Day 23: Mosiah 3-6

Welcome to Day 23...

                    
King Benjamin was awakened one night with the words: "Awake! Awake and hear the words which I shall tell thee; I am come to declare unto you glad tidings of great joy!" An angel proceeded to tell him joyous news of a Savior!

These words were preserved to remind US to WAKE UP to the beautiful reality of a Savior as well.
                    

King Benjamin continued to teach his people from the tower, begging them to "put off the natural man," and become saints. If we render all the thanks we can muster, we are yet "unprofitable servants."

Discipline, humility, repentance, service - enjoy the inspired teachings of this righteous King!

• Opening Song "How Great the Wisdom and the Love"

• Invite the Spirit with Prayer

• Scripture Study: Mosiah 3-6 (listen)

• Study Guide: (here)

• Video: Discussions on the Book of Mormon

   

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." (Mosiah 3:19)

                                
“...The natural man is an ‘enemy to God.’ This means that such individuals would (whether fully understanding the implications of their own resistance or not) oppose the ultimate purpose of God for mankind, which is, as we know, ‘to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.’ (Moses 1:39.) Given our eternal interests, the natural man therefore is not our friend either, even if, at times, we seem quite at home with him.

“Instead of becoming a saint, being childlike and willing to submit to our eternal Father, the natural man is rebellious and insists on walking in his own way. He is childish instead of childlike. The natural man also stubbornly seeks for happiness in iniquity—an incredibly naive notion about the nature of happiness and the universe. …Thus it is that the natural man, in attempting to live ‘without God in the world’ and in catering slavishly to his natural instincts, is actually living ‘contrary to the nature of happiness.’ (Alma 41:11.)”  Elder Neal A. Maxwell 


Even children struggle with the "natural man." It is our job as parents to help our children learn to "yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit." Through the years, I have read Mosiah 4:14-15 to my children (below) while they have been "contemplating" on the "Repentance Bench."  I explain to them I cannot allow them to serve "the master of sin"...I have been commanded by the Lord to stop them and teach them to love and serve eachother:

"And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the devil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness. But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another." (Mosiah 4: 14-15)

"And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore,  I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives." Mosiah 5:8


                        
"Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of him who created all things, in heaven and in earth, who is God above all. Amen." Mosiah 5:15 

“[We all face] dangers and hardships...[But] there will be 'angels round about you, to bear you up' (D&C 84:88). They will sustain us as we carry our earthly burdens. Often in our lives, those angels are the people around us, the people who love us, those who allow themselves to be instruments in the Lord's hands. “President Spencer W. Kimball said, 'God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other in the kingdom'. --Susan W.Tanner “There is Purpose in Life,” New Era, Sept. 1974, 5.

• Record thoughts and impressions in your journal.

• Close Study Session with Prayer

A beautiful book on the Atonement: