16- (5-16-23) The Plan of Salvation

 16 The Plan of Salvation

Hello Family,

It has been a full and busy week. It was wonderful to celebrate mama yesterday for Mother’s Day! I know all of your letters meant so much to her, and she feels so blessed to be your mama. 

This week my personal study has been all over the map. It started by studying and learning more about Abraham and the blessings that were pronounced upon his head and upon his posterity. This study led my thoughts more to the overall plan of our Heavenly Father. It is crazy to me to think of how clear, purposeful, and essential this plan is, yet how many people in the world are without these truths. Sometimes we take for granted the knowledge and testimony we have of the Plan of Salvation. I am so grateful for living prophets and for the Book of Mormon that teach us and show us how to live our lives in accordance with God’s plan for us.

This month I have the goal of reading the Book of Mormon by months end. It has been quite awhile since I last read it from cover to cover in a short time period. There is so much jam packed in this book that shows us how to govern our lives. I love the words of Lehi as he shares his counsel and pleas with his children as he prepares to die. He lays out the Plan of Salvation from the Creation, all the way through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Final Judgement. He then teaches this eternal truth, the reason why we believe what we believe and do what we do. “Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.”

President Monson taught us that: “Essential to the plan [of salvation] is our Savior, Jesus Christ. Without His atoning sacrifice, all would be lost. It is not enough, however, merely to believe in Him and His mission. We need to work and learn, search and pray, repent and improve. We need to know God’s laws and live them. We need to receive His saving ordinances. Only by so doing will we obtain true, eternal happiness. …”

I want each of you to know that I have a firm testimony of the Plan of Salvation. It is not only Heavenly Father’s plan for our lives, but it is also the only plan and source for our true happiness. As we contemplate the role of each member of the Godhead in this plan we will know better how to conduct our lives. We have a Father in Heaven who loves us more than we can comprehend. In his perfect wisdom He designed this plan out of love for us. He gave His only begotten son Jesus Christ to overcome the fall of mankind making it possible for us to again return to His Presence. The Holy Ghost is the source of all revelation. Essential revelation that we need to direct our lives, to be able to “discern between truth and error”, to guide us in all our major decisions, and to give us comfort in those decision and the challenges we will face in mortality.

Yesterday at dinner Graham and Avery were giving me a hard time. In any Gospel discussion Graham will tie to it my favorite scripture in Mosiah and begin to quote about the natural man, getting a kick out of himself. Then Avery with chime in about the 5 key areas President Nelson taught us that we need to focus on to receive personal revelation. The joke is that “dad” always goes to those two things. It is funny, but it is also true. They both teach of the critical importance and need of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost in our lives, and of how the “Plan” operates in our lives.

Invitation: So my invitation to each of you is to keep letting those things cause you to smile, and poking fun at your dad, but more importantly let them really sink in deep letting them have application in your lives. Our daily living and choosing and “proving” really does come down to having the Holy Ghost’s presence with us, yielding to His voice, counsel, and direction. 

The 5 keys to hearing Him more clearly will never change. They have been spoken by the mouth of His holy prophet. They are  1)Increase Purity           2) Exact Obedience  3) Earnest Seeking  4) Daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon  5) Regular time committed to temple and family history work

Evaluate your life in these 5 areas. As we do, it will cause us each to see the need for repentance and refocus. Don’t get down or discouraged by this,but rather let it motivate you to get after it. Seek for the Holy Ghost to be more constant in your lives. I promise you that you will hear and feel Him direct your lives, keeping you in the path, aligned in accordance with God’s Great Plan of Happiness for us His children.

Listen again to President Monson’s prophetic counsel: “It is not enough…merely to believe in Him and His mission. We need to work and learn, search and pray, repent and improve. We need to know God’s laws and live them.” 

I love you all like crazy. I hope you all have a wonderful week!