Standing As A Witness Part 3: A Missionary's Witness

9/5/14 departing testimony

In the name of Jesus Christ I entered the vineyard of The Lord, out of duty. I learned my purpose, who I represent. In the beginning I desired to be understanding. I became good at asking questions, because I was a lousy teacher. I put my trust in The Lord, and in my companion. I have felt feelings of loss, and of a broken heart and contrite spirit. I have felt the Spirit testify to me of the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith. I have felt the peace that comes from applying the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I give my solemn witness that Jesus Christ is my Savior. He has suffered for me and I have felt His love. It is the conviction of my soul that we are led by a prophet of God today. I have experienced a mighty change of heart, and I have been given an eternal perspective of the plan of my redemption. I hope you feel the trust of your companion, and I hope you feel The Lord's trust in you as I have. Now as I teach, I want there to be no question. I do not want to be misunderstood. I represent Jesus Christ, the Savior and redeemer of the world. My purpose is His; to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. This is my sacred privilege and duty, and it is yours. To labor with The Lord in His vineyard. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-Elder Austin Standing

"I am called of God. My authority is above that of kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my master and He has chosen me to represent Him--to stand in His place, to say and do what He Himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts; my doctrine is His doctrine. My Commission is to do what He wants done; To say what He wants said; to be a living modern witness in word and in deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous Latter-day work. HOW GREAT IS MY CALLING!"

 -Elder Bruce R. McConkie

Willing To Stand

When you take away all the possessions we have in this life, strip away the titles, all the labels, and society as a whole, we are left with ourselves. The raw materials of what we are, and what we make of ourselves. The only thing that God has allowed us have, to keep, is our will. Our agency to make choices, and ability to become. The only real form of control that exists in this world is self control. The only things you control completely that you can dedicate to any task are your desire, your focus, and your effort. Each are dictated by the other, and each element must be present to successfully accomplish any task with meaningful results. your desire, focus, and effort are your heart, mind, and strength. They constitute your will. As we exercise our own agency, or will, we grow and mature in our capacities.

An example of this is in learning eternal truth. We will not attain greater light and knowledge against our will. We must first desire it. We allocate time to it, with real intention of having our understanding changed. Then, it must become the center of our focus, the goal in our sights. Then we must pursue it with all the strength we can muster, acting in all diligence. This is the pattern established in Matthew 7:7 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you;". As we ask, what are we given? Opportunity. It is all around us, yet it is not found until we seek it, giving our attention to the expected answer. Then, we must seize it when it comes. What is it that is opened as we knock? The windows of heaven. One cannot passively receive meaningful revelation. We must will it to be. Even if you can no more than desire it, let this desire work within you.

We all do certain things that we don't want to, because we know we need to. It is obvious when our heart isn't in it, it shows in our actions, in our words, in our face. Often when we do something we don't want to be doing, we let our mind wander. We lose sight of the end goal, and aimlessly do the work. A man that acts without thinking in the world is like a cloud that yields no rain in the desert. He demands attention, yet only delivers disappointment. The action is the embodiment of intent. The thought is the spirit of the action. 'It is the thought that counts', because without it, it counts for nothing. It is ironic that by merely 'going through the motions' we remain at a standstill. It does not matter how much time you give something you claim to care about. If you do not also give your attention you show where it really lies on your list of priorities. How much time, attention, and effort you invest in something will determine exponentially how much you gain; whether in physical results, understanding, or building of character. This is also how you fundamentally recognize your priorities, and how you evaluate where they should be. Do you give your labors your best efforts? Do you give your family your whole attention? Do you give The Lord your heart? What is it that holds you back?

Effort
How hard do you work for something before you quit? Effort requires faith. Faith is a principle of power, and it leads to action such as repentance, obedience, and dedicated service. Faith is acting on trust. When we have faith in a company, we invest in it. When we have faith in Jesus Christ, we keep his commandments. Faith without works is dead, but trust in dead works availeth nothing(see also D&C 22:2). We need more.

Focus
What do you look for in life? What do you hope for? Throughout the day, what holds your attention? What about in your free time? To remain focused on anything "virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy", we must have hope. Hope is an abiding trust that The Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is looking forward and expecting something to occur. If you have sufficient hope in the future, you can have joy in the present. With hope in Christ, you will not have your mind harrowed up by past sins, but you will have an eye single to the glory of God, and your eternal destiny.

Desire
What do you desire? When you think of love, who or what do you think of? Charity is the pure love of Christ. It includes God's eternal love for all His children. We are to seek to develop that kind of love. When we love someone, we invest ourselves in them. We know that The Lord grants unto men the desires of their hearts, and we will be judged by them. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Luke 12:34)

Our will ties directly to our purpose in life; our will is to be tried, improved, and applied in each of life's experiences. We have the power to do that; to change our desires, to shift our focus, to give a little more than before. It comes by submitting our will to The Lord. By accepting his atonement for us, and relying on his merits, mercy and grace we can be made pure. They say where there is a will there is a way. He is The Way. We must choose His will. As it is in any apprenticeship, you will learn and improve the most as you submit your will to the Master. The strongest we will ever be is when we are the most submissive. This is because when we submit our will to The Lord, it becomes His. If in any circumstance we feel we cannot accomplish our righteous desires with our best efforts, we can rely on His grace. When we have given our whole self, we know we can rely wholly upon him. We must be willing to open our hearts to receiving heavenly help, always giving thanks, and we must all the while be willing to move forward with what The Lord has already given us. Thus, with this submissive willpower we will be able to endure to the end of every trial, every temptation, every time.

Standing On Buried Talents

Most of us are familiar with the parable of the talents. We are each given many gifts and talents in this life, used for our own refining or the improving of others. And, we know we will be judged for how we used them. Did we bury some along the way? Where did we choose to take our talents? Where did those talents take us? The intention of these talents is to prove our faithfulness and to receive with usury. They are meant to be used!

We are each given natural abilities and inclinations that lead us one way or another. The short-sighted and prideful view these as evidences of superiority over another, however they fail to see that these are given by The Lord to try us individually, and he will judge us all individually by how we used those things. Even our weaknesses are from Him to teach us the lessons we need to learn, and to give us experience to help others learn as well. As we progress through life, we can see these weaknesses become strengths. How have we been using our talents? Do we hesitate to use them?

Why do we bury some talents yet show others?
Often times, we hold ourselves back to avoid hurting our pride. What we fail to understand is that "when performance is measured, performance improves". It takes honesty to acknowledge when another's strengths are greater than your weaknesses. It takes humility to recognize when another's strengths are greater than your own. Does a tree judge another by how tall it is, or how many storms it has endured? No. It just keeps growing. So it should be with us. While we are not perfect in what we do, and we may not even be good yet, a budding talent begins just as small as any other. When yesterday's seedlings have not become a forest, do we trample them down? Do we give heed to the others that will try?

We should put envy far from us, and desire the welfare of others. If we truly care about others, we invest ourselves in them. What we give shall be meted to us again. Whether in this life or the next, that will be true of just about everything. Not only should we seek to increase our talents, we should help others increase theirs. We should give just as The Lord gives us. By giving opportunity and experience we can cultivate learning and development of talents in others. 

Much of our life looking back is the sum total of the people we know and the experiences we have. While we have our own will to move ourselves through our circumstances, we are still agents reacting to our circumstances. In helping another, we can have an influence of positivity or negativity in their life. If you are not affecting someone else for good, you are affecting yourself any better. That which you keep will always be taken, but that which you give shall always be treasured. Where will you choose to take your talents? Where will those talents take you?

How have we used the greatest gift of all? The Atonement of Jesus Christ is infinite. It is eternal in nature. How have we chosen to use it? Where has it taken us? Jesus Christ has suffered for all. He knows our pains, our weaknesses, and our frustrations. In Him they have an end. Nowhere in the parable of the talents, nor in the gift we have all been given, does the master expect to be repaid. We are merely to accept what is given us, and use it. This is the most important talent we are to give an accounting for, how well we accept and apply the atonement of Jesus Christ. Not only are our debts paid, but Christ has made an investment in each of us. We may take what has been given us and build upon it, receiving 'grace for grace', or we can bury it. Likewise it is the greatest talent we may share, that of testimony of the cleansing and enabling power of grace through Jesus Christ. I hope we may all do these things, and one day hear these words: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

Standing In The Light

In a very symbolic sense, people often talk about reflecting Christ's light to others. However, after I spent a good deal of time pondering this phrase, I had a thought. We are not mirrors reflecting Christ's light to others. If I were to compare us to any object in this analogy, I would say we are prisms that refract Christ's light to the world. We cannot perfectly reflect the light of Christ, nor can we do it without it affecting us. The greater light we attain inwardly is outwardly manifest, in our own unique way, thus giving color to a grey mortality. Unlike the inanimate prism however, we have our own agency. Elder David A. Bednar has taught this principle on multiple occasions:

"In the grand division of all of God’s creations, there are “things to act and things to be acted upon” (2 Nephi 2:14). As children of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity and power of independent action. Endowed with agency, we are agents, and we primarily are to act and not merely be acted upon—especially as we “seek learning … by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118).
As gospel learners, we should be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). Our hearts are opened to the influence of the Holy Ghost as we properly exercise agency and act in accordance with correct principles—and we thereby invite His teaching and testifying power."

"As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed. We will become agents who “act” rather than objects that are “acted upon”"

We can choose where we place ourselves, in a position to receive more light, or less (Psalm 37:5-6). this can come as we seek it -- by studying the scriptures (Psalm 119:130), which will light our path (Psalm 119:105), pray, and go to church. This is crucial because we will not receive greater light and knowledge against our will. We are by nature fallen, with our own impurities. In the light of the gospel, these impurities are made more distinctly visible. (Ether 12:27) Our flaws are often most visible in the refiner's fire. These impurities are not permanent however, and we can, through Christ's atonement be made whole, and "be ... Clean that bear the vessel of The Lord." This is the process of "becoming children of light".

Being made clean without spot, we can then let our light so shine leading others to glorify God. This is what the intention of the light of Christ is. We have been molded into who we are for a reason, that is to share Christ's love, and let our personality shine through it. What is the light of Christ? It is His influence that all are born with, and can be magnified, or extinguished. It is prerequisite to feeling the power of the Holy Ghost, and takes root in the hearing of the word. "You cannot obtain the divine light of life from men." we of ourselves cannot produce that light, only amplify it. "And if your 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." (D&C 88:67) Christ's light is to be spread through us, getting "brighter and brighter, until the perfect day". 

Do you feel prepared to stand in the light, and have your imperfections revealed? As Alma said, "I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?" (Alma 5:19) If you can answer yes to that, keep going! If not, join the rest of us that are still working on it. Take time to pray, read the scriptures (I have already provided plenty here), and come to church!

Standing As A Witness Part 2: Being A Witness

Once you have received a witness, you become one. The Book of Mormon teaches us that once we receive this witness for ourselves, we take upon ourselves the name of Christ through baptism, and covenant that we will serve God and keep his commandments:
"And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life— Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?" (Mosiah 18:8-10)
It is crucial that we recognize the need to stand as witnesses of God, and even the requisites for baptism included in the Doctrine & Covenants of the church include manifesting by their works a determination to serve Him to the end.
D&C 20:37 "And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church."

Being A Witness

As we live a Christ-like life, we teach others first by example, then by invitation. It has been said "Defend your beliefs with courtesy and with compassion, but defend them." Section 4 of the Doctrine & Covenants declares so simply:
"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;" (D&C 4:2-3)
We serve because we want to, we share what we have come to love. We aren't leaving our comfort zone, we are bringing others into it. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are so many searching for the truth, and don't have it because they simply don't know where to look. Having received a witness of truth, we rejoice in sharing it and making it known to the world around us. We are not alone in these things, God always provides additional witnesses of truth. 
Our primary source of truth is the prophets. It is most important to share those of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ;
2 Nephi 33:10 - "And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good."

The Blessings

There are some powerful blessings promised to those who share the gospel, I will just name a few. When you help another person feel the redeeming power of the atonement of Jesus Christ, you feel it yourself, and you find joy in service. We see throughout history in the scriptures, and even more recently that The Lord is willing to bless those that teach the word of God and stand as a witness for Him. "And again, I say unto you that it is my will that my servant Lyman Wight should continue in preaching for Zion, in the spirit of meekness, confessing me before the world; and I will bear him up as on eagles’ wings; and he shall beget glory and honor to himself and unto my name." D&C 124:18

"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;... And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth! Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people. And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!" - D&C 18:10,13-16

Standing As A Witness Part 1: Receiving a Witness

To be a witness, we must have a testimony of truth. Matthew 16:16-17 Spiritual truth is learned by the Holy Spirit. (see 1 Corinthians 2:9-12) Matthew 7:7 establishes the pattern of receiving spiritual truth by saying "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." I have discovered that as I follow this pattern, I receive answers and learn. But it doesn't all come at once. When we ask, what is it that we are given? Opportunity. When we use that opportunity to seek, what is found? Answers. When we act on these answers, and knock, what is opened? The windows of heaven. By acting on the truth we don't yet know, truth is confirmed to us. And by acting on truth we already know, we receive more.

Asking

Moroni gives us flawless instruction for learning in the last chapter of the Book of Mormon: 
"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." (Moroni 10:4-5)
So when we ask, we need 1. A sincere desire to learn 2. A sincere commitment to live by the truth we receive 3. Trust that The Lord will hear us and answer us. We demonstrate our will by the questions we ask, and The Lord blesses us accordingly.

Seeking

How frustrated would you feel at a restaurant if your waiter came asking what you would like to order, then walked away before you could answer? When you ask a question, you listen to the answer! So it is with our Heavenly Father. After we ask, we listen. We pay attention to the thoughts that come to our minds, We turn to the scriptures to find truth in what He has already said by His prophets. We find our answer, then we test it. D&C 9:8-9 says:
"But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me."

Knocking

We try our answer by living by it; a hypothesis or theorem is useless if never tried. John 7:17 says "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." While you can spend plenty of time seeking out and studying the effects of aloe vera on a sunburn, yet you will never know the cooling relief it brings until you apply it. This is true for spiritual matters as well. As we live by the principles of faith and repentance, we gain an unshakable testimony of God's ability to mend our souls through the scriptures, through words of modern day prophets, and through covenants we make with Him, such as baptism.

Conclusion

As we ask, seek, and knock in faith we gain a witness of this marvelous work and wonder (Isaiah 29:14) and receive a knowledge as did Oliver Cowdery recorded in D&C 6:14-17; 
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time. Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by the Spirit of truth; Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart. I tell thee these things as a witness unto thee—that the words or the work which thou hast been writing are true."
With this witness we take our place besides the millions of others that have learned of the truth and divinity of this latter day work, and we stand as a witness; at all times, in all things, in all places we may be in even until death. Will you stand with me?

Standing In The Furnace Of Affliction

I have come to realize that everyone I meet has personal challenges
and concerns. While no one is exempt from them, we may all overcome
them by the Savior and his teachings. I have spent time thinking about
trials: what are they, and why do we have them? I had an epiphany
which I wrote down, on March 10th of last year. This is what I have
learned for myself.

Trials, sometimes called adversity, is merely change. They are changes that affect the "natural man" negatively. They are opportunities that The Lord gives us to show Him that we trust him, and that we do not rely solely upon the things around us. When we do not have an eternal perspective, one that extends beyond this life, and we are weak in our spirituality, that is when trials make us collapse. This is because they change things in this life that were temporary anyway, and if our foundation is built upon temporary things and not the bedrock of Christ, we fall. Even if we build our foundations of the gospel, what we build will be tried too. Paul explained it to the Corinthians this way:
"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall
receive a reward.
If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." (1 Corinthians 3:11-15)

We will all be tried in the refiner's fire. (Zechariah 13:9, Malachi 3:2-3, 1 Peter 4:12-13) However, this is to refine us. (Ether 12:27, Isaiah 48:10) Just as trials are changes that break down the natural
man, they are an opportunity to repent and build up the spiritual man through change, and through the atonement. Mosiah 3:19 says:
"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."


Through these trials, we become tempered. Temperance is patiently enduring the short and long term consequences that come from the actions of yourself and others, and doing it with a good attitude. We learn, as did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that when we stand in the furnace of affliction, we stand shoulder to shoulder with the Son of God. (Isaiah 53:3-5, 1 Nephi 19:9, Alma 7:11-13) We shift from a worldly perspective to an eternal one, making stumbling blocks become stepping stones. We develop love for others as Christ had, and we fear no mortal consequences.