Repentance

Focus on Serving others not your sins.

“For the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God– I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.” (Mosiah 4: 26.)

Repentance is not just focusing on our sins and desiring to overcome something. We must turn to Christ and face Him. Focus on him and we will be able to overcome all things. Focus on our habbits, sins, or anything not of God and we will fall off course.

Someone related this story to me the other day which i will share. When you are driving a car you begin to turn around a corner. As you turn around the corner the car looses traction and starts to spin off course from where you are trying to get to. You can do two things, focus on where you are turning or look towards where the car is moving into which is a giant tree. If you focus on the tree, the chances are you will naturally go where the tree is and hit it. If you focus on where you are trying to turn to instead of the tree, the chances of you correcting the car and putting it back on course increases.

Lets get refreshed on what Joseph Smith said about repentance.

Repentance: Is a thing that cannot be trifled with every day. Daily transgression & daily repentance is not that which is pleasing in the sight of God (here)

 All of us will fail. All of us will make mistakes. No man is perfect except Christ alone. We are all fallen, no matter how hard we try we still fall short of the glory of God. Think of God looking at us from the tallest building in the world while we are all on the ground. We are all so far fallen from Him that there is nothing we can do on our own. Yet he loves us enough to elevate us and call us his friends if we will keep his commandments. (John 15:13-15)

What does he ask of us?

A broken heart and contrite spirit. That is all we can really offer anyways. There is nothing we have that is worth anything to Him except WHO WE ARE. That is worth everything to him, enough for him to suffer a grievous death.

STOP focusing on what you are doing wrong, and focus on pointing to Him. In due time the Lord will change your body, heart, mind, and your very being to become like Him. Naturally you will be able to be like Him as you progress. Obeying him will change you and make your "yoke" easy to carry. Your burden light. Do you believe this promise? Do you REALLY believe this promise? Than go put your faith to action and test the waters. Find out what the Lord wants you to do NOW. Don't try to do everything at once. Pick only ONE thing and improve on that. As the spirit increases in your life the burdens will be lifted and you will begin to recognize his voice. Don't try to lift them yourself. It won't ever work. Rely upon Him to do it for you, give everything over to him and he will show you the way. You will be moved upon by the light of christ or holy ghost to determine what to work on.

What Lack I yet?

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. (1 Corinthians 11:28)

A story the Lord shares with us is a story of a man who comes to Christ to determine what he needs to do to receive eternal life. The Lord gives a list of things to do and the man replies asking a specific question, what lack I yet?

And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 

The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? (Matthew 19:16,20)

I have found this to be one of the greates soul searching questions I have asked the Lord. And he did answer me. Just make sure you are ready for an answer because it may just shake you to the core, cause you to quake in your "nothingness" before the lord, or feel utterly hopeless. However, if you keep your faith in Him, he will use this opportunity to teach you an important lesson about you. I always strive to keep these thoughts in my prayer, what lack I yet? That perhaps I may one day be like Him.

What happens when on fully turns to the Lord?

16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory,even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:16,18)

So here we will learn that when we have fully turned to the Lord, the veil will be taken away, and we will be changed into his image from glory to glory. We will learn that we really are already like him for another word for glass is a mirror. We will see Him in US, not because its Him but because we are also like Him having been sanctified through his blood and washed from the blood and sins of this generation (Alma 13).

The last thing I wish to bring up is we must do the works of Jesus Christ. Do you care more about the welfare of others than yourself? Comfort those that need comfort? Mourn with those that mourn? Serve those the Lord puts in your path? To suffer ridicule unjustly? Scorn? Persecution? To love even your enemies? To love yourself? Family? To have such love, grace, and justice that you can provide everything necessary for an abusive offspring (now or in the eternities) everything necessary for them to grow? To relieve the burdens of the poor and needy? Clothe the naked? What about the widow? Do you heal the sick or believe you can? As we experiment upon His word, this desire to do these things will increase until we become like Him.

The list goes on.

We ought to be willing to repent of and confess all of our own sins and keep nothing back. The story of Zeezrom, were his sins harrowed up in his mind until it became exceedingly sore due to his iniquity,shows how he was able to have all that guilt swept away and healed through the atonement of Jesus Christ by believing all the words of a true testimony of God (Alma 15:3-9)

Enos who prayed earnestly in regards to the welfare of his soul also had his guilt swept away. His example is one we can follow when we lack wisdom (James 1:5), when we are hallowed up in our sins and need relief and many other lessons.

3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart. 

4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. 

5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed. 

6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away. 

7 And I said: Lord, how is it done? 

8 And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole. 

9 Now, it came to pass that when I had heard these words I began to feel a desire for the welfare of my brethren, the Nephites; wherefore, I did pour out my whole soul unto God for them. (Enos 1:3-9)