I’m Gonna Need More Revelation

 I’m Gonna Need More Revelation

.. and desperately so…


Thursday, March 14, 2024


What do the following phrases from scripture have in common?

Always Remember Him (Moroni 4:3)

Pray Always, that you enter not into temptation (Matt 26:41)

Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept (2 Ne 28:30)

From them that say, We have enough, From them shall be taken away even that which they have (2 Ne 28:30)

Always have His Spirit to be With Them (Moroni 4:3)


To help illustrate how this is, I turn to my distant memories of Linear Algebra (the study of matrices).


In Linear Algebra, there exists a series of equivalent statements, each of which implies the other.  There is power in this: the moment you know that just one of these is true, you automatically can depend on the others being true.


Here is one set of equivalent statements in Linear Algebra:

A is invertible.

A is row-equivalent to the identity matrix.

A can be factored as a product of elementary matrices.

The system Ax=b has exactly one solution.

The homogeneous system Ax=0 has only the trivial solution.

The determinant of A is not equal to 0.


Now, back to my original question: how are the above statements equivalent to each other?


The statements above all relate to the dichotomy that exists in our lives: we’re either drawing nearer to God and under His influence, or we are drawing nearer to Satan and are under his influence.


The warning from 2 Nephi 28:30 is particularly powerful for me in the present moment, as I have just experienced the problems that occur when I think I “have enough” and close myself to new information.


I should note that the few statements above are just a sampling of the many other equivalent statements I could make.  I’ll also say that they may seem not to be equivalent.  Some may even seem to be opposites.


But in the spirit of the Linear Algebra equivalences, I’ll assert that each implies the other.


The covenants of God are strong enough that we can know that if we Always Remember Him, we will Always Have His Spirit to be With us.

What is praying always if not always remember Him?  I suppose you could say that you can remember Jesus without praying… yet the hymn states “Prayer is the Soul’s Sincere Desire / Uttered or unexpressed”…. And if so, then to remember Him is to pray.


Most strongly, the injunction to “pray always” is given to ensure that we each not enter into temptation. And how will God give us the strength to overcome temptation?  How else but by sending His Spirit?  Does God or His Son come here in person to help us in our day-to-day needs?  Of course not!  But the Holy Spirit can be within us to strengthen us.


Finally, I’ll mention that the “Line upon Line’ and “We have enough” phrases are opposites…  but I relate them to the other three as follows:


“Line upon Line” implies the same seeking and yearning heart as “Always Remember Him” and “Pray Always”.  And “We have enough” assumes the exact opposite: a heart that is at war with God, a heart at pride that is not seeking Him and is thus unable to receive the Spirit.  Worse still, not only does “We Have Enough” leave us just in stasis but actively falling down to Hell.  And why?  Because without the Spirit’s presence within us, the only power that can act on us is that of the Evil Spirit, Satan himself (and his minions).  And their goal — to make us miserable — implies the removal of knowledge into blindness.


I have felt that recently: an inability to see why something was required of me, why something was true.  In that moment, I needed to pray; I needed to remember Him and receive His Spirit.


I'm gonna need more revelation like that, day to day, to succeed in my life.  There is no stasis: I need to move forward, with the influence of the Savior in my life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Systems Thinking, Collusion, and Conway's Law

Image
I recently read chapter 3 of The Fifth Discipline , by Peter Senge. It talks about "systems thinking", which is really about how oftentimes, we can't see the effects of our own choices: we're separated from the consequences of our actions by space or time. As an example, Senge explains the " beer game ", where participants act as a store owner, a beer wholesaler, or a brewer, and see the effects of their choices on one another and the system as a whole. When each participant focuses only on their own piece of the system (the store, the warehouse, the brewery), they make choices that disturb the whole system, leading to at first, a huge waitlist for beer, and later an even bigger glut of inventory. The Arbinger Institute describes situations like this as collusion : where each participant blames others for the situation while continuing to act in ways that provoke the others' actions. The same rules apply: nobody can tell that their actions are causing t...
Read more

“He is Risen!” for Ward Choir using Hymnplicity arrangement

Image
He is Risen! Here’s how to learn the parts for this wonderful Easter Hymn. Arrangement The arrangement is from Hymnplicity Easter, where you can  hear a brief sample . As with all Hymnplicity arrangements, your parts come straight from the hymn book ( click here to view the parts on a webpage ). The only thing that change is when  you sing melody, when you're quiet, and when you sing parts, as follows ( download this for printing ): Parts Soprano No need as it's melody. Alto Bass Tenor
Read more

James in the Arena

I've just read portions of Theodore Roosevelt's speech Man in the Arena , having heard it referenced several times in the past weeks.  It's the one with these famous lines, It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat This week, also, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of L...
Read more