“Lord, Is it I?”- Humility in Covenant Keeping

The Deoalogue

As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, there are two question we should be asking on a regular basis:  The first is “Lord, is it I?” and second is “Lord, what wilt thou have me do?”

It seems to me that there is no way that we will be able to fully keep our covenants with the Lord without those two questions.  The first addresses our pride.  It is natural to think that we are not to blame, that we are not responsible.  Yet in relationship to our covenants (baptism, sacrament, temple) we must ask ourselves, “Are we covenant breakers?” And if so how might that be the case?   We must lay aside our pride and our vain ambitions and evaluate how we are keeping our covenants.   Perhaps we are not overt breakers but are we covenant neglectors?  Our covenants are supposed to be a ladder that extends into heaven.  Our covenants provide the power we need to ascend.   We can enter into covenants but if we fail to use them to progress they become null and void, anemic and without power.   

Our covenant keeping is to be between ourselves and the Lord.  We can go to him in prayer and ask what we need to do to keep our covenants.  We can ask, “What wilt thou have me do?”  How do we “always remember” the Lord.  How do we sacrifice?   What do we need to consecrate to the Lord?  There are many aspects to our covenants.  The spirit will teach each of us something different in any given moment.  This cannot be a group effort.  It is an individual journey. 

The seriousness of keeping our covenants is very significant to ourselves individually and also to the body of Saints as a whole.   The scriptures teach us and witness to us by example the outcome of keeping or not keeping covenants.  When we make covenants we have moved out of neutral territory as Joseph Smith said, and have committed ourselves in the Lord’s Kingdom.   We are promised great blessings that without our covenants we could not otherwise have received.  We are promised eternal family, posterity, an inheritance (both temporal and eternal) and exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom. Our covenants are the path to not just goodness but to holiness and sanctification.

Covenants also come with penalties that are the opposite of the blessing we could have gained. This is somewhat of an unpleasant idea and is particular foreign in our permissive culture and society.  We don’t like to consider the consequences of our sins but one of the purposes of this life is to in fact learn to understand that there are irrevocable consequences to sin.  Thanks be to God that we have a Savior, but our Savior’s atonement is accessed under certain conditions and part of those conditions include covenant making and covenant keeping if we are to go beyond salvation and on into exaltation.  

An example of a covenant penalty coming upon the Lord’s people is the final destruction of the Nephite society in the Book of Mormon.  While the Lamanites who were not under the covenant suffered from the natural causes of mortal life and strife, they were not destroyed.  The Nephites who had been given the covenants of the Lord even unto having his presence and living in a Zion society were eventually destroyed for the breaking (and lack of repenting) of those covenants.

“Curse” is a word we like to ignore, hide from and pretend that it has nothing to do with us.   We recoil from the idea.  It repels us as it should.  But we must accept the reality that the scriptures are replete with warnings to the Lord’s covenant people.  The idea of covenant breaking bringing upon ourselves curses is in Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, 2 Nephi, D&C 104 and Moses 5.  President Benson talked to the entire church about the condemnation that the Lord put upon the Saints because they took the Book of Mormon lightly.

54 And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—
55 Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.
56 And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.
57 And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—
58 That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father's kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion.
(Doctrine and Covenants | Section 84:54 - 58)

There are many things withheld from us because we haven’t done what we need to do with what we have been given.  Perhaps part of lifting that condemnation is for us to examine ourselves and our covenant keeping at the level we are currently at.  Again let us ask ourselves as we consider this, “Lord, is it I?”  It is so easy to think that so and so is in trouble and ignore how we ourselves might be in trouble.  We are fooling ourselves if we look past ourselves. 

The Lord is reaching out to us continually, offering repentance to us so that curses (or damnation or lack of progression) can be lifted off of us.  A curse is not necessarily an overt punishment.  It can be a barrier that stops our spiritual progression.  It can be as simple as not feeling the direction of the spirit like we used to, not receiving the revelation needed to navigate our situation.  Perhaps we have residual effects from the sins of others that are impeding us.  We have the iniquities of the fathers that entail upon their children down through the generations.   These can all be overcome by our covenant keeping.  Our covenants have been given to us as a path of deliverance through our Savior Jesus Christ.  We are taught in the temple about the redemption of Adam and Eve from the curse of the fall.  They made covenants with the Lord in order to be brought back into His presence and partake of eternal life and exaltation.  What a glorious knowledge!  What good news!!

Perhaps it is a trick of the adversary to make looking at our failure, our sins, our need for repentance so unpleasant that we never get to it.  In reality it is full of joy, relief, happiness and excitement.  If we cast off the blinders of the adversary we will run to the Lord to find out how we can have our condemnation lifted.  I have always loved how excited Adam and Eve are to hear Heavenly Father’s voice and recognize that he is coming to visit them after they have partaken of the forbidden fruit.  It is Satan who brings upon them fear and tells them to hide from the Lord.  The Lord then matter of factually outlines the consequences (or curses) that have come upon them because of partaking of the forbidden fruit and then begins the covenant process of redeeming them.  If Adam and Eve had not been able to stand before God and say “Yes, I did it!” they would have not been in position to start on the path of redemption.

May we all be willing to follow the example laid before us by our first parents and stand up and confess our sins and ask him how we might be redeemed.  May we do that over and over.  May we do so daily in our prayers.  May we ask “Lord is it I?” and “Lord, what wilt thou have me do?”

Satan - The Great Separator.....

A number of months ago I watched a documentary on the annual migration of antelope, elephants, wildebeests and other African animal species across miles of African terrain in search of food and water.  Each year millions of animals along with their young begin their long trek from Tanzania's Serengeti Plains to Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve.

The animals travel a distance of approximately 1800 miles.  Every year an estimated 250,000 travelers do not survive this rigorous journey.  They are followed relentlessly by predators: Crocodiles lie in wait at the first river crossing to devour the weak and the young. Lions, hyenas, leopards and wild dogs constantly pursue the herds looking for opportunities to separate out an unsuspecting wanderer from the main herd.  As hungry predators begin their chase, their goal is to separate animals on the fringes and drive them further away from the safety of the group.  They pursuit relentlessly until targeted animals become too weak to outrun their pursuers and are taken down and devoured. Though this process may be heart wrenching to observe, life upon this earth in its telestial sphere is set up to operate in this manner.

There are many lessons to learn about spiritual realities from the structure of this earth.  Such comparisons can be made from the drama of the chase and hunt that plays out relentlessly on the plains of the Africa.  Satan is a predator in hot pursuit of our souls. He is the ravenous wolf who desires to enter in and devour the flock. His first efforts are bent towards separating us from the good shepherd and all he represents. His techniques are very similar to the hyenas seeking their prey.  He first pursues at a distance watching and waiting for the right moment to move. Then he seeks to separate his intended victim from the safety of fellow traveling companions who provide shelter and protection.  From then on it is a battle of endurance; Satan and his followers against the son or daughter of God he is intending to defeat.

The Adversary attempts to separate us from our scripture reading and from our prayers.  He desires to separate us from weekly attendance at church. He separates us from the temple under the guise that we are too busy to go, or blinds us to the blessings that attend temple worship for both ourselves and our children.  He separates us from strong relationships with our families.   He separates us from our leaders by offense or judgment of those who have been called and given the charge to watch over the flock.  He separates us from the still, small voice of the Holy Ghost through many distractions, temptations and diverse ways that keep us from hearing. He uses discouragement and depression and a myriad other difficulties in this life to divide us out from God or from the gatherings of God's people.

There is a reason the Savior organized a church when he was here on the earth and gave Peter the charge to feed his sheep.  Not only do the sheep need to be fed but they need to be protected.  They need the safety of the fold.  The most dangerous of wolves are those who are allowed to enter in to the fold in the disguise of sheeps' clothing and begin picking off the members of the flock  unsuspectingly from within. In 3rd Nephi the Savior gives a repeated warning that we must watch and pray always that we might not be led away captive by the enemy of our souls.  May we not allow Satan to separate us out from that which connects us to the Good Shepherd and his flock.

59 For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock?  And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out?  Yea, and at the last, if he can, he will destroy him.
60 And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed.

(Book of Mormon | Alma 5:59 - 60)

"... and why counsel ye yourselves, and deny the God of heaven?"

The Prophet Enoch - the City of Zion is taken up

This is a curse of our time.  We lean upon the arm of flesh, we counsel each other, we counsel ourselves, we study it out in our own mind and then make our own "best" decision and and forget or are unwilling to truly counsel with God.  The prophet Enoch spoke these words millennia ago but they are still "current " observation.

43 And Enoch continued his speech, saying: The Lord which spake with me, the same is the God of heaven, and he is my God, and your God, and ye are my brethren, and why counsel ye yourselves, and deny the God of heaven?

(Pearl of Great Price | Moses 6:43)

The Lord's Prayer

James Tissot - The Lord's Prayer - Brooklyn Museum

A few nights ago I had a great desire to pray the Lord’s prayer before retiring to my bed. As I recited this holy prayer multiple times and thought upon each phrase I grew in the realization that His prayer is a perfect prayer.   It addresses all that we need each day.  My normal prayer pattern is to pray from my own mind and heart and I value the knowledge that I can speak openly to and before God.  But, as I uttered the Savior’s own prayer to “Our” Father in Heaven I realized what power resides in these words and that this was the perfect pattern for my own prayers.

Our Father which are in Heaven – We have a Father (God) in Heaven.  He is also the Father of our Savior Jesus Christ.  He “our” Father.  If we have the same Father, then Jesus is "our" Brother.  A Father watches over, teaches, guides, disciplines, blesses his children.  A Heavenly Father does the same for the entire world.  He dwells in Heaven, not upon the earth.  He is over all the earth.   Just as we speak with and petition our earthly Father for our needs so we may do so with our Heavenly Father.

Hallowed be Thy name – Our Father’s name is holy and sacred.  It is a name of power.  We do not take that holy name in vain.  We use the name of God, our Father with great care.  We invoke it when we are about his holy work and when we are in need of his holy power.  How profane to let his holy and sacred name roll off our lips as an expletive or loosely used in our common expressions.  When we use His name in prayer or as we perform His work we do it with reverence and with real intent and not "in vain" with careless habit.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven – Our desire is to bring the kingdom of God to the earth.  As the institutions of men bow to the kingdom of God we will receive the healing of the nations. We acknowledge the inadequacies of our own will and humble ourselves before God.  We seek to do His will in our lives. We seek the will of God in our public arena and earthly kingdoms.

Give us this day our daily bread – We have needs for each day.  We address those needs with God our Father each morning seeking his will.  We ask for temporal and spiritual bread.  We ask each day because just as Our Father clothes the lilies of the field, he will also cloth and feed us as we “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  (Matthew 6:33)

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors – We have all trespassed against both God and our fellowmen. We do so every day.  One purpose for daily prayer is to repent of our sins and seek forgiveness.  We do so to retain a remission of our sins.  We are seeking sanctification and the only way we can do this is through the power of the holy atonement of Jesus Christ for those sins. We are first and foremost indebted to our Savior for a debt he has incurred for us that can never be repaid.  To receive this forgiveness, we must abide by the conditions He has set and one of those conditions is that we forgive our brothers and sisters who have trespassed against us.  He will supply the strength and the charity needed if we but ask.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil – The JST rephrases this line slightly to read “Suffer us not to be lead into temptation...” God does not lead us into temptation. We general do a good job of leading ourselves into temptation along with the help of the adversary of our soul.  The Savior, who overcame Satan, can deliver us from evil and keep us from evil.  

For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever - “But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever. (Pearl of Great Price | Moses 4:2).  Just as the Savior gives all honor and glory to the Father, so do we.  The great temptation is to take the glory unto ourselves “wherefore give me thine honor.” (Pearl of Great Price | Moses 4:1) as is Satan’s desire. We all struggle with the desire to vaunt ourselves, to credit ourselves, to embellish ourselves.  What a relief to “give it all up” and seek the Lord’s will in our lives and give Him the glory. 

 Amen - or in other words "So be it!"

Our Journeys in the Wilderness

 "Lehi’s Exodus/Into the Wilderness - Tandy Iverson

Lehi's family is a type for the spiritual journey of the Lord's people at large.  Lehi's journey into the wilderness with his family typifies a repeated process both for us individually and as a group of the House of Israel being led along the covenant path.

1 - Lehi must take his family and leave the comforts of home (aka - the world, spiritual and physical Babylon etc.)

2 - Lehi's family journey in the wilderness.  Their travels are difficult and stringent and full of dire circumstances.  Through their suffering, Lehi's family has the opportunity to learn to rely on the Lord. There are many refining purposes to this suffering.  One, it divides the sheep from the goats,  Second, it builds crucial faith in the Lord which is necessary to make the journey and eventually inherit the promised land.  Third, travelers in the wilderness need to learn to not rely upon the arm of flesh.  The Lord explains to them in 1 Ne. 17:13 that one purpose of their sorrows and tribulation is "...and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."  They need to learn that the Lord is the one and only true deliverer.

3 - Lehi and his family find respite in the Land of Bountiful.    Can you imagine the joy and celebration that ensued upon entering into the Land of Bountiful.  Greenery! Food!  Respite!  This was opposite of their circumstance in the last 8 years. Here they set up their tents and replenished themselves.  I wonder if they thought this was the land of plenty they had been promised.  Perhaps they thought their journey was over. This was not to be. The Lord had other plans! 

4 - Nephi builds a ship and Lehi's family crosses the ocean.  While the journey in the wilderness was meant to cleanse and refine Lehi's family from the previous wicked world in which they lived, a world they were being separated from - a repentance journey of sort - the voyage across the ocean was of a different nature.  This voyage did not at all rely on their own skill set, their typical temporal preparations, their knowledge of the trade routes etc.  Nephi had never built a ship.  They had no idea what was beyond the horizon.  God provided the direct knowledge they needed and supervised their preparations.  The faith they had acquired in their wilderness journey was essential for them to fully trust in the Lord and climb aboard that untested ship build by their prophet brother who had no previous skill in doing so.  They headed out trusting completely in God to get them across who knows how many miles of uncharted waters to a land they had never seen and had no evidence of it's existence.  Kudos to all of them, even Laman and Lemuel, for getting on that boat!  An even greater hats off to another group, the Jaredites, who entered into barges they could not steer themselves!

5 - Lehi's family finally arrives in the Promised Land.   God's promises are sure if we keep his commandments and we are able to do that which is not possible.  We will each have to make a journey that follows this pattern if we are to land ourselves in the Kingdom of God at the last day.  The Saints will repeat this journey personally and individually and as a group of church members and also as members of the House of Israel.  We aren't done yet.  We are sitting in our Land of Bountiful.  We have yet to build the ship and traverse the waters to Zion.  We must be willing and ready to do so both spiritually and physically. 

3 And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.

(Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 17:3)

Ridding our Lives of Blame

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

(New Testament | Matthew 7:3 - 5)

I do believe that this verse of scripture is the key to happiness.  This morning while I was saying my prayers I was thinking about the need for all of us to repent of our own sins and to humble ourselves and take responsibility for them and to give up constantly blaming others for whatever goes wrong in our lives.  My mind opened to this scripture and the understanding of it’s great importance.  Our frustration or pride or insecurities so often inform our actions and reactions, our judgments and perceptions of others.  We blatantly or subtly shift the blame to others to account for our own frustrations, weaknesses, failures and decisions.  This is such a universal pattern in both large and small ways and it keeps us from greatness in our lives. The act of blaming others is a severe impediment to our progress and it blinds us from what we can do to move forward, to alter our situations and to just be happy.  It is Satan’s lie that accepting our own faults and failures as ours and taking responsibility for them will make us miserable.  In actuality, it empowers us and frees us and allows us to not be victimized by the actions and choices of other and ourselves.  We victimize ourselves when we do not accept responsibility, forgive, forget, move forward in truth no matter what happens around us.  We need to own up, embrace our own sins, acknowledge our weaknesses and come unto Christ and work with Him to have our hearts changed in whatever way is needed. Blaming others only sets us back and damns our progress.   

Belonging to God

President Spencer W. Kimball

"Each member of the Church has a sacred spiritual or temporal trust for which there is accountability. Because all things belong to the Lord, we are held responsible for how we lead our families and use our bodies, minds, and properties. (See D&C 104:11–15.) A faithful servant is one who exercises righteous dominion, cares for his own, and looks to the poor and needy."(See D&C 104:15–18.)   

Spencer W. Kimball - AUGUST 1984 “AND THE LORD CALLED HIS PEOPLE ZION”


The idea that we belong to God is a foreign and even strange concept in our current "me and mine" society.  Think of the immediate humility that descends upon a soul who acknowledges that all he has and is, including his mind and body, belong to the Creator.  There is a whole string of virtues that accompany that recognition: unselfishness, compassion, teachability, meekness, and gratitude, to name a few.