God's Superpowers

The Holy Ghost is a spirit that Heavenly Father uses to communicate with us and bless us in our lives, through him we receive testimonies of  Jesus Christ and support when we need it. Some of the things that we can do in order to have the Spirit in our lives consistently are going to church, reading the scriptures, and prayer. We need to do these things so that we can have the Spirit to guide us and help us bless the lives of other people. I was reading the scriptures the other day and I started thinking about all the different gifts of the Spirit as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:1-12 and Moroni 10:8-18. God promises to give them to us as we need them, and I can say without a doubt that He has given them to me from time to time as I've relied on Him to help me serve those around me. It's definitely empowering when we are allowed to use these gifts to bless the lives of others, sometimes it makes me feel somewhat like a superhero.

There are a wide range of gifts that He lends to us, to list them off- wisdom, knowledge, the power of faith, the power to heal, the power to perform miracles, knowing something before it happens, understanding what someone else is thinking, the ability to speak different languages and to understand different languages, the ability to teach,  the ability to learn, the support of Angels, and others. A lot of times when we receive these it is only for a short time in order to help someone with something that they need. Everything about the gifts we receive are to help those around us, and as a direct result of having the privilege of being an instrument in the Lord's hands, we are blessed. We're blessed not only for following what Heavenly Father wants us to but also because we helped those around us. I've noticed that a lot of times when I help someone I feel like I got more out of it than what I put in. Its the satisfaction that I feel in my heart, coupled with the gratitude on the faces of those I've served; it means so much to them, even though what I've done seems so simple to me.



As we rely on the Spirit to guide us we are given God's superpowers, the gifts of the Spirit that we need in order to do more than what is in our normal capacity to do. By using those gifts we receive we bless the lives of others, we become their heroes and God's instruments, and we become the answers to their prayers. God uses us to save them from their struggles and to succor them in the time of their need. To those who read this I would strongly encourage you to focus on God, to follow His teachings, and to do all you can to lighten the burdens of those around you. God needs us to be His superheroes, to use what tools He has to spread love and goodness throughout our individual communities. I know we can do this, what do you say?  

Faith

I've been thinking about what it means to have faith, what is faith? A lot of times i get in the mind set that to have faith is to simply believe in something, that's not true, believing is a part of faith but there is so much more to it than that. Faith is an action word and a principal of power, to have faith is to do something. one of my favorite quotes about faith comes from Martin Luther King, he said "faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase". Faith isn't just believing that the "step" is there, it's actually taking the step. One of my favorite scriptures on faith comes from the book of James in the new testament, its James 2:17-20 it reads:  

17 Even so ^afaith, if it hath not ^bworks, is dead, being alone.

 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my ^afaith by my ^bworks.

 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the^adevils also ^bbelieve, and tremble.

 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that ^afaith without ^bworks is dead?

This scripture talks about the importance of faith being action, its not enough to believe that God is there, having faith means that we are doing what He wants us to. The devils believe in God, they know  He is there, but they choose to fight against Him. They don't have faith. Faith is how we follow the Commandments of God, how we treat our families, how we treat our neighbors, how we serve the people around us.

Jesus Christ was the perfect example of faith, He did everything that His Father asked of Him. He kept every commandment, He served, He taught, He healed, He suffered. He was the only perfect man that ever lived. Let us follow His example of faith by doing all that we can to emulate His example in our lives. :)