Hey there everybody, welcome out to another episode of Redeemed Through His Blood.
My name's Scott Durfeey and super excited to be here with you today as always, joined
by our teacher and friend, David Durfey. What's up Dave?
Hey Scott, so good to be here and talk about how to apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ
in our life. That's kind of the question that I hope everybody will ask themselves
and that by the time we're done with the podcast today that they'll have a little bit better
understanding and know how to focus on that process a little better.
This has just been an absolute joy for me over the last several weeks again as we've
gone through a second season actually of the, we call it a course because it really is a
course. What we do here is kind of fashioned after the course, the Divine Gift of Forgiveness
which is an institute course from the church. Last we checked or last we heard we don't
check but somebody told David that and somebody in the know that it was, is I guess still
the most popular course that's being taught in seminaries and institutes right now and
what a great course. It's a great opportunity. You know Dave, a couple weeks ago Deb and
I had an opportunity to share some experience and strength and hope in a couple of fifths
Sunday talks if you will. One we got to do was with a single adult ward and you know
normally I should say in the past when I've approached this and I've gone in and we've
talked about how to recover from addictions and various things in the church. You know
we've had an approach and it's been great but you know as we talked about it this time
David it was a little bit different because I was able to integrate what we talk about
here in the podcast with that kind of approach to healing from addiction and healing from
you know the things in life that are just natural man to us and it was really interesting,
shouldn't be a surprise and it really wasn't a surprise. I think it was kind of our intent
but the spirit was just so strong in testifying and in kind of what's the word not enabling
but administering the atonement of Jesus Christ there that day when we were there. The spirit
was just so strong as we focused on these truths and really came to a consensus and
to a belief and to an agreement with the spirit itself that you know it's through the spirit
that the atonement of Jesus Christ gets administered in our lives and I think we're going to talk
a lot about that today.
Yeah for sure Scott. Yeah that's really sweet. I'm sure that your influence that you're
having on the young adults of the church you and Deb together because of your experiences
and how the Lord has taken ashes and turned them into something beautiful is really really
sweet for me to kind of be a witness to so thanks for sharing that Scott and and you
mentioned the course you know this is an this is based on an Institute course that I had
kind of designed and put together several years ago and then Elder Anderson found out
about it and and wrote the book the divine gift of forgiveness and you know I consulted
on that a lot and I want all of our listeners to know that this is available to them online
the course if they if they go to the app the church's app and they go to books and lessons
then they'll be taken to a tab called Institute and if they click on Institute really the
first question that comes up or the first course that comes up is the divine gift of
forgiveness yeah it's become a really really popular course in all of the languages that
the book has been translated which I don't know how many languages it's been translated
in by now and and I was I helped put the the teacher manual together I worked with the
curriculum department of seminaries and institutes a little bit to to do that and they use the
book the divine gift of forgiveness by Elder Anderson as a student manual and that's available
to them online through the church's church's app and I encourage them to look at that and
to use that in their in their teaching what in the church in their family in their in
their personal lives it'll it'll really bless all of our listeners also if you go to just
the website on a on a PC laptop or anything like that you can find it there it's under
Institute just go to churchofjesuschrist.org forward slash study and then if you go under
Institute you'll be able to find it there Deb and I teach this at BYU for a YSA stake
currently this will be our we're actually going into our third year I can't believe
that really yeah but yeah it's been amazing yeah to see lives changed and to see lives
touched and and perceptions change of you know the relationship and their connection
with deity specifically with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ but obviously you know that
has to be done through the spirit of the Holy Ghost which is and it's just been beautiful
Dave to see literally see lives changed and and our own you know among them you know absolutely
but to see life bless the most yeah just a beautiful experience so so that's the that's
you mentioned the spirit of the Holy Ghost we're going to talk about the gift and power
of the Holy Ghost today I'd like to begin by just saying and maybe this should be the
title of this podcast Scott that the Holy Ghost is the agent of change you know if if
if anyone wants to change their life not just habits but if you want to change your life
the key to that is receiving responding and recognizing the gift of the Holy Ghost in
our life and that's what we should talk about today we have talked the past few weeks about
forgiving others how to forgive ourselves a little bit about how to recognize that we've
been forgiven so that we can forgive ourselves it's probably worth repeating it's pretty
hard to really forgive yourself if you don't know where you stand with God and you don't
know whether Jesus Christ has forgiven you or not yeah that if you forgive yourself and
you don't know that you probably just brainwashing yourself so I just think it's really important
that we understand that it is the Holy Ghost who is the agent of change and he is the messenger
and the administrator of the atonement of Jesus Christ in our life that's a paraphrase
from elder Christ offers and the agent of change by the way is really from Bishop of
God say of the presiding Bishop of the church in general conference talk I want to begin
today by referring to a face-to-face event for the youth that was held six years ago
back in 2017 at the sacred Grove president Eyring was there elder Holland was there there
were the few youth on hand and then by satellite connected the youth all over the world this
was on the 4th of March 2017 and the elder Eyring was asked by one of the youth how do
we apply the atonement of Jesus Christ how do we apply the atonement I don't even think
they said Jesus Christ I think they said how do we apply the atonement in our life okay
so that was the question and Scott that should that's a great question that's a question we
should all ask ourselves but elder Eyring got really kind of animated I mean if you if
our listeners watch this you'll notice how he kind of sets up in his chair and he gets
out on the edge of his chair and he's really excited about that question and he's really
you can tell they've been talking about it as a first presidency and the quorum of the
twelve I mean and this is shortly after president Nelson had asked us to talk not talk about
the atonement without referring to it as the atonement of Jesus Christ and connecting
Jesus Christ to the atonement and so president Eyring gets all excited about the question
how can I apply the atonement in my life and this is what he said I'm gonna I'm just gonna
read a little bit of it here the first thing to do is to get a few facts straight president
Eyring said the atonement was something Jesus Christ did it's not a thing itself I think
that's that's a different way for some people to look at it is it's something that he did
it's not an entity in itself and he goes on quote he had toned for our sins and he paid
the price to allow us to be forgiven to be resurrected so it's what he did that qualified
him to give us forgiveness to change our hearts get this Scott it's the Holy Ghost doing that
not the atonement as if it's a thing itself and so when you feel forgiveness that's not
the atonement that's the Savior giving you a feeling of forgiveness through the Holy
Ghost because of the atonement really Scott what what I just read from president Eyring
should cause all of us to rethink yeah how we think about how it works and I hope people
do I hope I hope for a minute all of our listeners will consciously make sure they got this right
it's not the atonement that we that gives us forgiveness it's not through it's not it's
Jesus Christ as administered by the Holy Ghost because of the atonement right yeah Jesus Christ
yep that we get forgiveness yeah so I just think that's really critical again and another
testimony that Jesus Christ is the one that has the power of forgiveness but he offers
it to us as a gift right from the gift of the Holy Ghost right or the power of the Holy
Ghost I don't think I don't think LDS and I know that some LDS will disagree with me
on this because I've had that argument with some I do not believe we have in the monopoly
on forgiveness of sin I don't now I know there's power in the ordinances and I know
the power in the priesthood of you know the baptism in the ordinances and all of that
is really important I you know I know that but I believe people through prayer and no
matter what their faith can receive some degree of confirmation that they're making progress
and some degree of forgiveness if not complete forgiveness through the power of the Holy
Ghost without ever receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands I was
in a meeting I won't say what kind I'm gonna I'm gonna be a little bit careful here I was
in a meeting semi recently and a person was giving a talk and in the talk and I and I
know what they mean and it's all good but I have a point I want to make here in the
talk this person said I've used the atonement many times in my life and I know what they
mean you know probably said I know what they mean exactly what they mean but millions of
passing testimony meetings every month but but to your point you know it's it's not the
atonement with that we use it's Christ's power it's Christ's blessings there are blessings
that come to us his blessings though and we talked about these at length and we'll continue
to but it's these blessings that come to us because of the atonement not it's not the
atonement but because of the atonement because of what Christ went through the events of
the atonement right that give us the effects of the atonement and but those are only available
because of Jesus Christ himself and and they're made available to us only through the spirit
of the Holy Ghost right yeah absolutely yeah that's the way it works after President Eyring
had given a even a little longer more detailed answer than what I'm sharing with our listeners
today then Elder Holland spoke up and said hey can I can I just say a word here and he
and Elder Holland said if we understand the atonement of Jesus Christ we're going to
be meek and lowly and very grateful remember how many times have we said gratitude the
beginning of desire is the beginning of desire and Scott I I think Elder Holland's quote
here somewhat confirms that that that if we think about the atonement of Jesus Christ
it can it can in and of itself understanding what Jesus did can have a really humbling
effect on us it can make us meek and lowly in heart it can even break our heart as we've
discussed it can give us a contrite spirit it can start us on the path of repentance
but there is no power in the atonement to forgive us it is not a thing in and of itself
Jesus suffered for our sins and because of that it qualified him with power to forgive
us it it empowered him to offer us mercy and grace because of his atonement and the
gifts of mercy and grace the redemptive enabling powers and compensatory blessings of the atonement
of Jesus Christ are all administered in our life through the gift of the Holy Ghost and
then Elder Holland said and because of meeting us in lowliness of heart which comes as we
view as we go to get 70 in the cross and we view the atonement of Jesus Christ and because
of meekness and lowliness of heart then cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost I know that's
the scripture but I don't have the reference right here Elder Holland continued we've just
been swept right into the celestial kingdom here on the strength of the atonement of Jesus
Christ because it made us meek it made us lowly it made us grateful it made us know somebody
helped us and that brings the Holy Ghost I don't know that I had ever quite tied the gift of the
Holy Ghost as an extension of the Savior's atonement so I I just think maybe we again the question
how can I apply the atonement of Jesus Christ in my life what's the answer to that Scott well the
way I can apply the atonement of Jesus Christ in my life is striped to have the spirit of the Holy
Ghost with me and that is a lot more concrete and sequential than the abstract idea of how do I get
the atonement in my life yeah how do I apply the atonement you know I've heard people say well
you just have to apply the atonement you just have to apply the atonement and I heard from dozens
of students that I taught at Institute they would say what does that even mean what does that mean
I don't know what that means how do I do that it's much more effective for us as as family members
as parents as brothers sisters sons and daughters to help our other family members and those that
we love and those in the church who we teach it's much more effective to teach how to qualify for
the power and gift the cleansing power the healing gift of the atonement of Jesus Christ by receiving
the Holy Ghost it's the Holy Ghost that should be our focus how can we get the spirit in our life
because as we discussed last week or two when we feel the Holy Ghost what do we know we know
we are being forgiven of our sins president ironing again when we feel the Holy Ghost
we should know that the atonement of Jesus Christ is working in our life
I I think about that daily I if all of our listeners and if all members of the church
would just every time they feel the Holy Ghost immediately their their minds should be taken to
the uh Gethsemane and the cross and we should this is this is really how you look unto me in every
thought how you look unto me in every thought is is by having the Holy Ghost as our constant
companion and when we feel the Holy Ghost we think we should think about the atonement of Jesus
Christ and the connection between Jesus Christ and the atonement and the administration of the
Holy Ghost in our life you know in the in the sacrament prayers it just kind of like lays it
all right out for us yeah absolutely the connection there yeah you know so you know the very end and
this is the blessing on the bread but at the very end that they are willing to take upon them the
name of thy Son and always remember him so we talk about that you know this is where they go this is
how we remember him right well and what is one of the roles of the Holy Ghost to bring all things
to our remembrance to our remembrance yeah and so and then that they may and keep his commandments
which he has given them that what that they may always have his spirit to be with him that's the
reason we take the sacrament why that we may always have his spirit to be with us it helps us to
remember it helps us to recovonant it helps us to stay you know keep our feet pointed in the
covenantal direction and that's the whole purpose that we may have his spirit with us now we know
that the atonement of Jesus Christ was there to help us qualify so that we can be forgiven of sin
so that all things in our lives that are brought to us because of the effects of the fall both the
spiritual and the physical death can be remedied can be answered and they are answered through
Christ's atonement but the result the net effect of Christ's atonement in our lives is that we may
have his spirit always to be with us when his spirit is always with us we know we're forgiven
of our sins or we are in the process of that repentance process take in place Dave we should
always be in the process 100% right we should always be on the process of repentance it's an
ongoing process again I you know I was thinking this morning Scott early that we're never really
sinless right you don't have to be sinless to feel forgiven because you'll never be sinless
you just have to receive the Holy Ghost because what does that mean if we're receiving the Holy
Ghost that means that we have the administration of Jesus's atonement which is the blessing of
all of his powers that come to us through the atonement at work in our lives and when we have
that then we know that it's not through our merit but his merit that now that qualification process
is drawing us to him to be with him forever yes and the atonement is working in our life right
so the Holy Ghost is a constant companion Scott you know I I take that phrase pretty seriously
I think it's only once or twice in the scriptures I I was doing a little search and
maybe we can look at this scripture Scott but I think this is really powerful if you want to
look it up and read it to us doctrine and covenants section 121 verse 46 let virtue
garnish thy thoughts unceasingly all right so this is dnc 121 verses 45 and 46 actually
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 I love that because it tells us how
do we get our confidence I know if you're and I know we all wonder this right where do you stand
how do I get confident in the presence of heavenly yeah where do I stand with God yeah and this this
just answers am I good enough this just there's just so many questions and insecurities in our
our relationship with the Lord and this is right this is telling us that through charity
and virtuous thoughts you know which which aren't only morally clean thoughts but good
no good thoughts right you yeah virtue is not just a some something dealing with sexual connotations
it's no anything good good thoughts yeah virtues anything that's inviting the spirit yeah there
you go I like that and so I'm gonna start over 121 45 let thy bowels be full of charity towards
all men and to the household of faith and I also like I'm gonna stop again I also like that it says
towards all men all men the whole world yeah you don't get to choose no yeah you don't get to that
guy that to cut you off even the guy on the news that you see that you're really gets under your
skin the whole whole world and whole country supposed to hate them whatever or or the world
supposed to hate them that gate this gets back to the last couple of episodes you know forgiveness
maybe even right so let bowels yeah well this is one reason why to be forgiven you have to forgive
you have to forgive and so here we go let that again dnc 121 verse 45 45 and 46 let thy bells
also be full of charity towards all men and to the household of faith as sometimes it's harder to
have charity towards the household of faith yeah what does that mean then it is to all men Scott
what does that mean well it's the it's the church it's the people in the church who who shouldn't
offend us but who do offend us yeah it's people in the church who we have we have so much higher
expectations for and it's our neighbor yeah sometimes yeah harder forgive your neighbor Scott
then it is the whole world or even a family member or yeah or or somebody in your own household yeah
right yeah and let virtue guy garnish thy thoughts unceasingly hmm that's and that's another one
unceasingly virtue okay so to have virtuous thoughts and and again this is not necessarily
talking about anything sexually related this is anything pure includes all that it does for sure
but this also includes anything that's pure and christlike and godlike all right so let the let
virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly then okay so then so this is obviously if an end statement
there is a there are conditions on this yeah so in order for that to happen here's do this then this
then okay yeah so it's kind of like an algorithm if this then that right then shall the then shall
thy confidence wax strong in the presence of god sounds like you're forgiven yeah and that sounds
like a huge blessing and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the
dues from heaven the doctrine of the priesthood yeah all right and then 46 the holy ghost shall be
thy constant companion and thy scepter and unchanging 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 i like that part i think that part i look over that part without
compulsory means that means without really trying yeah that means that it'll become our nature it'll
become who we are the people who hold the rod of iron and they're not clinging to it they're just
holding fast right they're they're steadfast right they're moving forward they're not taking huge
leaps and bounds they're just they're just moving one foot from the other and continually by small
and simple things great things come to pass well i love that scripture and i that's one of the few
places in the standard works where it says the holy ghost will be your constant companion i
take that i take that pretty seriously constant companion and and every time we we hear somebody
confirmed to the church right they call them by name by the power of the priesthood you know and in
the name of the savior they say receive the holy ghost after being confirmed to remember the church
jesus christ florida saints receive the holy ghost that as a constant companion scott that's
quite a commandment and such an important part of the covenant of baptism the baptism of water
followed by the baptism of fire which is the holy ghost if you receive the holy ghost he shall be
your constant companion right you know president elson in kind of a face to face not very just a
year or two ago with the youth talked about you know you know somebody asked him about a question
about the atonement jesus christ and he started talking about the holy ghost and he says unfortunately
some people have never opened the gift they need to untie the bow they need to take off the paper
and open the gift and realize the blessings that are in store for them if they will receive the gift
of the holy ghost yeah so maybe again for just a moment in regards to receiving forgiveness
through jesus christ because of the atonement administered into our lives by the gift and power
of the holy ghost how do we receive it how do we receive the gift well i think we've talked about
that you know and it's definitely something that we need to continue to talk about but the way that
we receive the gift of the holy ghost is we align ourselves with heavenly fathers will for us and
that includes so much right you know we we have certain things that we drop on as kind of expectations
or or whatever for ourselves which are good you know sometimes when i say that we have expectations
for ourselves that sort of has a negative connotation not in this case in this case when we have those
expectations those expectations would be whatever i need to do to court the spirit in my life so that
would include all the primary answers that we ever talk about in church right we say our prayers in
the morning we say our prayers at night we read the scriptures we treat treat everybody kindly we
we we adhere to the covenant promises the covenants that we've made and we take upon us his name i mean
everything that we've talked about in every episode coming to this one so all 32 episodes prior to
this one we talk about what it is that we need to do to have the spirit in our lives and and you
know it becomes really less of a checklist like everything else and more of just a way that we
live our lives let me just share a quick experience last sunday i'm sitting in in church and i'm sitting
in sacrament meeting and i don't have the spirit with me and i don't have the spirit with me because
i have a heart problem that day you know that might might and when i say heart problem an
attitude of the heart problem right and my go ahead and scott maybe maybe i don't i don't know i'm
not saying this is right or not but maybe another way of looking at that is maybe you did have the
holy ghost as your constant companion maybe but maybe you were not receiving it or recognizing it
yeah or willing to do whatever it took to feel the holy ghost in your life yeah and that and that
was definitely the case for a few minutes or at least and you know when i came home that day and
not you know i went toward counsel we did all of the things that i need to do as part of my
leadership calling in in our ward we took and we took care of everything and it was all fine but
when i came home sunday night this past sunday there i could just feel something missing there was
something wrong with me and i and so i could do what i often do when that when that's the case i
came down here to my office and i did a little prayer and personal inventory and i determined
that i wasn't striving very hard to have the holy ghost in my life i was not necessarily doing things
to chase it away per se but there were there were things in my life that maybe hadn't received the
kind of attention that they should have been receiving for a short period of time and so i
made a conscious decision that night that would have been sunday night just a few days ago at this
point to strive harder to have the holy ghost in my life and so as i've done that and i really noticed
it yesterday in the day before especially i i've really noticed a big change a big difference in
me and so you know the things that would normally or or when i don't have the spirit with me that
aggravate me or irritate me it's been different i have a different again a different approach so
for me maybe for all of us these are things that a constant awareness of and vigilance towards can
help us in making sure that we have the atonement working in our life so that we don't have to
have those feelings of you know i call it restless irritable and discontent you know and that's
kind of where i was that without the without the whole yeah that's good but but i believe the holy
ghost was with you i mean this is my yeah personal i know what you're saying and i sometimes i don't
feel him either sure but i i think he's there yeah i mean the holy ghost doesn't dwell in us
the holy ghost is always with us but doesn't necessarily we don't carry him around with us
he's just always there for us if we will receive him by choosing what we think by choosing how we
feel there you go meaning meaning what's in our heart yeah when i say what we feel is what's in
our heart yeah what what negative thoughts of my struggling with what negative feelings of my
struggling with am i am i am i full of fear am i full of pride am i full of jealousy envy coveting
all of these negative emotions scott that act as a pavilion that keep us from feeling receiving
recognizing the holy ghost in our life i love how you just put that that act as a pavilion yeah
i know a guy that had a pavilion felt a pavilion one time separating him from him and god well
right that's in the same section yeah exactly this is in section 121 joseph smith in liberty jail
you know where is thy pavilion that cover the hiding place well it's not that the holy ghost
wasn't with joseph smith when he made that prayer i know the holy ghost was with joseph smith but
because of the extreme physical conditions pain fear all the natural man stuff that would be present
even with the prophet was acting as a pavilion to keep him from deity scott we have those daily
really i know the holy ghost is my constant companion but there are pavilions in our life
that that become a a block aid or a stumbling block for us to really feel and receive the holy
ghost i i love elder or president iring's talk that he gave years ago called the pavilions
i can't remember the whole talk and it's been probably been 15 years ago now but um he talked
about the emotions and the thoughts that act as pavilions that separate us from god or jesus
or the holy ghost and be worth our members to go back and read that talk it's one of my
one of my all-time favorites it's actually called where is the pavilion in its october of 2012
okay 11 years ago yeah well that was an amazing talk for me and he and he talks about how to
overcome some of those pavilions so that we can receive the holy ghost in our life again the
question maybe that we're we're asking oh and maybe an invitation to our listeners based on
your comments scott is what elder bednar taught us we should all ask ourselves what do i need to
start doing and what do i need to stop doing to feel the holy ghost to receive and feel the holy
ghost in my life it doesn't have to be huge things maybe some of them are but it's the small simple
things that bring great things to pass and that's spiritual as well as temporal well i asked you
the question how can we receive the holy ghost and i found the scripture that i referred to easily
or earlier that was the scripture earlier that was referred to by by elder haaland this is marona
eight letter of mormon to his son marona and i love this this passage i think it's kind of the
process i think he really describes the process here scott it's verse 25 and 26 so maybe we can
discuss this scripture if you want to read it please all right marona eight verses 25 and 26
in the first fruits of repentance is baptism and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling of the
commandments and the fulfilling of the commandments bringeth a remission of sins and the remission of
sins bringeth meekness and lowliness of heart and because of meekness and lowliness of heart come
at the visitation of the holy ghost which comforter filleth with hope and with perfect love and which
love which love endureth by diligence unto prayer until the end shall come when all the saints
shall dwell with god that's a that's an interesting description i think of the process
now repenting ordinances the remission of sins that come to us through the holy ghost
filling us with meekness and lowliness and then then and then cometh the visitation of the holy ghost
which fills us with hope and perfect love so again the question how do i know i'm forgiven
well there you go you feel the holy ghost and you're filled with hope and perfect love
and that love charity the pure love of christ endureth by diligence unto prayer until
we return to the presence of god it's not really complicated scott no it's it's pretty simple as
described there by mormon well yeah i mean but you know we it's definitely not complicated but
sometimes we don't find it super easy to do right and and maybe it's not that we don't find it easy
to do as much as we get lulled away into our carnal security and we become and i hesitate to use the
word lazy because i don't ever want to imply that any of us are lazy but but president elson talked
about you know the lord is it that doesn't tell us how do you put it the lord isn't pleased with
lazy yeah lazy learners that's what it was you know but but i think that a lot of times though
that that's what it really kind of comes down to that's what it came down for me the other day
you know it wasn't so much that i was committing any grievous sin it wasn't you were but i had i
had drifted in my contact just in my contact you know just wasn't making a conscious contact
not being proactive enough right i was just kind of resting on my laurels maybe a little
bit my spiritual laurels maybe a little bit you know and so i think that that's the point you know
that this is just something that it just requires a little bit of constant effort on our part yeah
absolutely and it helps to have a plan yeah it helps as we think about our day
the night before the morning of to say okay what are some things i'm going to do today
to help me to feel the holy ghost which which really means to have the atonement of Jesus
Christ applied in my life right what am i going to do today to feel the power of christ because
of his atonement flow into my life through receiving the holy ghost right i mean scott if all of us
would just consider that question when we're thinking about our day beginning our day or
as we end our day to help us to repent and to move forward and progress it could really be
life changing you know that plan part is so important if we approach each day with no plan or if we
approach our lives with no plan then we're going to get what we plan for nothing right yeah no right
but if we have that plan in play and that's and that really does become an important part of this
we have to know what things invite the spirit into our lives we have to know that we have to
know what things will separate us from the spirit so we can avoid take measures to avoid those things
even you know even things just i can't i can't look on a certain website maybe because of the
conflict that's brought there that draws me into yeah but be proactive don't just go with the flow
yeah and what you know and that's that's just a small example there's a probably thousands of
watching commercials you know when i was a i remember when i was ordained a patriarch scott yeah
you've told me i became super sensitive about i i could lose the spirit pretty and then i don't mean
lose the holy ghost i mean not feel the holy ghost or not receive the holy ghost yeah by watching
certain commercials yeah so i i try pretty hard not perfect at it but i i try pretty hard to
try to avoid commercials and advertisements on television because i i think the the commercials
can be more um um that they put such negative and inappropriate thoughts into our mind
even more than television programs yeah probably i mean i just think it's so great that we have the
technology to be able to record and pick and choose but are we are we using that technology to
eliminate the distractions even if it only might be uh little commercials i mean it's amazing to me
i can't understand this how they can uh put a movie rated r which you know you have to be a certain age
to apparently go to that i don't have no idea if that's ever enforced but you're supposed to be a
certain age to go to certain movies and yet they can show it on television in my living room
a commercial they can advertise it in my living room with my kids or babies or grandchildren
watching it right that drives me crazy and i i don't know there's nothing i guess we can do about
that except learn ways and use technology to block that stuff out out of our lives well that is what
we can do about it and that's again being proactive i remember president ballard years ago talking it
gave an amazing talk i'm sorry i can't remember the name of it but he compared sometimes our lives to
drifting down the river right with nothing to control where we go we just are going with the flow
i was up at uh uh hot springs lava hot springs and lava hot springs by the way i thought that was a
a place i didn't know it was a city with a zip code you did it no i'd never been there before
and i'm so i go up to lava hot springs with my family they've been trying to get us to go up there
for a few years and i thought okay i gotta go see this lava hot springs you thought it was just
springs yeah i thought it was just the springs and i was gonna go down a little river i didn't
know it no it was a whole town oh and a million dollar swimming pools and right i did not know that
yeah so anyway uh that was an experience for me but it's kind of like you jump in on this tube
yeah and you have such little control where you go and and there's it's it's a fun little river
because sure it's warm yeah it's it's not very cold and uh there there's there's some fast parts to
it and there's some slow parts to it lazy parts and exciting parts and uh anyway we had a great
time but Scott how many times is our life or or individual days of our life uh like just
floating down yeah the tube or even just in a warm in a warm hot springs and we just we're just
happy to be there and anyway i i think we have to be a little more proactive and yeah we definitely
and use planning yeah and ask questions in our prayers what do i need to stop doing and listen
for some answer get a vision get some spirit to help us know what we need to stop doing
and what can i start doing ask the question ponder listen write it down put it in our plan
and start doing some of those things and Scott it can be as simple as well it'd be nice if you
read a book the chapter in the Book of Mormon today it'd be nice if you went to the temple this week
um there's just so many things or listen to a conference talk while you're getting ready
for work or serving somebody and doing your ministering or yeah and so much so much much
more next time you go to lava hot springs you need to take my kayak oh i'd probably drown you
take my kayak because that's like having the spirit because you can control with the oars
where you go you can you can but i i'm i'm probably in trouble no i that'd be easy for somebody
even like you learn how to do yeah no you'd be fine you'd be fine but you know i'll
i'll joking aside though that that you know that really is not a bad metaphor you know
you float the river on a tube and you just go where the river takes you you know you put an
oar in your hand on a kayak and that's like having the spirit in your life because you can avoid treacher
treacherous situations you can enjoy the more calm waters you can even enjoy the fast waters if
you have the control and and that's very much like having the spirit of the well i used in our
lives to administer be the administrator of christ sito man and and scott so many of us don't try to
really control the media that just uh consumes our culture in our society and we just uh
uh we have so many i think uh on social media on television on radio on so many things we hear so
many inappropriate things we live in kind of a pornographic world and we wonder why so many
have pornographic addictions and it's so hard for them to to um get out of those addictions
and honestly i think a lot of it has to do with just a lack of being proactive and planning and
doing the small and simple things the dailies i know that's what you know those uh
addiction recovery programs on the certain addictions they call it we're dailies yeah we
do our dailies i did my dailies this morning my dailies will be complete when the day is
over and i get to do the second part of them today but yeah and those are so important you know and
what's a what's an example of well i'll give you so and i'll and let me give you an example of why
they're important so you know you know that i've been um involved in alcoholics anonymous and other
addiction recovery programs for over 24 years as an active participant still am today um i'll have
25 years coming up uh october 26 i can't believe that but anyway i get an opportunity to sponsor
men in the program which simply means being there as a support kind of a mentor helping them work
the steps etc uh giving them direction and taking them by the hand just kind of leading them through
not just the steps but through the whole recovery process and part of that recovery process really is
and it's it's not it's not a prescribed part but it is a part that we all do by tradition because
it works and it helps us and that is actually it is a prescribed part it does talk about it in the
big book about how when we start our day we start our day on our knees basically and ask to be directed
by a higher power by heavenly father through the holy ghost um in our in our case uh we ask him to
direct our our our thinking our actions to remove us from the bondage itself to see where we can be
useful uh those kinds of things so there's prayer and then there's some sort of um directive mind
directive exercise that we typically go through which will include reading uh something spiritual
something from the big book of alcoholics anonymous maybe something from other approved
literature there's a couple of uh daily reflection books that you know i they're sitting right there
on my desk that i like to uh read that also kind of help so for example in one of them this we we
just began august so that's the eighth step eighth month eighth step there's 12 months 12 steps just
so happens it works that way so the eighth step is where we begin to make a list of all persons we
have harmed and become willing to make amends to them all and so we begin in august we kind of
as a group focus on that not everybody's on that step but that's kind of our direction and when we
do that david you know that so that's a daily another daily would be uh and i'm just throwing some of
there so many of these are obviously optional you get to choose them etc but another one would be to
talk to another alcoholic throughout the day you know uh and you know preferably especially if you're
new your sponsor call your sponsor just say hey hey how you doing hey how do i sound that's actually
the more important part yeah that you know but to just have those things and there's several others
you know we go to meetings we go to uh we do service uh it's such an important part of it you know
and we and we talk about you know how do we get the spirit in our lives well we talked about well
you should read the scriptures you should do this you should do that those are all things we do for
us we do by ourselves but one of the real big ones and we can't i i can't personally overemphasize
this one of the biggest ways that i like to help people and i like to help myself feel the spirit
in my life is when i serve others i you know i don't really feel like there's a more christlike
thing that i can be doing is to then to serve somebody who needs my help my uplifting even my
physical service you know i've taken out the trash for somebody or mowing the lawn for somebody in
my ward or whatever that needs help so any of these things are what we would call consider
dailies and and you know and and yeah i think that for me i have a list of things that that i like
to do on a daily basis and if i do those things on a daily basis i'm going to have the spirit with
me but for me they're one in the same you know if i if i have the spirit of the holy ghost with me
then my recovery process is in in in check and so is the atonement of jesus christ at work in my life
to me they're one in the same uh for me the in fact the recovery the 12 steps of recovery come to us
is one of the enabling powers of christ's atonement yeah and so you know even those 12 steps are a
component of that so when i have the spirit in my life and when i have those dailies when i have
those things and and i and i hesitate and hate actually to use the word checklist but in this
case it kind of is a checklist there are certain things that okay did it okay did it okay did it
now if i do those okay did it's on a pretty regular basis and is the more consistent i am in fact it
almost correlates the consistency i have with that almost almost directly correlates with the
consistent consistency to which i feel the spirit in my life well thank you scott thank you for for
sharing that and uh so i think that as we as we go forward i know we need to close and as we go
forward we need to just really really come to some revelation receive how we can grow
and progress in our life through receiving recognizing and responding to the gift of the
holy ghost by starting certain things daily planning pondering writing it down uh considering
what can we do as a individual as a couple as a family to get the the greater part of our day
focused on the holy ghost uh you know i i still remember the talk at president bruce armiconky
or elder elder bruce armiconky gave years ago in 1981 uh i think it was i can't remember the month it
was byu devotional where he really chastised somebody byu for writing a what he called a foolish
book i actually thought it was a pretty good book but he he was a little upset that day and uh
well it never being one to mince words yeah and uh anyway because this person had written a book
about how to have a relationship with jesus christ oh yeah but had not talked enough about a
relationship with the father and the importance of having a relationship with heavenly father
and kind of having an exclusive relationship with jesus and and and praying through jesus
that that was a part of the book that had really i think made the elder mcconkey feel bad was that
somebody said that we should pray through jesus and he was really dogmatic about we don't pray
through jesus we pray to the father directly to the father we don't pray through rosary beads we
don't pray through any other medium through angels or jesus or anybody when we pray we pray to the
father in the name of jesus well i that was good i that was important i think for him to teach that
and then he said if you're going to air if you're going to air in having a more personal relationship
with one member of the deity than another then you should air on having the most personal closest
relationship with the holy ghost because it's the holy ghost that administers all of the gifts
all of the blessings all of the powers that are available to us through our heavenly father
and jesus christ if you're going to air and have an a personal relationship with a member of the
deity let it be that one have a relationship with the holy ghost well i i've never forgot that and
i've i've always thought that was that's probably true you know that he is the testator he he
testifies to us of the father he test testifies to us of of the atonement of jesus christ and
our savior and redeemer and he teaches us he's the teacher the sanctifier the comforter the cleanser
the healer all all of the gifts that are available to us through the atonement of jesus christ
right through our heavenly father it's the holy ghost that administers that and testifies of that
and i hope that all of us this week and coming weeks and days can focus more and pray about it
think about it ponder it how can we how can we get to more in tune and closer to the holy ghost
in our life and next week we can we'll continue this discussion i'd like to talk about the skill
of revelation and how we can actually receive more revelation from the holy ghost and the
importance of the holy ghost in our in our daily lives so we'll we'll we'll continue this discussion
next week fantastic yang is we conclude this week especially as we are at the sacrament table
or in sacrament meeting and partaking of the sacrament this week it's my challenge to each one
of us that we really listen to carefully the promises that come as a result that they may have
his spirit to be with them that's why we do it that they may always have his spirit to be with
them that's why we do that and so let's let's really pay attention to that they may always have
his spirit to be with them how are we doing there what can we start doing or stop doing that will
help us to better enable the spirit of the holy ghost to be in our lives so that we can fill the
administration of Jesus's power through his atonement in our lives as well thanks for being
with us today we always enjoy our time with you and look forward to being with you again next week
until then