The New Testament

Mark 12:30 reads, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." What does it mean to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? To understand what this means, we need to understand what love is. In Moroni 7:45 we read that charity, the pure love of Christ, "suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." To love God so deeply means that nothing is more important to us than Him- not our job, our money, or even our pride. God comes first. Loving God means that we're willing to give anything for Him and that we're obedient to His commandments. It means that we trust Him and have faith in Him, even when we don't always understand

In Matthew 19, we read the story of the rich young man who kept the commandments and wanted to know what more he needed to do to gain eternal life. He asked the Lord, "What lack I yet?" When the Lord told him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor, the young man couldn't do it. He valued his possessions more than he valued the counsel of the Lord. So, he walked away sorrowfully. He had the faith to ask the Lord for something, but he didn't have enough faith to do it. How often have we asked the Lord for something and then walked away from His response because it was too hard or because it wasn't the answer we expected or hoped for? How often do we reject the Lord's attempts to improve us by refusing to accept a challenging calling or by not listening to the counsel given from our prophet? To help us accept the Lord's answers to our prayers, especially those prayers asking for help in improving ourselves, we need to be humble and we need to

Matthew 17:20 reads, "And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." If faith is so powerful, why don't we see more miracles today? Does this mean that no one has sufficient faith to receive miracles any more? Does my inability to receive what I ask for indicate that my faith is lacking? Elder Richard C. Edgley stated, "I have never witnessed the removal of an actual mountain. But because of faith I have seen a mountain of doubt and despair removed and replaced with hope and optimism. Because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness. And because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitude. Yes, I have seen mountains removed." What "mountains&qu

In Matthew 8, the Savior performs miracles and healings in the presence of His disciples. And, yet, not much later in the chapter, we read that the Savior and His disciples are traveling on a ship when they're caught in a storm. The storm is so terrible that the disciples fear for their lives, waking the Savior and asking Him to save them. The Savior responds in verse 26, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" His disciples were in His presence regularly observing His miraculous power. But, they were still fearful! Fear is a natural response that can protect us from danger. We fear getting burned on a fire which protects us from being burned. But, some fear immobilizes us and prevents us from moving forward with faith, such as the fear of failure or the fear of heartache. How can we choose to have more faith and less fear, especially in the storms of our lives? We can eliminate fear from our lives if we learn to trust the Lord. We need to learn to trust that wha

In Matthew 4:18-22, we read about when Jesus Christ called a few of His disciples, saying to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Without hesitating, "they straightway left their nets, and followed him." When the Lord calls us to do something, do we immediately leave our "nets" and follow Him? Or, do we sometimes hesitate or even make excuses for why we don't need to be obedient? Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin stated, "we might define a net as anything that entices or prevents us from following the call of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. Nets in this context can be our work, our hobbies, our pleasures, and, above all else, our temptations and sins. In short, a net can be anything that pulls us away from our relationship with our Heavenly Father or from His restored Church." What are the "nets" that may be keeping you from following Him?  Elder Wirthlin continued: “Our lives are so easily filled with a