Sacrament Meeting
Tithing
God's purpose in giving us commandments is not to punish us but rather to bless us. We need to be able to obey the commandments that our Heavenly Father has given us so that we might be able to God's and Goddess's of our own worlds. If we cannot obey the commandments given to us here, we will feel inadequate in the Celestial kingdom and thus we will be placed in a lower Kingdom.
The blessings that come from paying our tithing can be temporal and they can be spiritual; it depends upon what we NEED. By paying tithing we will be prepared to pay the higher law in eternity.
Tithing will help us to achieve the blessings we are in need of. When my parents were first married money was really tight; Daddy was a car salesman (pay was based on commission) and unfortunately not many people were buying cars at the time. There were bills to pay, money needed to buy food, and tithing to pay. Food was bought and all of the bills were paid except for one; my parents were faced with a choice of either paying the bill off or paying their tithing. My parents decided to pay their tithing and within the next couple of days they received a random check in the mail for the exact amount of their bill that was in need of being paid. My parents had an immense amount of faith that Heavenly Father was going to provide for them and because of that, they were rewarded. Tithing is a great blessing to us; it can give us the confidence that we need to know that the Lord will bless us.
Those that pay their tithing help us to love our Heavenly Father more. Blessings come from obeying commandments that are hard! If you want to be happy you must pray, pay your tithing, study, and attend all your meetings. When you pay an honest tithe, it is an exercise of faith.
By being obedient, we are freeing ourselves to receive the blessings our Heavenly Father wants to shower upon us.
Faith
What is faith? The Fourth Article of Faith states that we must first have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Bible Dictionary is says "Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true, and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation. To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone."
It does not take money to pay tithing but rather faith. Just because we pay our tithing does not mean that we will ever go hungry--we pay our tithing because of faith. When a farmer plants his seeds, he must have faith that they will grow into crops to harvest; when a God gives us children he is trusting that we will take care of them and raise them righteously. It is easy to say you will have faith, however when we are placed into situations that are meant to test our faith how will we react? We must remember that these tests of faith are to increase our faith and see what we are capable of.
We must remember that we chose to come here; we understood the big picture. While we are here, Satan is fightingso hard to destroy our faith so that we will not be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father; he wants us to be miserable like unto himself.
By small and simple things the Lord brings great things to pass. It takes faith for us to even follow the commandments; the world tells us that we shouldn't keep the Word of Wisdom or that it's okay to have pre-marital sex. We keep the commandments that the Lord gives us because He told us to--we have faith that we will be blessed in the end with eternal life for doing so. The more times you exercise your faith the easier it becomes. The Lord has given us many talents--these talents can make exercising our faith so much easier. We must be careful not to forget to see the Lord's hand in our lives; we must remember that man is nothing compared to God.
Doctrine and Covenants 121: 44-46 state:
"That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.
Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine fo the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion and thy scepter an unchaging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever."
The blessings that come from paying our tithing can be temporal and they can be spiritual; it depends upon what we NEED. By paying tithing we will be prepared to pay the higher law in eternity.
Tithing will help us to achieve the blessings we are in need of. When my parents were first married money was really tight; Daddy was a car salesman (pay was based on commission) and unfortunately not many people were buying cars at the time. There were bills to pay, money needed to buy food, and tithing to pay. Food was bought and all of the bills were paid except for one; my parents were faced with a choice of either paying the bill off or paying their tithing. My parents decided to pay their tithing and within the next couple of days they received a random check in the mail for the exact amount of their bill that was in need of being paid. My parents had an immense amount of faith that Heavenly Father was going to provide for them and because of that, they were rewarded. Tithing is a great blessing to us; it can give us the confidence that we need to know that the Lord will bless us.
Those that pay their tithing help us to love our Heavenly Father more. Blessings come from obeying commandments that are hard! If you want to be happy you must pray, pay your tithing, study, and attend all your meetings. When you pay an honest tithe, it is an exercise of faith.
By being obedient, we are freeing ourselves to receive the blessings our Heavenly Father wants to shower upon us.
Faith
What is faith? The Fourth Article of Faith states that we must first have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Bible Dictionary is says "Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true, and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation. To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone."
It does not take money to pay tithing but rather faith. Just because we pay our tithing does not mean that we will ever go hungry--we pay our tithing because of faith. When a farmer plants his seeds, he must have faith that they will grow into crops to harvest; when a God gives us children he is trusting that we will take care of them and raise them righteously. It is easy to say you will have faith, however when we are placed into situations that are meant to test our faith how will we react? We must remember that these tests of faith are to increase our faith and see what we are capable of.
We must remember that we chose to come here; we understood the big picture. While we are here, Satan is fightingso hard to destroy our faith so that we will not be able to return to live with our Heavenly Father; he wants us to be miserable like unto himself.
By small and simple things the Lord brings great things to pass. It takes faith for us to even follow the commandments; the world tells us that we shouldn't keep the Word of Wisdom or that it's okay to have pre-marital sex. We keep the commandments that the Lord gives us because He told us to--we have faith that we will be blessed in the end with eternal life for doing so. The more times you exercise your faith the easier it becomes. The Lord has given us many talents--these talents can make exercising our faith so much easier. We must be careful not to forget to see the Lord's hand in our lives; we must remember that man is nothing compared to God.
Doctrine and Covenants 121: 44-46 state:
"That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.
Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine fo the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion and thy scepter an unchaging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever."
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