That Spirit Though

THE SPURIT.

When can I tell whether to follow and impression or not?
When do I let people figure out their own thing? When do I speak, hang back, etc?

God knows all things. He knows why we act the way we do, the physical struggles, pain, emotions, circumstances, weaknesses, strengths, personalities, fears, anxieties, desires, hopes, dreams, etc that we each experience. The spirit is capable of letting me or anyone else know what to say, what not to say, etc because he knows what's up. I don't have the whole picture. For reals.

The Spirit of the Lord:
Spirit of wisdom, understanding, spirit of counsel, might, knowledge and fear of the Lord (isaiah 11:2)

Spirit of wisdom:
(Dictionary) quality of having experience, knowledge, good judgement, quality of being wise
sagacity, intelligence, sense, judgement, prudence
Soundness of an action of decision with regard to application of experience

ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, commons sense, and insight.

Spirit of understanding
perceive intended meaning of words, infer something from information received, sympathetically aware of other people's feelings, tolerant, forgiving
insight, good judgement
compassionate, sympathetic, sensitive, considerate, tender, kind, thoughtful, patient, forbearing, lenient, merciful, humane

Spirit of counsel
advice, act of exchanging opinions and ideas, private guarded thoughts and opinions
talking WITH rather than AT

Spirit of might
physical strength (won't get physically overwhelmed by the demands of life with the help of the spirit), superior power or strength, force, power or ability to accomplish, capacity

Spirit of knowledge
creating, involving, using information, acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, study, investigation, familiarity with subject, perception of fact or truth, awareness
*Seems like knowledge is more fact based, not necessarily the same as wisdom. Wisdom is more recognizing what to do or how to act according to what you understand or know.

Fear of the Lord
*Value God's opinion/view of self more than man
*More willing to please God than man or self
*God's will above own will/will of man

So as you welcome more of the spirit in your life, you are promised that these qualities will come more naturally. These are all attributes of Heavenly Father, a complete, whole supreme being. Christ is one with His Father in these qualities and we can acquire them as well through daily doing our best to follow Christ's example. On our own, we're going to fall short again and again and again. But we are promised as we put off the natural man, we will become the best version of ourselves through the atonement of christ by following the promptings of the spirit (mosiah 3:19).

There will always be something I need to improve on or work on in my own life to welcome the spirit more fully into all I do. Keeping the commandments on an individual basis is the way God has given each one of us to more fully feel the spirit- which leads to peace, love, understanding, guidance, protection, and hope, no matter what we are going through or experiencing. The Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, prayer, scripture study, keeping the sabbath day holy, honoring our families, etc- all of these are meant to improve the quality of our lives. God give us these commandments because he LOVES us. He wants us to have the best chance at growing, learning, and reaching our highest potential. Does that mean things are going to be perfect? Heck to the no! We'll still feel sorrow. We will still have painful experiences. Things will not go the way we hoped or wanted to. We will experience heartbreak. There will be things out of our control that are unfair. These are all part of the mortal experience! However, as we choose to more fully keep God's commandments in our lives and turn our hearts to Him in all we do, our ability to love others increases, our capacity to empathize, reach out, lift others, and find peace through troubled times increases immensely. That spirit though- it can do incredible things for and with us if we are willing to live in a way that will invite it into our lives.

 I know there is a lot I need to change. I know I am definitely not perfect at consistently living each one of these commandments right now. But I know I can change that. I know it will take a lot of work on my part. I know it won't happen overnight, or even in a couple of weeks, or even within a time frame that I can see. But I do know that with God on my side, I can do anything. I know he has helped me before, with challenges and habits that seemed impossible to overcome. I know that He cares for each one of us individually. I know that having the spirit more fully in my life will affect me, and many others in a positive way. I know as I adjust the seemingly small things that aren't in line with how I want to live, they have the ability to make the biggest difference.

"Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive it in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it." Enos 1:15 ( enos has been coming up quite a lot lately. Yup)

I hope you have a lovely day!
Much love,
Emily