High Priest Group Lesson - January 2011

January 1, 2011 HP Lesson on Personal Growth

I am all about personal growth. I am not very good at it but I believe that we begin to faint when we are not growing spiritual.

I also believe that our personal growth or lack there of manifests itself in every aspect of our life. We are either bored about gospel or excited about it.

[Lec on Faith 6:4a] "Such was, and always will be, the situation of the saints of God, that unless they have an actual knowledge that the course that they are pursuing is according to the will of God, they will grow weary in their minds and faint;"

[A hymn comes to mind regarding the subject of personal growth:

Be Thou Humble, no. 130

1. Be thou humble in thy weakness, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee,
Shall lead thee by the hand and give thee answer to thy prayers.
Be thou humble in thy pleading, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee,
Shall bless thee with a sweet and calm assurance that he cares.

2. Be thou humble in thy calling, and the Lord thy God shall teach thee
To serve his children gladly with a pure and gentle love.
Be thou humble in thy longing, and the Lord thy God shall take thee,
Shall take thee home at last to ever dwell with him above.

[I believe that one of the fruits of personal spiritual growth is an increased ability to hear and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost.]

[Brothren, be thinking of promptings, you have received in your life and have acted on, and the results of following the prompting]

(rhetorical Q) Do we view our callings as sacred and desire to be instruments in God's hands in the service of others?

Q: Do we view our life on this earth as a sacred time where we continuously strive to develope and maintain our connection with the true VINE?

READ John 15:1 I am the true avine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every abranch in me that beareth not bfruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he cpurgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the avine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without bme ye can do nothing.

6 If a man aabide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If ye aabide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall bask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Do any of you remember what President Webb's talk was about in the first stake conference of 2010? Hint: he talked about learning a language.

What did he say about learning the language of the Holy Ghost? [we need to learn His language, He doesn't learn ours]

But, it all begins with our own desires to exert ourselves spiritually.
Q: What does it mean to you to exert yourselves in a spiritual way?

Common responses: go to temple, read scriptures, pray....

Q: Why do we want to become more spiritual beings?

2 Nephi 9:


2Nephi 9:42 And whoso knocketh, to him will he open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them.

43 But the things of the wise and the prudent shall be hid from them forever—yea, that happiness which is prepared for the saints.


[The answer is having that happiness prepared for the Saints.]

President Henry B Eyring said is the last General Conference, “Whenever darkness fills our minds, we may know that we are not possessed of the Spirit of God. … When we are filled with the Spirit of God we are filled with joy, with peace, and with happiness, no matter what our circumstances may be; for it is a spirit of cheerfulness and of happiness. The Lord has given unto us the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is our privilege to have that Holy Ghost reign within us, so that from morning till night and from night till morning we shall have the joy, the light and the revelation thereof.” 8 . George Q. Cannon, in Brian H. Stuy, comp., Collected Discourses Delivered by President Wilford Woodruff, His Two Counselors, the Twelve Apostles, and Others, 5 vols. (1987–92), 4:137.

Elder Richard Scott said in the October General Conference: "When faith is properly understood and used, it has dramatically far-reaching effects. Such faith can transform an individual’s life from maudlin, common everyday activities to a symphony of joy and happiness. The exercise of faith is vital to Father in Heaven’s plan of happiness. But true faith, faith unto salvation, is centered on the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in His doctrines and teachings, faith in the prophetic guidance of the Lord’s anointed, faith in the capacity to discover hidden characteristics and traits that can transform life. Truly, faith in the Savior is a principle of action and power."

Q: Why do want to become more spiritual? (if necessary) We want to be spiritual beings because it transforms our lives in happy lives.

Read: work out your own salvation in fear and trembling...

Mormon 9:27
O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him.

Q: How do we become a spiritual being?

Read: all things added unto you. Seek ye first the kingdom of God


Read: Jacob 2: 18

Jacob 2:18

But abefore ye seek for briches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to ado good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.


Q: Why does Jacob recommend that we first obtain a hope in Christ before we seek for riches?

Answer: Because he has reconciled himself to God. He heart has been changed by God.

Q: If we are bored or complacent about the gospel, where does the problem lie? If we just go throught the motions in our callings, especially our hometeaching calling, where do we need to start to remedy the problem?

Q: You know what I find to be invigorating about the gospel? What the Lord is going to tell me to do next.

EXPERIENCES - Brethren, I asked earlier to be thinking about experiences where the Holy Ghost has prompted you to do something. Would any of you like to share at this time?

{Your personal experience here.}

[Back in August, we talking about developing faith. Br Koresleski mentioned that we work on the hardest thing first and that would have the greatest impact.

The process of learning to follow the Spirit and growing spiritually is not supposed to be overwelming. We work on one thing at a time. How do we know what to work on? How do we know what that one thing is that God want us to do or change in our lives? We just ask our Heavenly Father in prayer, believing that we will receive an answer. When we receive the one thing, we don't disregard what we are told to do. God knows better than we do what we need to do. Let God order your spiritual growth.

If we really desire to follow God, the Lord is going to prompt us to do something. We will hear the prompting in various ways: the still small voice, in a dream, as we are meditating, reading the scriptures. The prompting will be small enough that it will be easy to reject at first. But, as we learn the language of the Holy Ghost, we will able to discern the prompting and recognize it. We then with a degree of urgency, perhaps immediately act on the prompting.

I believe that has we grow ourselves spiritual, hand in hand with Christ, we begin to cast off all doubt, we don't question the commandments the Lord gives us (either personally or from the prophets). We let Heavenly Father prioritize what we need to work on.

As we do this, our lives become more vibrant. We begin to feeling God's power flowing through us. Our hope become brighter. We start looking for ways to do our callings with greater zeal. We want to invite the Spirit by preparing. We expect the promptings to come.

Q: Why is important for each us to have the Holy Ghost guide us on a regular basis? Because God has not left us empty handed in the past. We now get it. We want to Spiritual Feast. We don't find it satisfying anymore to just go through the motions.

But, this requires that we make ourselves vulnerable to God.

Q: What do you think it mean to be vulnerable? Is our logic the same as God's?

Read about Melchezidek. What did he do? How are we like Melchezidek in our own personal callings?


Conclusion:

As we begin to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, the following quotation from the Lectures on Faith now make sense to us.

What should our new year's resolution be? The gospel and the priesthood are to be lived! Let's not have one foot in the gospel and one foot in skepticism.

Ponder your callings in life. Ask God, what He would have you do. Let the Lord priortize for you. Then, with His grace, He will help you change. But it will be one thing at a time. The Lord will guide you as you spiritually grow.