Spiritual Safeguards

Important Safeguards for Spiritual Vitality

Sabbath

I have observed that there are some important safeguards which will help us maintain our spiritual vitality. One is Sabbath day observance. Without communion with God in renewing our covenants with the Son, we limit our ability to feel the presence of the Holy Ghost and to have that sweet association. When we put forth the effort to attend our meetings and partake of the Sacrament, feeling gratitude for the atonement and commitment in our effort to be obedient, we will experience a remission of our sins and a renewal of our spirits. This in turn will not only strengthen our resolve, but also our testimony. 

The Word of Wisdom

Another one is keeping The Word of Wisdom. For those who have made covenants to do so, it is vital. The Word of Wisdom is more of a spiritual commandment than a physical one. Even so, there are great physical blessings linked to its observance. The loss of the Spirit is the quickest and greatest loss if The Word of Wisdom is abandoned. The blessings of health and hidden treasures are immeasurable if kept. 

The Law of Tithing

A third one is The Law of Tithing. Like The Word of Wisdom, tithing is more of a spiritual commandment than a physical one. The Lord already owns absolutely everything. While tithing is set up as a means to help with Church maintenance and growth, it must be noted that it is by far more a means of providing individual maintenance and growth. Because tithing comes as a sacrifice, it requires faith; and, as we exercise our faith, the Lord blesses us with those things in which we stand in need, according to His merciful judgment. 

Personal Experience and Testimony

There was a time in my life when I was out of harmony with some of the commandments. But I knew that if I continued to pray and have faith, that if I continued to go to Church and do those things that were required of me, that I would remain safe, and that Jesus would help me through my current situation. Where ever you are right now in your journey, you can begin by having faith in Jesus Christ and striving to live the principles of the gospel to the best of your ability. It matters little if you begin with fear or duty or love. As you practice living within the safe boundaries of the gospel, you will begin to feel His love more deeply and develop a desire to follow the Savior, from whom you feel so much love.

There have been times in my life when I’ve felt offended, but I have continued to hold to these safeguards for the following reasons: I knew that I needed to be an example to my children and help them establish a pattern of attending church and developing personal faith; I wanted to be able to take the sacrament each week; I wanted to retain a temple recommend so that I could enjoy the blessings of the temple; and I believed in the gospel and the blessings that our promised to us by a loving Heavenly Father through the Gift and Atonement of His Son Jesus Christ.

When we understand the power behind these safeguards, we should never allow ourselves to abandon them. While there are many reasons for which people fall away from the Church, the above three safeguards can protect us from such danger. Even when we experience doubt, depressions, questioning hearts, fear, or estrangement; if we will continue to be humble and prayerful, practicing the fundamental principles of our faith, of which these three safeguards are a part; I feel certain that we will stand on high spiritual ground, away from the torrential currents that are eager to divert us from our safety. In so doing, the Spirit will bless us to recognize and love truth and help others to do so as well. 

Scriptures Related to the Post:

Sabbath Day:

Exodus 20:8-11:

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Doctrine and Covenants 59:9-12:

9 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;

10 For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;

11 Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times;

12 But remember that on this, the Lord’s day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord. 

The Word of Wisdom: (See Doctrine and Covenants 89):

Doctrine and Covenant 89:18-21:

18 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;

19 And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

20 And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

21 And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.

The Law of Tithing

Alma 13:15:

15 And it was this same Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithes; yea, even our father Abraham paid tithes of one-tenth part of all he possessed. 3 And this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people.

4 And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.

Doctrine and Covenants 119:3-4: 

3 And this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people. 

4 And after that, those who have thus been tithed shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, for my holy priesthood, saith the Lord.

Malachi 3:7-12:

7 ¶Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

8 ¶Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.

Family Sabbath Observance

This is a talk that I gave in Sacrament Meeting on 9 August 2015:

After God created the world, He rested on the seventh day. This became the Sabbath. During this time, Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden. So the Garden of Eden was not only a place, it was a time. It was a day of rest, worship, spiritual instruction, and learning, before Adam and Eve were sent out to face the lone and dreary world together.

"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made" (Genesis 2:2–3).

Once Adam and Eve left the garden, they continued to follow God's commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy.

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

“Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

“But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11).

After the children of Israel were led out of Egypt, the Lord explained to Moses that if the people would observe the Sabbath day, it would be a sign between God and them of His covenant (see Exodus 31:13) . Surely, a people delivered from bondage would have been happy to be allotted a day without work. We can see that the Sabbath day isn't new, but do we also see that it is not antiquated?

No, this law given by our Father in Heaven is not out of date. It pertains to us here and now. In fact, we are promised in our day that if we observe the Sabbath that “the fulness of the earth” will be ours (D&C 59:16-20).

Can you imagine how different the world would be if everyone kept just this one commandment? Can you imagine how different it would be if even all the Latter-day Saints observed the Sabbath day to keep it holy? I believe that through the keeping of this commandment, we will be much better prepared to keep the first two great commandments of loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind and of loving our neighbors as ourselves. There are some steps each of us can take individually and as families to improve our Sabbath day worship.

So how do we do it?

I think that it is important that we don't become like the Pharisees in Christ's day by just creating long lists of do's and don'ts. That misses the mark. It doesn't really benefit anyone, and it does not show gratitude to our Heavenly Father. But there are some fundamentally important things that we must never forget.

If we want to learn how to observe the Sabbath day better, we can find a lot of clues from the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. He worshiped in Synagogues on the Sabbath. He taught; He healed; He served.

So first, if keeping the Sabbath day is a sign of our covenants with God, we need to remember our covenants and renew them. We can't do this on a golf course, in the mountains, or at the beach. Why? Because the sacrament is not typically served in those places, by someone holding authority and authorization to institute it. If we are to worship Heavenly Father in Spirit and in Truth, we must do this in the manner that He has commanded us.

Doctrine and Covenants 59:9-13:


“And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High; Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times; But remember that on this, the Lord’s day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord. And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full.”

How can partaking of the sacrament on Sundays give us focus for our worship that day and strength for the week ahead?

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, a recent member of the Quorum of the Twelve said: “Windows must be washed regularly to clean away dust and dirt. … Just as earthly windows need consistent, thorough cleaning, so do the windows of our spirituality. … By partaking of the sacrament worthily to renew our baptismal covenants, we clarify our view of life’s eternal purpose and divine priorities. The sacrament prayers invite personal introspection, repentance, and rededication as we pledge our willingness to remember our Savior, Jesus the Christ" (Talk given Oct 1995).

Maybe, and probably so, if we do these things as families, our eyes will be more clearly opened as to how we can progress together as families towards our goal of eternal life. While another important part of Sunday Church worship is meeting with our fellow saints and strengthening one another, today we are going to concentrate more on how we can use the Sabbath day to strengthen our own homes and families.

The best starting point should be for us to look at what is working for us now and also to seek the Spirit to determine what we need to incorporate into our Sabbath day observance to pay devotion to the Lord better and to strengthen our families more. One thing to remember is that the Church is here to support us in teaching our children the gospel and not the other way around.

So if you are not having family scripture time or family home evenings, Sunday would be a good place to start. I know that when my husband worked six days a week, we did have family night on Sundays.

Are we reevaluating our own lives and our goals? Sunday is a great time to review our Patriarchal blessings. It is also a great time to help our children learn to set goals, referring to our church's programs of Faith in God, Duty to God, and Personal progress, allow with long-term educational and temple worthy goals, such as vocations, missions, and temple marriage; plus, short term goals of personal interest. When we set goals, reviewing progress and accomplishing milestones, the Lord is pleased with us; and we feel the satisfaction of our growth through the validation of His Spirit. As we help our children through this process, they will experience those same feelings, which will increase the binding of their relationships with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and with us as their parents. As we teach our children to rejoice in each other's accomplishments and to aid each other in their goals, they will also grow in unity.

Overbooking our activities with our children will not be relaxing to them or to us. So we should allow for quiet, reflective, renewing time for everyone. But Sabbath days should also concentrate on family togetherness. So family dinners together are extra important on this day. We can also share our thoughts on the past week's activities and our schedules for the new week. We can discuss church meeting topics and our feelings about talks and lessons. Even when we don't agree with presentation, we should remember to be kind and not to demean our leaders or fellow worshipers.

Some things our own family has done on Sabbath days: when we are on vacations, we always still make it a point to attend church, especially Sacrament meeting; and to observe the Sabbath in the best way we can, even if we are visiting with those who don't attend church. Last month, after church and a family dinner, we drove to see four of the Utah temples and to feel the spirit on those grounds. We often drove to the Redlands temple site on Sundays while it was being constructed. I believe that this did not only mark the growth of the temple, but the growth of our children's testimonies of the importance of the temple.

Bob has been doing indexing for years, and we have followed in his example to do some indexing on Sundays. Sunday is a great time to work on our own family history, including genealogy research and journal writing. It is also a great day for writing letters to extended family, or phone calling, or Skyping.

Many times we have visited with extended family or friends on Sundays as well. Sometimes we have had others over to sing around our piano. While we might not have scripture time every single evening, we are sure to do so on Sunday, and on Monday as part of family night. If we are going to make visits with other people, whether socially or as home or visiting teachers, we need to make certain that we are not imposing upon their observance of the Sabbath day.

I know that the Butlers watch Bible stories with their children on Sundays. The church has great videos with stories from the life of our Savior. We can all watch and benefit from them. They are readily available at mormon.org, or we an purchase the set from Distribution for a excellent price.

As our children grow older, it is still important for us to still have Sabbath day rules in our home, but it is also important to allow for agency. The best way to lead is always by example.

I hope that we can all feel the importance of Sabbath day worship and gain the Spirit of that worship in our own families. I know that Heavenly Father will bless us as we keep His commandments and honor the covenants that we have made with Him. Each Sunday we make promises to always remember His Son and to keep His commandments. That is a wonderful gift and protection for us as we start our new week. We need to remember that Sunday, our Sabbath, is the Lord's day, so we need to center our thoughts and activities around Him throughout the day, worshiping Him and serving as He would have us do. In doing so, He will bless us.

This is a picture of our family taken on 17 July 2015:

The Sacrament, A Sacred Memory

This Do in Remembrance of Me

I have always equated the sacrament with a sacred memory. "This do in remembrance of me," is what the Lord has told us to do. When we attend Sacrament meeting, we should do so wearing a broken heart and a contrite spirit. As we do so consistently, we will receive His image in our countenances. We commemorate the Lord's Last Supper and His Atonement in our behalf. We also commemorate our baptism and renew our covenants with Him, and we promise to "always remember Him." In exchange, He promises that we shall always have His Spirit to be with us, and if we continue faithful to the end, we will obtain Eternal Life.  One of the most important words in the scriptures is "remember." Another one is "hearken." Let us hearken unto the counsel of the prophets, and let us always remember who we are and what God expects us to do. Also, let us remember Jesus and never forsake Him.

Please read Elder Oak's talk: 

Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament

This small article addresses so many simple ways that we can prepare. Following are my ideas paraphrased from what I have read and what I understand: 

I. Because the sacrament is so important, there is absolutely no other meeting in the church which is more  important. All the details of the meeting should be planned in order to preserve the dignity of the sacrament.

II. There needs to be personal preparation for the sacrament to have efficacy in our lives. Our day-to-day thoughts and actions should reflect that we remember Him; we should come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit: meaning we should feel sorrow for our short-comings and feel humble enough to ask the Lord's help yet again; we also should feel sorrow for the trials and sufferings of others; and we should ever be aware of the Lord's sacrifice, atonement, and resurrection on our behalf, that can make us at one again with Him and with our Heavenly Father. We should arrive to the meeting early and be seated and relaxed and prepared to worship. 

III. Our attitude, our dress, and our personal choice to be reverent are important. These things can aid in our concentration or distract from it; they can also provide an atmosphere that helps other people feel either worshipful or distracted.Our focus should be on the Savior during the sacrament, and we should remain attentive, reverent, and respectful throughout the meeting, not giving way to things that would distract us from our purpose--to worship and to be edified by the Spirit.

IV. The Sacrament is important. We must learn that it is. We must remember that it is. The Sacrament is about our sacred memories: memories of the Lord's sacrifice; memories of our covenants and the Lord's promises; memories that because of Jesus, there is no other sacrifice necessary, except for us to remember Him and present our will to Him so that He can help us return to our Father. If we take the sacrament worthily, we will be built upon Christ's firm foundation and be able to withstand the wiles of the devil. Also, Jesus will forgive us and baptize us with fire and the Holy Ghost.

V. The Bishop or the Presiding Priesthood Authority oversees the administration of the sacrament. Members must maintain a level of righteousness that is compatible with participating in the sacrament. Young men who prepare, bless, and pass the sacrament must remain clean and worthy to do so.

I will ever be thankful to the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood for their diligence in being clean in these trying time. I witnessed a most beautiful scene. When my sister was undergoing cancer treatment and could not be to church, I was with her at her home when she had returned from the hospital from an intense round of chemotherapy. Two priests, under the direction of the Bishop, came to her house to offer her the sacrament. They did so most graciously. After which, Kathy took the time to thank them, and she also taught them. She told them that they came to her home in the Savior's place to offer her his Sacrament. Her sincerity and clarity, even in her weakened condition, touched the hearts of those young men deeply, and I would not be surprised if they remember it always. 

I also remember that after being bed-bound for six weeks in a pregnancy, I was delighted to return and take the sacrament. Even though our little one only lived 2 1/2 hours, I had missed taking the sacrament, and it was a necessary part of my healing. I do not think that most people know that the sacrament not only helps us recover from sin, but also from sorrow, misunderstandings, and deep hurts and scars. 

I know that my comments do not compare to that of an Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am thankful for Elder Oaks teaching and testimony. I am also thankful that I have been blessed through the sacrament for as long as I can remember. I am not nearly reverent or gracious enough, but I am striving to be. As I have written before, "The Lord's sacrifice for all of us is beyond comprehension. He loves us all so much. For me, Sacrament meeting is about honoring His sacrifice and seeking to align myself to do His will. It is a time when we are to seek edification and fellowship." I hope that I will do better at showing my love for Heavenly Father and for His Son Jesus Christ through preparing more fully before taking the sacrament. I also hope that I will be a member that contributes to the reverence of the chapel and one who helps others to invite and feel the Spirit in their lives.

This I say, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.