It Starts With the Heart - Part I

I KNOW God lives. I KNOW it. I KNOW Joseph Smith was called by my Savior to form again an organization - a group of people willing to be obedient to eternal, everlasting laws and truths; a covenant society here on Earth, whose purpose is to combat evil and return home safely to our Heavenly Father. I know these truths by the pure power of the Holy Ghost.

Gaining this knowledge was a process.

It starts with our hearts - That's what our Savior taught the Nephites just before his personal visit. And, remember, he is speaking to those who were spared because they were the more righteous part of the people:

"O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart"

 (3 Ne. 10:6).

Notice, even the more righteous part of the people were required to have:

1. A repentant heart
   
2. A "fully purposed" heart
   

So, let's pause and evaluate our own hearts. How do our hearts measure up? Ask ourselves, "Is my heart all-in? Am I dedicated to serving my Savior with ALL my heart?"

Once our hearts are repentant and filled with His purpose, what happens to us?

The Lord tells us in Ezekial:

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgements, and do them" (Ezek. 36:26-27).

So, once we commit to allowing our hearts to change, and once we commit IN our hearts to serve with full purpose of heart, the Lord blesses us with two specific changes:

A New Heart -

This new heart, we are taught, is a soft heart. And, ironically, our NEW hearts will always be BROKEN hearts. Elder Bruce Porter taught, "When our hearts are broken, we are completely open to the Spirit of God and recognize our dependence on Him for all that we have and all that we are" (Ensign, Nov. 2007, p. 31).

A New Spirit -

Now that our hearts are soft and broken, we are prepared and able to FEEL the Savior's guidance. When we have His spirit with us, we are able to feel HIS thoughts and we are able to FEEL His testimony. And, that is what motivates us to walk in HIS statutes and keep HIS judgements. We have a feeling of dependence on Him.

When we feel dependent on someone, communication with that individual is vital. The Nephites understood this. In chapter 19, their hearts, at this point, were changed and their spirits were new. They had felt the Savior's presence. They truly felt dependent upon his guidance. They knew they had to be able to constantly communicate with Him. So, what did this group of Nephites pray for? What did they most desire?

"And they did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given them" (3 Ne. 19:9).

They wanted to FEEL the voice of God. They did not want to talk to God. They wanted to speak with God.

THAT is the essence of the Holy Ghost - He allows us the ability to speak with our Father in Heaven with Christ as our mediator. Notice that all 3 members of the Godhead are deeply involved in the communication process, indicating just how important this communication is to our salvation.

In fact, the ONLY way we achieve our potential is by feeling, and then following, the voice of Him whom we seek to be with and seek to be like. It is the only way.