It has been way too long since I’ve written a blog post. To be honest, I first stopped because I didn’t feel like it. Then, once you stop, it’s hard to start back up again. I feel like sometimes, life ebbs and flows. I especially notice this in my personal life and spirituality. Sometimes, it is really easy to focus on God. Sometimes, I have a great desire to do what God wants me to do. Other times, I simply don’t feel it. I want to have the desire to do God’s will, but other things seem to get in the way. Usually during these times, I still go through the motions of doing the things that I’m supposed to, but I don’t get much out of it.
For me, if I give in and become more casual about the gospel in my life, it is hard to get back to the same point that I had been previously. The past few months, I feel like I’ve been working back up from a time of not feeling it.
As I’ve thought about why this pattern seems to happen in my life, I can’t help but realize that the down turns usually happen when I’m becoming more casual about the things of the gospel. Most times, I’m not doing anything wrong, but I’m not placing as much importance on the things of God. Instead of studying my scriptures at my desk, I’ll read scriptures on my phone before I go to bed. I might pray while I’m sitting or laying in bed instead of while I’m kneeling. It could simply be that life got busy and I’m not spending as much time thinking about Jesus Christ. No matter what it is, when I become even slightly casual about my observance of the principles of the gospel, I find my connection to the spirit begins to wane a little bit.
Make An Effort to Put God First
The only way for me to get back to where I want to be is to make a conscious choice and effort to put God first and to seek Him and His spirit in my life. As I thought about this, I was reminded of a talk by Elder Scott back in 2014, entitled “Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority.”
In this talk, Elder Scott first talks about challenges and opposition that we will face in our lives. With this opposition, we are given the freedom to choose how we will respond and what we will do. He says, “Despite all of the negative challenges we have in life, we must take time to actively exercise our faith. Such exercise invites the positive, faith-filled power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ into our lives.” It is only through Jesus Christ and His Atonement that we are able to grow, progress, and become more than we would be able to on our own.
To actively exercise our faith, Elder Scott talks about four different things: prayer, scripture study, family home evening, and temple attendance. Though I truly believe each one of these things is very important to us, right now, I want to focus on prayer and scripture study.
Prayer
I truly believe that prayer is one of the most amazing gifts that God has given us. We are literally the children of God, and as such, he has given us a way that we can communicate directly with Him. In the Gospel topics, it explains more about prayer. “As we make a habit of approaching God in prayer, we will come to know Him and draw ever nearer to Him. Our desires will become more like His. We will be able to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that He is ready to give if we will but ask in faith.”
It is impossible to build a relationship with someone without communicating with them. The same is true about our relationship with God. Through daily, sincere prayer, we will be able to grow not only our relationship with God, but also our desire to do God’s will and to be His disciple.
I know with all my heart that when we pray, God listens. I’ve started singing a lot more primary songs since my son was born, and one of my favorites is “A Child’s Prayer.” The words are so simple, yet so powerful. The first verse is a child, asking God If he is there. The second verse is a parent, answering the child’s questions.
- 1. Heavenly Father, are you really there?
And do you hear and answer ev’ry child’s prayer?
Some say that heaven is far away,
But I feel it close around me as I pray.
Heavenly Father, I remember now
Something that Jesus told disciples long ago:
“Suffer the children to come to me.”
Father, in prayer I’m coming now to thee. - 2. Pray, he is there;
Speak, he is list’ning.
You are his child;
His love now surrounds you.
He hears your prayer;
He loves the children.
Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heav’n.
I know that this is true. I know that Heavenly Father really is there. I know He is Listening. I know He wants to show us His love. All we have to do is sincerely pray to Him, and He will listen and answer.
Scripture Study
Elder Scott in his talk teaches that Heavenly Father most often communicates to us through the scriptures. If we want to understand the gospel better, if we want to know what God wants us to do, we must study God’s word. We are so blessed to have the Book of Mormon, and we must make a daily effort to study it.
Sometimes it may be hard to find time to study. Of this, Elder Scott said, “Don’t yield to Satan’s lie that you don’t have time to study the scriptures. Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!”
There is no excuse to not study the scriptures daily. As we do so, our lives will be infinitely blessed. Elder Scott promises us that as we take time to study the scriptures each day, peace will prevail in our lives. I don’t know about you, but I need that peace to survive spiritually. I know that the scriptures are vital to our lives and relationship with God. I know that as we study them, we truly will find peace.
Continue to Push Forward Each Day
Sometimes, even when we’re trying to do the right things, we might still feel like we’re in a slump spiritually. To those that feel this way, I’ve felt the same way too. My suggestion, continue to do God’s will anyway. Continue to study the scriptures. Continue to pray. Continue to seek the spirit.
For me, I sometimes have to pray for the desire to do God’s will. When I do this, I trust in Alma’s teachings about faith. He says, “But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words” (Alma 32: 27). I promise that the desire will come and your relationship with the Lord will grow.
I want to end with some words from President Nelson from his April 2020 conference talk, “Hear Him.” When talking about how we can hear the Lord in our lives, he says, “As we seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our efforts to hear Him need to be ever more intentional. It takes conscious and consistent effort to fill our daily lives with His words, His teachings, His truths.”
He goes on to say, “ I renew my plea for you to do whatever it takes to increase your spiritual capacity to receive personal revelation. Doing so will help you know how to move ahead with your life, what to do during times of crisis, and how to discern and avoid the temptations and the deceptions of the adversary.”
I know that as we make an intentional effort to bring God into our lives, through prayer, scripture study, and through whatever other means, we will come closer to God. If you’re currently in a spiritual slump, I know that as you intentionally do the will of God, you will be able to rise up and feel the spirit more abundantly in your life.