Remember

I have a Book of Mormon class this semester, and I had to choose a topic on which I wanted to focus on. Mine was on agency and how to make decisions. An interesting principle that I've been thinking about loads recently is that of Remembering, and how when we remember, we are able to see clearly and make good decisions. Here is an outline of a talk I gave today that I wanted to share. Enjoy!

Remember Talk

Saturday, January 27, 2018

7:58 PM

Why we should remember: 

Content taken from the scriptures and talk, "O Remember, Remember" by Pres. Eyring

Veil of forgetfulness is continually dropping. Remember the covenants or feelings you had during the sacrament last week? In the temple? On your mission?

Here is how many times is says to remember in the book of Mormon. 

161 remember

20 remembered

3 rememberest

7 remembereth

2 remembering

28 remembrance

1 reminding

Moroni 10: 27 "I exhort you to remember…."

222 times it says something with the root word "remember" (same number as my dairy keen shake yesterday. Coincidence: definitely (hopefully they laugh here)

Alma remembering the Lord, angel appearing unto him and telling him to do so.

Harden hearts and forgetting.  "slow to remember the Lord their God."

Decade of Decisions. {Best way to see things clearly is to remember}

Ether 6:30. "and did remember how great things the Lord had done for his father, and also taught his people how great things the Lord had done for their fathers." Oriah, son of Jared. Talking about them coming across the sea. 

Nephi remembering the promise, that they were to get to the promised land.

1 Nephi 2:20- Promise given to Nephi in the SECOND CHAPTER. Because he remembered that promise, it made all the difference. "And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands." 

The Lord reiterates this promise when he commands Nephi to build a boat in 1 Nephi 17:13. "And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."

Moments in which Nephi could have forgotten:

Not succeeding in getting the plates.

The 8 separate occasions that Laman and Lemeul murmured, and 3 that they or someone else in his family complained.

Broken bow. Even Lehi "forgot" and murmured on this one. Liahona and direction didn't work.

Given the task to build a ship.

Laman and Lemuel dancing on the Ship, tying Nephi up, and causing a storm.

But instead he answers with phrases like this:

"Can ye doubt? Let us go up; the Lord is able to deliver us"

"I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. Nevertheless I went forth."

"Surely the Lord hath commanded us to do this thing; and shall we not be diligent in keeping the commandments of the Lord?"

"Let us be faithful to Him"

Laman and Lemuel not receiving answers to their prayers, "Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hat said? If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you."

"He leadeth the righteous into precious lands"

"If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them"

18:16 "I did look unto my god, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions."

18:23: " and it came to pass that after we had sailed for the space of many days we did arrive at the promised land…"

There is a common theme in the cause of when the Liahona doesn't work.

 1 Nephi 16 when the bow breaks, they complain and think they are going to die.  Forgot the promise of the Lord, and how He had previously guided them: ie Angels, delivering the plates and Laban into their hands, giving them a Liahona, visions of the Savior's ministry, and prophecies of the apostacy and restoration. (Just to name a few). When the bow breaks, they murmur and are exceedingly sorrowful, forgetting how generous the Lord has been to them.

• 1 Nephi 18: Laman and Lemuel dancing on the ship because, 18:9 "they did forget by what power they had been brought thither"

Tied up Nephi on the boat

BECAUSE they forgot: 18:13 "Knew not wither they should steer the ship…. And we were driven back up on the waters… and they began to be frightened."

In our own lives, when we FORGET all that the Lord has done for us, and the power by which we have come to the point we are at now, the "Liahona" in our lives ceases to work. We like Laman and Lemual don't know how to steer our ship and are driven back… and frightened.

How can we Remember?

President Eyring, "There is a simple cure for the terrible malady of forgetting God, His blessings, and His messages to us. Jesus Christ promised it to His disciples when He was about to be crucified, resurrected, and then taken away from them to ascend in glory to His Father. They were concerned to know how they would be able to endure when He was no longer with them.

Here is the promise. It was fulfilled for them then. It can be fulfilled for all of us now:

“These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”5

The key to the remembering that brings and maintains testimony is receiving the Holy Ghost as a companion. It is the Holy Ghost who helps us see what God has done for us. It is the Holy Ghost who can help those we serve to see what God has done for them.

Heavenly Father has given a simple pattern for us to receive the Holy Ghost not once but continually in the tumult of our daily lives. The pattern is repeated in the sacramental prayer: We promise that we will always remember the Savior. We promise to take His name upon us. We promise to keep His commandments. And we are promised that if we do that, we will have His Spirit to be with us.6 Those promises work together in a wonderful way to strengthen our testimonies and in time, through the Atonement, to change our natures as we keep our part of the promise.

Remembering in the sacrament prayer (Moroni 4:3, 5:2)

"Eat in Remembrance"

"all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance"

"Always remember him" only commandment we are told to do in accordance with taking the sacrament that is said in BOTH PRAYERS.

Ending with the promise of having His spirit to be with us. Surely this is the way we can remember Him.

Engineer Quote.

Remembering how the Lord has guided you:

President Eyring:

I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.

More than gratitude began to grow in my heart. Testimony grew. I became ever more certain that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I felt more gratitude for the softening and refining that come because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. And I grew more confident that the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance—even things we did not notice or pay attention to when they happened.

My point is to urge you to find ways to recognize and remember God’s kindness. It will build our testimonies. You may not keep a journal. You may not share whatever record you keep with those you love and serve. But you and they will be blessed as you remember what the Lord has done. You remember that song we sometimes sing: “Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”2

It won’t be easy to remember. Living as we do with a veil over our eyes, we cannot remember what it was like to be with our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in the premortal world; nor can we see with our physical eyes or with reason alone the hand of God in our lives. Seeing such things takes the Holy Ghost. And it is not easy to be worthy of the Holy Ghost’s companionship in a wicked world.

That is why forgetting God has been such a persistent problem among His children since the world began. Think of the times of Moses, when God provided manna and in miraculous and visible ways led and protected His children. Still, the prophet warned the people who had been so blessed, as prophets always have warned and always will: “Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life.”3

And the challenge to remember has always been the hardest for those who are blessed abundantly. Those who are faithful to God are protected and prospered. That comes as the result of serving God and keeping His commandments. But with those blessings comes the temptation to forget their source. It is easy to begin to feel the blessings were granted not by a loving God on whom we depend but by our own powers.

Tonight, and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve that memory for the day that I, and those that I love, will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him. I testify that He loves us and blesses us, more than most of us have yet recognized.