Pride Precludes Progress

Pride tends to be one of the biggest obstacles for mankind. Until you learn to let it go, you will never be able to get the help you need from God. God sends no one away empty, except those who are full of themselves.

As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.

Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good looking there would be nothing to be proud about.

For pride is spiritual cancer. It eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.

The more pride we have, the more other people's pride irritates us.

Through pride the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every vice, it's the complete anti-God state of mind.

Make no mistake about it. Pride is the great sin. It is the devil's most effective and destructive tool.

Pride has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.

- C.S. Lewis

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

"They wear stiff necks and high heads; yea, and because of pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men. O the wise, and the learned, and the rich, that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and pervert the right way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!" (2 Nephi 28:14-15)

Pursuit of Perfection

What is the process of becoming like Christ? How did Jesus become what He currently is? I highly doubt that being sprinkled with some sort of "fairy dust" worked for Him nor will it do the job for us.

“And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us. And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first. And I, John, bear record, and lo, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove, and sat upon him, and there came a voice out of heaven saying: This is my beloved Son. And I, John, bear record that he received a fulness of the glory of the Father; And he received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him. And it shall come to pass, that if you are faithful you shall receive the fulness of the record of John. I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness. For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace.” (D&C 93:11-20)

I think each individual must learn truth, live it, experience everything, grow up, and literally become precisely like Christ, over whatever time it takes. To be an independent, saved and perfected being, it only makes sense to me that I would need to possess precisely the knowledge, experience, and qualifications to be such, rather than merely hope that little "fairy dust" will somehow magically fill in all the missing gaps and make me equal in capacity, perfection and power with God, but without sufficient time, testing, learning, experience, and proving.

It is by keeping His commandments that opens the door of receiving of His fullness and we shall receive  grace for grace ... just like Christ did and thus showed us the way by His perfect example. Something that may be worth considering.

New Doors are Ready to Be Opened

Old ways generally will not open new doors.

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.

If you want something you've never had, then you've got to do something you've never done.

One's destination is not always a place, but is often a new way of seeing things.

It is unnecessary to remain stuck because you can always choose new thoughts and new ways of thinking.

Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.

Unfortunately, some people fail to change internally. They merely find new ways to alter the exterior facade and new ways to appear desirable in the eyes of others. Thus, others are temporarily deceived, at least for a season.

Sadly, a lie often travels half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

Often, it takes a painful experience to make us recognize error and change our ways.

Sometimes by losing a battle, you find a new way to win the war.

Many of life's failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

It often seems imPOSSIBLE ... until it's done.

The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it.

No one can go back and make a brand new start, but anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.

The devil doesn't come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns. Instead, he comes well dressed (perhaps a suit and tie), attractive, and with charisma. Having won your trust, He then offers you almost everything you've wished for. 

Be careful and take time to pray for wisdom and discernment.

“Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come. There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” (D&C 130:18-21)

It sounds like if you desire a different outcome, an additional blessing, or a new beginning of life, it is required to sufficiently understand and live according to law (perhaps new to you) or, at least, obedience to the law, upon which the new life, blessing, or outcome is predicated.

Soooo ... If today were the last day of your life, would you still want to do what you were planning to do today? Or would you change things around a little bit? Since today is probably not the last day of your life and you likely do not know how many more days of this life you have remaining, do you still desire to merely stay the same or do you want to become something different? If you want something different, what is it? What law(s) must be implemented to achieve such? 

Chiasm of Fall and Redemption

He (Christ) bears seven wounds on his person: Two in his wrists, two in His palms, two in His feet, and one in His side. Seven is the symbolic number of completion or Perfection. Seven wounds reflect the completion of His sacrifice and of that sacrifice's complete perfection.

Christ's sacrifice has completely healed all that the Fall of Adam brought the pass. As Adam went before, so Christ came after, the one the antithesis of the other, and both making this creation a chiasm of Fall and Redemption. We stand in the center, where it is all in balance about us.

The balance between Adam's Fall and Christ's sacrifice provides a neutral balance of opposites. We choose what we are willing to do with this balanced universe.

We tip the scales by our choices, and by so doing, we change all eternity. We change eternity by the choices we make here.

There is an eternal balance, with infinite results, hanging on our every choice. We stand in peril or stand in glory depending upon our every thought and deed.

Five minutes of mortality are more precious than all the prior eternities of pre-earth life. Only here can you demonstrate the faith from which creation itself was born.  (Source: The Second Comforter - Conversing with The Lord through the Veil, pages 417-418)

Second Comforter

The Book of Mormon, another Testament of Jesus Christ, is a text about the Second Comforter and what He offers to all. The Book of Mormon contains witnesses of Christ and their accounts are designed to tell you over and over again about coming back into the presence of the Lord and what is required.

“To come to the veil and to meet with the Savior: He can clean you up. He, through his grace, can give you all that you lack. To dwell in the presence of God requires something more, something different. It requires that you grow from where you are now, to the place where the Lord intends to lead you. He intends to have you BE true and faithful in all things. Because in the ceremony in the temple, once you go through the veil, you don't come back. You stay there and the purpose of going there in this day, in this setting, is to enable the return of Zion. We don't need a profoundly new and far-reaching economic system to make us have all things in common in order to bring again Zion, and we don't need possession of the real estate in Jackson County, Missouri to bring again Zion. We don't need any of the implements or locations or infrastructure to have Zion return. We need one thing and that's YOU. You to be clean. You to be holy. To leave behind you, not only the door, but the house in which you dwell that you established that door to bar Him through. You need to come and live with Him. It is possible. These are not cunningly devised fables, as the apostle Paul put it. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at the definition that Lord gives of salvation in Ether 3:13. This is the definition that the Lord gives.

Ether 3:13 ... Behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.

This is the meaning of salvation. This is the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is contained in the Book of Mormon, which has the fullness of Jesus Christ in it.” (The Temple DS 10-28-12)

I think there is a vast difference between the symbolic temple ceremony and the real thing.

Conversing with the Lord through the Veil and entering His presence at the end of the 2 hour temple ceremony of instruction is one thing. On the other hand, actually passing by Angels, personally conversing with the Lord Himself through the veil, embracing Him while in the flesh, actually entering His presence and in reality being redeemed from the fall by Him is indeed another thing.

Certainly something to consider and diligently seek while in mortality! I think Moroni knew what he was talking about when he said:

“And then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he hath talked with me face to face, and that he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things; And only a few have I written, because of my weakness in writing. And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.” (Ether 12:39-41)