Pray for Passion

Today I am not filled with the desire of the Lord.

In several places, scripture has said that this passion comes from praying with full devotion to our Father in Heaven. The passage when Jesus visited the ancient Americans first came to my mind, "he came unto his disciples, and behold, they did still continue, without ceasing, to pray unto him; and they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire." (emphasis added 3 Nephi 19:24)

I searched for pray filled. I learned that Solomon prayed and the house of the Lord filled with His glory. Peter and John were filled with the Holy Ghost. Prayer can fill us with "knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding".

The more humble part of the Nephites "did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God."

Unspeakable joy filled the souls of those who heard Jesus praying for them in ancient America. When we pray with all the energy of our hearts, we are filled with the pure love of Christ

Other faiths refer to the Atonement of Jesus as the Passion of Christ. I think it is this same passion that filled the subjects of king Benjamin,

And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.

A passion of obedience to the Lord's will.

Thou Shalt Not Idle

Last night my wife was listening to "Righteous Warriors: Lessons from the War Chapters in the Book of Mormon" with our son. John Bytheway quoted Harold B. Lee when he was asked what is the most important commandment. President Lee said that it is the one you are having the hardest time obeying.

I tend to procrastinate. I have found some talks and scripture passages that I hope will help me get moving and stay focused on the most important things.

D&C 60:13 "Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known."

Phillippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

D&C 88:124 "Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated."

Alma 34:31 (Emphasis added.) "Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you."

D&C 128:22 "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing."

Henry B. Eyring, “This Day,” Gen Conf Apr 2007.

Donald L. Staheli, "Achieving Your Full Potential", CES Fireside for Young Adults, 2 March 2003

Henry B. Eyring, “Do Not Delay,” Gen Conf Oct 1999. There is no mp3 currently available for this talk. I used Freecorder to record the asx file to mp3. Maybe lds.org will make a mp3 format available someday. I have posted the mp3 I recorded on my sky drive and my Google pages account. This part jumped out to me:

We know from our own experience that President Spencer W. Kimball was right when he wrote, “One of the most serious human defects in all ages is procrastination,” and then he defined it: “an unwillingness to accept personal responsibility now” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 48; emphasis in original). And so Satan works on both our desire to think we have no cause to repent and our desire to push anything unpleasant into the future. He has tempted you and me, and those we love, with thoughts like this: “God is so loving; surely He won’t hold me personally responsible for mistakes which are simply the result of being human.” And then, if that fails, there is the thought that will almost surely come: “Well, I may be responsible to repent, but this is not a good time to start. If I wait, later will be better.”

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