F.H.C./"Thy Will Be Done" (12/24/2018)

Dear friends,

Jon's baptism date has been moved back to allow him more time to get ready. Our tentative date is the 12th of January and we believe he will be ready by then. It will work out better that the 29th of December (our previous date) for a number of reasons.

I've received quite a bit more Christmas gifts than I expected from members, family, and even some non-members this morning. I'm grateful for all of them.

I was thinking yesterday about God's mercy. Alma chapter 26 summarizes my feelings pretty well, on that as well as another topic.

17 Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state?

19 Oh then, why did he not consign us to an awful destruction, yea, why did he not let the sword of his justice fall upon us, and doom us to eternal despair?

Something to ponder on. Why doesn't God condemn us to the destruction we deserve? Because that would be mean? Because it wouldn't look very good for the Celestial PR department? Not really. It's because he knows that with a little help we can be redeemed and fulfill a destiny of potential beyond our greatest imagination.

It's a bright future that all rests upon our holding to three things...

        C

FAITHOPE

        A

        R

         I

        T

        Y

Did you know that believing in God is not the same thing as having faith?

"Faith", Bible Dictionary:

"To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone. ...

"Faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith (Rom. 10:14–17). Miracles do not produce faith, but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness, although miracles often confirm one’s faith."

Faith is confidence in God. Confidence that He is who He says He is, that He can do what He says He can do. We kindle faith by hearing testimonies of God, but we develop faith by obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ--repenting, being baptized, receiving the Holy Ghost.

The people in Alma the Younger's time lacked faith. They were members of the Church of God and yet they showed a profound lack of faith that was thankfully not shared by the sons of Mosiah:

23 Now do ye remember, my brethren, that we said unto our brethren in the land of Zarahemla, we go up to the land of Nephi, to preach unto our brethren, the Lamanites, and they laughed us to scorn?

24 For they said unto us: Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers, as stiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in the shedding of blood; whose days have been spent in the grossest iniquity; whose ways have been the ways of a transgressor from the beginning? Now my brethren, ye remember that this was their language.

25 And moreover they did say: Let us take up arms against them, that we destroy them and their iniquity out of the land, lest they overrun us and destroy us.

To a lesser extent we still have this sad mentality in the Church. "It's great that our young men are going out on missions--they probably won't baptize, but they'll learn how to face rejection and opposition. They probably won't baptize, but they'll learn how to live on their own. They probably won't baptize, but they'll develop their own testimony!"

Those are all great things. But we can't let this attitude prevail. If God willed it we could go into the most hostile of lands in the world full of anti-Christian barbarians and convert hundreds.

1 Nephi 17:50

And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.

Faith is power:

"Faith is a principle of action and of power, and by it one can command the elements, heal the sick, and influence any number of circumstances when occasion warrants (Jacob 4:4–7)."

Throughout my life I did not believe in this sort of thing. I thought it was naive to believe that miracles could really happen, because, look at the world we live in--miracles rarely happen! We don't live in a world of miracles! ...

Moroni 7 36-37

[This is Mormon speaking to the Church by the way]

36 Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?

37 Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.

I did not believe that us hoping for miracles would produce them, because we live in a fallen world and we cannot force God's hand. Well, that's true! We can't control what happens in the world nor what God does! And no, God will not remove all suffering because that would defeat the purposes of mortality.

But remember God's mercy? Remember what you have learned through testimony about His character?

Don't you think that He will help us even in this fallen world?

Something David A. Bednar wrote about changing my perspective on miracles. To paraphrase, he asked someone if he had the faith "to not be healed". What does that mean? It's having the faith that even if God does not choose to intervene, He is still there. But that's only part of it.

Having faith is not pretending to know that God will intervene with a miracle; obviously we do not know that. Having faith is knowing--confidently believing--that God can intervene. And that if not, it will be for our ultimate good.

He can and He so often will help us if we let Him. To believe this is not naive, it is intelligent. It's knowing God is there and having hope that because of his promises everything will be okay in the end. You cannot have faith without hope.

"Hope", True to the Faith:

"When we have hope, we trust God’s promises.

"The word hope is sometimes misunderstood. In our everyday language, the word often has a hint of uncertainty. For example, we may say that we hope for a change in the weather or a visit from a friend. In the language of the gospel, however, the word hope is sure, unwavering, and active. Prophets speak of having a 'firm hope' (Alma 34:41) and a 'lively hope' (1 Peter 1:3)."

"...As you strive to live the gospel, you grow in your ability to 'abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost' (Romans 15:13). You increase in hope as you pray and seek God’s forgiveness.

"'Happy is he,' said the Psalmist, 'that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God' (Psalm 146:5). With hope, you can find joy in life."

You must choose to hope. Make that choice! Without it, you cannot have faith.

You must hope that the world will improve, that there are good people, that good will prevail, that the Church will succeed in its mission, and that the Latter-day Saints will overcome their challenges. You must hope that you can succeed (only) with God's help.

So now that you have faith and hope...what will you do to show this? That's where charity comes in. Charity is the pure love of Christ. It is manifest in deeds both great and small.

It starts with knowing that people are dying. Men's souls are dying, everywhere, from lack of faith and the proliferation of sin. They are dying. Thankfully God does not stand by and watch it happen. He has an army--His saints. Many of His saints has He snatched from sin and instructed to go forth and do as He has commanded. God saved me from a future of oblivion and gave me this charge. If I have not the charity required to do this, I will sink right back into oblivion and become nothing.

I am obligated to use the gift of salvation that God has given me to help everyone around me.

To have charity is to exercise your faith and hope. You cannot have charity without hope and faith, nor can you truly have hope and faith without charity.

Let me repeat that: if you are not exercising charity, hope, or faith individually, you are lacking in all three of those attributes, because they are inextricable.

Because men's souls are dying, God needs all of us. Men's souls are dying, and that sadly includes many of our own.

Forsake all your sins to know Him. You have to be the best you can be, to be an example. You have to save them from spiritual death.

"You have your own choice to make...to rise above the height of all your fathers...or to fall into darkness with all that is left of your kin."

"If you cannot do this, no one can." <-- Those are quotes.

Now don't freak out; God doesn't expect you to do everything, and He will qualify you. All you have to do is strive to feel His Spirit and follow His promptings as you go.

As you keep the commandments, follow the Spirit, and live the Gospel, you will gradually you will grow in faith, hope, and charity. You will come to roadblocks and obstacles. You may be pushed to your breaking point, as I was. You will more than likely face multiple breaking points, as I have. At these breaking points you may not want to continue. You may fall to pride in pitting your will against God's.

I plead with you to not fall to the stumbling block of pride. Follow our Savior.

If you come to a path you fear to follow, say the words He said.

If you doubt your own ability to exercise love, faith, hope, or anything else, say the words He said.

If you fall to sin or sorrow and can't bring yourself to continue onward, get on your knees and say the words He said:

Thy Will Be Done.

I promise that when we align ourselves with Him, God will help us accomplish wonders.

Love,

Elder Gallagher