The Widow's Mite

Choice 5: Mark 12:41-44 “ The Widows Mites”

The significance of the widows gift was that she was willing to give all she had to show her devotion to the Lord.  She did not give very much in comparison to the wealthier people. When the Lord noticed how much she gave, he gathered his disciples around to teach them how a real follower of Christ should act. The widow not only gave when she could not afford it but she gave all she had.

As members of Christ’s church we need to be willing to give all of ourselves to the will of the Lord. The widow was living the way the Savior taught by living a law of sacrifice. The rich men were giving a portion of what they had with no burden or worries of the future. This widow gave in faith that she would be provided for and her needs would be taken care of by the Lord. We have to be willing to sacrifice!

Here are some ways that as members of the church can donate all our living:

·         Be strong enough to stand for truth and righteousness

·         Give service even if it is not convenient

·         Give more fast offering

·         Keeping all the commandments and counsels from the prophets

Parables that teach Eternal Truths

Luke 16:19-31 - " The rich man and Lazarus"                                                                                

 This parable is about service, love and charity. While the rich man was alive he did not help anyone and he had no compassion on Lazarus. Lazarus was suffering and hungry and the rich man did not give him anything to eat. Both of these men died and Lazarus was comforted in the arms of the Abraham and the rich man was tormented because of the decisions he made in his life.
I think one noble thing the rich man did was thinking about his brothers still on earth that needed to be warned of what was to come.
He wanted to appear to them and warn them, Abraham said that his plan would not work. If they wouldn't listen to the prophets they won't listen to a resurrected being either.

I think the moral of this story is to teach us to prepare now. We need to give of ourselves in this life so we can have comfort and peace in the next life.
I think if we can give of our money, time and love in this life we will only have joy and peace when we stand before God at the judgement day.

Luke 17:11-19- "The Ten Lepers"

God heals many people and He blesses people everyday.  Some of these people see that it is God healing them and others don't see God's hand in their lives even though they are receiving blessings everyday. I think for us to be made whole like this leper that gave praise we need to thank God everyday for the blessings He gives us.

Luke 18:9-16- "The Pharisee and the publican"

If we become self-righteous and judge others for what they are not doing right we start to damn ourselves. If we think we are better then others because we keep more of the commandments we are only digging a hole for ourselves.
I suffer with this because I expect too much from other Latter-day Saints, I expect everyone to be obedient and it makes me upset seeing people break the honor code. I know I am not perfect and I should not judge people, but this is something I need to work on everyday.

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ

Drop your nets and follow Christ

What does it take to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?

• Faith 
• Diligence
• Not making excuses to follow God
• Willing to give up your sins and comforts
• Loving God more than anyone or anything
• Loving others and having charity in our heart and  actions
• Strength to choose the right no matter what
• Courage to testify of Christ
• Humility - having the desire to learn from God, through revelation and the scriptures
• Virtue- having clean hands and a clean mind
• Willing to repent of your sins daily and striving to become better every passing day
• Willing to give up worldly possessions, status and money
• Willing to give your life for God

 Following Christ is not always easy but it is worth it. God is aware of everything I do and He blesses me so much more than I deserve. This is long list and sometimes I want to focus on a couple things at a time. This week I have to chose to work on my humility. I need to be more humble and open for personal revelation through the Spirit. I want to learn more from the scriptures and I want to feel God's presence in my everyday life. I know when I am prideful He struggles to communicate with me. I want an open signal from God and I know I have to do my part.

Being a true disciple of Christ we must give up all of ourselves to serve Him. We must serve with all our heart mind and strength, only then will we see the miracles come into our lives. We must drop our nets and follow Him.

Become as little Children

Choice 3: Matthew 18:1–14. “Become as Little Children”  What are the attributes of a child?

Children are young and fragile. They are easily taught, they observe everything around them. Children strive to have the love and approval of their parents. They want to be comforted and loved by their parents. Children love talking and being with their parents. Children just want to be noticed and loved by their parents.

Heavenly Father is our parent and we should feel this way towards Him and Jesus Christ.

Matthew 18:3-4 states " ... Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Realizing we are God's little children, we can understand our role in this life.We should strive to seek His approval and love. We should feel bad when we break His rules. We need to realize also that we don't know everything and we need His knowledge and wisdom to teach us and guide us. As children of Heavenly Father we should never want to leave His side. I know He is sad when we disobey Him or don't talk to Him. He loves us and wants us to have a close relationship with Him. We should love our Heavenly Father so much that we would be sad if He left us alone.
Being converted means to change they way you live your life. Change your heart, change your mind to think of spiritual things, and changing your actions to be in line with God's will. Without this you can not live in Heavenly Father's presence.

Doctrine and Covenants 78:17-18- 17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are ^alittle children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you; 18 And ye cannot ^abear all things now; nevertheless, be of good^bcheer, for I will ^clead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the ^driches of ^eeternity are yours.

I don't have children yet but when I do I am going to do everything I can to protect, teach and guide them in their lives. I want them to be happy and safe, spiritually and physically. I will love them and always help them achieve their righteous goals.This is what Heavenly Father wants for us as well. He wants us to be humble so He can teach and guide us in this life.

Walking on the Sea

 Matthew 14:22-33

When they first saw Christ walking on the water they thought He was a Ghost and were terrified. Immediately Christ reassured them that it was Him,their Savior.

  When Peter was comforted he asked Christ to allow him to walk on the water towards Him. Peter wanted to show Christ that he had faith in Him. Peter had faith and stepped out of the boat and walked on the water. Peter's faith was strong as long as he kept his eyes on Christ. The moment Peter looked away he began to fear because of the storm around him. When he saw the waves and winds all around he started to doubt, that is when he began to sink into the water. 

Peter cried out to the Lord for help and Christ did not hesitate, He immediately saved his friend from drowning in the deep water. 

As followers in Christ we want to show our faith in Jesus Christ but sometimes obstacles distract us and cause us to sink into despair and doubt. This is when we need to call out for Christ help. I know He will always be there to help us and save us. I think we can all learn from Peter's experience. We have to remember that no matter what is around us, we have to keep our eye single to the glory of God.

Doctrine and Covenants 88:67 states that if we have an eye single to the glory of God we will be filled with the Spirit (light). When we have this light we have no desire to do evil (darkness)and evil can not be found in us. Having this "light" we will be able to understand all things even the mysteries of heaven.

Parables of Jesus Christ

Matthew 13: 24-48 The Lord Often Taught with Parables

One of the teaching methods that Christ used was telling stories and using parables to teach heavenly principles.  Receiving knowledge of the spirit is a gift from God and not everyone is prepared to accept this gift. The requirements for understanding these stories is having a humble heart and being in tuned with the Holy Ghost. The bible dictionary explains why Jesus taught in this way " It was to veil the meaning. The parable conveys to the hearer religious truth exactly in proportion to his faith and intelligence; to the dull and uninspired it is a mere story, “seeing they see not,” while to the instructed and spiritual it reveals the mysteries or secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Thus it is that the parable exhibits the condition of all true knowledge. Only he who seeks finds."

Parable of the Tares

 24 ¶Another p put he forth unto them, saying, The^bkingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good ^cseedin his field:

 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed ^atares among the wheat, and went his way.

 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.30 Let both grow together until the ^aharvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together ^bfirst the tares, and bind them in bundles to ^cburn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

I feel this parable has to do with living in a world of good and evil. We have to stay strong until the day of harvest. We have to keep the commandments so we will not be separated into the tares and be burned in the fire. This is teaching people to separate themselves before the judgment day and not be confused with the evil in the world.

Parable of the Mustard Seed

   The mustard is so small but grows into such a big tree. I think this is a parable that can be taken in 2 different ways. It can be applied to our personal faith in the Jesus Christ and the Gospel as a whole. Our faith starts off small and it doesn't take much faith to believe in Jesus Christ. If you give Christ just a small chance to make a change in your life He can perform miracles. All you need is a tiny seed of faith and great miracles can happen through the power of the Atonement.
  The other way this parable can be understood is that the church started off so small and has grown very quickly over the past 180 years. The church now covers the world and is growing every year. The work of the Lord can not be stopped and that is evident through the growth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.


Parable of the Net

47 ¶Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and ^agathered of every kind: 48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 49 So shall it be at the ^aend of the world: ^bthe angels shall come forth, and ^csever the wicked from among the ^djust...

               I relate this paprable to missionary work. Thousands of missionaries are sent out all over the world  to gather the elect into the Gospel. Thousands of people join the church every year. Unfortunately, not everyone stays faithful to the covenants they have made and they fall away. I feel this parable is talking about all the people that are gathered by missionaries and only a few are faithful and only endure to the end. I also feel it is speaking of the judgement day of the Lord. We have to be  prepared and faithful so we can be chosen to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for eternity.

Pearl of Great Price

This parable is about a merchant that found a pearl of great price. This merchant instantly knew the worth of this pearl and gathered all he owned to buy this pearl. I think this is a beautiful parable. The pearl of great price represents eternal life, we as latter-day Saints should know the worth of having eternal life. Are we willing to give up all we have to in order to receive this gift from God? Are we willing to give up all our sins to have the gift of the Holy Ghost? If  not , I don't thing we see or understand  the worth of eternal life and salvation. What are you willing to give up for the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

The Sermon on the Mount

The sermon the mount were teachings that Jesus Christ wanted to clarify and explain to those that were willing to follow Him. At this time people were keeping the commandments and living by the law of Moses. Jesus Christ came to the people with new commandments, new laws to live by. When He gave this sermon He spoke in parables, He did this so that those with a willing and open heart could understand the teachings from Heaven. Those that did not understand these new commandments were not yet ready in their hearts to receive guidance from Heavenly Father. The Chapter that I am going to mention is Matthew 5.

                                                                               



  He starts off by defining who will be blessed and what they will be blessed with. Those who are poor in spirit shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. He using the worldly words such as "poor" and "kingdom". The natural man thinks of temporal things such as money so Jesus Christ uses words that we will understand with our natural mind but we have to  listen with our spirits. Those that are poor in spirit will become rich. Being lowly of heart and beggars of forgiveness and mercy is what kind of poor I think Jesus is referring to.


                  He speaks of those that hunger for righteousness, he says they will be filled. If people want to have Jesus Christ in their lives and they strive to follow Him, he is going to teach them and guide them. One that brings comfort to those that are persecuted and killed for Christ's sake, they will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Those that fight for Christ know that they are fighting for the right and they can not lose.                                                                  
  A light set on a hill can not be hid. If we have the knowledge of the Savior we need to get out there and share it. We need to be missionaries and share the blessings of the Gospel with the whole world. This is now a commandment give by Jesus Christ. He is telling us to do what He is doing by opening our mouths and being good example and sharing through service and actions.
                  He also addresses the topics of adultery and marriage. he gives new commandments on how we should treat our spouses. One of my favorite is about when someone hurts you that you are not suppose to hurt them back but to turn the other cheek. This is something very difficult but Jesus Christ wants everyone to be prepared to enter into the kingdom of God. These commandments will help us become more perfected and ready to enter His presence.