Doctrine and Covenants Sections 5-9, 17

3 Truths from section 6

•  Doctrine and Covenants 6:5 “Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you.”  The Lord is letting us know that it is up to us to ask him for clarification or confirmation or personal revelation.  The part that says “if you knock it shall be opened unto you” is a form of action, a verb.  We can’t sit and just wait for something that we haven’t asked for, or ask for something without making any effort to deserve it.
• Doctrine and Covenants 6:7 “Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich.”  The Lord is letting us know what we are supposed to be looking for on Earth.  We need some material things to be able to live comfortable in this life, but the main goal is to seek for wisdom.  The Lord has said that if we seek for the right thing, which is wisdom, he will unfold the mysteries.  It is better to have wisdom because that will lead us in better paths than earthly riches that will stay here once we die.
•  Doctrine and Covenants 6:16 “Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart.”  I think this verse is very important when it comes to personal revelation because God knows if we are asking to know something for the intent of making progression or if we have other intentions with what we are asking.  I think God knows the right time to give us the answer to whatever we are seeking.  When we combine strong faith and the right time to ask, he will let us know.  I know that Joseph Smiths asked at the right time whether or not he was in the right church.    

 Truths from section 8-9, 17

• Doctrine and Covenants 8:10 “Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith. Trifle not with these things; do not ask for that which you ought not.”  The great principle and verb faith is giving to us in this verse.  By exercising faith it means to move, to get on our knees when we pray, to get our scriptures out and highlight them and write notes, to go to the temple to be in a great spiritual state when we are seeking for personal revelation.  He also warns us not to ask things that we shouldn’t. 
• Doctrine and Covenants 9:6 “Do not murmur, my son, for it is wisdom in me that I have dealt with you after this manner.”  There may be times in our lives when we don’t get the answer we desire.  If this happens, we must stay faithful and stronger than ever.  Something like this can be used by the adversary to make us murmur against God.  When dealing with revelation we need to understand that God will not always give us the answer we want. 
• Doctrine and Covenants 9:8 “But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.”  The Lord has told us what we will feel when something is right.  It is good to know what to look for when asking something to Heavenly Father.    
• Doctrine and Covenants 17:3 “And after that you have obtained faith, and have seen them with your eyes, you shall testify of them, by the power of God.”  Something important about revelation is the testimony we gain from it.  I think is important to use our testimony to stand as witnesses of personal revelation.  People have to know that they can see with their own spiritual eyes the truth about the gospel. 

Personal reflection

A thought that I have about revelation is when asking God about things that have obvious answers or are common sense to the members of the church.  For example, I have read in different talks and have studied in my family foundations class that children come as part of being married, it is a commandment.  So why do some members feel the need to ask if it’s the right time?  If they are married in the covenant and they love each other, and have financial means of supporting a baby, then the answer will be yes.  I think asking God more about the decisions I make will bless my life more.  A lot of times I make decisions without even consulting Heavenly Father.  I need to follow more of D&C 9:8.   

I think the most meaningful verse from my study is found in Doctrine and Covenants 8:10 “Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith. Trifle not with these things; do not ask for that which you ought not.”  It is important to understand what faith is to actually be able to ask God something.  We shouldn’t just think of something to ask without putting any thought into it.  Also, we need to exercise our faith with actions.  The last part says to not ask things that we should’t.  What are some things that we just shouldn’t ask?  Does it depend on who you are?    

Thoughts

There are many principles that I learned each week studying the New Testament.  However, there are three principles that really stood up to me.  These are characteristics that the Savior Jesus Christ has.  These principles are patience, submissiveness, and humbleness.  Throughout the scriptures in the four gospels, the Savior Jesus Christ talks about these principles and also sets an example by following those principles.  Jesus Christ had a purpose to accomplish when he came to Earth.  Because of those characteristics, he was able to accomplish his goal.  Just like Jesus Christ, we all have a goal to pursue while we are here on this Earth, and that is to attain eternal life in the highest degree of Glory.  The three principles that I found are very essential for me to reach my eternal goal.  


Depending on the road that we choose, our lives can be full of blessings.  However, the more knowledge we have, the more accountable we become for our actions, and also bigger the trials that we get.  As we know, Heavenly Father will not give us a trial without preparing the way for us to overcome it.  To do this, we need patience, which is one of the most important principles I learned about.  I am at a stage of my life right now where I need patience.  I am a mother, wife, and student and there are times when I need to be patient.  There is a scripture in Luke 21:19 that says “In your patience possess ye your souls.”  I looked up the definition for soul which helped me understand better what it meant by “possess ye your souls.”  This scripture talks about being patient to help our soul endure until the end.  If we are not patient and we do not endure the trials we’ll face in life, we can lose our soul to the enemy.  Patience is absolutely necessary for us to preserve our souls to the right purpose, because we can still have our soul and body reunited after the resurrection, but in the presence of the enemy instead of the presence of God.  Now that I am married and a mother, my patience is tested more and more each day.  However, I feel that with prayer, family home evening, and a lot of communication, my patience is a little better now.  Patience is a working process, it does not happen right away.  The experiences I am living now and that I will have in the future will make me more patients.


The principle of patience brings me to my second principle, which is submissiveness.  Jesus Christ is the perfect example of submissiveness.  He did the will of the Father without any complaints.  He showed how much he loves Heavenly Father by doing his will.  The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord God with all your heart, soul and mind.  This is the reason why we accept and do the will of the Father, because we love him.  In order to accept the will of the Father, we need to truly love Him and be submissive.  The Savior showed this by partaking of the bitter cup.  When he asked for the cup to be removed, he said “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).  His motivation to do what he was commanded was the love he had for the Father.  Learning about submissiveness from the Lord has made me realize that by obeying the Commandments and keeping my covenants is a way of submitting to the will of the Father.  When accepting the outcome of a trial we are also showing submissiveness.  I have had my share of trials, and remembering that the outcome will be in God’s hands helps me understand that things will not always go my way.  


The last principle I want to talk about is humbleness.  I feel that the quality of being humble is the outcome of the first two principles I talked about.  A person can’t be humble if there is no patience and submissiveness.  The reason why Jesus Christ is so humble is because he is very patient and submissive.  The Lord never boasted about his Godly Status.  He always made it clear that what he was doing was to glorify the Father and to do the will of the Father.  I realized I need to work on the first two principles to become humble.  What I love most about these three principles is that Jesus Christ was an example of all of them.  I love him, and I know that he lives; I know that he atoned for my sins, he is my redeemer.  I know that if he was able to partake of the bitter cup to do the will of the Father, I can also partake of my own trials with patience and submissiveness and become more Christ like.  

The Savior’s Suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane

Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men- Doctrine and Covenants 19:19

Selected passages of the scriptures in Matthew, Luke, and John describe the suffering of the Savior Jesus Christ while he was in the Garden of Gethsemane.  The words and phrases describing his suffering include: sorrowful and very heavy (depressed), agony, sweat that were like big drops of blood, an angel from Heaven coming to give him strength, “Take this cup from me,” and fell to the ground as he prayed.  This is what I found from reading those selected passages. 

My savior Jesus Christ suffered spiritually and physically when he atoned for my sins and the sins of the rest of humanity.  After reading from selected scripture passages from Mosiah, Alma, and Doctrine and Covenants, I found that Jesus Christ was physically thirsty, hungry, and fatigued.  He suffered temptations, pains and afflictions.   “In that bitterest hour the dying Christ was alone, alone in most terrible reality. That the supreme sacrifice of the Son might be consummated in all its fullness, the Father seems to have withdrawn the support of His immediate Presence, leaving to the Savior of men the glory of complete victory over the forces of sin and death” (Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 661).  Even though the Father withdrew from his son Jesus Christ, he managed to complete all the requirements of the atonement.  I cannot imagine how Jesus Christ felt when Heavenly Father left him alone during the last moments of his mortal life. 

Taking the sins of the world wore Jesus Christ out.  I will never know how intense it was, but from the readings, I’ve learned the pain was unbearable,  “Intensified beyond human power to endure” (Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 661).  Every single pore in his body bled.  That gives me a glimpse of the great suffering he went though, but only Jesus Christ himself knows how it really was.  He was the only one that could have done it, no doubt about it.  I know I could not take the load he took, but I am eternally grateful that he did.

The garden of Gethsemane was a place that Jesus Christ went to frequently.  This place gave him the privacy he was looking for when he needed to pray or talk with his disciples (New Testament Student Manual p. 172-173).  This was the place he would choose to go forth with the atonement because he would have the privacy he needed. 

 When Jesus Christ was going through the atonement, he asked his disciples to pray, however, when he came back to check on them, they were asleep.  Jesus Christ taught his disciples that “ the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mathew 26:41).  If we pray for strength to overcome temptations, even if our bodies are weak, the strength of the spirit can overcome that temptation. 

Mosiah 15:7 says “The will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father,” 3 Nephi 11:11 says “I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning,” and Doctrine and Covenants 19:19 says “Nevertheless, glory be to the Father.”  All these are phrases that show that doing the will of the father was the motivation for Jesus Christ to “drink the bitter cup.”  The savior initially asked the Father to remove the bitter cup from him, but he always said in the end, thy will be done, not mine. A quality we need to have to submit ourselves to the will of God is to be humble.  Jesus Christ is a humble being and because of that he was able to accept and do the will of God, not his.  Our natural man side will always want to fight against the will of God, but learning to become humble can overcome that. 

When Jesus Christ was in agony during the atonement, he prayed more earnestly to the Father.  When I am going through a tough time in my life, I pray more, because it gives me the strength I need to overcome that trial.

I will never be able to comprehend the physical and spiritual pain Jesus Christ went through while atoning for my sins.  I cannot imagine going through the pain he went through.  He endured everything just to obey Heavenly Father.  Because of his atoning sacrifice I will one day also conquer physical death, and I can still battle spiritual death.  What Heavenly Father requires of me is nothing compared to what he required of his Son Jesus Christ.  That makes me think that I can endure until the end if I follow the straight and narrow path back to his presence.  He submitted to the will of the Father without questioning him.  He is the perfect example of humbleness.  Those are the qualities that I want to acquire during this lifetime.     

Joseph Smith-Mathew. The Savior Taught about Future Events

After reading the passages listed on the table headings, I filled out the table with the events and promises.  I like this section because it talks about the second coming of Christ.  A lot of people think of the second coming as something scary, but only the ones that disobey will suffer because the obedient ones will be saved.  It comforts me to know that the second coming is something to look forward to and not something to fear.

	Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (JS-M 1:5-20)	The Second Coming of Jesus Christ (JS-M 1:21-55)
Events to Occur	6-Many will come in the name of Jesus Christ and it is him and will deceive many. 7-Jesus followers’ will be persecuted, hated, and murdered for His name’s sake. 8-Many will become offended and will betray  and hate one another.  9-There will be many false prophets that will deceive many. 18-The Jews in Jerusalem will suffer many tribulations.	22-There will be many false Christs and prophets that will show signs; they can possibly even deceive the very elect. 23-There will be rumors or wars and we’ll hear of rumors of wars.  25-If people tell you that Christ is here or over there, don’t believe it, it’s not true at all. 29-Nations won’t get along and there will be famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and divers places. 31-The gospel will be preached everywhere around the world.
Promises to the Righteous	11-The ones that remain steadfast will be saved. 20-For the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened.	37-Who ever keeps Christ’s gospel will not be deceived. 39-When the elect see all the signs happening they will know the second coming is near. 49-The faithful will be made rulers over the unfaithful.

From what I studied in 1 Nephi 22:16-22 and Doctrine and Covenants 97:22, 25, an obedient person that lives the gospel of Jesus Christ to the best of their abilities should not be afraid of the Second Coming of Christ.  Those that obey will be saved from what the disobedient will suffer. 

Mark 12:41-44. The Widow’s Mites

Jesus Christ was watching all the rich people throwing a lot of money into the treasury.  He then noticed a poor widow that put two mites into the treasury.  The significance of her gift is that it was given with a sincere intent.  Her two mites came from her heart, while many of the rich people cast in because they had much.  I bet if they didn’t have that much money they wouldn’t be in the treasury showing off how rich they were.  The poor widow had something more valuable than all the riches thrown into the treasury by many of the rich men.  She had sincere love for the Lord.   She indeed loved the Lord with all her heart, mind, soul, and strength.  This was shown by the simple action of giving all she had. 

The widow gave less money compared to many others, but she gave everything she had, “Even all her living.”  The Lord is not looking for a monetary amount when we give an offering; he is looking at our intentions, in our hearts, the reason why we are giving that offering.  When we give an offering because we love the Lord, we show him our intentions.  Yes, that offering will help many people in need, but the most important reason for giving an offering is simply because we love the Lord.  In 2 Nephi 25:23 we learn that we are saved by grace, after all that we can do.  She was saved by grace because she gave everything she had with a sincere love for the Lord.   


Asides from donating money to show sacrifice and obedience to the Lord, I can do other things that will show the same concept.  For example, at one point I had a job that used to pay time-and-half on Sundays.  However, I gave up the extra money in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.  If the same situation was presented to me again, I would do the same thing because I love the Lord.  

Matthew 19:16-30; 2:1-16. Earthly and Heavenly Rewards

These are my thoughts on the story of the rich young man.  


After the Lord told him that the last thing he needed to do to enter into the Kingdom of God was to share his riches with the poor, he got sad because he had a lot of earthly material riches that he didn’t want to give away.  The Lord explained that it would be easier to for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.  I remember from my seminary classes, my instructor explained that the eye of the needle refers to a narrow entrance at the beginning of Jerusalem, where camels had to be unloaded in order to pass through.  Now imagine a rich man trying to enter through the eye of a needle with so many possessions?  He would never finish.  This is why the Lord said that.  


The Lord promised to those that follow him eternal life.  To those that decide to give up material things in order to have a Christ centered life will receive blessings in return.  How can we put Christ first in our lives?


Well, there are a lot of things that we can do to have Christ first in our lives.  From reading the selected passages in the scriptures, the first thing we need to do is obey his commandments.  He has said that if we love him, we will keep his commandments.  To anyone that wants to keep Christ first in their lives, obeying the commandments will show our true intentions.  The second thing we need to do to have Christ first in our lives is to serve others.  When we give of our tithing, offerings, and fast offering, we are essentially helping someone in need.  We can also serve others with little things.  For example, giving someone a call to check on that person, cooking a family dinner, and there are other things that we can come up with.  


This if from the parable found in Mathew 20:1-16

From this parable we learn that when serving in the Lord’s kingdom, we will all be rewarded the same.  In this case we are talking about eternal life.  This parable can comfort our converts in the church with assurance that they will be rewarded with eternal life as long as their live righteous lives according to the gospel.  I know that there might be people that feel is unfair for each of the laborers to be paid equally.  I would tell this person that God is fair.  We are all working for eternal life, and it doesn’t matter when we started.  What matters is the work put into that goal from the day we started.  There are people that are born in the church and others that are converts later after adulthood.  If they are both worthy in the end of eternal life, they will have it regardless of when they started it.  

Luke 10:1-24. “The Lord Appointed other Seventy Also”

I have learned a lot about the apostles but I really never studied about the seventies; and this assignment gave me the chance to learn more about this office in the church.  Here are some thoughts from my study of the Seventies.

During his ministry on Earth, Jesus Christ appointed seventy men to go in pairs to certain regions around the area.  He gave them counsel and instructions on what to do.  He gave them authority to heal the sick, to bless each house they entered with peace, power over the enemy, and to preach the gospel.  He also told them not to get distracted on their tasks when he said “Salute no man by the way.”  He told them nothing would harm them under their ministry. 

Articles of Faith 1:6 says that “We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church.”  The church has currently eight quorums of the Seventy.  The first and second quorum act as general authorities which means they can serve anywhere around the world.  The remaining quorums act as area seventies where they exercise authority in the area they serve only.  The seventies are called, just as in mentioned in Luke 10, to serve in different areas to build the church, to serve others and bless those that receive them.  It is amazing to see how the church that Jesus Christ organized during his ministry on Earth is the same church I am a part of today.   

In other scriptures, the priesthood shows the existence of this office as members that are special witnesses of Jesus Christ, preach the gospel, aid in the growth of the church around the world, and devote their fulltime to their calling.  The Seventies are an essential part of the church; I know this because it was Jesus Christ who appointed them.