Believe, Act, Receive

 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.  D&C 130:20-21 I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.  D&C 82:10. This blog is about the faith it takes to obey the commandments even when the blessings don’t seem immediately apparent. My friend had this quote on her social network page and I really liked it. It said “Faith is not necessary when you know how things are going to work out, - that's knowledge. It's in the time of unknowing that having faith is what sees you through to the other side. Faith is what gives you strength. Faith is that light in your heart that keeps on shining even when it's all darkness outside.” Faith is not an easy thing to have at times and it is even harder to explain to those who have fallen into Satan’s lie of “if you can’t see it or prove it, it doesn’t exist”. But when we have exercised faith it becomes easier to have faith the next time

When talking about my finances and the things that I would like to do but can’t afford to do I say “when I win the lottery that I don’t play, I will do such and such a thing” Now I know that I can never win the lotto because I never play. Some people seem to want to receive the blessings without obeying the law upon which it is predicated. Then when things don’t go their way they rail about life being unfair, however the Lord is bound by Laws, if He were not He would not be God. He cannot give blessings to those who have not obeyed the laws that the blessings are predicated on. He also cannot withhold blessings from those who have faithfully kept His commandments.

3rd Nephi 24:10 says Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

 I have a great testimony of the power of that promise. When my daughter and I first came back to the United States I had $50 to my name. I had one truckload of physical possessions. With much trepidation I got on welfare. I spoke to my bishop and he said that since tithing is paid on an increase, and welfare technically wasn’t an increase, it was up to me to decide if I was going to or not. He pretty much told me that if I didn’t pay tithing on the welfare I was receiving I could still claim myself as a full tithe payer. I decided to put that scripture to the test. In September I started welfare and started paying tithing on it. It was not a lot of money that I was paying each month in tithing, but it was a full 10%. In October I started a mandatory work training class, in November I had a job and in December I was making too much money a month to continue receiving welfare. I know that I was blessed for paying tithing.

Sometimes when we follow a commandment or ask for something the blessings come almost immediately. Other times they seem to not even be on their way.

In D&C 58:4 the Lord tells us “For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory;” however in that same scripture he says “the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand. “ It is a promise and a warning in a way. There will be blessing and crown of glory, but it’s not coming yet and there will also be much tribulation beforehand.

I love the story of the first vision because it teaches us so many truths, the truly obvious ones are truths such as the Lord and Jesus Christ have physical bodies, they are separate personages and that the Lord does answer prayers. It also teaches us things about blessings. “In accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally. After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.  But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.  It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! “

One of the things that always strikes me from this passage is the sentence “and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction, just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.” The Lord could have come at anytime to save the Prophet, but he waited until the very last possible moment. At any of those times Joseph himself could have abandoned his design but he didn’t give in, even when he feared that he would be destroyed he still called upon the Lord in faith. Another lesson that we learn from this is that this first vision occurred in the spring of 1820, after that he was left “to all kinds of temptations; and, mingling with all kinds of society,[he] frequently fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth, and the foibles of human nature; which led [him]into divers temptations, offensive in the sight of God. He didn‘t receive another vision until September 1823, almost 3 and ½ years later. Sometimes there is a good deal of time between obeying a commandment and receiving the promised blessing

Thus saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, the Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the same which looked upon the wide expanse of eternity, and all the seraphic hosts of heaven, before the world was made; The same which knoweth all things, for all things are present before mine eyes; D&C 38:1-2

To me that means that I have to remember that the Lord does truly know better than I do. The way I think of it is if all things are present before the Lord than he has already answered my petition. Now it might not be when I want it or even when I think I really need it, but when the Lord knows that I need it.

It is also important to remember that we are not merely mortal creatures, we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but we are spiritual beings having a human experience, we are children of a Divine Father who has perfect vision but we are looking at life through a physical filter. He has no blinders to affect his vision. He knows precisely when we need the answer to be “yes and now”.

With promise immutable and unchangeable, that inasmuch as those whom I commanded were faithful they should be blessed with a multiplicity of blessings; D&C 104:2 

Waiting for those blessings to come is sometimes the hardest part of being faithful. We are, by nature and exacerbated by the society in which we live, impatient people. We live in a society where if someone can’t get something for you right now, there is someone else who can. Instant gratification is the game of the day. Why wait to save the money to buy something when you can get it on loan? Why wait for marriage before making sure you are compatible? I mean you wouldn’t buy a car without test driving it right? Satan tries to get us to think that since it hasn’t happened yet, it’s not going to happen. What then is the point of keeping a commandment, if the promised blessings never arrive? However, the Lords promises ARE sure! We will always receive the blessing if we have the patience and faith required to wait on the Lords timeline. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He still remembers who we were. We are more than just our mortal experience and the Lord will give us blessings according to our faithfulness and when we need them, to reach our full potential and to help us grow into the people he knows we can become. Patience is something that I struggle with, but I have seen the Lords hand in my life, so I wait. Every day I put one foot in front of the other and continue on the upward path. It is not easy, but I know one day that it will be worth it.

One final thought, with all this waiting to be blessed and trials and tribulations that come before the blessings we should remember that Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy. Not just some future joy but joy here and now. Brothers and Sisters may we have the faith required to receive the blessings the Lord has promised us and may we find joy in the journey.