Following the will of the Lord.

Three Key element to Following the will of the Lord

1.       Keeping ourselves worthy

2.       Listening to and recognizing the Spirit

3.       Acting on the words of the Lord

Keeping our selves worthy

As I thought over the message that I wanted to share with you today, one figure found in the scriptures kept coming to my mind over and over again.  It is a little known character who is only mentioned one time in the Book of Mormon.  It may seem to be a minor role in a greater story, yet there is much we can learn from this faithful follower of Christ.

The sons of Mosiah had been working against the church, they had been actively seeking to destroy the church by preaching against it, along with Alma the younger.   Through the visitation of an angel of Light they were brought to a knowledge of the truthfulness of the gospel. They then dedicated their lives to sharing this gospel with all within their influence. 

We read in the book of Alma how the sons of Mosiah left their home and went among their enemies the Lamanites. One of the Sons of Mosiah, Ammon was captured by the Lamanites, but because of his willingness to serve, his faith, and his boldness in declaring the word of God he helped to convert the King of the Lamanites in that part of the land.  The king became overcome and “he fell unto the earth, as if he were dead.” (Alma 18:42) “And it came to pass that his servants took him and carried him in unto his wife, and laid him upon a bed; and he lay as if he were dead for the space of two days and two nights; and his wife, and his sons, and his daughters mourned over him, after the manner of the Lamanites, greatly lamenting his loss. (v. 43) On the third day the queen came to Ammon, because she did not believe that her husband was dead, and Ammon seeing her great faith told her that on the morrow the King would arise.  As Ammon had prophesied the King arose and testified of Christ.  The King and Queen were both so overcome that they sank to the earth.  Ammon also was overcome with the Spirit, as well as the servants of the King who had witnessed all that Ammon had done.  All that is but one, her name was Abish.  Among the few women in the scriptures to be mentioned by name Abish is the character in this story that is the most relatable to me.  We have in this story royalty and prophets, but mentioned in these few scriptures is an everyday person.  One who remarkably had learned of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and had been converted previously. 

“Thus, having been converted to the Lord, and never having made it known, therefore, when she saw that all the servants of Lamoni had fallen to the earth, and also her mistress, the queen, and the king, and Ammon lay prostrate upon the earth, she knew that it was the power of God…” (Alma 19:17)  Abish had kept herself worthy, despite her situation.  I imagine it may have been difficult for her to maintain her testimony of faith.  I imagine her struggle to “stand in holy places and be not moved” but she was where she needed to be and was worthy to recognize the power of God.

Of course the ultimate example of worthiness for us to follow is the Savior.  Each day he followed the will of his father in heaven.  Even as a young man, when he was found in the temple teaching and discussing he said, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49)  He kept himself worthy by keeping all of the commandments. “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” (Mattew 3:13-15)

 As we strive to follow his example we should not be discouraged if we are not constantly obtaining perfection, but as we turn our will over to the Lord we can know that we are becoming more and more like the Savior.

Listening and Recognizing the whisperings of the Spirit.

As we find ourselves worthy to receive direction from the Spirit our next step is to learn to listen and recognize that Spirit.

One example from the Old Testament from the book of 1 Samuel teaches us of the importance of listening to and recognizing the Spirit.   The boy Samuel was born by a miracle to his mother Hannah and was subsequently given to the service of the Lord in the temple.  After Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli, he lay down to sleep and heard a voice calling him by name.  Three times he answers the voice thinking it is Eli, but when Eli tells Samuel that the voice is that of the Lords he lays down again and hears the voice a fourth time.  “And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.” (Samuel 3:10)  Samuel was worthy and heard the voice of the Lord speaking to him, just as we can hear the whisperings of the Spirit of the Lord speaking to us.  And how shall we respond.  Shall we say as Samuel did “Speak for thy servant heareth”?

So, how can we recognize the whisperings of the Spirit. Again we find an example in the Old Testament. In the book of 1 Kings, the story of Elijah in the wilderness when he is visited by Spirit of the Lord. “ And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” (vs. 11, 12)  We too can recognize the Spirit as it speaks to our hearts and minds if we will listen

Again, we are recalling the stories of the great prophets, so let us revisit our everyday faithful servant of Christ from the Book of Mormon, Abish.  After witnessing the miraculous recovery of the King, the conversion of her mistress, and the overpowering of Ammon and the other Servants, Abish witnesses that this is indeed the Power of God. She has kept herself worthy to hear the whisperings of the Spirit. We read, “She knew that it was the power of God; and supposing that this opportunity, by making known unto the people what had happened among them, that by beholding this scene it would cause them to believe in the power of God. “  So now we see that the Spirit has revealed to Abish the opportunity to share the Gospel that she has been holding in her heart.

Acting on the promptings of the Spirit.

So, once we have worthily received the Spirit of God speaking to our heart and our minds the most important thing that we can do is to ACT! Act on that knowledge and prompting. 

I am reminded of the story of Jonah who, though a worthy servant of the Lord, does not act on the Word of the Lord as it is given to him.  Who not only doesn’t act but runs away!

Contrast this with another servant of the Lord whom we read about in the Book of Mormon.  Alma who has been sent by the Lord to the city of Ammonihah, is rejected, despite his efforts to preach the word of God, and he is cast out of the city.  “And it came to pass that while he was journeying thither, being weighed down with sorrow, wading through much tribulation and anguish of soul, because of the wickedness of the people who were in the city of Ammonihah. It came to pass while Alma was thus weighed down with sorrow, behold an angel of the Lord appeared unto him, saying:.. And behold, I am sent to command thee that thou return to the city of Ammonihah, and preach again unto the people of the city; yea, preach unto them. Yea, say unto them, except they repent the Lord God will destroy them…Now it came to pass that after Alma had received his message from the angel of the Lord he returned speedily to the land of Ammonihah.”  He not only returns but returns speedily!  As Alma follows through with the command that has been given him of the Lord his is continually blest.  He meets Amulek who takes him into his home, they are then able to preach to the people with success and despite difficulties that they face later on, because of their faithfulness to the Word of God they are protected and go on to teach the Gospel to many more.  So we see that as we act on the promptings given to us from the Lord we are blessed with greater and greater opportunies because He knows that he can rely on us.

So, let’s return to  Abish.  How does she react when prompted by the Spirit?  After realizing the great opportunity for her people, “that by beholding this scene it would cause them to believe in the power of God,?  She acts! “ Therefore she ran forth from house to house, making it known unto the people.” (vs. 17)  As the people assemble, unfortunately they do not respond in the way that Abish was hoping.  The people begin to argue and quarrel concerning Ammon until the contention becomes “exceedingly sharp”.  “And while they were thus contending, the woman servant who had caused the multitude to be gathered together came, and when she saw the contention which was among the multitude she was exceedingly sorrowful, even unto tears.”  (vs. 28)  Abish has acted on her prompting but it has not gone how she expected, we can all probably think of a time when we have felt propmpted to do or say something and despite our best effort it did not turn out how we imaginged.  But we must remember that we are striving to turn our will to the Lord, so we must trust that the outcome will be his will.  So what do we do in these circumstances?  Are we willing to continue to follow the promptings that come.  Let’s look at what Abish does.

 “And it came to pass that she went and took the queen by the hand, that perhaps she might raise her from the ground; and as soon as she touched her hand she arose and stood upon her feet, and cried with a loud voice” She has the faith to act again! By following through with the prompting that comes she raises the queen, who raises the King, who then teaches the people and eventually thousands are converted to the Lord.  This group of people even make up part of the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s who “were also distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end.” (Alma 27:27)

 This is the last time that we hear of Abish.  We do not know what becomes of her next because her part in this story is over.  Although we only see a small glimpse into the events of her life we can see how her faith, and willingness to act on that faith helped in converting many of her brethren and in influencing all of us.  It may seem strange to highlight such a seemingly small character who is only mentioned once by name and alluded to in only a few scriptures.  Understand that I am not crediting her with the conversion of all the Lamanites.  But I think we can all appreciate how one person’s willingness to listen to and act on the promptings of the Spirit can have a trickle down effect that can influence countless people. 

Again we can look to the Savior for the greatest example of following our Fathers will.  He gave the ultimate sacrifice, He gave His life, His perfect and pure life.  He descended below all things, turning His will to the Father so that we might be given a chance. A chance that we could not be given based on our own merits.  We are not perfect, but He is.  He is perfect because He is one with the Father.  Because He gave His will to the Father.  He said if you have seen me, ye have seen the Father. We have also been told to be ye perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect.  But how can we? We are told that we can be one with Christ like he is one with the Father? But how? By giving our will to him, by keeping ourselves worthy, listening to and recognizing the Spirit, and then acting.  I know that when we give up our will for the will of the Father we are blessed with greater light and knowledge as well as peace and joy in our lives and the lives of other.  I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior, and that He gave all that He had for me, and what I can do to show my love and appreciation is to give my life and my will to Him