Day 259 A Recipe for Joy and Consolation

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me and know that I'm cheering for your every success. Today, a recipe, a recipe for joy and consolation.

Welcome to day 259 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today, you're going to be reading Helaman chapter 3, verses 26 through 37. You will finish that chapter.

And Helaman chapter 4, verses 1 through 6, as you get started on that journey. And in Helaman chapter 3, we have some verses here that are some great times. There is some incredible conversion happening inside the Church.

The people are worthy. They are living the commandments. They are following the prophets.

And, you know, good times were had by all. And we see inside of that a recipe, as I mentioned, for joy and consolation. Quick nod: during all of this abundance and success and the blessings that are coming, you may want to spend some time around [verses] 32, 33, 34 as you see pride creeping in.

But it's interesting, in 33, just a quick nod there, you may want to notice where the pride is. It's not into the Church itself, but into the hearts of the people. People who professed to belong to the Church of God.

Might spend some time inside of what that looks like for you. That's kind of interesting to look at there. But our verse for today is Helaman chapter 3, verse 35.

Here comes a piece of our recipe here. See if you can catch that recipe and then we'll go through it. 35 says this: "Nevertheless, they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God." Did you catch the recipe? Fast and pray often.

Wax stronger and stronger in humility. The very opposite of pride, right? Firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ.

And then you receive this joy, this consolation. I love the footnotes in purifying and sanctification. And I would encourage you maybe to go down those rabbit holes just a little bit in purifying and sanctification, what those could be.

And then it came because of the yielding their hearts unto God. My friends, if you're looking for joy in all of the challenges that come in our lives, this was certainly a difficult time through this transition of Moronihah and Helaman to his son Helaman and then Helaman to his son Nephi. This is a time of bumpiness.

There's like great covenant keeping and then there is great commandment breaking. And yet, inside of this, these people achieved joy and consolation to the purifying and sanctification of their hearts. What a wonderful recipe to consider how it may be applied in your life.

I hope that yesterday your activity with what it meant to grow up under the Lord started to get your thoughts and feelings around the things in your life that need to be there with your family members. This one now gives you a recipe right in your lap that you can immediately say, "Hey, what could I do from this list right now?" Maybe I could pray a little bit better. Maybe I need to take a little more seriousness in my fasting.

What does it mean to wax stronger and stronger in humility, or firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ? Perhaps I need to yield my heart unto God a little bit more and seek His insight into my life. These are each essential factors that can come into play that can continue to bring the joy of Jesus Christ and His gospel into our lives.

I look forward to the day where I have an abundance of joy from the Savior's Atonement applied in my life. I seek for it every day and I want to continue to get better and better and firmer and further in the faith of Christ that I can have that level of joy all the time. I hope that for you as well.

That's all for today, my friends. Remember that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt. I'll be here tomorrow and I hope you are too.