Dear Brothers and Sisters, We hope and pray you are doing well. We know the Lord is mindful of all we are going through and he cares deeply for our well-being; physically, mentally and spiritually. Keep close to Him. Learn of Him. Study His life, His ministry, His atoning sacrifice, His love for you. This week in our Come, Follow Me studies in section 87, a revelation Joseph received on Christmas day, the Lord foretold of the war between the Northern and Southern States. This had weighed heavy on the Prophet's mind as they were becoming "more visible" to him. Then, in verse 8, a lesson on how we can cope and endure: 8 Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen. Holy places. Stand. Be not moved. As I've pondered and studied about this and as I've studied about it with my family I sometimes get caught up in "holy places" being solely physical locations, the temples, churches, our homes. Yet often it's less where we are and more our opportunities to feel the Spirit, the "places" are less about points on a map and more about our relationship with our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. In his April 2020 General Conference address titled "Hear Him", President Russell M. Nelson said: "As we seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our efforts to hear Him need to be ever more intentional. It takes conscious and consistent effort to fill our daily lives with His words, His teachings, His truths. "We simply cannot rely upon information we bump into on social media. With billions of words online and in a marketing-saturated world constantly infiltrated by noisy, nefarious efforts of the adversary, where can we go to hear Him?" The scriptures: "As we feast on the words of Christ daily, the words of Christ will tell us how to respond to difficulties we never thought we would face." The temple and family history: "I promise that as you increase your time in temple and family history work, you will increase and improve your ability to hear Him." These are "holy places". He continues, "We also hear Him more clearly as we refine our ability to recognize the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. It has never been more imperative to know how the Spirit speaks to you than right now." "I renew my plea for you to do whatever it takes to increase your spiritual capacity to receive personal revelation. "Doing so will help you know how to move ahead with your life, what to do during times of crisis, and how to discern and avoid the temptations and the deceptions of the adversary." Knowing how the Spirit speaks to us and increasing our spiritual capacity to receive personal revelation will give us the strength to "stand" and "be not moved". I know that as we seek to know how the Spirit speaks to us and as we heed President Nelson's plea "to do whatever it takes to increase our spiritual capacity to receive personal revelation", we will be able to stand and be not moved in the holy places we strive to place ourselves in. The Lord, in His infinite mercy and perfect love for each of us will give us the power to overcome. I know our Savior, Jesus Christ, lives. He loves us; he loves me, he loves you, individually. I know we can find and feel that love as we strive to "stand in holy places". President Noel Jackson
Stake Presidency First Counselor.
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