"More holiness give me, more strivings within, More patience in suffering, more sorrow for sin. More faith in my Savior, more sense of His care. More joy in His service, more purpose in prayer. More gratitude give me, more trust in the Lord. More zeal for his glory, more hope in His Word. More tears for His sorrows, more pain at His grief. More meekness in trial, more praise for relief. More purity give me, more strength to overcome, More freedom from earth stains, more longings for home. More fit for the kingdom, more useful I'd be, More blessed and holy, more Savior like Thee."
When we sing that song I always remember the simple humility of wanting to follow Jesus better from that moment on the beach. When I was a missionary in the Dominican Republic, I remember congratulating a newly baptized sister. She was overwhelmed with happiness and the Spirit, she gave me the biggest hug, wet clothes and all. When my daughter was baptized, I received another big, happy, wet hug from my daughter, also happy for her decision to follow Jesus. When I served in Primary, I attended many baptisms, and loved each one of them because of the special spirit present at baptisms. I follow a special needs orphanage in India on social media, because one of the girls had a medical condition like my daughter. They had a Bible study class for the older girls in the orphanage, held on the rooftop. After a few months of Bible study, several of the girls were baptized. Seeing the girls huge grins against the blue sky, and their happiness at knowing they were following Jesus through baptism made me cry. Surely the Lord was happy with these orphan girls in their public declaration to follow Jesus. Jesus is our example. "And now if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfill all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy to be baptized, yea, even by water!" 2 Nephi 31:5
One of the questions I've been asked a few times since writing my first blog post goes something like this "What about the ordinances and covenants we make in the church and in the temples? Do you no longer believe these ordinances are essential to our salvation? Where else would you go for these saving ordinances?"
To answer this, let's consider a few more things. According to the scriptures, what actually are the saving ordinances? What does Christ Himself say about this?
"And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things. And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. Verily, verily, I say unto you that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them." 3 Nephi 11:37-40
What does He say you have to do? What do these ordinances represent?
Ordinances are a physical representation of what you're supposed to experience in the heavenly, or spiritual realm. The ordinances performed in the church are a symbolic representation of what God expects us to literally do and to receive, which is to seek God's face and to return to God's presence, even in this life. The ordinances are an invitation to seek the Lord more fully, more deeply. The ordinances of the church extend an invitation for us to seek and receive the Lord's greater blessings. The actual, for real, receiving and sealing of these blessings is between us and our Father in Heaven. They are an invitation to find wholeness in the Lord, in Him alone.
Baptism
Baptism is a sign of a change of heart, of repentance, of our sinful nature dying and being born again and becoming new in Christ. What happens to us spiritually is just as important as what happens in the physical baptism of being immersed in the water. The water baptism is an outward declaration that inwardly we are following the Lord more earnestly. When people are baptized in our church, they are afterward blessed by the laying on of hands and told to receive the Holy Ghost. It is an invitation for the person to receive the Holy Ghost.
In the marriage ceremony, the word receive is also used, "receive him/her to be your husband/wife." So much is involved in that one small word "receive." We have to learn the way our spouse defines and understands love. Is it washing the dishes? Or time together? Or kind words in a note or card for them to read over and over? In receiving our spouse there is much to learn. We learn to get along when we are tired, hungry and stressed, how to listen better when it doesn't seem that important, how to speak more carefully so that love is communicated, how to avoid the things that offend them, how to give of ourselves and freely forgive each other without expecting anything in return. We learn through much error. I am thankful to Edward for staying with me as we learn to love each other.
The things we do to receive our spouse are similar to what we do to receive the Holy Ghost or the companionship of the Lord's Spirit. We can ask ourselves, How does the Lord define love, how does he know we love Him? Can we follow Jesus even when we are at our wits end, stressed, hungry and tired? Who do we turn to for comfort? Do we turn to the Lord when we are in need of comfort, or something else- food, addictions, screen time? Have we learned to listen to the whispering of the Lord's Spirit when it doesn't seem to be the most important thing at the moment? Do we speak with a desire to communicate love for our Lord and for others? What do we do that offends the Lord's Spirit, how can we avoid those things? This is all part of receiving the companionship of the Holy Ghost, or the Lord's Spirit. This is learning to have the Lord's Spirit with us, on a more permanent level. We make many mistakes, but our Lord likes working with broken people, and is amazing in His willingness to work with us when we feel so unworthy of His help. Like a gardener that loves to make his plants fruitful and beautiful, working with the dirt and mud that we live in is part of tending His garden. I am so grateful that the Lord is willing to forgive us and help us, and that He paid the price of our sins with His blood.
In marriage we learn to drop our expectations of what this relationship should look like and to simply be grateful for each other. Have we dropped the expectations of how God can speak to us, and love us, and just be grateful for his unique way of loving us? How does God speak to you? I have a friend that finds heart shaped rocks wherever she goes, a reminder of God's love to her. I see God's love to me in the hugs of my toddler that whispers in my ear "I love you. I'll always be proud of you." God's ways of speaking to and reaching his children are unique like we are.
Our baptism of water is intended to be accompanied with a baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. A baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost is something only God can bestow according to His will and timing, it is a purification of our hearts in preparation for Him to dwell with us. What we receive in the church is an invitation to work towards a closer relationship with the Lord. The developing of a relationship with the Lord is up to us, and how deeply we seek the Lord's companionship.
In the church, after people are baptized, they become members of the church and start moving towards priesthood ordinations, temple covenants, like the endowment and then temple marriage. We are taught that these ordinances are essential to our salvation. But we often neglect a far more important matter- have we come to know Jesus? Have we really been born again of Christ? Have we become sons and daughters of God? Or have we just gone through the motions? Do we really know Him, as a friend and someone we talk with every day? Are we living the things he taught like- forgiving freely? Praying for our enemies? Loving those who are hard to love? If we aren't first sure of being sealed to Jesus, then no other ordinance or sealing will hold any weight in heaven.
Temple Endowment
In the temple we learn that Adam and Eve's journey represents our journey. We are taught that as Adam and Eve did, we are to seek the Lord through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, repentance, sacrifice, and prayer. As part of our journey we can experience ministering of angels. We seek to speak with the Lord through the veil and enter his presence. We can seek to speak with the Lord through the veil of mortality, and enter his presence in this life. All that is done in the temple is symbolic of greater blessings available to us. It is about ascension. What happens in the temple is supposed to be an invitation to show you what you can actually experience in receiving the Lord. Faith, prayer, repentance, sacrifice are part of the ascension process of receiving the Lord face to face. Most of us assume that we are a lot farther along than we really are in our journey to Christ. We assume that because we have made a promise, like baptism, or going through the temple, that we are sealed and are now celestial kingdom material. We have only received the invitation to seek greater experiences with the Lord, to seek greater light and truth from Him directly. The "working out our salvation" is still before us, still to be done. Have we kept the promises we made with the Lord?
"O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him." Mormon 9:27
Are we ready to give up everything in our pursuit to know Christ? Our family? Our children? Our reputation? If we had to choose between being a member of our church and actually coming to know Jesus, which one would we choose? Do we love the Lord more than we love our church membership?
Receiving Answers to Prayer in the Temple- The place answers are received is not as important as the sincerity and faith we seek the Lord with.
It is great that many members of the church go to the temple to receive answers to prayer. They come with sincere hearts, earnestly seeking the Lord in prayer, and the Lord answers them. Is it the place, the temple, or is it because they came with a sincere, humble heart, seeking the Lord? What does the Lord say about those who seek Him with a humble heart and ask in faith? He answers, he sees and hears their prayers. Hannah received answers to her prayers in the temple, even when the priests at the temple were wicked. The Lord answered her prayers, as he does today to any who seek him earnestly.
For a long time when I really needed answers to prayer I went to the temple. It is a quiet, beautiful place that lends itself to prayer and communing with God. Hopefully we progress to the point where we can talk with the Lord and hear his voice not only in a temple, but anywhere. My favorite place to pray is in my closet, or on walks. Learning to still my mind enough to hear His voice and receive answers from Him is a challenge and a struggle at times. I really cherish the times when I do hear the Lord's voice clearly. Some examples in the scriptures of prayer are: Adam, Moses, Hannah, Daniel, Enos, Nephi and of course, Jesus. He taught us to pray to our Father in heaven, always asking for God's will and not our own.
I like to go on walks. Praying while I am walking helps me. Sometimes my neighbors see me walking, and ask if I am OK. I jokingly reply that walking helps me to keep my sanity. They don't see that my favorite walking companion, the Lord, is with me. After talking with the Lord, I feel at peace, centered, refreshed and ready to face my trials again. Speaking with God and hearing his voice is better than going on a vacation, because I get little glimpses of heaven. How precious the Lord's words to us are. How I love Jesus for being willing to walk and talk with me! The Lord truly wants to have a relationship with us that is like a bridegroom and his bride- intimate, close and rewarding.
Several years ago, when we lived in Pleasant Grove, a pair of robins built their nest outside our bedroom window. The robins were amazing parents. They kept their chicks dry through snow and rain storms, using their own bodies as a covering for the little birds from nature's storms. They helped me understand the Lord's analogy of gathering us under his wings (3 Nephi 10:4-6). His body and life was given, as a covering, a protection from the consequences of our sins. I love how the Lord puts testimonies of His love around us in nature! The chicks left the nest and began to fly in short spurts. Their parents still fed and protected them for some time after they left the nest. After a few days the robin chicks were flying. Watching them fly was an exhilarating feeling. They had been confined to a tiny nest the size of my hand, and now the open sky was theirs. I wished I could join them and fly. That exhilarating feeling is what it feels like to me to walk and talk with the Lord. Freedom from worldly cares. Realizing He is all I need. Knowing that He is my salvation, Him alone.
One day I was walking alone in the hospital hallway to visit our baby in the newborn intensive care unit. We'd come so far since being admitted to the hospital, with me pregnant and several surgeries ahead for the baby. One surgery was over and we were close to going home now. The sun shone through a huge hallway window onto me, and the question came into my mind "What have you learned?" I thought about it and my answer was "I have learned that God loves and takes care of his children." Worry, fear and uncertainty had been replaced with a peaceful assurance that things would work out according to the Lord's will.
With the continued need for medical care for our daughter, I have found that simple truth to continue to be true. Jesus loves us, takes care of us and gives us our daily sustenance. His love and care is all we need. The Lord can show us the freedom in his love for us. There is freedom in knowing that He will take care of us and give us our daily bread through whatever may come. He is enough. He wants to walk with us and talk with us every day. What an amazing gift that is! He can show us that His understanding, wisdom and strength are more than enough to see us through all the challenges of life. To God be all of our praise and honor!
Sealing of families
The temple ordinance of sealing families is an invitation to live in such a way, living as Christ showed us, that the Lord deems our relationships worth preserving for eternity. This is trying to achieve Zion, a condition of love and unity, in our own family. One of the scripture definitions of Zion is "there were no poor among them." We hope no one feels poor or unloved in our family, we hope each person feels appreciated, loved, respected. We have 8 children, each with a healthy sense of independence and ability to choose for themselves. That is a nice way of saying that conflicts happen, multiple times a day, and it can get difficult. Working towards Zion in our own home is a marathon effort! I see families using manipulation, shame, guilt, peer pressure, force, threats and bribery, to achieve desired behaviors. If a member of the family chooses to live their life differently, they blame the person that left the family or the church for breaking up their eternal family. Was it ever an eternal family, to be preserved in heaven, if they treated each other this way? Whose methods were they using, God's or the devil's? As we learn in D&C 121, love, gentleness, persuasion, long suffering, kindness, meekness, love unfeigned, pure knowledge- these are God's methods. We take this far too lightly as parents and spouses. We assume we are a lot farther along than we really are when we say we have an eternal family. Receiving a temple sealing or marriage is a good beginning, but the true sealing is in the daily work of loving each other through our differences so that the Lord approves of our relationship. I am so thankful for the love and patience that our extended family has shown Edward and I as we have stepped away from full church activity. This has not been easy for them.
Focusing on our relationship with Christ, will help everything else fall into the right place- our relationship with our spouse, our children, our parents. Christ taught that we must be willing to give up everything, even our family to follow Him. That was what it cost Jesus to bridge the divide between us and Him, a sacrifice of everything, even his own life. In following Him, we must be willing to give everything up. To sacrifice it all for Him as He did for us. He is our example to follow. In the LDS church, eternal families are such a huge focus and selling point, that following Jesus sometimes takes a back seat to families being together. Christ has to be at the center if the relationships are going to last. Putting Jesus first means that our family relationships may be strained and broken at times because we have chosen to follow Him above all else. Jesus told us it would be that way. He taught his disciples, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother . . . And a man's foes will be they of his own household. He who loveth father and mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he who loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me" (Matt 10:28-34) Jesus's grace, His love and His walk with us are enough to fill our hearts' longing for close relationships. He is enough. What a loving and wonderful God we worship!
Are church ordinances necessary to know the Lord?
If the goal is to fly, I compare what we receive in the church to receiving a feather. The feather is a symbol of something greater, a symbol of what we were created to do- to fly. A feather is beautiful, smooth, light weight, air tight- an amazing creation. It is simple, meaningful, and a good start, as long as we are humble enough to continue to search for more light directly from the Lord. Hopefully we realize that our goal is much greater than church membership or progression as it is measured in the church. The goal is to fly- to break free from the pull this fallen earth has on us, to hear his voice, to learn to speak with Him, to walk with Him, to hear his words for us individually, to pierce the veil and come into the Lord's presence. To seek His face, in this life. A feather is not flying any more than the ordinances received at church are saving. A lot more effort and a lot more reliance on the Lord is required to reach our goal. Symbols, like the temple, can point us to coming to Christ, but they are not the end goal. Christ himself is our goal, truly knowing Him and being with Him.
Do we need to go to the temple and receive the ordinances there, to fully receive the Lord? Some of the Lord's children feel so deeply their complete reliance on God, that they have sought and received the Lord personally, without being members of our church or going through a temple. The main point of church activity is to come to know the Lord, and that is between us and the Lord. I had a friend with a terrible illness tell me that Jesus was with her. "What else is there? . . . I am His, and He is mine!" she said. When she first said that, I thought "Well . . . there's temples, eternal families, serving missions, following a prophet, ministering, serving in the church, doing the temple work for your dead, genealogy, tithing and all kinds of things!" With time I see that she was right, the only thing that really matters is to know the Lord. All those other things can keep us so busy that we never come to know the Lord, personally. My friend didn't belong to any denomination, she only belonged to Jesus. She had a surety in her relationship with Jesus, and spoke of Him every time I spoke with her, like she was talking about her best friend. She knew her relationship with the Lord was the only thing in her life that was really hers. The Lord can call, speak to, have His angels minister to, and show himself to anyone, with or without them having gone through the temple. He does not require a beautiful building to do His work, to save his children. He can do His own work of saving his children.
A few years ago, Edward had a conversation with a homeless man. It took a little time for this man to open up, but on this very unusual day Edward was alone and had time to talk. This man told Edward, "My mother raised me right. I don't do drugs or steal or lie." He shared how hard it was to always be cold at night, sleep on the cement, to not be able to set his bag down without it getting stolen, and how invisible he felt, sleeping under bridges and forgotten spaces. No one even notices him or the other homeless people as they speed by in their nice cars. I happened to call Edward as he was with this homeless man, his name was Tyrell. After I called, Tyrell told Edward "Now, that's something I've never had . . . A cell phone. Even if I did have one, I wouldn't have anybody to call!" Edward asked Tyrell "What gets you through it? " Tyrell answered "God. I talk to God, and He gets me through it." That complete reliance on God to get us through our challenges is what it's about. What gets you through your difficulties? Is it God? His help is real.
In the hearts of some of God's children, God may have unbeknown already bestowed a purifying baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost in response to the prayers heard only by Him. The Lord may have sent angels to minister and bless one of his children. God may have visited one of his children personally in prison, or in their illness unknown to anyone but them alone.
Many of God's children have already sought and received the Lord to much greater degrees than those of us in the LDS church have. A book that opened my eyes to God's workings among his children was "The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun." Another book (later made into a movie) along the same lines was "Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand." Both of these are true accounts of men and their families who were imprisoned for their testimonies of the Lord. They tell about Jesus being with them as they were tortured, and how Jesus saved them miraculously. There are many other people who have sought and received the Lord in person.
God is no respecter of people. Any of God's children can receive his help- the Christian jailed and tortured for refusing to deny their belief in Jesus that wonders if their family is also persecuted, the orphan that wonders if they are really worthy of love and why no mom or dad has come for them, the homeless man that feels invisible, alone and forgotten under a bridge.
There are many examples in the scriptures of people who have come to know God and see Him without belonging to a religious organization. They received directly from God, just as we can. Abraham sought for greater knowledge, for the greater happiness that is found in following the Lord. He left everything to seek the Lord more fully. And the Lord gave him directly the knowledge he was seeking. Adam, Noah, Moses, Isaiah, Peter, John, James, Enoch, Nephi, Alma, Abinadi, Moroni. God taught them individually and they received from Him what was necessary for their progression and their mission in life. We can receive directly from God as they did. That is the whole point of the promises we make in the church- to invite us to go directly to God and receive more light and truth from Him, the source of all light and truth.
We hear leaders of the church say that the focus of our worship should be the temple. Members feel that once they have been through the temple they have received the greatest blessings attainable. This is misleading, the Lord should be the focus of our worship. I hope we are not like a person that holds a feather and says they need no more. God is eternal, endless, and his amazing works are never ending. We should always want more and more of Him! It is the Lord that will save us, and our relationship with Him.
Do we know Him? Are we familiar with His voice, do we recognize when He calls us? Can we say "I am his, and He is mine" and know that He is all we need? What experiences with the Lord have you had that have confirmed the covenants made in the temple? If you haven't had any of these experiences, where do you really stand in relation to the Lord? Do you really believe in the ministering of angels? Have you had angels minister to you? Do you really believe the Lord's words when He said that if you receive him, he will come and make his abode with you? Do you really believe that?
If you don't really believe in these things can happen to you, you're practicing religion, but not exercising faith. Most people are content with practicing religion. Maybe you are satisfied with where you are, or maybe you haven't been taught that more is available to you. The temple ordinances are symbolic of a literal journey to Christ. The culmination of this is not in the temple, but in the actual experience of receiving Christ personally as the Second Comforter. The baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost is the First Comforter.
As beautiful as temple buildings are, the Lord doesn't need us to be in a temple building to teach us how to come to Him. This is about you coming to Christ. Wherever you are- on a rooftop, in a hospital, in your closet, forgotten by all except God, under a bridge, it doesn't matter to God where you are. So many of God's children live in challenges that only God and his angels see- the refugees, the orphans, those enslaved by human trafficking, the homeless, those with physical or mental illness, those who are imprisoned. To think that the ability God has to save his children in their extremity is dependent on each of us receiving ordinances in temples or at church, is to underestimate severely the depth of God's love for his children. He will walk with us wherever we are, and give us each the manna in our wilderness. He has earned the name of Savior.
You are the temple God wants to dwell in
Of all the beautiful temples and sacred buildings created for worship in the world, of all the amazing places on Earth or heaven he could be, he wants to dwell in the hearts of his children. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." Revelations 21:3-4. Our Lord is humble in his desire to dwell with us. When the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was burning, on the very week that Christianity remembers Jesus sacrifice, it felt unreal. I prayed and asked why the Lord would allow that to happen, on this week, of all weeks. My answer was: our hearts are to become the sanctuary and temple of God's spirit, instead of expecting God to reside in the elaborate, beautiful buildings of world religions. How humble and willing to walk with us and work with us our magnificent God is. We are the temple he would like to dwell in! That is incredible to me, given our fallen nature and constant backslidings.
Let us seek God more earnestly, more deeply, more sincerely, more humbly, and receive His invitation to come and see Him. Let us put aside whatever it is that is keeping us from seeking the Lord more fully. Let us invite him more fully into our lives, our conversation, our thoughts, and our hearts.
