Layne's Lunch

14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:  15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. James 5:14-15 As I studied and pondered this scripture I felt that there are two parts of a healing blessing that need to take place to make the healing effective.  The first part is the responsibilities of the person receiving the blessing and the second part is the responsibilities of the men exercising their priesthood to give the blessing.   For the person who is sick 1. If you are sick, then you should call for the elders.  While it is noble for the priesthood to offer to give a blessing, the person receiving the blessing needs to take that first step of faith and ask for one.   2.  The person who is sick needs to exercise faith sufficient to be healed.  Think of the stor

I chose this scripture because I thought it would be a good review of what it takes to come unto Christ.   19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.  As we strive to come unto christ we must put off the natural man.  But what does that mean?  How do we do it?  The key phrase is in the middle of the verse, “through the atonement of Christ the Lord”.  Certainly, we must become as a child and submit to the will of the Father.  But the atonement helps us do that.  Our part is to yield to the Holy Sprit.  When we submit our will to the will of our Heavenly Father then we are able t

 20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.  21 And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen. I chose this scripture more because of the second verse rather than the first verse.  Of course I appreciate the doctrine of pressing forward with faith in Christ.  That that it key, but I wanted to think more about the second verse.   Particularly I focused on a couple of phrases.   First there is no other way to be saved other than through Jesus Christ.

I continued with my theme of "come unto Christ" again this week.   Moroni 10:32 is another great scripture on this topic.  32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. This is one of my favorite scriptures.  I think it is because it leads you through a progression of how you can come to know God.  It is the blueprint for a testimony.  Equally important is that it clearly states what Christ has done for us.  One phrase that resonates with me is that “his grace is sufficient for you”. This is a reminder that none of our sins are beyond the reach of the atonement or beyond the grace of Christ.   Another reminder in this scripture is that we can