11 Answers to Personal Questions from Spring/Summer 2016 Devotionals
August 19, 2016 • Blog Post
BYU devotionals are a weekly resource that guides us through trials of faith, school, work, family, and relationships. They are a source of comfort for the present and hope for the future. And they provide a vast well of knowledge that we can continually return to and drink from. Below are sips from that well—the refreshing answers to questions we may be facing.
How does the Lord want us to approach learning?
How can I be more in tune with the Savior?
What do I do when I find myself asking the question, “Do I really believe?”
How can I overcome my insecurities?
How can I gain hope that overcomes darkness?
Why is learning by both spiritual and rational means important?
How can I successfully navigate the twists and turns in life?
How can I know truth?
Why is life often so painful?
Why is it sometimes difficult to follow the prophets? How can I overcome those difficulties?
Why is religion still important today?
How does the Lord want us to approach learning?
“The Lord invited us to employ our agency in learning and in helping others to learn. Is that not a primary purpose of mortality? For ‘whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.’ . . .
“Whether it is astronomy, geography, geology, history, political science, nursing, computer science, information systems, or any other subject, we are under a divine mandate to acquire a broad and deep education so that we can magnify our callings and fulfill our missions. . . . We are to exercise our agency, take control of our educational agenda, and learn what we decide we will need for our particular mission.”
—Stephen W. Liddle, “’Without Compulsory Means,” May 3
How can I be more in tune with the Savior?
“1. Receive the prophets and stone them not. . . . When we follow their words, love them, and pray for them, we receive them. . . .
“2. Do not allow contention. . . . To be in tune, then, with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we have to find a way to see the truth we share and work toward peace and unity. . . .
“3. Be humble not prideful. . . . When we are humble, we can receive counsel and chastisement, be forgiving, and give selfless service. We can love God, submit our will to His, and put Him first in our lives. . . .
“4. Search, ponder, and pray. . . . Searching, pondering, and praying are hard work and take practice. We cannot get to be in tune by merely asking or by simply reading or by just thinking about things. We need to combine all three and work at it.”
—Rebecca Schroeder, “Being in Tune: Minimizing Interference Beats,” May 10
What do I do when I find myself asking the question, “Do I really believe?”
“When you are faced with the question of whether you really believe some principle of the gospel, I encourage you to hold fast to the things that you know are true because the answers to the rest will come to you in time. While you are waiting for your answers to come, live the gospel in a way that allows those around you to know what you really believe.”
—Blake E. Peterson, “Do We Really Believe?” May 24
How can I overcome my insecurities?
“Part of accepting your royal identity is understanding the purpose of your body here on earth. . . . You are created in the express image of our Heavenly Father and are His royal heir. . . . In the eternities, . . . I imagine individuals of different shapes and sizes and an acceptance as our royal identities are made clear. . . .
“We are each of royal birth—princesses and princes in our own right. We have the potential to have greater power and reach than the most powerful superhero portrayed in the media today. Let us not waste this precious gift. Instead, let us let it shape our identity and be a comfort to us when we are going through our hardest moments. I hope that realizing you are ‘royal’ changes the very way that you see yourself, your body, your family, your life, and your destiny.”
—Sarah M. Coyne, “The Fantasy and the Reality of Your Royal Identity,” May 31
How can I gain hope that overcomes darkness?
“With each experience we fashion new anchors of hope that we plant firmly around us. These spiritual anchors have amazing properties that sea anchors do not. They are additive and they can be numerous, and as long as we remember them, they are permanent. They are deployed one by one over a lifetime. They grant stability, direction, safety, and hope—real hope for the future, not only in this life but in the life to come.”
—Alan R. Harker, “Hope as an Anchor of Our Souls,” June 7
Why is learning by both spiritual and rational means important?
“Mortal perception is the means of understanding that is provided by our physical body. This body is equipped with an amazing array of capabilities. These include our physical senses, such as seeing, hearing, tasting, and touching, but they also include the cognitive abilities that enable us to think, remember, hypothesize, and synthesize. As we develop this amazing wealth of abilities provided by our mortal bodies, we learn to make sense of the world and to master our environment. . . .
“Our spiritual mode of perception is not limited by our mortal senses or rationality. . . . It is a direct link, through the Spirit, to our all-knowing and all-powerful Father, who is pleased to give us guidance when we seek it. Spiritual perception enables us to comprehend eternal truths that can’t be explained through our physical rationality because these truths belong to the realm of the divine. Our spiritual perception enables us to receive constant inspiration, enlightenment, and personal revelation. . . .
“[Jesus Christ] will help us to develop the same kind of perfect intermeshing between the mortal and the spiritual that He himself achieved. He wants us to be complete and whole, just as He Himself is complete and whole.”
—Michelle Stott James, “Empty Centers and the Fire of the Lord,” June 21
How can I successfully navigate the twists and turns in life?
“For us to reach our ultimate objectives in life, we must have a vision or goal that defines the path we should take. We must have ways to assess our progress along our path and whether we are close to or far away from it. We must have the ability to reason and make decisions about ways to improve our progress. And finally, we must exercise our agency to act in ways that lead us toward our desired objective. . . .
“It is comforting to know that we need not wander alone on our mortal journey through life. Through consistent, seemingly small acts of devotion, we can have the guiding influence of the Holy Ghost with us continually, and by following His guidance we can bring to pass great things. This is the power of the Holy Ghost. Its importance cannot be overemphasized, as it can influence every aspect of our spiritual navigation system.”
—Timothy W. McLain, “Navigating Our Way Through Life,” June 28
“In humility, it is wise for us all to acknowledge our imperfection in determining truth. . . .
“If we face our question with courage and integrity, our knowledge can continue to expand and our faith can continue to be strengthened. . . .
“There are three crucial steps: (1) Become a seeker—do not fear questions; (2) love and respect all, regardless of whether we agree with the conclusions they reach; and (3) learn and share the vital principles and practices for knowing truth.”
—Michael A. Goodman, “Become a Seeker: The Way, the Truth, and the Life,” July 12
“To be on the earth, to live in the world—not exactly the same thing, but close enough for our purposes today—is to live in conditions of pain, hardship, and uncertainty. It is to live among thorns and thistles and sweat. . . .
“Indeed, we live in a state of malady; a state of pain, hardship, and uncertainty; a state in need of a cure. But at the same time, we would also be quick to point out that . . . there is in fact a cure for this malady: the Savior, Jesus Christ. . . .
“It is essential to the exaltation of each and every one of us that we pass through this fallen condition. In this sense, the Fall—with the pain, hardship, and uncertainty that define it—is in actuality a blessing.
“This idea is powerfully expressed in the words of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith when the Prophet was imprisoned in Liberty Jail. . . . ‘Know thou, my [child], that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.’ To be on earth, to exist in conditions of pain and hardship, is a profound blessing.”
—Wade Hollingshaus, “On Earth,” July 26
Why is it sometimes difficult to follow the prophets? How can I overcome those difficulties?
“Following the prophets may . . . be difficult because prophets are mortal. Sometimes it is hard to recognize the divine in the mortal. . . .
“The prophets are called, not because they are perfect but by one who is perfect. They often share a profound sense of their own mortality on receiving their call. Yet they are called. And they are qualified by the Savior who calls them. . . .
“Prophets play a unique role in the effort to seek learning by study and faith. . . . Those we sustain as prophets possess the gift of seership. This is a unique gift. . . . By looking to the prophets we tap into this great gift, a gift through which we can learn truths we otherwise could not learn. Let’s not let our learnedness get in the way of this learning.”
—David H. Moore, “Watchmen on the Tower,” August 2
Why is religion still important today?
“Call it secularism or modernity or the technological age or existentialism on steroids, whatever you want to call such an approach to life we do know a thing or two about it. Most important, we know that it cannot answer the yearning questions of the soul nor is it substantial enough to sustain us in times of moral crises. . . .
“Religion has been the principle influence—not the only one, but the principle one—that has kept Western social, political, and cultural life moral to the extent these have been moral. And I shudder at how immoral life might have been—then and now—without that influence. . . .
“The indisputable power of faith. The most powerful and enduring force in human history. The influence for good in the world. The link between the highest in us and our highest hopes for others. That is why religion matters. Voices of religious faith have elevated our vision, deepened our human conversation, and strengthened both our personal and collective aspiration since time began.”
—Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Religion: ‘Bound by Loving Ties,’” August 16
