work of God vs. work of men (Wilford Woodruff)

There is a marked difference between the work of God and the work of men or the work of the Devil, and that difference is manifest in the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is one characteristic connected with the work of God that has been manifested in its establishment in these last days, as in all former periods, and that is, that whenever the Lord has attempted to establish his Church and kingdom upon the earth, he always makes use of instruments whose peculiar circumstances in life will naturally lead them to acknowledge the hand of God in all that is manifested unto them. You have the example of all the Prophets from the days of Adam; and as far as we have any knowledge of them, they were nearly all men of low degree and of humble birth; and the Lord has ever given them his Spirit to enlighten their minds, and to qualify them for the work assigned them. Men of this character have stepped forth and obeyed the Lord in various ages of the world, and they have given him the credit for what has been accomplished. This has been very, clearly manifested in our own day.

Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 7:98

the Will of the Father in All Things

The path to a complete Christian education passes through the Garden of Gethsemane, and we will learn there if we haven’t learned it before that our Father will have no other gods before him–even (or especially) if that would-be god is our self. I assume you are all far enough along in life to be learning that great discipline already. It will be required of each of us to kneel when we may not want to kneel, to bow when we may not want to bow, to confess when we may not want to confess–perhaps a confession born of painful experience that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways our ways, saith the Lord (see Isaiah 55:8).


I think that is why Jacob says to be learned–or, we would presume, to be any other worthy thing–is good if one hearkens unto the counsels of God. But education, or public service, or social responsibility, or professional accomplishment of any kind is in vain if we cannot, in those crucial moments of pivotal personal history, submit ourselves to God even when all our hopes and fears may tempt us otherwise. We must be willing to place all that we have–not just our possessions (they may be the easiest things of all to give up), but also our ambition and pride and stubbornness and vanity–we must place it all on the altar of God, kneel there in silent submission, and willingly walk away.


I believe what I am describing here is the scriptural definition of a saint, one who will “yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,” and “through the atonement of Christ . . . 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” (Mosiah 3:19).


Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Will of the Father in All Things”, BYU Devotional, January 17, 1989




http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=7027&x=71&y=5

Meekness

Meekness…protects us from the fatigue of being easily offended. There are so many just waiting to be offended. They are so alerted to the possibility that they will not be treated fairly, they almost invite the verification of their expectation! The meek, not on such a fatiguing alert, find rest from this form of fatigue.


Bruising as the tumble off the peak of pride is, it may be necessary at times. Few of us escape at least some of these bruises. Even then, one must next be careful not to continue his descent into the swamp of self-pity. Meekness enables us, after such a tumble, to pick ourselves up–but without putting others down blamefully. Meekness mercifully lets us retain the realistic and rightful impressions of how blessed we are, so far as the fundamental things of eternity are concerned. We are not then as easily offended by the disappointments of the day, of which there seems to be a sufficient and steady supply.


When we are thus spiritually settled, we will likewise be less apt to murmur and complain. Indeed, one of the great risks of murmuring is that we can get too good at it, too clever. We can even acquire too large an audience. Furthermore, what for the murmurer may only be transitory grumbles may become a cause for a hearer that may carry him or her clear out of the Church.


Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “Meek and Lowly”, BYU Devotional October 21, 1986


Transcript of full address: http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=7156&x=71&y=3

comfortable arrogance

https://mormonthoughts.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/comfortable-arrogance/

No limit to potential good

There is no limit to what you can accomplish in life as long as you don’t care who gets the credit. But you have to really not care, instead of just acting like you don’t care.

-Rodney Brown 

no limit to potential good

There is no limit to what you can accomplish in life as long as you don’t care who gets the credit. But you have to really not care, instead of just acting like you don’t care.

-Rodney Brown

Pride and Humility

Pride is the switch that turns off priesthood power.  Humility is a switch that turns it on…Some suppose that humility is about beating ourselves up. Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless, or of little value. Nor does it mean denying or withholding the talents God has given us. We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of serving God and our fellowman.


President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, October 2010 General Conference

Pride and humility

Pride is the switch that turns off priesthood power. Humility is a switch that turns it on…Some suppose that humility is about beating ourselves up. Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless, or of little value. Nor does it mean denying or withholding the talents God has given us. We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of serving God and our fellowman.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, October 2010 General Conference

When faith, prayer, love and humility become a living part of us…

I have personally verified that concepts like faith, prayer, love, and humility hold no great significance and produce no miracles until they become a living part of us through our own experience, aided by the sweet prompting of the Holy Spirit. In early life I found that I could learn gospel teachings intellectually and, through the power of reason and analysis, recognize that they were of significant value. But their enormous power and ability to stretch me beyond the limits of my imagination and capacity did not become reality until patient, consistent practice allowed the Holy Spirit to distill and expand their meaning in my heart. I found that while I was sincerely serving others, God forged my personal character. He engendered a growing capacity to recognize the direction of the Spirit. The genius of the gospel plan is that by doing those things the Lord counsels us to do, we are given every understanding and every capacity necessary to provide peace and rich fulfillment in this life. Likewise, we gain the preparation necessary for eternal happiness in the presence of the Lord.

Elder Richard G. Scott, October 2010 General Conference

“…have ye spiritually been born of God?  Have ye received His image in your countenances?  Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?…[and] if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask you, can ye feel so now?”

Alma 5:14, 26

 

Be humble and full of love

[H]ow do we conquer this sin of pride that is so prevalent and so damaging? How do we become more humble?

It is almost impossible to be lifted up in pride when our hearts are filled with charity. “No one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love.”  When we see the world around us through the lens of the pure love of Christ, we begin to understand humility.


Some suppose that humility is about beating ourselves up. Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless, or of little value. Nor does it mean denying or withholding the talents God has given us. We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves. It comes as we go about our work with an attitude of serving God and our fellowman.


Humility directs our attention and love toward others and to Heavenly Father’s purposes. Pride does the opposite. Pride draws its energy and strength from the deep wells of selfishness. The moment we stop obsessing with ourselves and lose ourselves in service, our pride diminishes and begins to die.


My dear brethren, there are so many people in need whom we could be thinking about instead of ourselves. And please don’t ever forget your own family, your own wife. There are so many ways we could be serving. We have no time to become absorbed in ourselves.


I once owned a pen that I loved to use during my career as an airline captain. By simply turning the shaft, I could choose one of four colors. The pen did not complain when I wanted to use red ink instead of blue. It did not say to me, “I would rather not write after 10:00 p.m., in heavy fog, or at high altitudes.” The pen did not say, “Use me only for important documents, not for the daily mundane tasks.” With greatest reliability it performed every task I needed, no matter how important or insignificant. It was always ready to serve.


In a similar way we are tools in the hands of God. When our heart is in the right place, we do not complain that our assigned task is unworthy of our abilities. We gladly serve wherever we are asked. When we do this, the Lord can use us in ways beyond our understanding to accomplish His work.


Let me conclude with words from President Ezra Taft Benson’s inspired message of 21 years ago:


“Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion.


“We must cleanse the inner vessel by conquering pride. . . . 


“We must yield ‘to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,’ put off the prideful ‘natural man,’ become ‘a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord,’ and become ‘as a child, submissive, meek, humble.’ . . . 


“God will have a humble people. . . . ‘Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.’ . . . 


“Let us choose to be humble. We can do it. I know we can.”


My beloved brethren, let us follow the example of our Savior and reach out to serve rather than seeking the praise and honor of men. It is my prayer that we will recognize and root out unrighteous pride in our hearts and that we will replace it with “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, [and] meekness.”


President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, October 2010 General Conference (emphasis added)


http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1298-19,00.html