The Last of Isaiah

Finally I'm to the last of Isaiah in my Old Testament class!! Here is my choice for this week's assignment:

How is the message of these verses one of comfort?

One of the comforts that I find in Isaiah 55:11 is that the Lord sends out his words and they don't come back void. I feel that when Heavenly Father sends out his commandments and revelations that we listen. I find this to be a great comfort that we as his children are listening to him. 

How can we come to better understand God’s thoughts and ways?

In 1 Corinthians it states that as we spiritual judge or as we spiritually try all things we know the mind of Christ. We need to try all thing as though Jesus Christ would. Finally as we try we will be better able to understand God's thoughts and ways.  

Give an example of when you have observed a clear example of God’s ways being higher than man’s ways.

The greatest example that I can see in my life of how God's ways are higher than mine or man's ways is how everything happens in the Lord's time. I have seen how the Lord has waited or prepared me for his time. The Lord knows where I'm suppose to be and when I'm suppose to be there. God has a way better plan than I could ever think of. 

Well now the I'm FINALLY out of Isaiah the only thing I can say is WHAAA HOOO!!!

Isaiah Part Dos

Another week in Isaiah for my Old Testament class, and I'm ok with that. Here is my student choice assignment for the week:

(a) Read Isaiah 25:1, 4, 8–9; 26:3–4, 9, 19 and the institute student manual commentary for Isaiah 25:1–11, “The Second Coming Will Be a Time of Great Rejoicing for the Righteous” (pg. 162). Then answer the following questions:

• What specific blessings did Isaiah mention?

The Lord will swallow up death, or we will be able to be resurrected. The Lord will save us. We will also receive salvation. We will also be blessed with peace and strength.  

• What desires did Isaiah express?

Isaiah desired that we would remember the Lord, and that we would be righteous. He also desires that he will remember the Lord in the morning and at night.

• What specific promises are given? 

One specific promise that he has given us is that the Lord will save us. We have also been promised strength. 

• If you were asked to speak at a funeral and could share two thoughts from these verses, which two would you share and why?

If I were to speak at a funeral I would share about resurrection. I would speak how through Jesus Christ we are able to become perfect, and how our bodies and our spirits will be reunited. The second thought I would share is how we can have strength through the Lord. Even though times maybe tough the Lord will help us through all of our trials. 

One thing that I really enjoyed reading from these chapters is that Isaiah is not all gloom and loom. Isaiah rejoices in the Lord and the Second Coming in this section of the scriptures. Isaiah is very hard to understand, but we can take joy in his words on the Second Coming. 

Ohhh boy I made it to Isaiah….

Well folks its that time of week again Old Testament post. We have got to the part of the Old Testament that I have been dreading, but it hasn't been that bad. Here are my questions and answers. I hope you enjoy!

(a) Isaiah is the only book of scripture that the Lord commanded by name that we should read and search diligently (see 3 Nephi 23:1). To better understand Isaiah, read 2 Nephi 25:1–7; 3 Nephi 20:11; 23:1–3 and the chapter in the institute student manual entitled “Enrichment E, Understanding Isaiah” (pgs. 131–35). If you were to explain to someone who didn’t understand Isaiah, and you could only emphasize three helps from this chapter, record which three you would choose and why.

The three helps I would recommend are search diligently,  use the Book of Mormon, and have the spirit of prophecy. Nephi states that we need to not only read Isaiah, but he states that we need to study Isaiah diligently. To study diligently means steady energetic effort. I feel that as we study Isaiah we can't read it just once we must re-read. After we re-read we need to use other scriptures to help understand. Another way to diligently search is to use the study helps like the Bible dictionary to decode what Isaiah was saying. My second help is use The Book of Mormon.I find it interesting the Nephi states "Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand". The he states the purpose for him putting Isaiah's writings in The Book of Mormon "that they may know the judgments of God". Nephi included Isaiah's writings because they are for us I feel that the Book of Mormon is written in a way for me to understand, so as I read the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon I will be able to understand it. The final help is to have the spirit of prophecy because that is something that Nephi specific states why people can't understand it. He states "Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand; for they know not conceding the manner of prophesying". To have the spirit of prophecy with us we need to first pray for understanding before we read, and thank Heavenly Father when we are done. We need to be worthy to have the Holy Ghost, and we need to stay away from the things of darkness. I know that as you use these three things you will be able to understand the plainness of Isaiah. 

(b) The prophet Nephi quoted from the book of Isaiah as did the Savior when He ministered to the Nephites. In doing so they identified some of the major themes of the book of Isaiah. Read 1 Nephi 15:20; 19:23; 2 Nephi 11:2–5; 25:4–8; 3 Nephi 20:11–13 and the Bible Dictionary entry “Isaiah” (pg. 707). From what you read, list the prevalent themes in the book of Isaiah.

Some is Isaiah's major themes are: the restoration of the Jews, the gathering of the Jews, the Lord, the things of the Jews, events of his time, events beyond his time, the coming of the Redeemer, God requires righteousness, and Zion. 

My Journey to Fit

A few months ago I made a goal to lose 30 pound before graduation… Well everything was going really well until I broke my toe, and I lost all motivation. When I moved to Vegas I moved in with some really great roommates that helped me get that motivation back. I have been working out for three weeks now, and have been trying to eat healthier. I have even had veggie burgers, which for a girl who grew up on a cow farm was a BIG thing. (btw they are really great!!) The only problem that I have been facing is I have become a bottomless pit… THAT ENDS THIS WEEK!!! One of my favorite blogs skinny taste has some really great recipes, and I have always been a fan of my fitness pal. SO with their powers combined. I'm going to make all my meals for the week, and have them portioned out for the week so I just have to grab and go.
Here are the recipes that I'm using this week:
Three bean turkey chili
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/01/crock-pot-3-bean-turkey-chili-3125-pts.html
AND Santa Fe Chicken
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/02/crock-pot-santa-fe-chicken-425-pts.html
These two recipes are crock pot recipes!! Amazing right!!
Well I'm off to go make these great recipes… I'll let you know how it goes!!!

Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes

This week in Old Testament we studied Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Here is my study of Ecclesiastes:

  

The book of Ecclesiastes consists of some of the deepest reflections of life.

The author describes himself as son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Ecclesiastes is written from the point of view of the world.

Ecclesiastes should not be construed as theological pronouncements on the condition of the soul after death.

Five ways the author of Ecclesiastes sought happiness:

1. He made great works (Ecclesiastes 2:4)

2. Pleasure (Ecclesiastes 2:1)

3. Knowledge (Ecclesiastes 2:9)

4. He made gardens and orchards (Ecclesiastes 2:5)

5. Gathered gold, silver, and treasures of the king (Ecclesiastes 2:8)

In Ecclesiastes we find the important of time, and how there is a time fore everything. Time is very important to our Heavenly Father. The time that we have on this Earth as stated in Alma is out time to prepare to meet God. How we prepare to meet God is very important. We must prepare in the right way and in the right order or our preparations may fail. For example we need to first have faith, then act on the faith and be baptized, finally we endure to the end. We can not endure to the end without faith. During this time as season of my life my Heavenly Father wants me to continue to have my faith grow and have my knowledge/ wisdom grow. 

One principle that I want to incorporate into my life is better a poor and wise child than a old foolish king. One of my goals is to gain as much knowledge as I can. I want to gain spiritual knowledge and wordily knowledge. My education is every important to me, and I want to go as far as I can with my education. My second principle that I want to incorporate is keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of Go, and more ready to hear. I feel that it is really important that when we go to the house of the Lord we listen to the instruction given to us there. I want to incorporate this by going to the temple with a purpose so that I can come out having heard the voice of the Lord. 

What happens to us when we die?

 When we die our bodies return to the Earth and our spirit will return to our Heavenly Father.

What is “the whole duty of man”?

The whole duty of man is to keep God's commandments, and to fear God.

Why is this a good description of man’s purpose?

This is a good description of man's purpose, because we will be judged on every work whether it be good or it be evil. If we are keeping God's commandments will have good works. 

Esther

Here is another Old Testament post I hope you enjoy:

Queen Vashti put her own interests aside to stand up for how women should be treated. In Esther 1: 3 it discusses the feast that King Ahasuerus had for him and all the princes. At these feasts the men were allowed to drink as much as they wanted and whenever they wanted. When King Ahasuerus asked the Queen to come before the King in Esther 1: 11 the men had basically been drinking for seven days straight, so the Queen knowing this refused to come in Esther 1: 12. Not only did she not come before the men because they were very inebriated but also she did not want to parade in front of them like an object for them to look at. I have a lot of respect for Queen Vashti because I feel that she was the first to stand up for women. I feel like she knew her self worth, and wasn’t just something for the king and the princes to look at. It is really sad that Esther replaced her, but I feel that this was all apart of Heavenly Father’s plan.

 The first commandment is that “thou shalt have no other gods before me” as found in Exodus chapter 20. Mordecai was the perfect example of standing up for this commandment. In Esther 3: 1 Haman became was promoted above all the other princes. I feel that this went to his head a bit and in Esther 3: 2 all the servants of the king bowed to him. Mordecai would not bow to Haman in Esther 3: 3, because he was a Jew so he kept the commandment of not having any other god before Heavenly Father. Not only did he stand up for his beliefs, but he also stood up for all of his fellow Jews. He stood up for what he believed even in the face of death. Mordecai knew that he would be protected by Heavenly Father and went to Esther for help.

Esther is one of the most famous women in the Bible. I always kind of knew about her, but after reading about her I have so much more of a love for her and her faith. It all started when the king removes Vashti as queen. Since the king basically has no queen he seeks another, and is pleased with Esther so she becomes queen. Mordecai is Esther’s uncle, and when he gets into trouble with Haman Esther proves her faith and puts her own interests and safety aside to help Mordecai. In Esther 5:1 she puts on her royal apparel and goes o the inner court of the king, which you must be invited to go into the inner courts of the king. Esther goes into the inner courts and find favor with the king in Esther 5: 2. Esther then asks to have a banquet with the king and Haman. This sets the whole process in motion to have a plot reveled about Haman. The king then executes Haman and Mordecai is saved. Esther showed faith in the Lord, and faith the Mordecai was doing the right thing. She risked her own life to save her uncle and the Jews.

The biggest attribute that all of three of these possess is faith. I feel that Vashti knew that she was a daughter of God and she had faith that the Lord would not want her to go parade around a bunch of drunken men. This is one attribute I would like to work on. I feel that all of Heavenly Father’s children don’t know just how important they are, and we should all work on our self worth. Mordecai had faith in the Lord and in his commandments. He proved his faith through his actions. That is one attribute I would like to work on from Mordecai. I would like to have no fear to prove my faith. Finally the attribute I would like to work on from Esther is her strength. I think that it would be so hard to see what happened to Vashti, and know that you were basically doing the same thing but then to do it anyways. Esther had so much faith and courage that she was able to walk into a situation that seemed impossible and still come out perfectly.