Prepare Ye The Way

I am very grateful to be speaking today during the Month of December when everything around us is focused on the Birth of our Savior. 

I would like to welcome the Spirit to be here and I hope that your hearts will be touched by the messages shared today.

First I would like to share a personal story…..In 2005, we lived in Pearland Texas.  Pearland is located right on the outskirts of Houston and is about an hour away from the Gulf of Mexico. 

Three days before Hurricane Rita hit Texas; our local leaders warned the communities in the storm zone to evacuate.  This was insane because the population size was extremely large.  Houston alone has a population of about 2 million people.  If you add in the surrounding suburbs it was about 3 million. 

Three weeks earlier we had watched the devastating results of Hurricane Katrina.  Houston’s Reliant Stadium housed a small group of 100,000.  Our Stakes had received service assignments to help in many ways.  The individuals staying in the Stadium had lost so much, their family members, their homes, and their way of life.

As we saw the Category 5 Hurricane approaching Houston we packed up our children and headed to Dallas where my Sister lived. 

It normally would have been a 4 hour drive; however, we sat at a standstill on the freeway all day and all through the night with our frightened neighbors.

It was total kayos’ stores and consumers were running out of gas on the roads and there were altercations erupting throughout what seemed like a never ending journey to Dallas.  We were on the road for 16 long hours.

How grateful we were for the small blessings we noticed.  We somehow had enough gas to make the long journey to Dallas. We had two small children and one on the way, and we had food and water for them.  We were kept safe from the turmoil we saw all around us….and lastly as Hurricane Rita made its way into the Gulf it turned away from Houston and hit the eastern part of Texas.

There were 113 deaths reported from Hurricane Rita and out of those 113, 107 happened during the evacuation, because of weather and traffic issues.   

That experience caused me to ponder on two important questions.

1. In whom can we trust?
2. How can we be better prepared?

In Isaiah 41: 10 we are promised, Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

In 2 Nephi 4, it talks about how Nephi feels discouraged because of his weaknesses and iniquities.  His father Lehi has passed away and his brothers have turned against him. The words he spoke touched my heart.

16 Behold my soul delighted in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondered continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.

17. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimed: O wretched man that I am!

Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.

19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaned because of my sin; nevertheless, I know in who I have trusted.

20.  My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.

Nephi continues

34. O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever.  I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh.  Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.

These scriptures allow us to see Nephi in a way that makes him very much like you and me.  We are not perfect and we all have struggles it is what we put our trust in, that makes us who we are.

Nephi gives us great words of advice when he says….“I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh”.  “Oh Lord I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever.

Because of Nephi’s desire to know the Lord he was able to overcome great hardships through the companionship of our Savior, and he was lead to safety time and time again.

There seems to be no end to our Savior’s desire to lead us to safety. And there is consistency in the way He shows us the path. He calls by more than one means so that it will reach those willing to accept it.

And those means always include sending the message by the mouths of His prophets, whenever people have qualified to have the prophets of God among them. Those authorized servants are always charged with warning the people, telling them the way to safety.

Apostle Paul wrote that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (2 Corinthians 13:1)

Prophets have been sent to us to prepare the way for our return to our Heavenly Father.  We will hear the message that God wants us to hear from one prophet to the next.  As we seek for God’s guidance we will hear the warning more than once.  We will have way more than 3 days to prepare.

President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote….Would it not be an extraordinarily strange thing if the Lord should come and begin his reign of peace, take vengeance on the wicked, cleansing the earth from sin, and not send messengers to prepare the way before him? Should we expect the Lord to come to judge the world without first giving it warning and preparing the means of escape for all who will repent?

-Noah was sent to the world to warn it of the flood. If the people had hearkened they would have escaped. 

-Moses was sent to lead Israel into the Promised Land, to fulfill the promises made to Abraham.

-John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for the coming of Christ.

In each instance the call came through the opening of the heavens.

The Lord promised to have the same interest in humanity preceding his second coming.

-Joseph Smith was sent to prepare the way for this second coming, by the proclamation of the fullness of the Gospel and the granting to all men the means of escape from iniquity and transgression.

-In our day we have a loving Prophet, President Monson and many great Apostles who are placed here on earth to teach and guide us so we will be prepared for the day when our Savior returns.

President Joseph Fielding Smith once told a group of Latter-day Saints that he was “praying for the end of the world.” He said, “If it came tomorrow I would be glad.” In response to that declaration, a woman spoke out, loudly enough for others to hear. “Oh, I hope not,” she said.

How can we be better prepared?

If you find yourself feeling discouraged about your preparation for the second coming and you are searching for some help, here are a few suggestions from our Prophet and his Apostles.

The first suggestion is to Pray Always-

When Oliver Cowdery failed in an attempt to translate, the Lord told him:

“Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

“But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

“But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings” (D&C 9:7–9).

President Packer shared a story illustrating that principle.

There was a little girl who was upset with her brother; he had built a trap to catch sparrows.

Unable to get help, she said to herself, “Well, I’ll pray about it.”

After her prayer, the little girl told her mother, “I know he is not going to catch any sparrows in his trap because I prayed about it. I’m positive he won’t catch any sparrows!”

Her mother said, “How can you be so sure?”

She said, “After I prayed about it, I went out and kicked that old trap all to pieces!”

How often do we pray without the Faith to accept Gods Will???

We should learn to pray. Pray often. Pray in your mind, in your heart. Pray on your knees. Prayer is your personal key to heaven. The lock is on your side of the veil.

President Packer reminds us that we should conclude all our prayers with “Thy will be done”.

The second suggestion is to Study the Words of God

 President Monson shared….When we came to the earth, we brought with us that great gift from God—even our agency. In thousands of ways we are privileged to choose for ourselves. Here we learn from the hard taskmaster of experience.

We discern between good and evil. We differentiate as to the bitter and the sweet. We learn that decisions determine destiny.

I am certain we left our Father with an overwhelming desire to return to Him, that we might gain the exaltation He planned for us and which we ourselves so much wanted.

 Although we are left to find and follow that path which will lead us back to our Father in Heaven, He did not send us here without direction and guidance. Rather, He has given us the tools we need, and He will assist us as we seek His help and strive to do all in our power to endure to the end and gain eternal life.

To help guide us we have the words of God and of His Son found in our holy scriptures. We have the counsel and teachings of God’s prophets. Of paramount importance, we have been provided with a perfect example to follow—even the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—and we have been instructed to follow that example.

Said the Savior Himself: “Come, follow me.”² “The works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do.”³ He posed the question, “What manner of men ought ye to be?” And then He answered, “Verily I say unto you, even as I am.”⁴ “He marked the path and led the way.”⁵

As we look to Jesus as our Exemplar and as we follow in His footsteps, we can return safely to our Heavenly Father to live with Him forever.

Said the prophet Nephi, “Unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved.”⁶

As we strive to place Christ at the center of our lives by learning His words, by following His teachings, and by walking in His path, He has promised to share with us the eternal life that He died to gain. There is no higher end than this, that we should choose to accept His discipline and become His disciples and do His work throughout our lives. Nothing else, no other choice we make, can make of us what He can.

We really have two choices during our time here on earth.  One we can turn away from our Savior in fear and frustration, or we can turn to him with full trust as we pray diligently and study the words of the gospel, allowing him to strengthen us and guide us back to him. 

I bear witness that Jesus Christ loves us, and he lives, he was a born into this world to make the atoning sacrifice for us.   He did overcome death and he is the almighty Master Teacher and if we will go to him with anything he will bring us Peace and Happiness no matter what we are dealing with.