Hey there everybody welcome back to another episode of Redeemed Through His Blood Scott and David Durfee here as always how are you David? I'm good Scott. Good. I'm going to be back. What have we been doing the last few weeks? We've been a little less inconsistent. That's for sure. But you know, but it's okay. Life comes along and we get to deal with life. My sweetheart has had some setbacks.
You know, we thought my heart was kind of bad getting ready to go on a mission and had to have a procedure and then and then the day before Pioneer Day, she has a heart attack and that's been a wild a wild few weeks since then. Have an emergency stent put in the main artery of her heart and then she had to go back and have three more and then she has an allergic reaction and she just has she's been down and out and I've been grateful that I've been able to be with her most of that time.
But it brings up you know, how do we how do we deal with adversity in our lives? Scott, I gave her a blessing before she went and had the stand. The three stands put in her heart. Has helped me give her a blessing. I had you know, confirmation and peace that things would be fine. But I didn't expect that there would be an allergic reaction and a trip to the emergency room and doctors and nurses scram wouldn't know what was going on. You know, so you know, it's just caused me to think about.
Because I think in the church and in my personal life, yours, others. It just raises the question. Where do we put our faith? Is our faith in in healing or is our faith in the healer is our faith in a blessing, meaning a priesthood blessing is our faith in the priesthood. Either one of those would be wrong. Our faith isn't in the priesthood. Our faith is shouldn't be in a priesthood blessing. Our faith shouldn't be in prayer. Our faith should not be in those things.
Our faith needs to be in and centered in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in our Heavenly Father. And it's just caused me to think about all of that, Scott. And so maybe we can talk about some of that today. I think that's a good topic. You know, that's that is one of the things, you know, challenges and trials in life that require us to exercise faith and to grow our faith. And our faith doesn't grow without exercise. Interesting how that is much like our bodies, right? And our muscles.
But we do have to exercise that in order for that faith to grow. I love how you just brought that up about where our faith should lie. You know, Dave, I was having a conversation just the other day with somebody and they were talking about just the various trials in their own life, dealing with a lot of mental health issues, some depressions and not only that, but you know, there's some physical challenges and just and just a lot of stuff. We all just deal with a lot of stuff.
Did you know they were dealing with it? No, I didn't. And that's the point, you know, to a degree, I did, you know, but that's the point, you know, that we all have these little battles, these little struggles that we fight. And I call them battles, they're not the war, the war we will win.
These are battles within the war and these these battles and so, you know, and I used to the word little and I apologize for anybody that may be thinking, really, if you saw my battles, you wouldn't call them little because with that, you know, they're there and a lot of them are unseen, right? We just don't see them. And that was the conversation I was having. We all have them. And that was the conversation I was having with this individual is it's just and he was right.
And I used to go to church and people don't know what I'm going through. I go to work and people have no idea. I go here and and people have no idea. And in a lot of times it's inappropriate to just start spewing our problems all over the world, you know, and talking about them in inappropriate ways and inappropriate places. And so, you know, this is something that's fairly universal.
And if we're not experiencing now at some point in our mortal trial, I think that we have often been given the gift of these battles, these little trials that people just can't see. Yeah, you're right. And you know, Scott, I think so much of our peace, our joy, our purpose in life has to do with. We keep bringing this up. It has to do with our relationship with our Savior and with our Heavenly Father with the Holy Ghost.
And it really does come down to, you know, relationships that that one needful thing. And it's surprising to me, Scott, if we really examine our lives, if we if we really look at how we choose to live, how we choose to think our perspective and philosophy on life, if we could just learn to tweak it just a little bit to focus it just a little more on our relationships instead of other things, we, you know, we're all human.
We're all guilty of this, but we're all kind of in a self survival mode so many times here. And we don't rely enough upon our Savior. We realized way too much upon the arm of the flesh. We worry way too much about what we want continuation of our life and continuation of our blessings. And we way too often seek and seek and define success based on being comfortable, being content, being, you know, having what we want to have upon our, our whatever our idea or definition of success may be.
And it just, it shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't be based upon how the world defines it. It should be based upon what we what we learn in the scriptures, what we have learned through the restoration of the gospel.
And so if I think there's anything that we need more than anything else in this world and this goes back to our course, really unreap on faith repentance, the doctrine of Christ, we need we need to learn how to be engaged continually in strengthening our relationship with with the Lord.
I was talking to you before we started about even how we pray, you know, so oftentimes we pray and we we just kind of go through the process and it's it's kind of like we're either there alone praying or we're we're thinking maybe if we're praying with someone else, we're thinking more about what they're thinking than what God is thinking about our prayers.
We're thinking we're influenced more by by how others perceive what we're saying and less about our relationship with God or what he's thinking. I've shared this before, but when it struck me one day that when I was praying and I sneezed, I should say excuse me because God was present and I think a lot of our problem in our prayers and in our daily lives, God is that we just don't know God.
Yeah. Our our real perception and sometimes even our belief in our faith is in a God that really doesn't exist. You know, it's it's a God who we try to we try to make him into something of a man, anthropomorphic. Is that the right word? Yeah. Yeah, that is. We try to make him into something of a human and God has a body of flesh and bone. There's no doubt about it.
But God is omnipotent and he's omnipotent and he's omnipotent and he's omnipotent and you can't ignore any one of those three and we don't think about that enough. But when we pray, Scott, he's there. I don't care who prays. I don't care if it's Muslim, Hindu, Buddha, whoever prays if they're praying and they think they're praying to God. Oh, I don't care who they're praying to. God hears it. I mean, he hears everything that we say. He sees everything that we do.
He knows every thought that we think. We can't comprehend that. I know we don't comprehend that. But this is the power of God that he is omnipresent, omniscient. He's all knowing and he's omnipotent. He is all powerful. Anyway, I he's sovereign and this if we don't if we don't see God that way, if we don't think of God that way, but sometimes it's Latter-day Saints because we know that he has a body of flesh and bone. We turn him into something less in our minds than he really is. I don't care.
I mean, he hears us right now. And not only does he know our words, our actions and our thoughts, but I think it's especially important to understand that he knows our hearts. He knows our hearts. He knows our feelings. He knows he knows our desires. He knows he knows all of that, Scott. And as I love the Bible dictionary, you know, and the section on prayer that's written in the Bible dictionary. And so oftentimes the blessings that that we receive are just conditional upon us asking for them.
But our faith should not be in receiving blessings. Our faith should be in in God. So or even our faith shouldn't be in the prayer that we're using to ask for. Yeah, you should have faith in prayer. You shouldn't have faith in blessing, priesthood blessings. You shouldn't have faith in in anything else, but but God and Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, the Godhead. Anyway, well, so so I have a question then, you know, we bring up the trials and the challenges and the end.
The I use the word these unseen battles. How does knowing God? How does how does all of this offset all of that? Well, I'm sure there's other ways and you've you've thought of some of these, I'm sure. But just knowing that he's present. Just knowing that he knows that he knows he knows problems about me. I don't even know or understand.
Yeah, he certainly knows all my problems and not even my wife knows those and anybody, the closest person to us doesn't know all our problems or our thoughts or our feelings or our desires, but God does and just knowing that Scott should should give us some humility, more humility, more more gratitude, more strength. You know, my is my sweetheart speaking about her again.
She's had a lot of adversity in her life, Scott, and I've shared some of that and and I've learned a lot of lessons from some of the things that she's been through. But when she the third child that she delivered that was dead, I mean, we've had three steel boards and I often think Scott that if that if we would have lived just maybe 10, 20 years later, they could have saved those children.
Those children did not all three of those children, all three little boys, by the way, those three little boys would not have would not have died in the third trimester. They could have saved them, but they didn't know how to do that then. And we the miracle that we were able to have one more child because of moving to Minnesota. I think I've told that story and the miracle of a doctor who had been studying it for 20 years and was publishing an article that very month that we visited him.
He said there's an article coming out this month in the Journal of American Medical Association. Anyway, Scott, the third time she was so discouraged and sad that we had lost three little boys and the opportunity to raise wasn't just that we had lost them. It was it was the experiences, the thoughts of the blessings of raising those boys that made us both really, really sad. And she was all alone at the hospital when she delivered that last dead little baby. And she said she went out.
She she walked out of her room and she said that nobody was at the nurses station. There was nobody in the hall. Most of the rooms were empty. She felt like she was all alone in this hospital section of the hospital. Just all by herself. And as she was walking down the hall weeping, she felt this presence by her. You know, my wife is not one to say things just to say things. No, there's no hyperbole in her at all.
There's no hyperbole and her sincere, humble faith, simple faith, really, Scott, but powerful. And she was aware of this presence. And she knew that it was the Lord and she knew that he was aware of her situation and that he had compassion and that he would sucker her.
I think that just knowing that he knows just having faith in him that all will be well, even though it may not be well, that all will be well, gives us the strength, gives us the power, gives us the peace that will eventually turn into great, great joy swallowed up all in him. It's kind of like the Amanda Smith experience at Hans Mill. You know, all of that tragedy, her son and husband being killed and one son having his hip shot off in the blacksmith shop. I mean, awful. I don't know.
But that's the story of the person in the mob who pointed his gun at her son's head and blew his head off. And her husband being killed. And I think it was Alma, her son that had his hip shot off. Anyway, she runs out into the cornfield with other women and children are not out of the cornfield to escape them the mob. And as she's laying in the cornfield, she's praying. And she says that when she's praying that she has a voice come into her mind.
And I think it's cool that whenever I see this, I think about this story is the voice comes into her mind. And it's the voice. It's the last verse of the him, which is in their newly published. Thanks to Emma Smith, him book. And this this is one of the few hymns in our him book today that was in the original hymn book of the church. It's the hymn, how firm a foundation. And she hears the voice, not just the words, but the voice that the soul that on Jesus Jesus hath lean for repose. I will not.
I cannot desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake. I'll never know never, no never for sake. She years later, bearing testimony of this experience, and I heard a voice as well as clear as you are hearing mine. Repeat those words. And she knew that everything was going to be be okay. And there's that great miracle of her fit making a poultice and filling her son Alma's hip with this poultice and growing a new hip.
I just think that the key to all of this is the soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose. Not upon my strength, not upon others, not upon not not even upon prophets or apostles or other men. You know, it's you we have to learn how to lean upon Jesus for repose. Not upon blessings, not upon the church, not upon other things. We have to learn how to lean upon Jesus. God, and I, I think sometimes we are so blessed, so affluent in our country.
So have we were just so blessed with prosperity and so many things that it's easy for us. The more prosperous we become as evident in the story after story in the Book of Mormon. Right. The prosperity cycle. It's harder for us to learn how to lean upon Him. And that's what we have to learn for for challenges and versus these seen or unseen. I'm going back in my mind over 25 years of experience and sponsoring and and being part of alcoholics, anonymous and recovery and all of this.
And, you know, the problems abound there. So many of those problems are so many of the reasons that led people to make choices that were self destructive, for example, you know, and drink and drug and, you know, and many, many other things that that we see there. And you're so right. You know, the answer there is the same as it is here. We may be just kind of articulated as semi differently, but not really, you know, the the idea is, is that it is Him.
It's in a we talk about our second step or our higher power that whenever we have a problem, it's not about the problem. It's about our relationship or about how we are associating and which is a relationship with higher power or in this case, you know, we know our higher power to be Jesus Christ almost feels a little different for me to say higher power and not actually refer to it, but just out of respect to those who are in AA and so forth, we do that.
But that is the answer, you know, if we focus in. And so let me just back up, you know, when it whenever we have problems and in we do, we all do, we all have challenges in our lives, some of our own making, some not, but even the ones of our own making or even the ones that are not of our own making can cause us to feel like, Hey, this battle is big and it's distracting me from from strengthening my brethren. It's distracting me from helping others.
It's distracting me from filling the spirit even sometimes because all I can focus on is the lack. What's lacking in my life? You know, what's broken in my life and it may not even be broken, but if I choose to format it or if I choose to frame it that way where it is broken, then it has the same effect in my life. And so we'll call it broken. And so with or or Scott or part of that framework is based upon us comparing ourselves to others.
That's exactly or or an ideal, maybe not necessarily even to others, but more, but more more frequently to others, but definitely to an ideal that was given to us by others, right? Not Jesus, not Heavenly Father. The ideal that's given it to us from them is come to me, you know, take up your cross, you know, and be here, be with me.
You said you said a couple of things, you know, that it's really important that as we go through this, that if we know God, and I mean, we really know God and we know that He is the source to all of our answers to all of our problems that have been brought about because of the fall and every one of our unseen and seen battles that we have in our life are a direct result of the fall about him and Eve. They just are.
Yeah. And when we are dealing with those kinds of things in our life to know God and to know maybe even more importantly, or at least as important to know that God knows us and he's fully aware. And with us. And yeah, no, he knows us. He is with us continually.
You know, him being with us, I know for us to feel the Holy Ghost, for us to even have the gift of the Holy Ghost or his, his constant presence and influence and inspiration, revelation or life, there's something of a qualification, right, the qualifying factor there. But God is Omni-Presence, Scott. Yeah. And that's hard for us because and we've talked about, I mean, it can be difficult for us.
We've talked about this in the past, you know, because and you said it a few minutes ago, but because we know that God is God of flesh and bone, we tend to think, okay, we just automatically default to human quality. We limit him. Exactly. And by limiting him, who do we really limit? We really limit ourselves. Yeah, absolutely. You know.
And so and so by doing that, you know, we talked several times, episodes ago about how because of our earthly experience, when we see God, our Father, and we think of him being mad at us, we automatically attribute his anger to the same type of anger that our fathers here on earth would have had towards us or others. And that's just wrong for us to do. That's wrong to do. But because of that, I think that that's sometimes why we sometimes feel like we are losing the unseen battle.
Yeah. Because it's a matter of perspective and perception. And so our perspective changes as our relationship with him changes. And that was one of the things, you know, one of the individuals that I referred to earlier that was struggling so bad with these unseen battles. Just, you know, my question was, so how's your second step, you know, which is a for, you know, we have our own language there, which is a for how's your relationship with Jesus? How do you see Jesus in your life?
How do you see how do you see him and and and then our third step is being willing to turn our will in our life over the care of God as we understand him. And then if you understand him, are you really willing to let him run your life? You're getting into the, the actual steps from the lectures on faith, right, on how we can increase our faith and have the faith of power. And I think about this often, Scott, and I think this is really important.
I hope our listeners will take note that because I was, I was in a discussion not very long ago and it was obvious to me that people don't see faith as a series of, of, of, of choices. They, they kind of see faith as though you have it or you don't either have faith or you don't. Well, I don't, I don't believe that. I believe that everybody has some faith. The question is not whether I have it.
The question we all need to really search and and really strive to understand is how can I increase it? How can I increase my faith? We have to work on that because faith is the answer to all of our problems and more specifically really faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to all of our problems. I'll never forget Elder Razzman saying that three times in a talk on suicide prevention. And I know there were probably people who were offended by that.
I never really followed social media on that, but I'm sure that there were people who were writing that, you know, that he should have talked more about therapists. He should have talked about more about medication. He should have talked more about preventing anxiety or stress or whatever. And he didn't talk about it. Three times he said all of our answers to all of our problems is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't think that's an oversimplification because that is a slow and deliberate intentional work and it takes great work, Scott. It takes great work to really increase our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and one of the things we have to do according to the lectures on faith is not only to believe in him, not only to believe and understand his character, attributes and perfections because that takes great study. That takes great meditation.
That takes lots of experiences to understand his character, attributes and perfections. But the third and final one in the lectures on faith is to know that the course of life that we are pursuing is pleasing to God. That is a matter of daily choices, thousands of choices that we make that that if they are pleasing to the will of God will increase our faith. Faith is a choice and we have to strive daily to increase our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So I love the story of the man in the New Testament in Mark chapter 9, Scott. They call this boy, they call him a child that this man has who brings him to Jesus and he's been possessed by a devil and since his youth, I don't this obviously since we know the doctrine that devil can't can't possess or even tempt a child. This is doctrine, come to section 29 everybody is that the devil can't even tempt a child because of the power of the atonement not because they're not fallen.
A little children even little children are fallen we learn that mosaic chapter 3 verse 16. Satan has no power to even tempt a child. I just love that truth and doctrine which is only part of the restoration because of the Book of Mormon and doctrine. So this story in Mark 9 is about a father who brings his son to Jesus. This is what's recorded in verses 23 and 24 of Mark 9. Jesus said unto him, if thou can't believe, all things are possible to him that believe.
Okay, so time out right there for just a second. Can you imagine? So be a dad, right? You have this son who's going through this unexplained. I mean, this unexplainable super scary situation. And then he sees Jesus the healer and he says, Jesus, can you heal my son? And Jesus says, Hey, if you believe, I can all things are possible. Can you imagine being in that spot? You immediately I would begin to question my own belief. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, continue. Yeah, but I love the line Scott.
All things are possible to him that believe this. Yeah, that's such powerful lines by Jesus. And that's one of those I look for these right? That's all inclusive. How many things are possible? All things all all all things. He's not leaving anything out. I know I know that that thought appears in other scriptures. But this is spoken by Jesus himself. This would be in the red letter in my red letter Bible. This would be all red letters. Bold, bold red.
All things are possible to him that believe it. Verse 24 and straight way the father of the child cried out. Love the all release the phrase in the scriptures cried out. We don't cry out enough and said with tears. And sometimes you cry out and there's no tears. He said with tears Lord, I believe help them mind unbelief. Yeah, these tears may not have been real tears too.
You know, I think that may just be a word to kind of help us to understand the depth of emotion that this dad was feeling those. Yeah, I believe Lord, I believe. Help them mind unbelief. You know, none of us none of us have perfect faith, Scott. And I just think this is such a worthy prayer. Right. I think this is a prayer that we should offer often maybe occasionally for sure that we should say in our prayers, Heavenly Father, I believe. But please help. Right.
Yeah, a guy like me should probably be saying that pretty regularly. Well all of us should. Yeah. All of us should be praying. Faith is not only a choice. No. Faith is a gift. And we need to treat it like that. Faith isn't something that we earn. Faith I know, you know, faith, I got a lot of different definitions and I know that faith is is the result of obedience. Faith is the result of righteousness. All of those play a role in obtaining the gift of faith.
But honestly, Scott, faith is also a choice and faith is also a gift and it comes. It comes through prayer through intentional praying. It's not something that we can just grow on our own. Yeah. And I think we have to see it that way in order to obtain the faith necessary where we can have the faith of power and even in our unseen unseen challenges, unseen tests, unseen perils.
I mean, you know, we all harbor those kinds of things, whether it be something that we're hiding in the closet and as secret sin or addiction or or whether it be some other trial that we don't want anyone to know or others to really be aware of. We all need that increased faith in order to be able to carry those burdens. And sometimes those burdens won't be completely lifted to either Scott. No, it's great faith. It's as part of our mortal experience as well.
Sometimes, you know, I remember hearing elder President Benson talk, give a talk one time, you know, and he's talking and I don't even remember exactly what it is about. And I don't know that I could find the talk. But I'll never forget the feelings I felt when I summarize something he said in my own mind and that was simply this, that sometimes the Lord will calm the storm in your life. But sometimes the Lord will let the storm rage and through proper faith can calm the child in the storm.
Yeah, there's there's purpose, really, in adversity. There's divine. There's divine purpose in some of the challenges that we face. And and the important thing is that God knows about our challenges, our adversities, our pains and our afflictions. He knows them. And if he can, if he allows them to continue in us, then we need to try to find the purpose and the growth that he is trying to teach us or to give us in those in those afflictions.
I mean, I think I just think it's wrong of us to think of the gospel of Jesus Christ like a vending machine where we put in our effort to do this and do that and keep all the commandments. And then and then we expect the candy bar to come out and and we receive all the blessings. It just doesn't happen that way. There are just so many times in my life in your life in so many people who are keeping the commandments lives who have severe challenges.
Children they have children they they somehow believed is my wife and I not evilly believed that if we kept all the commandments that our children would would turn out to be, you know, great saints and they probably will someday. But but it's just it's just not real nor is it healthy to believe that if you keep all the commandments and you do everything that's right, that your children are going to turn out to be sinless or or perfect.
But yet so many in the church do and when they don't turn out perfect or when they when they find out that their child has gay tendencies or has different challenges or their expectations of their children are not being met and God seems to not be blessing their children the way they thought their children should be blessed. Wow, it's so easy for parents and others to turn away and to think that their faith has been what not met their faith has not been fulfilled.
Yeah, it's that's just so sad because where's their faith right? Is there faith in in something turning out right so in a process is there faith in their child is their faith in the blessing is their faith in a thing something or is their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I this I always go back on the subject to the experience of the the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, you know, in John chapter five Scott.
I love I love that story and I think it teaches us powerful lesson and there's lots of different interpretations of this story and I guess lots of different judgments or ideas about the the man who laid by the pool who was so crippled that this pool of Bethesda I know no one seems to really understand what what was happening here other than there was a pool not far from the temple and that some the some believed whether this was real or
not real we're not sure some believe that an angel had come down and moved the water and this would occasionally happen and it's unclear how often this would happen whether it was at the feast because this this chapter starts out talking about the the feast which we believe is the feast to pass over and that's why Jesus is even in Jerusalem.
We don't know that this is just a Passover week or is this a monthly weekly or daily thing we don't know but there's there's a bunch of infirm people waiting around this pool and when the water moves if you if you're one of the first ones in your heeled and Jesus comes to the pool of Bethesda and he sees this man laying on laying on his bed or really more kind of a man.
Now there was a Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda by the way Bethesda means Beth is house of and the rest of that means house of mercy and in these days lay a great multitude of impotent folk and of blind halt withered waiting for the moving of the water for an angel went down at a certain season into the pool troubled the water who so ever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in
was made whole of whatsoever disease he had and a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years when Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been how long a time in that case he saith unto him wilt thou be made whole. Okay so let's just pause on this inspired question for just a minute and how many times whether we hear this question or not from Jesus how many times is this question asked of us.
Wilt thou be made whole do you even want to be healed do you even want to be better do you really want to I mean Scott you've you've taught me over and over again through dictionary recovery programs this idea that there's always a payoff for so many people who who have addictions who have problems that are somewhat self-inflicted and who don't seem to be able to make the changes necessary you always bring up the question well what's your payoff I
did think that's so interesting that that they're always not out why I don't know myself always but they're usually is some sort of payoff isn't there. Yeah it's true you know and without getting into it and belaboring it a great deal I mean we can all think of instances perhaps even in our own lives when we have chosen the easier path right the easier way and sometimes that easier way we find show up in our in our extremities in our trials.
For example it's easier for me sometimes to stay stuck in whatever an issue may be you know if I'm struggling with a mental illness issue maybe a depression issue or whatever that comes about as a trigger because of the past trauma memory. Yeah situational. Yeah then I can then I can use that to stay stuck because if I'm depressed then I don't have the responsibility otherwise if I'm not depressed then I got to suit up show up and be responsible in my life.
Yeah and you can play out so many things whether they be physical or they be emotional. Yeah any challenge where they be social. What's how come you stay stuck. Why do you choose to stay there stuck. Yeah what's the payoff. And so Jesus asked this question. Will thou be made whole. Yeah do you really want to. Okay well because let's talk about that because if you really are made whole then you can't beg for food anymore you got to get out and work. Yeah exactly.
Yeah you know you got to use some exercise you can't just lay around here all day looking at how beautiful this water is in this great area close to the temple and everything else. I mean there's something I have to go get a job. You're gonna have to do something. Many commentaries on this that I've read have have brought that up. He asked that question because this man has has kind of accepted that this is this is who he is. Yeah. He's been living life and that this is how he makes his living.
And he has found a way to be comfortable in it. Yeah. And part of that comfort Dave is complaining that I'm not comfortable enough. Well listen to what listen to what the man answers. Number seven the impotent man answered him sir I have no man. So he doesn't say yes please yes yes of course I want to be made whole. Yes of course I want to be healed. He doesn't answer that way. He just says sir can't you know don't you see my problem here.
I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool. But while I am coming another step down before me. Whoa is me. If you had it as bad as I had it there's no way you'd get in that water. Why are you even asking me that question. I can't be healed. I can't be healed if I wanted to. Isn't it enough that I'm here watching everybody be healed and and and feigning or feigning an attempt to also be healed.
Yeah. Yeah. Anyway I I can't judge the man and obviously Jesus knew his heart because Jesus responds to that by not Jesus sees beyond our excuses Scott. Jesus sees beyond it and he sees so deep into our hearts. And this must have been a good man because Jesus sees it I think into his heart knows that Jesus knows that as soon as he says this the man is going to do it.
So that's there's great credit to this to this man to this man that Jesus trusts him enough that Jesus although you know I'm wondering I wondered when I read this how many times did Jesus say this to other people and they didn't respond and they didn't right respond how many how many other people could have been healed would have been healed right should have been healed but they never well and here's the thing about the man too and we're all
the man in this case at some point as well you know here's the thing about him you know maybe he didn't really know. You know maybe this really was his best effort.
He and he doesn't maybe even know who Jesus well and maybe he doesn't know that hit that he's responsible maybe he doesn't know that I've taken on this persona of being comfortable in this situation and we're assuming that he is you know we're only using this for illustrative purposes right at this point but but you know sometimes we get there to Dave we don't we get just it's just like woe is me my life is hard and sometimes we
just don't have the ability or the eyes to catch the vision that we can be healed through Jesus well here's this guy and then Jesus proposes well what if I can heal you take up your bed and walk and what a relief that would have been. Yeah so one reason I want to read this story because here's another example of a man who doesn't have faith in Jesus.
He's going to the pool because he has faith in an angel right faith in the moving of water faith in water at some process faith in men who are going to help help him get into the water. Yeah where's where's his faith.
Yeah and so that's why Jesus asked you want to be healed well then you got to put your faith in something other than the angel or the pool or the man that's not here or the man that you say isn't going to help you exactly and Jesus say it's unto him rise take up thy bed and walk and immediately this is credit to the man immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked and on the same day it was the Sabbath and Jesus Jesus
has to put up with all the persecution of the Pharisees and Sadducees for not keeping the Sabbath they holy according to them but but nevertheless I love that story so grateful that John recorded that because I think it teaches us a powerful lesson Scott about where where is our faith where is our faith centered and do we so many times do we just stay stuck because our faith is in the wrong thing it's it's displaced our faith has to be centered
in focused on the Lord Jesus Christ and really to do that Scott you know you were talking about the hidden problems really to do that we have to focus less on our problems and we have to focus more upon the Lord Jesus Christ this comes back to the scripture so often the scriptures that we keep quoting over and over again in this course is one thing is needful and then the scripture in doctrine come in section six look unto me
in every thought doubt not fear not you know if we could just learn to do that if we could kind of experiment with that if we could get better at doing that make improvement incremental small improvement in doing that our our problems while they may not go away Scott we would be able to handle them better than we handle them yeah so I know we're about running out of time and I made the comment that even knowing that Jesus is with us all the time will give
us comfort strength and bless us but it's also understanding the atonement of Jesus Christ Scott it's understanding him his power his presence which is always with us knowing that he knows us really understanding that and then knowing what the atonement in his suffering did for us and that we will receive compensatory blessings for all of our suffering and I think about the saints in Jackson County Missouri and this this scripture which says
barely I said to you my friends the stocking comes section 98 fear not let your hearts be comforted I mean they're going through terrible stuff Scott rejoice ever more and in everything give thanks think of that in everything even in your trials even in your afflictions this is like a Cory 10 boom sister while they're in a concentration camp in everything give thanks waiting patiently on the Lord patiently on the Lord I think that means continually
serving him not just sitting there doing nothing waiting a waiter what is a waiter doing a cafe a waiter waits on you it doesn't wait for you it doesn't say for you it says waiting on the Lord which I believe means serving him continually even in your problems for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath which is the Lord of hosts the Lord of armies and navies and powers and are recorded with this seal in testament
the Lord has sworn and decreed that they shall be granted verse 3 this is the key verse I think therefore he give it this promise unto you with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled in all things were with you have been inflicted shall work together for your good and my name's glory sayeth the Lord that's a part of a description of compensatory blessings Scott that all things even bad things that happen to us even bad choices that we make
or things that we didn't even choose that bad things that happen to us that that were innocent of all things shall work together for your good that is only possible because of the power mercy grace through the atonement of Jesus Christ so knowing that Christ is with us knowing Christ understanding the powers blessings available to us through his atonement should give us the peace and the strength and the purpose in all of our seen and unseen
challenges Scott in life let me just kind of summarize a couple of things so we're talking about the challenges that we have in life it seems like we've talked a little bit about how important it is to maintain a relationship with deity specifically through Jesus Christ specifically by thinking of him and every thought which specifically means we go to the garden and the cross and all of that with him to understand his atonement
and his atonement and the power through him or his power that comes there is available to us because of his atonement to battle any of the battles in our life seen or unseen and so how do we do that we do that with a daily relationship by doing our daily's getting back to the things that we've talked about in the past talking to him daily not just when we have our son foaming at the mouth and we need to have him say hey how's your
belief you know that's not the time for our belief to be tested our belief to be tested is on a daily basis I love in the diet and I'm just we have two thoughts I want to conclude with this is out of the big book of alcoholics anonymous page 85 what we really have is a daily reprieve contingent a daily reprieve okay so we just we don't get we don't get a reprieve that will last into eternity because we have laurels to rest on right what we get
is a really what we really have is a daily reprieve daily contingent contingent on what contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition written so that everybody could receive it for those of us who know Jesus know that that means contingent on our relationship with Jesus so it's a gift you know the gift is not the gift not the relief the gift is the giver of the gift right and doctrine and covenants 8833 for what does the prophet
of man if a gift is bestowed upon him so in other words what does it matter if he relieves your unseen or seen battle what if he would have so what if he takes care of that for you you know for what does the prophet of man if a gift is bestowed upon him if he received not the gift that's important behold he rejoices not in that which is given unto him neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift it's all about a relationship with Jesus Christ
every battle we face today tomorrow in the past or for eternity into the future the answer is always in that relationship with him every time we get we do this we pray that to our focus may be more directly on the giver of the gift may that be our focus this week that will be our invitation thanks for being with us everybody we look forward to being with you again next week and until then be well.