How do you know?

The other day a man asked me a very interesting question.

"How do you know that Jesus is your Savior?"

I thought a lot about that and then applied that questions to other things. Like how do I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church on the earth again. How do I know that the Book of Mormon is true? How do I know that there is a prophet on the earth again? How do I know?

Well let me answer by first asking another question. How do you know that the floor is there in the morning when you are lying in bed? I mean I always trust that the floor is there every morning but I still have to try it out and put my feet down. I have to act and do my part. If I lay in bed and just say that the floor is there doesn't really help to know if the floor is there.

Nephi also teaches us how we can know certain things of God. Here is a converstaion that he had with his brothers.
"And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?

And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.

Behold, I said unto them: How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the hardness of your hearts?

Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you."

So to answer the question of how do I know. I know because I have acted. I know that Jesus is my Savior because I have accepted Him and then I have followed Him. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church on the earth, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that we have a prophet on the earth today because I have prayed and asked God and then I followed my answer that I have received.

One last thing, I know that you can come to know these truths for yourself. All you have to do is ask God with a open heart and then be willing to act. Be willing to take that step on the floor. I know it will change your life and make it better than better.

Run Run Run

Once upon a time in High School I took a PE class. For the most part it wasn't too bad. We did fun things like badmitton, and volleyball, and swimming. Then we had to take these tests like how many sit-ups we could do and how long we could jump with a jump rope. Most of them weren't that bad but the worst one was the mile. To get a decent grade for the mile you had to run it in 8 minutes. Now I think the fastest I have ever run a mile was in maybe 9 minutes and that was when I was in really good shape. So here I am having to run the mile knowing that the best grade I could get on it was a D. Knowing this I could have just given up and walked the mile. I mean if I was going to get a bad grade I better not kill myself. But instead I decided that I would run the whole thing. It wasn't easy but I felt that I had tried my best and even though I didn't get a great grade I still knew that I had given it my all.

You know that really is all that Jesus expects us to do. He knows that life is hard and that there are certain things that we don't want to do. But if we really try and give our all then He will make up the rest. He will take our D and turn it into a A+. He wants us to succeed but we have to do our part as well.  "For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." (2 Nephi 25:23) So go ahead and run that mile, go and keep the commandments, go and follow God. It won't be easy but it is possible and Jesus will help us.

Confusão

Oh hey! Você não vai entender isso, porque você não fala em portugues. Lembre-se que Deus te ama e se preocupa com você.

Uh... what? Have you ever had a time that you had someone speak to you in another language, or even sometimes in your native language, and you just have no idea what they are saying? I sure have. May last few companions have been waiting for their visa to go down to Brazil. Sometimes they will speak portugues out loud and then look at me like I should understand. I just give them a blank stare back because I don't speak Portuguese.

Have you ever felt that perhaps God speaks to us in a different language? That perhaps He is speaking to us in Portuguese? That maybe He isn't even speaking at all? Well I can testify that He does speak to us. He is there. He is reaching out to us and all we have to do is listen.

Listening to God though is different than listening to someone next to us talking. To listen to God we don't just listen with our ears but we listen with our hearts and with our minds."Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart." Doctrin and Covenants 8:2  We have to really be focused. One of the main ways we can hear God by praying and actually talking with Him not just to Him. When we really seek out to have a conversation with our Heavenly Father and really let Him know how we are doing He will answer us.

So the next time you feel that maybe God is speaking in Portuguese have a conversation with Him and you will find out that you can understand Him perfectly.