To rely on our Savior's grace...

The more we rely on our Savior's grace, the more likely we will be on the path our Heavenly Father intended for us.

For more than two years, I was unemployed (and by unemployed, I have to admit that I did have one job that I was extremely overqualified for and for which I was extremely underpaid) and that was following directly after three years of graduate school--that's five years in a row.  There was fasting and prayers and more fasting a more prayers, and finally my Elder's Quorum President and the High Priest's Group leader in my ward, which they called, "A Full-court Spiritual Press," in faith that it would result in me being employed.

My new job is not in the field that I graduated in or that I had hundreds upon hundreds of applications for and dozens of job interviews, but it's heaven sent and, need I spell it out, a grace of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Will it always take a draught or an accident or a famine (literal or of employment, etc.) to help us recognize that 1) we are nothing and 2) that we must always rely on the grace of Jesus Christ?  If not, then how can we rely on the grace of Jesus Christ more fully?

Excellent question to ask yourself, because I certainly don't claim to have all the answers (though my posts my seem that they are answering a question definitively, I don't think I'll even try to bully you into thinking that I have all of the answers for this question--but, don't expect me to take the same or a similar position in my other posts).  Let us break the question down a bit, so that we can get at the problem from every angle that we can see:

• Where does Christ's grace come from?

Well, it comes from the Atonement of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He suffered, bled, and died for each of us first in the Garden of Getsemane and then on the cross in Calvary.  He experienced every pain, sorrow, guilt, griefs, wounds, mental problems, diseases, shames, regrets, etc. that man has ever or will experience.  In the Book of Mormon, book of Mosiah, chapter 14, verse 4 it reads, "Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." And, this man of griefs, suffered wrongfully all of this, for he was the only perfect and sinless man to be born and live on Earth.  He paid the ultimate price for each and every one of us.  Since He is the fulcrum or focal point of this infinite amount of suffering and He is the one perfect man to ever live on this Earth, and because He always did His Father's will, He has the right and glory to ask Justice to give way to His mercy.  This is where His grace emanates from and blesses each and every one of us (mortals) who turn to the Lord.

• What do the bible Gospel writers mean by Christ's grace mean exactly?

There are two meanings, that I'm aware of:  One meaning is like saying step by step, or grace for grace.  That, it seems, is pretty straightforward.  But relying on the Savior's "grace" is what I intended to speak about--and that is what I would like to clarify.  What are we relying on?  In the New Testament of the Bible, book of Hebrews (an epistle written by Paul), chapter four, verse 16, we can read: "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."  We rely on the Savior's goodness, His graciousness, His bounteous mercy, and His sinlessness.  We actually are borrowing His "sinless status" as we enter into the Eternal Palaces of God.  

I think that what Paul is saying is that, although man is imperfect and does not merit the chance to be in the presence of God the Father (we are nothing!), because of Jesus Christ's perfect life and atonement, He has granted each of us "permission" to go where He already is worthy to go, without offending Justice (which is why we sinners couldn't enter His presence without Christ's atonement), and there (in the Presence of God the Father and His Son), plead for the mercy that all sinners need; forgiveness of sins.  Grace, then provides forgiveness but also allows imperfect beings to enter into and come before the thrown of God. 

• What sort of blessings could I presume to receive with Christ's grace?

Anything that is asked with a sincere heart, with real intent, and asked in faith will be granted.  You and I know that it is going to necessarily be according to the Father's will because it was asked in faith and anything short of that faith will fail.

The problem is that so few people take advantage of this grace, thinking that they don't want to ask amiss or think they would be asking too much.  The thing is...  if it's asked in faith, it isn't and it will be granted, just as the brother of Jared's prayer was answered when he asked a mountain to move.

However, most have no reason to move a mountain and so there is no prompting to ask that in faith.  There are things, though, that should be being prayed for and have faith centered upon.  We live in a day of hastening.  Hasten away!  You will be guided and prompted.

--

To rely on the Savior's grace means simply to be allowed to go where we otherwise wouldn't be allowed to go and become the person that we wouldn't otherwise be allowed to become!

JPS

Spiritual Event Horizon re-run

Since I first posted this idea, I have had several things happen that have strengthened this idea of mine and absolutely nothing contradicting it or making me second-guess the theory (I say theory, because this isn't a proven or spoken about authoritatively by anyone but me and so I can't say it's a "truth" but only my theory...).  Another phrase to illustrate this point would be "critical mass," meaning that it is just at or just beyond the tipping point for a nuclear reaction to occur.  So, one might say, "A blessing doesn't get granted until critical mass is reached..."  Or something like that, but if you haven't read the article, don't stop now.  Read.  Oh, I guess that's what you would do naturally after finishing this sentence.

What is an event horizon?

From what I understand (and this is without referring to any notes or websites, because I'm positive that I could google "event horizon" and have a plethora of scholarly and otherwise sites pull-up giving me a definition), an event horizon is:

the shadow of the pull of gravity of a black hole that once breached or entered into, an object can no longer escape the black hole but is doomed to collapse or enter into the center of a black hole.

Now, what does spirituality have to do with black holes?  What is, exactly, a black hole anyway?

Once again, I will give you my layman understanding with no reference to websites or notes:

a black hole is a phenomenon where gravity becomes so strong or forceful that it will "suck-in" or pull everything to the point that nothing can escape that pull--even light cannot escape--and everything is crushed into that one point (however large it is).  That point (however large or small it may be) is what is known as a BLACK HOLE.

So, what I mean by spiritual event horizon is:

the amount of faith, the number of prayers offered, the amount of righteousness inspired by, the number of good deeds solicited from, the lessons learned, and the patience suffered by a person or people who are asking for a certain blessing from their Heavenly Father before their righteous desires are granted and that prayer answered.

There can be no granting of that blessing without it being the will of God, but as the President and prophet Spencer W. Kimball has taught me: we can change the mind of God or better put, we can change our mind to match the mind and will of God--for God's mind is immovable and faithful--and He has seen the end from the beginning.

President Kimball also told us, in the February 1981 Liahona/Ensign that:

I have learned that where there is a prayerful heart, a hungering after righteousness, a forsaking of sins, and obedience to the commandments of God, the Lord pours out more and more light until there is finally power to pierce the heavenly veil and to know more than man knows. A person of such righteousness has the priceless promise that one day he shall see the Lord’s face and know that he is (see D&C 93:1). 

It's that piercing of the veil that I am calling the "spiritual event horizon".

Remember how President Kimball spoke about hastening-on the Second Coming with our righteous desires and works?  He taught that we could make it happen sooner (or not and later) by our own choices and I believe he is right.

What?  How is that?

Let's say that the entire world and the even smaller, entire church, wanted to speed up the process or have Jesus return again to the Earth in His glory.  Now, let's use our event horizon premise:

the amount of faith, the number of prayers offered, the amount of righteousness inspired by, the number of good deeds solicited from, the lessons learned, and the patience suffered by a person or people who are asking for a certain blessing from their Heavenly Father before their righteous desires are granted and that prayer answered with regards to Christ's return to the Earth transpires.

Once there has been offered and exists a sufficient amount of faith, once a sufficient amount of prayers have been offered, once a sufficient amount of righteousness has been inspired and good deeds contributed, the lessons learned (both collectively and individually), the patience learned and or suffered gained, then Christ will have His triumphant return and not before then.

That would be a "spiritual event horizon" but you could apply that principle to anything or everything.

Don't push this adaptation of what I've explained to a literalness of concepts and remember that I've not researched anything about either concepts of black hole or event horizon, so stop holding both of these phases and my concept up to the light of your scientific understanding or spiritual one--this discourse will immediately fall apart and you will have entered too far into and past the shadow of the event horizon and would be crushed, destroyed, obliterated, squished, and demolished.  So, don't!

JPS