Our Choices Determine our Destiny
The secret to solving problems in your life will be found in understanding interaction between
1. your AGENCY
2. His TRUTH
NO ONE CAN CHANGE TRUTH
Rationalization, overpowering self-interest, all of the arguments of men,
anger, or self-will cannot change truth.
Satan strives to persuade us to live outside truth by RATIONALIZING
our actions as the RIGHT OF CHOICE
GOD ESTABLISHED RIGHT AND WRONG
He fixed the consequences of obedience and disobedience to those truths
GOD ALSO PROTECTS OUR AGENCY
He defended out tight to choose our path in life so that we would grow, develop and be happy, but we do not have the right to choose the consequences of our acts
COMMANDMENTS are true statements of cause and effect that guide us to happiness
SATAN removes the power of truth by convincing us to make choices based on whims, convenience or momentary greater personal return
A sinner will not only suffer in this life, but sins that have not been forgiven through true repentance will cause anguish beyond the veil of death
THE HOLY GHOST helps us develop the powerfully sensitive capacity to make the right choices.
as you enhance your capacity to receive INFALLIBLE direction you can avoid disappointment, discouragement and tragedy
***The Lord has placed CURRENTS OF DIVINE INFLUENCE in your life to direct you to the INDIVIDUAL PLAN He would have you fulfill here on earth. Use the spirit to IDENTIFY that path and CAREFULLY follow that direction
**ALIGN YOURSELF WITH IT, CHOOSE, WILLINGLY to EXERCISE YOUR AGENCY to follow it
Weave deeply into the fabric of your soul the recognition that your life now is a part of a much bigger plan the Lord had for you. Do over focus solely on today and its challenges.
What you do not in mortality will affect how well you fulfill that dive plan set up before you were born
As you continue to live righteously, you will always know what to do
but that discovery may require SIGNIFICANT EFFORT and TRUST on your part
CONDITIONS FOR DIVINE GUIDANCE:
1. OBEDIENCE to the commandments
2. TRUST in His plan
****3. AVOIDANCE of ANYTHING contrary to it
OBEDIENCE = POWER TO ACHIEVE
The more closely the AVOIDANCE of ANYTHING contrary to it.
The more closely you CONFORM your life to the DOCTRINE of the Lord.
The more CAPACITY you will have to do what the Spirit INSPIRES you to do.
My Thoughts:
I think of the main current in the river ( that divine influence) as the optimal plan for our lives. There are eddies and side currents that we sometimes choose to take. These may not be optimal choices, but I believe that the Lord has contingency plans to help bring us back to the central current if we are willing to seek His guidance and repent for mistakes we make.
The goal of this life is to learn to align our will with God's. In order to become like Him, we must want what He wants. We have to actually choose to do this. This is the full meaning of Consecration.
When we know and understand God's laws and we decide to break any one of them, even a little one, we are in direct rebellion towards God, and we sacrifice our ability to receive that Divine guidance. So if you know that you are supposed to keep your thoughts clean and pure, that you should not watch a particular show with a little crass humor, and you rationalize and watch it anyway, you are sacrificing your ability to receive the Holy Ghost and to receive direction. I used to rationalize little things like this. I did not miss the absence of the Spirit or that guidance for awhile because my life was going pretty okay. However, now my life is not so okay, and I really, really feel the loss of the Spirit now. It is the difference between me being able to function and falling apart. So now I make very different choices. I do not like the consequences of disobeying even the smallest of commandments because it leaves me alone, without the Holy Ghost and without direction. That is a very bad and lonely place now.
Strict obedience gives us POWER to accomplish what we need to and it gives us POWER to know what to do.
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