Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read about the blessed and happy state of the righteous and how those who keep the commandments will be rewarded. But we're also told that those who have been taught the commandments but choose to transgress them will receive a punishment of never ending torment. They are choosing to withdraw themselves from the Spirit of the Lord. Notice it's not that the Lord wants to withdraw from us, it's that we're listing to obey the evil spirit so that the Lord can have no place in us because He cannot dewll in unholy temples. What a sad state of doom awaits those who rebel against the Lord. But how happy they will be who choose to keep the commandments and obey the Lord. This is a choice we all need to make. Let's choose wisely. Mosiah 2:36-41 "And now, I say unto you, my brethren, that after ye have known and have been taught all these things, if ye should transgress and go contrary to that which has been spoken, that ye do withdraw yourselves from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom's paths that ye may be blessed, prospered, and preserved— I say unto you, that the man that doeth this, the same cometh out in open rebellion against God; therefore he listeth to obey the evil spirit, and becometh an enemy to all righteousness; therefore, the Lord has no place in him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples. Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever. And now I say unto you, that mercy hath no claim on that man; therefore his final doom is to endure a never-ending torment. O, all ye old men, and also ye young men, and you little children who can understand my words, for I have spoken plainly unto you that ye might understand, I pray that ye should awake to a remembrance of the awful situation of those that have fallen into transgression. And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

In the New Testament I read about how the patience of the faithful saints who keep the commandments will be rewarded. They will be blessed and be able to rest from their labors. The good works they did will follow them and they'll be rewarded accordingly. Revelation 14:12-13 "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."

A verse with a thought booklet tells us that we should each use whatever gift we've been given by God to serve others, as faithful stewards. We've all been blessed with special talents and abilities. We need to use these gifts to bless the lives of others. 1 Peter 4:10 "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

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