Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Corinthians 10:21

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Corinthians 10:21
"Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils."

This verse made me think of this verse on serving two masters.

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
(Matthew 6:24) (3 Nephi 13:24)

When the day comes for me to face the Lord I do not want to hear him say.

“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
(Luke 6:46)

Day 4196

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 John 1:6

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 John 1:6
"If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:"

The person we lie to is ourselves. We may seem to pull the wool over other people's eyes for a while, but truth does come out. Who we absolutely cannot fool is the Lord, for he already knows us.

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
(Matthew 6:24)

Day 3319

Today's Favorite Verse: James 4:7-8

Today's Favorite Verse: James 4:7-8
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."

This made me think of this.

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
(Matthew 6:24)

We have to either submit ourselves to God or the devil, or resist the one or the other. We cannot serve both. That would be double minded to think you can have it both ways. It would be living a lie to try, yet Satan will tempt and fool you to think its possible. For God knows everything, and to him you cannot lie. The choice is simple, and we are given the agency to chose. The difference is who to you want as your master and to spend eternity with?

Day 3309

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 10:2

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 10:2

"Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images."

This verse made me think of this.

"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."

(3 Nephi 13:24)

The footnote included this one.

"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."

(James 1:8)

"President Marion G. Romney observed "Now there are individuals who try to serve the Lord without offending the devil."

(Marion G. Romney, "The Price of Peace" Ensign, Oct 1983, 6)

Day 3031

Today's Favorite Verse: Song of Solomon 7:10

Today's Favorite Verse: Song of Solomon 7:10

"I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me."

This made me think of how you cannot serve two masters. You will love the one and hate the other.

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

(Matthew 6:24)

When you serve the Lord his desire is to bless you. When you serve the adversary there is no loyalty back to you. He only wanted your destruction.

"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:"

(Luke 22:31)

"And thus we see the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell."

(Alma 30:60)

Day 2837

Today's Favorite Verse: Psalms 47:7

Today's Favorite Verse: Psalms 47:7

"For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding."

I reflected on singing praise with understanding. How could I praise Him if I did not understand him? You cannot worship or praise the master you never served or loved. Otherwise, you could be hiding in the fold of believers, but He would know you not.

"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity"

(Matthew 7:23)

Day 2684

Today's Favorite Verse: 2 Chronicles 25:14, 25

Today's Favorite Verse: 2 Chronicles 25:14, 25

"Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them.

Wherefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?"

Amaziah follows the words of a prophet in order to win a battle. Then he turns around and takes the fallen's false gods and worships them. The words of the prophet to Amaziah are so inspired. Why would someone worship the gods of those that were destroyed by the hand of the Lord? Yet, there are people that do the same thing today without realizing it. The answer is in the second verse.

"And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart."

OR wholeheartedly. When we are not totally committed to the Lord we can go through the motions but cleave unto the false gods of man and not bat an eye. When you try to serve two masters the battle is already lost because the heart is not true.

Day 2551

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Chronicles 10:13-14

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Chronicles 10:13-14

"So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it;

And inquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse."

This made me think of not only the importance of keeping the word of the Lord, but turning to Him for counsel also. When we seek for the counsel of the world and follow it there is real danger. We cannot serve two masters.

"No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."

(Luke 16:13, 16)

Day 2507

Today's Favorite Verse: Doctrine & Covenants 58:4

Today's Favorite Verse: Doctrine & Covenants 58:4

"For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand."

When I woke this morning I decided to watch a video that a friend yesterday kept telling me I needed to watch. I was told "It was so scary." "It exposed what is really happening with this pandemic." I had no curiosity to watch it. But when I woke this morning the thought came to me to watch it, so I did. As I watched it two scriptures came to mind and I read them. Then I thought of President Nelson's recent conference talk and watched it. The pieces all fit together as I read this.

"My dear sisters, let us not just endure this current season. Let us embrace the future with faith! Turbulent times are opportunities for us to thrive spiritually. They are times when our influence can be much more penetrating than in calmer times."

(Russell M. Nelson, "Embrace the Future with Faith", Oct 2020 General Conference)

I understood then that during turbulent times the adversary will use that opportunity to further his plan, and the Lord will do the same. What I learned, and not what the intent of this conspiracy video intended, was that Satan will further his plan by planting fear in the hearts of men. To the point they will be deceived and actually further his work. With fear instilled in their hearts it will only draw them further from the spirit and the voice of the Lord. Instead in turbulent times we are to further the work of the Lord. Grow spiritually and share the gospel to those that are prepared to listen. The lessons learned during tribulation indeed bring blessings that help us thrive spiritually. The decision is ours as to which opportunity and master we will help further their cause.

Day 2061

Today's Favorite Verse: 3 Nephi 13:24

Today's Favorite Verse: 3 Nephi 13:24
"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."

I've had some new thoughts on this verse lately. I had always thought of Mammon as another name for Satan. As I have been observing things of late, I realized that people can serve themselves, and place any number of things above God, so their thoughts are not in the right place. Eventually, this road turns you from God. I finally looked up what Mammon means and this is what I found.

Bible Dictionary: Mammon, An Aramaic word meaning "riches"

Wikipedia: Mammon in the New Testament of the Bible is commonly thought to mean money, material wealth, or any entity that promises wealth, and is associated with the greedy pursuit of gain.

Britannica: Mammon, biblical term for riches, often used to describe the debasing influence of material wealth. The term was used by Jesus in his famous Sermon on the Mount and also appears in The Gospel According to Luke. Medieval writers commonly interpreted it as an evil demon or god.

So all this time I had the wrong definition of what Mammon was. Yet, I find it interesting that the spirit taught me what it really meant.

Day 1950

Today's Favorite Verse: Alma 24:30

Today's Favorite Verse: Alma 24:30
"And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things."

Sadly, I have seen that this is true by watching loved ones make this mistake. You cannot walk on neutral ground after making covenants. This is the note I have in my scriptures.

"A person who falls away from the Church after having been a member is typically "worse than [if] they had never known these things". The prophet Joseph Smith explained this position in a conversation with another member. A brother Isaac Behunin once told the Prophet Joseph Smith, "If I should leave this Church I would not do as those men have done: I would go to some remote place where Mormonism had never been heard of, settle down, and no one would ever learn that I knew anything about it."

"The great Seer immediately replied: 'Brother Behunin, you don't know what you would do. Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached, good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite master inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve, it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant."
(Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 324)

Day 1882

Today's Favorite Verse: Matthew 11:30

Today's Favorite Verse: Matthew 11:30
"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

I sat and pondered on my life. Is it easy to live the gospel? At different periods of my life I would have given different answers. So what makes living the gospel easy? I realized then it's only hard when I tried to straddle the fence and serve two masters. There is no peace when you do that. To take on the yoke with Christ you need to give your whole heart to it. Then you see the full blessings. The answer is in verse 28.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Come unto Christ is the only way.

Day 1515

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Kings 18:21

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Kings 18:21
"And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word."

This made me think of Matthew 6:24
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

One thing I noticed is "the people answered him not a word". I pondered on why that would be? They didn't want to make a commitment. That would mean they are basically sitting on the fence. There is no safety in that action. For you have basically told God no.  You are still doing your will and not his. They were waiting for the master to make the reward good enough, then they might commit. I remember being that way, there is no peace in that behavior. All spiritual growth is stopped. You just stay sitting on the fence unable to move. I had to get knocked around pretty bad before I decided that fence just wasn't a comfortable place to sit.


Day 884