Helaman 3:35 Nevertheless they did afast and bpray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their chumility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the dpurifying and the esanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their fyielding their hearts unto God.
This is the scripture theme of the 40 day fast, which we will talk more about.
Na and I were talking recently my trek experience and her mission. For both of us these experiences were extreme spiritual highs for us. We both felt closer to God after these experiences. We talked about while you are affected by these spiritual highs you have an increased hunger for knowledge and to share your knowledge of the gospel. We change and become better. But it is not always easy to stay this way. As we go through daily life, we realized, that sometimes we seek heaven to obliquely. This negatively affects us spiritually and causes us to lose the desire to seek knowledge which causes us to lose more of the spirit. A damning cycle that we must not get into, but we all do. thankfully for all of us an atonement was made so we don't have to stay in this cycle, we can get out. The Lord has given us many ways to help us keep the spirit and progress on His path, one of these ways is through fasting and prayer. In this life all of us are striving to over come the appetites of the natural man, fasting gives us the opportunity to develope self-mastery. In fasting we put our spirits before our bodies, in doing this we are learning to "yield our hearts unto God". The Savior set his example of fasting with His forty day fast. We can do the same, but of course we cannot go that long without eating but we can do this in our own mortal way here is how it will work.
It begins with prayer even before you start the fast. In Alma 46, Moroni prayed to know where to sanctify his cities. As we humbly come to The Lord and seek to know what is keeping us from truly being close to Him, He will surely guide us.(examples: negative thinking towards your self or others, being quick to anger, rude speech, and many others) We will be inspired to know what we need to change and how we can apply His Atonement to make this change. Write it down. This will be the spiritual focus for your fast.
You will also need to decide what you will fast from physically. This can be anything. (Examples:going without chocolate or sugar in General, waking up earlier and studying more going without worldly media, really anything the spirit guides you to do).
You begin the fast by actually fasting (two consecutive meals),such as on fast sunday. Each morning during this fast pray about the things on your lists and ask The Lord for help. Each evening report to The Lord on how you have done. Give thanks and repent where needed. Continue for forty days and then end with a fast just as you began.
We invite all of you cuties to experience your own forty day fast. We know that as you do this you will feel an increased measure of the spirit. You will come even closer to Christ. We know that He desires to be close to us but we must make the choice every day to be close to Him. We know the changes we experiences are only possible through the Atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We love Him and we love you all.
Love, Cheeseman and Miss Na
Just a note to say... By small and simple things are great things brought to pass . But by striving prayerfully to improve each day we show The Lord that we want Him in our lives. Which brings us an increase in the spirit which always brings an increased desire for knowledge which brings us to more repentance and increase in spirit. A cycle we want to be in and because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can be in.
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