Apply Your Hearts to Understanding

This is from a talk I gave in sacrament meeting Sunday, Feb. 10, 2007...

In the closing chapters of the Book of Mormon, Moroni writes:

“And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?
“And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.
“Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.
“And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart” (Moroni 7:40-43).

For a long time in my life, I was secure in who I was, what I was doing, and where I was going. Then, a few months ago, my world started to crumble all around me. I began to question many decisions I had made in my life and I wondered why the Lord had led me to the places he had. I felt like Moroni, wandering alone on the earth.

As things started to fall apart, I began to take a look at my life. I started to work on changing some things that were happening, but I felt as if I were fighting an uphill battle. I thought to myself, ‘If it’s going to be this hard, I don’t want to do it anymore. I will go back to my comfort zone and be content with the life I had.’

What I didn’t realize was that all of this was preparing me. My hardened heart needed to be softened. Through these experiences I was being tenderized so that I would become teachable. The Lord was saying to me, “I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction” (1 Nephi 20:10).

One night as I was reading the Book of Mormon, Abinadi’s words pricked my heart: “Ye have not applied your hearts to understanding; therefore, ye have not been wise…I perceive that [the gospel is] not written in your hearts” (Mosiah 12:27; 13:11).

Like King Noah and his priests, I knew the gospel. Personally, I knew the Atonement was there for me. But my heart was not open; I had solid walls.

In Mark we read about the disciples on the storm-tossed sea. My small personal boat was being tossed around in the midst of the sea, and I was wondering if the fourth watch had not yet arrived. I was trying to navigate my boat alone. I was so focused on my personal trials, I did not realize the Savior had been watching over me the whole time. All I had to do was look to the shore, to the light.

Elder David A. Bednar said, “I suspect [we] are much more familiar with the nature of the redeeming power of the Atonement than we are with the enabling power of the Atonement… I frankly do not think many of us ‘get it’ concerning this enabling and strengthening power of the Atonement, and I wonder if we mistakenly believe we must make the journey from good to better and become saints all by ourselves through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline, and with out obviously limited capacities.”

The Lord told the disciples, “Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.” Mark continues, “And he (Jesus Christ) went up unto them into the ship (into my heart); and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered” (Mark 6:50-51).

Are you allowing Christ to come in to your heart, to your troubled ship on the sea? Are you feeling the love of God – that he loves you, personally? If not, I ask you, “What can you do that will help you feel His love everyday, personally?

I offer you two suggestions. The first is to let down the walls that are around your heart. It wasn’t until I realized that my walls were more of a hindrance than a protection that I could see what I had been missing out on. Walls are Satan’s way of having the last laugh, because the wicked want the righteous to fail, but the Lord wants you to succeed.

The way to succeed is to let your walls down. As I have let my personal walls down, I have been able to feel the love of the Lord for me personally on almost a daily basis. And people are taking notice. People who I haven’t seen in a while have commented that I am a different person. I do things because it makes me happy and I know it is in line with the Lord’s will, not because that is what I think someone else wants me to be.

I am not going to tell you it has been the easiest thing I have ever done. However, the struggle has been easier because I am not trying to do it alone.

Elder Jeffery R. Holland said, “That is the way it has always been (to struggle), Paul says, but don’t draw back. Don’t panic and retreat. Don’t lose confidence. Don’t forget how you once felt (how good it was when you started to feel the love of God in your life). Don’t distrust the experience you had… If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now. Don’t give up when the pressure mounts. Certainly don’t give in to that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness. Face your doubts. Master your fears. “Cast not away therefore your confidence” (Heb. 10:35). Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you.”

The Lord tells us again and again in the scriptures, “I will be your light in the wilderness” (1 Nephi 17:13). So, put your conquering face on, destroy the walls you have built around your heart, and charge the obstacles ahead of you.

The second suggestion is prayer. It has been an integral part of my change. When I consistently communicate with my Father in Heaven, it is so much easier to have “a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all men.” When I don’t talk to him, the darkness starts to creep in and it is easier to dispare.

Enos is a great example of mighty prayer. For “my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul.”

The Lord, knowing that the desires of Enos were pure responded, “Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it” (Enos 1:4;15).

How, do you get faith? Like Moroni said, you must have hope; and in order to have this kind of hope, your heart must be meek and lowly. In other words, your heart must be open and without walls.

When I know my will is aligned with His, I am a much happier person. The Lord has promised, “I will give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived” (D&C 52:14). There will be good things on your path, and there will be better things on your path, but don’t settle for either of those. Struggle to get the best things in your life.

You have a pattern for your life and it is your duty to find it. But your ability to receive this revelation hinges on you letting your walls down and letting the love of God fill your life.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him” (2 Cron. 16:9).

May your soul hunger to find the pattern the Lord has for you. May your heart become perfect toward the Lord, and be open to the love He has for you so that you become strong and immovable in your faith. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.