The Savior’s Instructions about the Holy Ghost

• Disciples of Jesus Christ must keep the commandments to keep the Holy Ghost. 
• If the Holy Ghost is present, he can teach you ALL things and bring all things to your remembrance.
• The Holy Ghost will also testify of Heavenly Father. When he does this we are also expected to testify of our Father in Heaven. 
• The Holy Ghost will reprove the world of its sin calling all to repent
• The Holy Spirit will guide disciples of Christ to truth and lead you to glorify the Father in Heaven. 
• We have to believe in the Holy Ghost in order to have his presence
• We have to live a righteous life
• After the Savior returned to Heavenly Father, the Apostles were left alone, but because they led good and righteous lives, they were able to have the Holy Ghost with them. 
• I think a time in my life where I have felt the Spirit the strongest was when I was in labor with my daughter. I had a long(ish) labor of 28 hours with 2 hours of pushing. At about 24 hours, my epidural gave out and I was in a lot of pain, but I just began to pray to Heavenly Father to send me comfort and I instantly felt safe and loved. After that moment, I felt the Holy Ghost wrap himself around me and my daughter. The birth of my daughter was an incredibly moving and spiritual experience for me and my husband. 

The Savior Taught the Apostles About Leadership

In the world today, leaders are often seen as people who dictate without love and are not expected to serve others. John 13:1-17 introduces us to the idea of Christ-Like leadership. This is the story of Christ washing his disciples feet. He was giving them love and service, which is exactly how our Church should run. Applying this teaching of Christ washing his disciples feet shows that we are all equals, put on this earth to serve one another. I think it really warns against pride within our leaders and reinforces the idea that our leaders should serve us. 

I watched our Bishop take all of the young men and abled bodied men out of the Church meetings and start building barriers around homes during a really intense flood. It was my favorite thing to see him working along side the other workers. It was wonderful to see that kind of Christ-like leadership within my ward, especially as a new convert. 

The Widow's Mite

The Savior taught, "Thou shalt love they Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all they soul and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." After teaching this, a widow came up and gave two mites. She gave all that she had to the Lord and his mission, with coincides beautifully with the lesson the Savior taught.

The Widow gave everything she had to the Savior, which is what the Lord requires of his people. Following the Lord is never easy and it shouldn't be. He asks each of us to give up all we can to him, because when we do that, he replaces what we have given up with something much much better. It's all an act of faith. The Widow was reconciled to God because the she gave all to God and believed that he would take care of her needs, which connects beautifully to 2 Nephi 25:23, "For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, an also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."

We can follow that Widow's example by more than money donation. We can give of our time and talents buy providing service to others around us.

Luke 10: 1-24, "The Lord Appointed Seventy"

When Jesus Christ called the seventy during his ministry, he gave them instruction as well. First he told them to pray to the Lord for people to help doing the work. I love this because it shows that even those that are leaders within the Church need to pray for help and this is something that I always forget, which is silly. I had a friend tell me once that, "Prayer should be your first priority, not your last resort."And that is something I really need to work on. As the Lord was telling them about prayer he also told them to be careful because he was sending them as "lambs among wolves." They were told to carry no money and to not salute any man by the road, which I think are interesting directions. It made the Seventy live by faith and no by the wiles of man. They were told to bless whatever house they entered and if the Spirit resided within the homes the people who resided within them would have peace. They were told to warn the people that kingdom of God was near them. Basically they were told to serve others, which I think is amazing! They were also told to not carry the words or even the dust of those cities that would receive them, which I think is great advice for missionaries. I think that the dust symbolizes the ideas, words, and thoughts of the people. It's actually great advice for everybody. I love that the entirety of the Savior's directions are about prayer and serving others.

The Church has 13 Articles of Faith and the sixth one states, "We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church." And this relates exactly to what I was talking about previously. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the exact set up that that the Savior provided in New Testament times, we have a Quorum of the Seventy.

Luke 10:1 states that "The Lord appointed other seventy…"and other modern day scriptures describe this office. D&C 107:25-36 explains that the seventy are called to preach the Gospel and to be special witnesses of Christ.

The Savior Healed a Young Man

A man was brought to the Savior by his friends. He was called in the scriptures a "lunatic." I don't know exactly what this means of course, but he was described as "sorely vexed" and often "falleth into the fire and oft into the water." The Savior was asked to heal him and he did, but as he was healing the man, he took the time to teach. He told his disciples and those gathered that three things were needed to heal him: Prayer, Fasting, and Faith. Other parts of the scripture teach about what is needed for miracles to occur. For example:

3 Nephi 18:20-- This scripture teaches that prayer and faith is needed for miracles to occur. The Savior states, "And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you."

Doctrine and Covenants 50:29-- This scripture teaches about the importance of baptism and faith when miracles are needed. This scripture states, "And if yes are purified and cleansed form all sin, ye shall ask whatsoever you will in the name of Jesus it shall be done."

Doctrine and Covenants 42:48-- This scripture teaches about the importance of faith when asking for a miracle. It states, "And again, it shall come to pass that he hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed."

Walking on the Sea

When the Apostles first saw the Savior walking towards them, they didn't recognize that it was Jesus Christ and they were afraid, saying, "It is a spirit!"I can imagine how disorienting seeing somebody walk on water would be, so I totally understand their reaction. Peter's reaction is amazing to me. Once he realized that it was the Savior he asked the Savior to tell him to come walk on the water with him. The Savior told him, Come. And Peter came! That is astounding to me. I think it shows such immense faith and trust in the Savior. But his faith and trust were overtaken by his fear! I think we all have those moments, where our mortal fear overtakes our divine faith and trust in the Savior. When Peter began to sink due to his fear, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" The Lord did not wait or try to teach Peter a lesson. He immediately reached out to Peter and saved him.

Doctrine and Covenants 88:67 states, 'And if you eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things." This scripture relates to this because when Peter took his eyes away from the Savior (the glory) and let fear (darkness) overtake him, he was almost lost to everyone.

No Greater Prophet than John the Baptist

As John was in prison, word of Christ's works had reached him. After he had heard all that Christ had done and was doing for the people, John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to speak to him. He asked his disciples to ask the Savior, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" They were asking the Savior if he was the Messiah that had been prophesied about for so long. I can imagine how amazing it would be to be John the Baptist and he of all th things that were happening! If I had been one of his disciples I would have told him how humble Christ was. He did immediately say, "Yes I am the Messiah." He told all that he had done and let them interpret what that meant! I would have told John about the miracles that Jesus Christ had done and was doing around the Holy Land. I would have also told him that Christ teaches, not only to the rich and educated, he also taught the Gospel to the poor and uneducated!

The question needs to be asked though, why did John need to send his disciples? Couldn't he just have prayed about it after hearing about all that Jesus had done for the people? It would have been pretty obvious to someone who was in tune with Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost that Christ was the Messiah. And the answer to the aforementioned question is that, John didn't need the answer. His disciples did. His disciples had spent time and energy following John the Baptist, and it was hard for them to understand that John had been leading them to follow the Messiah, and he had finally appeared!

The Savior said that there had been no man greater, in the world than John the Baptist. Joseph Smith taught that this was because, he was entrusted with the task of preparing the world for the coming of Christ, he was asked to baptize the SON OF GOD, and because John was the " legal administrator in the affairs of the kingdom there was then on the earth, and holding the keys of power.

John 3:30 states, "He must increase, but I must decrease." Here John the Baptist is saying that the Savior's wants an desires should over take his wants and desires. I think that this should apply to everyone! I want my wants and desires to be aligned with that of the Saviors.