What I am Getting Out of General Conference

One theme that I am hearing throughout all of the conference talks is that we will be blessed with protection from the Adversary and his temptations IF we will but follow His commandments. We are being given "iffy" blessings as was James Covill in the Doctrine and Covenants 39. If we obey, we will be blessed.

[To see more General Conference today, October 2nd -- go to http://www.byu.tv/ to see the live sessions at 12:00 EST and 4:00pm EST (10am MST/2pm MST)


[SATURDAY OCTOBER 1ST MORNING/AFTERNOON SESSIONS]

Elder Richard G. Scott
He repeated the invitation given to us at the General Relief Society Session to pray to be filled with charity. He wants us to love our neighbor like unto ourselves. We will be blessed with His Spirit to have a stronger conviction to be righteous IF we cleave unto charity and are consistently reading the Book of Mormom.
Sister Barbara Thompson
IF we want to receive our own personal revelation, we need to be humble and soften our hearts. Then as we read the scriptures and live righteously, the Lord will then bless us with revelation. As we are seeking to know His will, remember that we need to seek for wisdom, not power. Our testimonies will grow in strength that can fill in the holes and gaps in our lives only IF we keep nourishing it through church attendance, praying, renewing our covenants, etc.

Elder L. Whitney Clayton
Testified that there is a Savior and claims so with authority that he is Jesus Christ. Growth of the church is expanding throughout the world bc we can claim authority that he is our Savior.

President Thomas S. Monson
Building of temples is the most important of building bc it is where we can build eternal relationships through the sealing power of the Priesthood. How wonderful it is that we can now help others attend the temple through the General Temple Patron Fund!!!

Elder Jose L Alonso
We need to be doing the right thing at the right time without delay! We need to go out and seek for those lost sheep. Some of them may not even know that they are lost! The Lord doesn't ever lose sight of His children! What does Heavenly Father expect from us? Our thinking, actions, testimonies and devotions to be directed towards the building up of His kingdom. We can do this by bringing back those lost sheep to the fold, to strengthen them, to help them.

President Boyd K. Packer
To our youth of the church -- who are more faithful, more knowledgeable of the Gospel. Some warnings and counsel to you: We need to remember the importance of the power of procreation is only permitted within the bounds of lawful matrimony between a husband and wife lawfully wedded. We can be given our own "iffy" blessings through our patriarchal blessings given to us by the Patriarch. He has the spirit of revelation and prophecy given to him with authority of the Priesthood. We must listen for the voice of the Spirit as he whispers to us. Learn how to hear it and feel it! His spiritual voice will and can correct our actions. IF if we listen to the Spirit, he will protect us as we are being raised up in enemy territory.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
We need to retain the importance of the greatness of God and our own nothingness. The Lord made this universe for our benefit. Satan wants to deceive us, puff us up and prey on our pride. He will try to discourage us and tell us we have no worth. What matters? Doing your best in the situation we are in, not where we are and what our rank is in the world. The Lord uses a different scale for determining the worth of our souls.
1. God loves the humble and meek.
2. Lord entrusts his work to his servants, the weak ones.
3. No matter how little you have, you are not invisible to Heavenly Father!
4. What you experience now is not for forever.
HOLD ON. YOU MATTER TO HIM!

Elder David A. Bednar
We need to be turning our hearts to our fathers through family history and genealogy. We can become "Saviors on Mount Zion" as we attend the temple and do proxy work for our ancestors. As we are doing the work on family history, the Lord promises us protection. We are the Lord's agents and it is our duty and privilege to do this work!

Elder Neil. L. Andersen
Concerning the area of if and when and how many children to have -- answer this question by prayer and faith. Motherhood is what God gave us time for. Where is our faith?

Elder Ian. S Ardern
We need to be using our time wisely. Love is really spelled T.I.M.E.! Don't let technology overtake your time from prayer, scripture studying, etc. Don't let them become addictions.  We need to master them by balancing our time with the Lord, Family, Work and Wholesome Recreational Activities.

Elder Carl. B. Cook
Prophets redirect our focus heavenward. "It is better to look up!" (President Thomas S. Monson)

[Sadly, my kids started acting up right about this talk so I didn't get to take notes after this. But wow...what amazing instruction! I love General Conference!]

Scriptures are like a book of answers

Did you ever have one of those Sundays where you listened to the speakers or teachers and just soaked everything in? Today was one of those Sundays for me. It started off when I woke up early to study the Sunday school lesson...which actually is next week's lesson as I came to find out at church. (woops).

In Doctrine & Covenants 19:23 it says

Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you
shall have peace in me.

My question I want to throw out is this: What does it mean to "walk in the meekness of my spirit"? Learn of him is studying, reading, pondering, etc. about his Gospel. Listening to his words, speakers, teachers, etc at church, listening to the promptings of the Spirit. I get that. But how do you walk in the meekness of his Spirit???
----------
As we live our lives here on Earth we try to live by the Holy Ghost. Our actions and examples bear the fruit of our faith. Problems or situations will arise that we may not know the answer to. What is our first response to this? I'll admit that sometimes I want to vent out emotions or I'll run it through my head until my stress level has reached an all time high. :-o Yeah, I know...soooo not healthy!

Today I learned that if you don't know what to pray for, then pray to know what to pray for. We need to be asking specific questions in order to get specific answers. Funny thing is, sometimes Heavenly Father doesn't answer us with an answer, but with lessons that teach us. Now and then when we come to Him in sincere prayer asking in faith, he will test that faith.

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
shall be done unto you. (St.John 15:7)

Our discussion turned to how we can abide in Christ. What does it mean to abide in him? How does he abide with us? Keeping the commandments, loving thy neighbor, keeping the word of wisdom, living a life of righteousness that is in keeping with the Spirit, and most importantly, aligning your will with His. When we can do that, the promise given in the scripture above can come to pass.
----------
I heard this today and it stuck out to me.

If you have fear in your heart, get down on your knees.