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Thursday, July 16, 2015

Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read that the wicked people murdered the chief judge o the land. People separated themselves into tribes and destroyed the government of the land. The people yielded themselves to Satan and were very wicked. There were few righteous people left and there was great contention in the land. It only took six years for the people who ha been mostly righteous to turn to wickedness. 3 Nephi 7:1-8 "Now behold, I will show unto you that they did not establish a king over the land; but in this same year, yea, the thirtieth year, they did destroy upon the judgment-seat, yea, did murder the chief judge of the land. And the people were divided one against another; and they did separate one from another into tribes, every man according to his family and his kindred and friends; and thus they did destroy the government of the land.  And every tribe did appoint a chief or a leader over them; and thus they became tribes and leaders of tribes. Now behold, there was no man among them save he had much family and many kindreds and friends; therefore their tribes became exceedingly great.  Now all this was done, and there were no wars as yet among them; and all this iniquity had come upon the people because they did yield themselves unto the power of Satan.  And the regulations of the government were destroyed, because of the secret combination of the friends and kindreds of those who murdered the prophets.  And they did cause a great contention in the land, insomuch that the more righteous part of the people had nearly all become wicked; yea, there were but few righteous men among them. And thus six years had not passed away since the more part of the people had turned from their righteousness, like the dog to his vomit, or like the sow to her wallowing in the mire."

In the Old Testament we again read the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  This must be a very important commandment to have it emphasized so much.  Leviticus 23:1-3 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings."

Some scriptures with a thought booklet recite the Lord's prayer--the prayer that gives us an example of how we should pray.  What kind of requests are made in this prayer?  First of all it asks for the Lord's name to be made holy, for His Kingdom to come, and for His will to be done. Helping God's Kingdom to move forward and spreading the gospel should be high on our priority lists of what to pray for.  And everything we pray for should be God's will.  Next, we should pray for our daily bread, or for the needs we need to sustain our daily lives.  So it's appropriate to pray that our daily necessities be met.  But do we really need to pray that we'll win the lottery and be able to afford a fancy car, a huge mansion, and any other number of luxuries?  And of course we pray that we'll be forgiven for our sins, just as we forgive others.  I think that's the key to being able to forgive others, especially when what they've done seems unforgivable.  We need to ask the Lord to help us forgive.  It's only how willing we are to forgive others that will determine how readily the Lord will forgive us.  And even better than asking for forgiveness for our sins, is asking the Lord to help us resist the temptations that come our way so we don't need to repent later.  Preventing sin is even better than repenting from it!  This wonderful prayer is still a great example today of things we should pray for.  Luke 11:1-4 "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.  And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."

 

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