Talks
Quotes
Imagine yourself a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised.
But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense.
What on earth is He up to??
The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of; throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there; running up towers, making courtyards.
You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage; but He is building a palace. – C. S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity
Those who are truly developed will find a perfect harmony between their flesh and their spirits, a harmony that will bless them with peace and give them the ability to help others. Embraced by the Light – Betty J. Eadie
Submission to Satan is the ultimate bondage. Submission to Christ is the ultimate freedom.
We can’t submit control of our lives to Christ if we don’t have control of our lives. That is why the words disciple and discipline are from the same root.
O God, help us to be masters of ourselves that we may be servants of others.
Just before Thoreau died, he was asked if he had made peace with God. He replied, “I was not aware we had ever quarreled” (in Mardy Grothe, comp., Viva la Repartee [2005], 181). As quoted by L. Tom Perry October 2008 conference. Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t quarrel with the Lord?
“Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings.” We don’t counsel Him, He counsels us. When we reconcile our will to God, it’s like reconciling with our bank statement. If there’s a difference, it’s usually not the bank’s error. – Shannon Williams
Only reason not to accept counsel from God:
- We know more than He does (what are the chances?)
- 2.We don’t trust Him (Why would we not?)
- 3.We don’t think he understands us (He created us!)
- 4.We think he doesn’t love us or have our best interest at heart. (Not a chance!)
Shannon Williams
We have been commanded to yoke ourselves to the Savior. Some see this as restrictive and burdensome. However, our burdens in life will be a lot heavier if we are not yoked to the Savior, since we will have to carry our burdens alone.
Nothing in the history of the world has surprised God. In 1820 he didn’t say, “Now what do we do?” Everything is part of the greater plan. He doesn’t look down and say, “Let’s see, who we have to work with?” He is omniscient. We were all put here for a reason.
If we truly understood where we stand in relation to the Lord we wouldn’t stand, we would kneel.
We need to realize that He is in charge. Some find it easier to bend their knees than their minds. Neal A. Maxwell
“The first step in submission is recognizing our own nothingness. Like Moses said after seeing the burning bush, “Man is nothing, which thing I had never supposed.” (Moses 1:10). That is what this life is all about – not to teach us self-reliance and self-sufficiency, but to bring us to a place of complete humility; to consider ourselves fools before God.” (Harrison, He Did Deliver Me From Bondage, pg. 11)
“We are here on earth for the very purpose of either breaking or softening our hearts in order that they might be turned to God and godliness. We can either resist the laws of God, in which case our hearts will inevitably be broken, or we can try with all our hearts to live the law and gradually realize that no matter how hard we try, we can’t do it perfectly. Only after truly internalizing the fact of our own nothingness and powerlessness without God, can we hope to be endowed with the power of God. Meanwhile, whether we come to a broken heart by sinning, being sinned against or struggling futilely to perfect ourselves, we must all come to a place where we are humble enough to acknowledge that without “Him we are nothing and can never answer the “ends of the law’ ourselves.” (Harrison, He Did Deliver Me From Bondage, pg. 19)
Alma 26:12 “Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things.
“Christ says ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there. I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent, as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself. My own will shall become yours.” – CS Lewis
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