KEEP AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE

Lori Newbold wrote an article about the promises of the Lord.

“Sometimes having an eternal perspective can feel like a blessing and a curse. While I am comforted in knowing that things will eventually work out, eternity feels like a really long time to wait. Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) taught that ‘God lives in an eternal now where the past, present, and future are constantly before Him.’  This teaching makes me think that God not only sees me as waiting for promises now but also sees the effect of the fulfillment of those promises in eternity. While I do not have a husband or children on this earth at present, He sees me as a wife and mother. While I daily demonstrate human weakness and frailty, He sees me as a glorified, perfected being. And because He sees me in those eternal roles, I can look forward and live ‘as though’ those things have already come to pass.  Living ‘as though’ requires believing that God is a promise keeper. While ‘promise keeper’ is not a scriptural phrase, it has become one of my favorite descriptions of Him. The scriptures are a book of promises.  My covenants with Him are my personal promises. His work is a work of promises. And He is a promise keeper who is anxious to pour out blessings upon His people (see Doctrine and Covenants 109: 21).   And most important of all, He sent His Only Begotten Son ‘to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’ (Moses 1: 39 in the Pearl of Great Price).

Consider a Variety of Promises

“Given that God is a God of promises, it becomes hard at times for me to reconcile why certain promises have not yet been fulfilled in my life.  While we recognize that many of these promises will not be completed in this life, we hope to receive some portion of them in mortality and live faithfully to someday obtain the fulfillment of them. For example, we look forward to having ‘the resurrection … pass upon all’ (2 Nephi 9:22 in the Book of Mormon), deliverance from ‘a thorn in the flesh’  (2 Corinthians 12: 7 in the Bible).

Recognize His Hand

“One way I learned to see His companionship came from President Henry B. Eyring, who taught about keeping a daily record of how we’ve seen the hand of God reaching out to bless us each day. This daily reflection and recording may have changed me more than any one thing. Through this, I began to see that the Lord was walking with me each day and was fulfilling more promises than I could have imagined.

Help Him Keep His Promises to Others

“A couple of Christmases ago, I had numerous experiences that deepened my understanding of His desire to fulfill His promises to His children. Rather than dreading another lonely holiday season, I decided I would seek to be His instrument in whatever way He needed me to be. So each day I asked Him who needed to feel His love that day and how I could best share that love for Him. Through the Holy Ghost I witnessed miracles and felt the joy of being an instrument in His hands in fulfilling some small and simple promises. I continue to pray every day to be that instrument for Him.  Trusting in His promises is not always an easy choice. Waiting upon the Lord requires a faith in Jesus Christ that can feel, at times, like it is almost more than we can muster. Yet Alma testified, ‘He will fulfil all his promises which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our fathers’. (Alma 37: 17 in the Book of Mormon”  (Quoted Part of the Article by Lori Newbold Entitled “Living As Though God’s Promises Have Been Fulfilled”, printed in the February, 2022 Liahona Magazine)

What are the Rewards of Keeping the Commandments of God While We live on the Earth

The Savior said of those who follow him and accept His Gospel in the face of opposition, “Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: ”  (Luke 6: 23 in the Bible)

“…be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”  (Revelation 2: 10 in the Bible)

If we are faithful in keeping the commandments, the Savior has promised almost unbelievable blessings.

Blessings Promised

“For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end.  Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.  And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.  Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them…”  (Doctrine and Covenants 76: 5-8 p. 137)