become ready to experience this spectacular Love in our lives? What can we do to more fully apply the power of the Atonement in our lives?
Let me know what you think and I look forward to further study and future comments on this subject.

1 comment:

  1. "My question is this, how do we become ready to experience this spectacular Love in our lives?"

    I've experienced greater love from God in my live recently as I've tried to pray more often. Try an experiment: Before you begin each activity in your day, say a silent prayer of thanks (be specific) and then petition for help (again be specific).
    Try this for a day and see how you feel.

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