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The Merciful Redeemer Jesus Christ Has Ultimate Power To Conquer Despair"With faith in the merciful Redeemer and His power, potential despair turns to hope. One's very heart and desires begin to change, and the once-appealing sin becomes increasingly abhorrent."
The Divine Gift of Repentance; D. Todd Christofferson
Faith is belief in Jesus Christ. Faith involves more than belief but belief a major part of it. The words of God in scripture and from the living prophets are the tools God has given you to know of His reality. The Holy Ghost will bear witness of it and can burn doubt out of you. You don’t have to see to know. The merciful Redeemer. Jesus Christ is merciful. Merciful means compassionate and someone who provides relief. I think about those who are addicted to anything from drugs to pornography to technology. Addictions rob you of your agency, which is your power to act, and when that happens deep despair and discouragement sets in. Those who are addicted feel like they are in the darkest blackest hole emotionally and spiritually that one could ever imagine. Understand and accept that Jesus Christ's desire is for you to reclaim your freedom. You can do it but you can't do it without prayer. It can't be superficial and shallow prayers. To overcome something like addiction you have to put everything you have into your prayers. You have to be focused and desire to be free from you addiction over anything else. FAITH IN HIS POWER Jesus Christ is the God of heaven and earth. He is the creator of this world. He has all flesh in the palms of His hands, which includes the accumulated armies of the world with their weaponry. Faith in His power to bless and heal. Christ performed mighty miracles, everything from healing the sick which includes all forms of physical and mental disease to bringing the dead back to life, to casting out devils to controlling the elements of the earth to defying the laws of nature by feeding multitudes with a few loaves of bread and a small amount of fish. Accept that you are nothing compared to God but with Christ you are everything. The key to success in life in any area is to learn how to bind yourself to Jesus Christ. One of the best definitions I heard of humility was when I was on a Book of Mormon cruise with a University of Utah scholar who said, "there is a God and I am not Him." POTENTIAL DESPAIR TURNS TO HOPE Just thinking of Jesus Christ changes your brain neuron connections and when it is combined with the Holy Ghost it unlooses old harmful connections. Thinking of Jesus Christ always is not just a good idea to overcome Satan and sin, it is a fundamental way of literally changing your very nature. ONE'S VERY HEART AND DESIRES CHANGE A change from a hard heart to a soft heart. Desires are linked to the heart. When the heart is hard your desires are selfish which results in sadness. Thinking about yourself results in unhappiness. When your heart is soft it results in a desire to reach out to others. True joy is focusing on others while sadness is self-directed. I think another element of a soft heart is one without fear. Fear is not part of the gospel. The happiest people even those in the most trying circumstances are outward directed. Elder Maxwell said that the atonement would not have happened if it were not for the character of Christ. What was Christ's character? His character was such that He was outward directed meaning He was more worried about other people than Himself even when He was in incomprehensible pain and suffering. It is hard to comprehend how He did not turn inward during such pain, but He clearly did not. In my opinion this is the reason why Christ was the happiest person. The environment or your circumstances does not determine your happiness. The entire plan of God the Father rested solely on shoulders of Jesus Christ. If He failed ALL would be lost and there was no plan B. All of us would have been eternally miserable without hope. I believe Jesus Christ knew the consequences of failing, and I think it was pure love that prevented Him from shrinking. |