Counsel to Make Sabbath a Delight

This past week we had Ward Conference and the theme has been one that I've heard in General Conference as well -- "Sabbath A Delight". 

Isaiah 58:13-14

13 ¶If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Our stake president wanted us to write down a few things. What we learned, what the Spirit teaches us, and what we can change or continue to follow what was taught.

Ideas to Make the Sabbath a Delight

• Make simple meals: We always make sack lunches to eat right after church since our drive home is 30+ minutes (pb&j sandwiches with fruit). And dinner doesn't need to be a complicated, long recipe. Usually grilled cheese and tomato soup does well. 
• Take time to talk about what we each learned at church and discuss those things together. Talk as a family. Hold a family council.
• We don't need a Do's and Don't List for keeping the Sabbath Day holy and a delight. We need to focus on the outcomes of what we do on that day. Do the things that Jesus would do, like serving others and reaching out to someone besides yourself. 

What might make the Sabbath to NOT be a delight?

What should I change if it is not a delight? My family ideas: Less electronics, only games that include family members (not 1 player games like on devices), more family participation, simpler meals.

Reverence on the Sabbath

The root for reverence is love. Love for the Savior and our Heavenly Father. Reverence should begin in the home. As we come to church, we should be reverent during the prelude music and take that time to focus on Jesus and where we are so that we may be open to His Spirit and be taught during church. In order to do that, we should come early enough that we don't feel rushed to get there. By doing this, we are giving our time to the Lord and showing Him reverence.

Sacrament: What It Means To Us

Singing and praying help to prepare us for the Sacrament. It doesn't matter if you started off your Sunday in a bad mood. Once you have repented and taken the sacrament bread and water, you are then able to go forward with a better outlook and can decide to have a better day and week.

Even if you work on Sundays, you can still keep the Sabbath Day holy. Study while at work, Keep it in your mind and heart.

Ezekiel 20:12,20 Our Day

Going to church and partaking of the Sacrament is MY sign to MY God on MY day. What can I do today to show my love for my Savior and my God? I can repent any day of the week. The Sacrament opens access to the Atonement when we partake of this ordinance.

3 Nephi 18:10 Witnesses

Why do I have to participate in an ordinance to repent to be forgiven? It is a witness to God that I'm willing to do what He has commanded. In essence, you are telling Him you know you aren't perfect, but that you want to be. Sacrament renews ALL of our ordinances that we've taken, not just the baptismal one. We can demonstrate our love to Him as we come to church and partake of the Sacrament to access the Atonement and stand as a witness that we want to be righteous!

What Is the Pleasing Word of God and What Can It Do For Me?

Pleasing Word of God: found in the scriptures and in the messages from our [church] leaders.

What It Does:

• Heals the wounded soul
• Brings us hope and comfort in the darkness of affliction
• Bring a message of comfort to our heart and mind
• Fills us with hope
• Gives us the security that our eternal sealing will bless us and our posterity
• Gives us the security that if we live a faithful life, we will not lose any blessing for not having done certain things if we were never given the opportunity to do them
• Tells us that there is relief from the pain caused by the effects of sin
• Warns us that when we are trying to repent, that the process of remission of our sins can be interrupted when we become entangled in the vanities of the world and it can be resumed through faith if we sincerely repent and humble ourselves
• Invites us to use the power of the Atonement of Christ to apply it to ourselves and become reconciled with His will
• Shows us the need for continuous repentance in our lives so we can keep the influence of the Holy Ghost for as long as possible. 

We've been counseled in the last October 2015 General Conference to keep the Sabbath Day more holy. It was mentioned in several talks. The pleasing word of God says sometimes we can be distracted from doing this by the "vanities of the world". Here is a list of things we may need to work on:

Vanities That Can Interfere with Repentance Associated with Keeping The Sabbath Day Holy:

• Arriving late for sacrament meeting without a valid reason
• Arriving, without previously having examined ourselves, to eat the bread and drink from the cup unworthily
• Arriving without first having confessed our sins and having asked God for forgiveness for them
• Irreverent by exchanging messages on electronic devices
• Leaving the meeting after partaking of the sacrament
• Engaging in activities in our homes that are inappropriate for that sacred day

How the Companionship of the Holy Ghost Makes Us Better People:

• Won't be offended nor will we offend others
• Will feel happier
• Our minds will be cleaner
• Love for others will increase
• Be more willing to forgive and spread happiness
• Feel grateful to see others progress
• Will seek the good in others

Another theme I see is the need for continual repentance. We can't have the Holy Ghost as a companion if we don't repent of our sins. And it seems perhaps that one sin that us as Latter-Day Saints need repenting of is not keeping the Sabbath Day holy. 

[to read more in depth, see The Pleasing Word of God by Elder Francisco J. Vinas Of the Seventy)

How To Gain Your Own Testimony of Jesus Christ

Yesterday in Primary we discussed our theme for the month of feasting upon the words of Christ. Everyone was given a copy of the Book of Mormon to read it by the end of the year as a primary challenge. Every time they read it, they get to put a pebble inside a bowl so we can see how much we are learning and doing the things that Heavenly Father asked us to do.

Furthermore, in our class we asked this question: How do I gain my own testimony of Jesus Christ? My answer that I gave my kids was 2-fold. One, do what we learned in opening exercises -- feast upon the words of Christ so that we may learn about his attributes, how he reacted to certain situations and read his words. Second, do what the Prophet has asked us to do  in the recent general conference talks as they are the spokesperson for him today. What was a main theme this past October? To keep the Sabbath Day more holy. We discussed different ideas on how we can do that.

Some kids said they don't do all the ideas I gave. So I encouraged them to ask their parents to try them. That lead to the question -- how do we strengthen our family? And how do we get our family to want to do those wholesome activities? What can we do for them if they don't want to?

Such thoughtful, sincere questions for only Valiant 10 children! They were soaking up everything. We didn't even have enough time to finish the lesson, let alone answer all of the questions that they had!