In the Old Testament I read that Moses told Joshua not to be afraid for the Lord would be with the Israelits and go before them. We can be strong and of good courage knowing the Lord won't forsake us. Deut. 31:6-8 "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed."
In the Book of Mormon I read that the people were very hard in their hearts, blind in their minds, and stiff in their necks when it came to the things of the Lord. However, not all the people were like this--some received revelations from the Lord through their faith and had communion with the Holy Spirit. Even if we live in a wicked world where few people hearken to the voice of the Lord, we can still have faith and still receive the fruits of the Spirit. Jarom 1: 3-4 "Behold, it is expedient that much should be done among this people, because of the hardness of their hearts, and the deafness of their ears, and the blindness of their minds, and the stiffness of their necks; nevertheless, God is exceedingly merciful unto them, and has not as yet swept them off from the face of the land. And there are many among us who have many revelations, for they are not all stiffnecked. And as many as are not stiffnecked and have faith, have communion with the Holy Spirit, which maketh manifest unto the children of men, according to their faith."
Some verses with a thought booklet are David's prayer that the Lord would hear his voice, saying he was directing his prayers unto the Lord and looking up to Him. Ps. 5: 1-3 "Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.The thought that went with this, written by Elaine L. Bridge from Hamilton, Ohio says: One of my son's former high school classmates asked me recently how my son was enjoying college life. I had to tell her that he was so incredibly busy that he rarely spoke to me anymore. It's sad to think that I spend more quality time with his laundry these days than I do with him! I miss the times when we talked more frequently about things that are going on in his life. How often does God feel the same way about us? Many of us have become so busy with the affairs of life that we rarely come to God except to make a request or to wash our dirty clothes, asking forgiveness for something we've done. Gone are the days when we sat with the Lord merely to chat about our lives or to get his opinion on some situation we may be dealing with. While God is happy to provide what we need, how God must miss the open communication he once enjoyed with his child! It's wonderfrul to know that God is even more eager than I am to get our chat time back.
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