Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read that in the lst days many false churches will be built which will teach false and vain and foolish doctrines. Apostasy will abound because of the false teachers. Many will be puffed up with pride and persecute the meek. 2 Nephi 28:1-13 "And now, behold, my brethren, I have spoken unto you, according as the Spirit hath constrained me; wherefore, I know that they must surely come to pass. 2 And the things which shall be written out of the book shall be of great worth unto the children of men, and especially unto our seed, which is a remnant of the house of Israel. For it shall come to pass in that day that the churches which are built up, and not unto the Lord, when the one shall say unto the other: Behold, I, I am the Lord's; and the others shall say: I, I am the Lord's; and thus shall every one say that hath built up churches, and not unto the Lord— And they shall contend one with another; and their priests shall contend one with another, and they shall teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance. And they deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and they say unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men;  Behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work.  Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us. And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.  Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark. And the blood of the saints shall cry from the ground against them.  Yea, they have all gone out of the way; they have become corrupted.  Because of pride, and because of false teachers, and false doctrine, their churches have become corrupted, and their churches are lifted up; because of pride they are puffed up.  They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart, because in their pride they are puffed up."

Yesterday in the Old Testament we read about how Ahad wickedly obtained a vineyard he wanted by having the owner of the vineyard killed.  Today we read that the Lord sent Elijah the prophet to Ahab to tell him that he would die and the dogs would lick up his blood in the same place where the dogs had licked up the blood of Naboth, the man he had had killed. There are consequences to our actions.  1 Kings 21:17-19 "And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,  Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.  And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine."

A verse with a thought booklet is one I think we're all familiar with, but I think it's one that we'd all do good to memorize.  If we would truly learn to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and stop leaning on our own understanding, our lives would go in the direction that the Lord wants them to go.  He knows what is best for us. If we pray for something we don't seem to be receiving, can we say "Thy will be done" and realize that even though we can't see it, there is a reason the Lord isn't answering our prayers the way we want.  I knew someone who once prayed for something and said in their prayer "I don't care if it's for my best good or not.  I want it and I want it RIGHT NOW!"  They got it.  And it turned out disastrously.   They were still suffering the consequences decades later. We need to be careful what we pray for, and no matter what the answer we receive is, we need to trust in the Lord that it's the best answer for us. Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."