Daily Thoughts

In the D&C we read a prayer asking the Lord to accept of the House of God the people had sacrificed to build, even if their poverty (the Kirtland Temple).  D&C 109:4-5 "And now we ask thee, Holy Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of thy bosom, in whose name alone salvation can be administered to the children of men, we ask thee, O Lord, to accept of this house, the workmanship of the hands of us, thy servants, which thou didst command us to build. For thou knowest that we have done this work through great tribulation; and out of our poverty we have given of our substance to build a house to thy name, that the Son of Man might have a place to manifest himself to his people."

In the Old Testament we read that at the Second Coming of Christ, the Jews will ask Him about the wounds in his hands, and He'll reply that He got them in the house of His friends.  Zechariah 13:6 "And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends."

In some verses with a thought booklet we read the parable of the wicked husbandmen.  The owner of a vineyard put husbandmen in charge of it, but when he sent servants to collect the fruit, they abused them--beating some and killing others.  Finally he sent his own son, thinking they would respect him, but they killed him too.  This is like the way the Israelites treated the prophets that the Lord sent as messengers to them--they beat some and killed others.  Then the God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, but they killed Him too.  Are we faithful if following the prophets today, and are we obedient to the messages they give us?  Mark 12:1-12 "And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.  And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.  And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.  And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his well beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.  But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.  What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.  And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:  This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way."