This is the Prosper Stronger Podcast, a community where LDS women gather to cultivate covenant connections and strive to be devoted disciples of Jesus Christ.
Hi, and welcome to a little snippet today of Prosper Stronger. It is the week of July 4th, and there have been a lot of thoughts going through my mind.
I love that we celebrate Independence Day. I really, really enjoy July 4th. One of my daughters says it's her favorite holiday, which is interesting. You know, it's not Christmas or big things where they get all kinds of gifts and everything. She loves July 4th because she loves liberty, and I do too. I am so grateful for those who have sacrificed, who have stood up at their own risk, at their own peril, and even at their loved ones, those who have given of themselves, and some even who gave of their time and energy to learn and to study and to know what the principles of Liberty are.
I am so, so grateful for everyone over hundreds of years who laid the foundation and who did everything they possibly could in their time frame to make it so that I could live in a country where I have liberty and where I can worship as I choose especially.
I've been thinking about this idea and preparing for the holiday, and today was fast Sunday. And as I sat in church and we got to sing the beautiful hymns and the patriotic hymns, it was so powerful. And a lot of thoughts came to my mind as I was pondering and thinking about this. And it was one of those experiences where I knew that these thoughts weren't just coming from me, that the Lord was giving them to me because they were coming so rapidly and then they were connecting in a powerful way.
And for me at least, that is one of the ways where I can recognize personal revelation or being taught by the spirit, is how the thoughts come and how they connect in my mind. And I feel like my mind just opens up. So that is what happened to me today during fast and testimony meeting as we were partaking of the sacrament.
Anyway, the word that kept coming to my mind was bondage. And a couple weeks ago I was in a meeting and we were discussing, kind of defining and just having a discussion about liberty and freedom. And as I thought about it, what came to me was that it's the absence or freedom from bondage was a better way for me to describe it than to actually explain freedom and liberty. And we know that nobody wants to be in bondage. The Israelites were in bondage and they wanted to be set free, and they were. They were after many, many, many years, but nobody wants to be in bondage.
I have a teenage son and he just does not wanna be told what to do. He does not wanna be controlled, right? He wants to be able to make his own choices to be free, right? We use this word all the time. I'm free. I want to be free. And even as people talk about their life goals, oh, I want to be financially free. I want to have time freedom. I want to be able to do whatever I want, right? This kind of idea of free to do whatever. Free to believe what I want to believe. Free to say what I want to say.
So many of these things that are founding fathers here in the United States worked to incorporate. But I believe that freedom and liberty are different. And part of the reason for that is actually found in second Nephi chapter two verse 27. It reads, "wherefore, men are free according to the flesh and all things are given them, which are expedient unto man, and they are free to choose liberty and eternal life."
So right there, I think, okay, they're free to choose liberty. So, we've got freedom and liberty in the same sentence. And honestly, I can't say that I can explain to you perfectly about freedom, perfectly about liberty, and that actually is what I want to talk about today. But I'm just kind of planting that seed, that freedom and liberty are different. They encapsulate different principles or different pieces of similar principles.
Anyway, I want to talk about this scripture here. "We are free to choose liberty and eternal life. Through the great mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death according to the captivity and power of the devil for He seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself."
And as I thought about my country, the United States of America, there are a lot of things happening in this country that are very concerning to me and sometimes keep me up at night and worry me greatly and sadden me greatly because I love the founding fathers. I love what they did. I love that they put forth the time and the effort to truly study not just the Bible, but the words of other leaders from other places in the world that together they came. And met and having most of them studied, many of the similar writings and all of them studying the Bible that they sought to do what was right. They sought true principles. They sought the direction of God. And they did their part to establish our country where we could worship where we could become his covenant people. We know, and if you study the history of it, we could not have had the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We could not have had the restoration of the priesthood and the establishment of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints without the United States of America. We know that God requires a covenant people, and in order for us to have the opportunity and ability to become his covenant people, He needed us to have a covenant land, a promised land. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to have temples.
If you have studied this or researched it. There was a book I read and listened to a while ago, actually it's been several books and the more I study, the more I can see that everything that took place was under the direction of God and that we needed the United States of America, not just the citizens of the USA, but the entire world needed the United States of America. So that the church could come forth, so that the restoration could happen, so that the ordinances and covenants could be reestablished, and so that we could have temples where we could covenant with God, and then we could live and keep those covenants. Everything needed to be done in order. And it had to be done in a manner that would protect our liberty, that would enable us to be able to choose liberty and eternal life or captivity and death. We have been given that by God, our Father, but we wouldn't be able to exercise it if we didn't have the United States of America.
I know this and I know that the Lord desires all children throughout the world to be able to have the same freedom. I think it breaks His heart when people who desire it so much are not able to fully exercise their agency, and I'm sure it's frustrating for them as well.
I was traveling to Russia years ago and I remember talking so much to the members there in Russia and having firesides and we kept talking about the temple. And as a ballroom dance team, we would do these firesides and some of us would speak and we'd perform musical numbers and things. And I was not speaking, but I noticed that a lot of the talks being given were about the temple. And the Russian Saints and even the Russian leaders after a while said, "can you please stop talking about the temple? This is such a difficult topic for us because it is so hard for us to be able to go to the temple." It was a source of agony, of heartache because they wanted it so badly they wanted to be able to go to the temple. And it opened my eyes and I was so appreciative again to those founding fathers and to Joseph Smith and to everyone who has done the work of laying the foundation and opening the doors of opportunity for me that I can live now here in a land where I can attend the temple and it's so accessible.
I don't have to go through a process with the government to get permission to cross a border so that I can go to a temple. I just have to choose. And sacrifice my time or energy, whatever is required, and go to the temple. The only one stopping me from going to the temple is me, not somebody else. And to me that is liberty. That is freedom to choose. And I am so, so grateful.
And I know when the saints in Russia get the temple, they will be so thrilled. It will still be hard for them, but what a huge blessing. I openly wept when President Nelson announced that there would be one built there. And I am so thrilled for them and for everyone throughout the world who is more readily able to attend the temples. I live near where the Layton temple is being built, and we got to go to a fireside there and watch the video of all the temples being built. It's like a timeline and all the lights show up with each temple that's built as the timeline increases. And what a powerful video. I hope you have a chance to watch that. I believe it's available on the church website.
But as I saw these lights appear, and some of them throughout the ocean. And you see, we have Hawaii and throughout the Polynesian Islands, but there were many off the coast of Africa and so many different places. And I thought, wow, that is amazing. So amazing to see these temples lighting up the world. I love that they used lights to represent the temples, like flashes of light. And as it progressed, you just saw more and more and more temples glowing. And I don't think that was by accident, because we know that each temple is built with more light and more power is available to us. And more light comes to the earth. The light of Christ, the light of truth, and light of the gospel. And it's such an amazing and powerful thing and it's thrilling to live at this time and to see it moving forward.
I love the land that I live in and I pray for those who are actively standing up and defending truth and righteousness and defending our families and defending this freedom, this liberty that we have to choose the freedom to choose liberty, to choose eternal life or to choose captivity and death. I'm grateful we have the opportunity to choose, and I know that Jesus Christ is the great liberator.
As we have studied recently in Come Follow Me about the Garden of Gethsemane and His suffering there, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. And through all of that He liberated us from captivity. He liberated us from bondage. And it is only us now that will stop us from being free. Just like I choose whether I go to the temple, it's only me that keeps me from going there. It is only me that keeps me from having liberty, that keeps me from having each eternal life and reaching the promised blessings and dwelling with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, and with all those I love. It is only me that keeps me either keeping my covenants or falling away from them, and it is Jesus Christ who gave me that freedom, that liberty. He is the liberator. Until He came, until He performed the atonement, we were all in bondage. And I know He wants us to be free in all that we do.
And I know that as we listen to the words of our living prophet and church leaders, they are trying to help us live with freedom and liberty to live out of bondage. And as we keep the commandments, as we keep our covenants, we can experience that. We can experience the joy that comes from following Him.
And I actually really love this scripture in Doctrine and Covenant section 88 verse 86. It's a little different. And this phrase has kind of been one that I've often wondered about. What does it really mean? And I feel like I have a long way to go to understand it, but I'm starting to get a glimmer. I'm trying to turn to it right now. This is in, again, doctrine Covenant section 88, which is an amazing section there's so many other scriptures in here that I love, but this one here in 86, He says, the Lord says, "abide ye."
Now we know that to abide is to dwell in the presence of or to come and be forever permanently abide. I won't go into that a lot, but look that up and study that. "Abide ye in the liberty wherewith ye are made free entangle, not yourselves in sin, but let your hands be clean until the Lord comes." And I'd love this idea, this "abide in the liberty wherewith ye are made free."
I have got to study this more. If any of you understand this better, please let me know. This idea of the liberty we're with, he has been made free. I feel like I'm getting glimpses of it, but I would love to understand it even more. And I think this liberty we're with you are made free, we're free to choose. We're free to exercise our agency and that Jesus Christ has given us that. He has liberated us. That's what I believe. It ties into that phrase, and I really would love to know much more.
But I love that abiding in it, abiding in liberty, abiding in that freedom, and I am just so grateful that Jesus Christ has liberated me and given me the opportunity to be liberated from death. We have the option to choose liberty or death, and by that I mean liberty and eternal life. That is that spiritual death. We know that He liberated us from physical death, that all of us have that gift through the resurrection. But that the choice is ours whether we will let Him liberate us from spiritual death to choose eternal life, I hope you will.
I am so grateful to have the opportunity. I'm so grateful for the great liberator Jesus Christ, and I'm grateful to live in a land where I can exercise my freedom. To worship him, to worship my Savior, and I pray that we can work together to understand the principles of the gospel, and to understand the doctrine of Christ. And to see and understand how those relate and work with the principles of freedom upon which this country, the United States of America, was founded. And that we can hold true to those and that we can stand for truth and righteousness and liberty in what we say, in what we do, and that we will take the time to learn and to be better citizens of whatever country in which we dwell. To be better citizens of God's kingdom, we will forever fight for the cause of Christ and the cause of liberty.
That is my prayer. And that is one of the reasons why I love celebrating the 4th of July. And I know others are celebrating Canada Day and celebrating other independence days. May we all someday participate, choose, and make the choices that will allow us and qualify us to participate in the celebration of eternal life and true freedom. When the Savior comes again and we can be with him, may we fight for these things and live the principles of liberty.
Go forth, prosper, stronger. And thanks for being here.
Thank you for joining the Prosper Stronger Podcast today. We hope that you have felt inspired and empowered. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast and share it with your friends and family. I also invite you to join me at prosperstronger.com, where you will find free resources to help you grow and learn as well as join in our discussions where we go deeper into some of the themes that we talk about here on our podcast.
Remember that you are loved and cherished by Heavenly Father who wants you to prosper and thrive. Until next time, may you continue to cultivate covenant connections with God, with others, and with yourself. And find strength in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Comments