Luke 10-14: Disciples of Jesus Christ

What it means to be a disciple of Christ:

Hear His word

Serve

Judge not

Pray

Repent

Ask, Seek, Knock

Unselfish and giving

Humble

Faith

Trust in God

Compassion

I think that the one that I would like to more fully apply to my life is faith. Faith is a gift from God and I would like to be better about exercising the faith that I do have and asking to be blessed with more faith in times of distress or struggles. Faith is one of the foundations and greatest principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think that I can more fully develop this principle by praying and asking God for help in receiving and developing this trait.By doing this I think that my testimony would grow and I would trust more in Heavenly Father's plan for me.

Forsake all you have (Luke 14:33)

Offer your whole soul (Omni 1:26)

Eternally indebted to our Heavenly Father (Mosiah 2:34)

Kingdom of Heaven is a treasure, you have to sell everything to buy it. (Matthew 13:44-46)

Ultimately in order to be a disciple of Christ we have to be willing to give up everything to follow the Savior. Everything we have, our spouses and families mean nothing without the Savior and eternal salvation.

The Savior healed a Young man

Matthew 17

Three things the Savior said the disciples needed in order to heal:

1. Faith

2. Prayer

3. Fasting

What is needed for miracles to happen:

3 Nephi 18:20-Faith "And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you."

D&C 50:29- Purified and Cleansed "And if ye are purified and cleansed from all sin, ye shall ask whatsoever you will in the name of Jesus and it shall be done".

D&C 42:48-Faith "It shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed"

Walking on Water

Matthew 14 talks of the Savior walking on water. As Christ approaches his disciples from the water they were greatly "troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out in fear" Matthew 14:26)

Peter is the only apostle to ask if he can walk on the water to Jesus. What great faith and courage he had to attempt this feat. When the winds came he became fearful and began to sink, but Christ was right there to assure and comfort him. Christ caught Peter and asked him why he doubted. Peter was a great example and lesson to us that we need to reach out to Christ and have faith. When times get difficult or scary, we cannot doubt and lose faith, because Christ will reach out his hand to us and make up the difference. When Peter began to sink he cried out saying "Lord, save me" (verse 30). "Immediately" Christ stretched forth his hand. There was no delay. Christ was there to save him.

"And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things"(D&C 88:67)

When we align our desires and will with the will of the Lord we are following Christ and we will be filled with his light. Christ knows all things and knows how to accomplish all things, so if we are aligning with him then we will also be capable of accomplishing all things. The key is that our sights have to be completely and utterly aligned with the vision of the Savior. We must have complete faith. When we exercise faith it builds character. Consistent strong moral character helps us to make better choices and exercise more faith in times of struggle and trial. Faith is the key to overcoming the difficult storms of life that inevitably do come.

John the Baptist

Matthew 11:1-19 and Luke 7:18-35

The two disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus Christ "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" (Matthew 11:3) Those are the two questions they inquired of Christ to know. If I had been in the disciples place and had to tell John the Baptist some things that I had seen, I would tell him that I saw Christ give sight to the blind, heal people of infirmities, caused the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, also that a woman washed his feet with her tears.

"Did John doubt that Jesus was the Messiah?" John's final testimony was to remind his disciples that he himself was not the Messiah, but Christ was. He had a hard time convincing some of his disciples of this. His motives in sending the disciples to Jesus was probably out of persuasion for them, rather than reassurance for himself. John had the revelation and witness from heaven that Christ was the Messiah and received the testimony of him. His hopes in sending the disciples were to help them see Christ as he saw him.

Jesus Christ said of John the Baptist "among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he". There are three reasons that he was considered to be one of the greatest prophets: first is that he was trusted with the divine mission of preparing the way before the face of the Lord.

Secondly, he was required to baptize the Son of Man.

and Third, he was the only legal administrator in the affairs of the kingdom there was then on the earth, and holding the keys of power.

John 3:30 says "He must increase, but I must decrease". I think that John saying this means that he recognized and had a testimony of the fact that Jesus is the Messiah and he is above all things in this world. John, was a prophet who had a divine mission, but he was not the Messiah and he knew his place. I think this teaches us that we need to follow Christ, and be like him.