Women and the Priesthood

As soon as I heard Sherri Dew's new book Women and the Priesthood was being published I kne wI had to read it. I devoured the book into two days underlining and thinking about the points she made.

You can imagine my excitement when our Relief Society announced we should read the book because for enrichment night we would have Sherri come and talk to us in a sort of book review.

So I re-read the book...finding even more insights and questions.

To open the night Sherri asked us what we wanted to discuss or any questions we had.  I knew which question I had but am always nervous to share around such wise and accomplished women.  Besides, the other women in the almost filled chaple.

She shared a few things with us and
Then she had us open our scriptures to D&C 107:18,19:

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

 19 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.

She asked what those verses said to us. One women commented that the Lord's house is a house of order."

Then there was silence and before I knew it my hand was raised and my voice shook as I explained "My whole life I never doubted and felt like that was good and obedient, but I know I am supposed to seek revelation and I'm not really sure what to seek and here it says I can have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of heaven."  All that I said seemed like rambling to me but I'm sure the spirit helped her hear the things of my heart.

She said yes sometimes we think those things are only for apostles or general authorities but here it said it was for those who have the power of the Melchizedek Priesthood and those endowed with the same power in the temple.

Then she asked what are the mysteries of God?  Everyone was quiet. She told they are How God Works.

We next read Alma 12:9-10:

 9 And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.

 10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.

When we aren't seeking we are, as Joseph Smith said, "Living Beneath Our Privileges."

She next went on to say something profound...she asked us if we had ever counted how many times Elder Holland mentioned angels in his talks.  She then went on to say that we could pray and ask angels to help us....that we could get help from the other side of the veil.

We read D&C 84:19,20

 19 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.

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

We needed to understand the priesthood as much as men do.

She then went on to tell us there are 6 Fundamental Elements of Women and the Priesthood that we needed to understand:

1. Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ ate Perfect and They Know Everything

    They don't make mistakes and their ways are always higher than ours (Isiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.)

2. This IS the Savior's Church

   The Savior's Plan & the Savior's Church are eternally designed to exalt ALL His Children.

3. Prophets & Apostles walk the earth

   They are prophets, seers, and revelators for our day.

4. The Church is NOT a Democracy

  Earthly models cannot compare to Divine Models

  Revelation does not come from the ground up

5. People of Faith are required to have...FAITH

  He will not reveal everything to us

6. God does want a powerful people

She encouraged us to read Elder Oaks talk The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood.

Then she expounded on three principles of the priesthood:

1.) Keys

 All Keys come from Prophets & Apostles

They are the right to preside over and direst

 They authorize and distribute the Lord's power

2.) Authority

  We can only preform ordinances when one who has the keys has given authorization

3.) Power

  Power flows from the priesthood

  Endowment is a gift of Power & Knowledge

Lastly she asked us if we had heard how many references were made to section 109 of the D&C during the Ogden Temple Re Dedication.  She encouraged us to go home and read it.  She said it had some interesting phrases to ponder such as "fullness of the Holy Ghost," "Emerge from the Temple Armed with Power,"Grow up in the Lord,""Be Prepared to Obtain Every Needful Thing."

It was an amazingly spiritual and uplifting experience to say the least and I was so privilieged to be able to be in that room and hear her words.  I thank the Lord for  hearing the desires and questions of my heart and giving me those answers.

Noah

I have really enjoyed teaching the 9 year old class in my church this year.  We are studying the Old Testament and I have to say as much as I thought I "knew" these stories...I am forgetting the little details that make each of these stories even more remarkable.

Noah, a man who walked with God  and did everything he was commanded(Genesis 6:9, 22) lives in a time of wickedness.  The people who he is trying to save are threatening to kill him...and oh yeah...they are GIANTS.

So the Lord commands Noah to build an Ark. Noah is 600 years old and is told "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

We did a little activity in our class and tried to write down all the mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds we could in 3 minutes.  I also added insects...not sure if they were included on the list but I imagined they would have had to been on the ark to survive because of the totality and length of the flooding).  The kids listed 40-50 mammals, about 20-30 reptile and amphibians, and I was impressed by a list of 33 birds...and these were just the ones we could think of.

Oh and we read in (Genesis 6) And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.   That's right food too.  Think of all the food it would take to sustain all these animals for that many days.

Can you imagine the immenseness of this task????

And then Noah was commanded to get inside the ark and guess what...it wasn't raining yet.  In fact it was SEVEN days before it rained!  That is faith!  In a ark with animals for a whole week and it's not raining yet.

Then in my sweet innocence I thought it rained for 40 days and 40 nights...the end.  No...that is how long it rained until the flood lifted up the boat.  The ark was a adrift or in biblical terms "And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days." So 7+40+150=197days or about 6 1/2 months that Noah was in the ark.

Such amazing details to apply to our own lives!

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/64399/Power-in-persistence.html 

Joshua Leads Israel

It never ceases to amaze me how much I get from the bible lessons I am teaching in my primary class.  My students are so well versed in the scriptures I know that I have to study these lessons beforehand. I also try to find the "why?" and the "what?"in all these lessons..."WHY did the Lord include this lesson in the manual and WHAT does he want these young children to learn from it?

-The first point comes in Joshua 1:5   "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

When the Lord gives us an assignment/calling/commandment he will be there for us every step of the way...he will not fail us, nor forsake us.  That is powerful!  Think about it.  Everything He asks comes with the assurance that we will succeed because He is with us.  That doesn't mean the task will be easy, that is will not try or stretch us spiritually...but we can do it!

-Learn From the Scriptures.This second lesson comes in Joshua 1:8  "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."

What is the message for us here?  How can reading and meditating (pondering) on the scriptures help us to accomplish what the Lord has asked of us?

-Be Strong and Courageous. In Joshua 1:6-7, 9, 18 Joshua is asked to be strong and courageous. What was it about this task that would take strength and courage? How do you think Joshua felt as he prepared to take the city of Jericho? What a daunting task.  Do you think he wondered if the people were ready, if they would listen to and follow him? I am sure he was concerned if any would perish in the fight. There were a lot of unknowns and he needed to be the people's constant.

Why do we need to be spiritually strong and courageous today?  

President Thomas S. Monson stated: 

"We are here upon the earth at a remarkable period in its history. Our opportunities are almost limitless, and yet we also face a multitude of challenges, some of them unique to our time.

We live in a world where moral values have, in great measure, been tossed aside, where sin is flagrantly on display, and where temptations to stray from the strait and narrow path surround us. We are faced with persistent pressures and insidious influences tearing down what is decent and attempting to substitute the shallow philosophies and practices of a secular society.

Because of these and other challenges, decisions are constantly before us which can determine our destiny. In order for us to make the correct decisions, courage is needed—the courage to say no when we should, the courage to say yes when that is appropriate, the courage to do the right thing because it is right.

-Faith Proceeds the Miracle. Another of the lessons comes in Joshua 3:13 where the soles of the priest's feet had to touch the river before it would become dry ground. Can you imagine carrying the Ark of the Covenant to this raging river overflowing its banks and knowing you had to take the first step? The blessings come after the test of our faith and obedience.

"But know this: that undaunted faith can stop the mouths of lions, make ineffective the fiery flames, make dry corridors through beds of rivers and seas. Unwavering faith can protect against deluge, terminate droughts, heal the sick, and bring heavenly manifestations. Indomitable faith can help us live the commandments and thereby bring blessings unnumbered with peace, perfection, and exaltation in the kingdom of God. May this be our desire to develop this kind of faith and may we finally attain the blessings which such perfect faith can bring, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."  ~President Spencer W. Kimball

-The Lord's Ways Are Not Our Ways. Joshua 6:11-16

 11 So the ark of the Lord compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.

 12 ¶And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord.

 13 And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rearward came after the ark of the Lord, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.

 14 And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.

 15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.

 16 And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city.

Doesn't this sound like pretty bizarre tactics to take a city.  Why didn't they just battle?  Why didn't the Lord cause a deep sleep to come over the people of Jericho? There could have been a hundred different ways for the Lord to help the children of Israel take this city... why this way?

In the scriptures we see that the Lord's ways are not the ways of man. They rarely follow logic (or the laws of nature).The walls of the city fell because of the power of the Lord and the faith and obedience of the Israelites.



-We Must ChooseWhat did Joshua do before he asked the people to choose whom they would serve? (Explain that as the prophet he set an example for the children of Israel to follow.) When Joshua asked the children of Israel to choose whom they would serve, what was their choice? (Joshua 24:15, 24, 31.) How can we serve the Lord? (By having faith in our Church leaders and following their words.) President Spencer W. Kimball said, “Loyalty to the Lord also includes loyalty to those leaders he has chosen” (“Give the Lord Your Loyalty,” Ensign, Mar. 1980, p. 4).

Church Attendance is Important

Sometimes attending church while on vacation is hard.  When we built our cabin up at Bear Lake someone said that we needed to be careful not to go inactive.  Now I grew up in a family where we went to church EVERY Sunday unless we were really sick so I was pretty sure that that wouldn't happen.  But I did find myself letting my worship slip when we were up there. We always seem to miss the 9 am meeting because we are on vacation and want to sleep in and then we are always ready to head home by the time the 12:30 meeting rolls around.








But I do truly believe that church attendance is important, particularly taking the sacrament, so I recommitted myself to going this time. 

It had rained for the past two days and was raining hard as we left to attend the Garden City Ward.  We could find Mallory's other dress shoe so she wore her pink school shoes.  But I am so thankful to the Lord for the things I heard and saw, because they have impressed on me how when we make the effort to do the right thing (even when it's not easy) he will bless us.

It was fast and testimony meeting.  One of the people who spoke was one of the members.  A man injured in his teens now confined to a wheelchair.  His aged mother wheeled him up to the front.  the pass around microphone was shorting out and it was difficult to understand his speech which was handicapped.  But clear as day he said "Jesus is the Christ."He then said "Jesus is my best friend." And, "He should be your best friend too."

I often make excuses as to why I don't bear my testimony...What would I say? I'm clear here at the back. I have a baby, etc.,etc. His testimony took a lot of effort but his message was so profound. JESUS IS THE CHRIST...what a powerful testimony.

Another little girl got up and talked about praying to do better in Math.  She urged us all to pray.
Finally a woman shared that her niece had received some sad news about her pregnancy this weekend.  She would have to terminate the baby's life or her life might be in danger.  As this poor mother wreslted with the fact that she would have to terminate this life inside her she pleaded with the Lord to take the baby, to spare her having to choose her own life over her child's. When they got to the hospital the Lord had granted her petition and the baby no longer had a heartbeat.

Such faith affirming witnesses that I got to hear because I remembered that Church Attendence is Important.

So pro