Lesson summary: June 9th, 2013

This week Tori G. taught from the Lorenzo Snow chapter 11: "I Seek Not Mine Own Will, but the Will of the Father"

When we seek God’s will, we follow a course in which there will be no failure.

• What do you think he means that there will be no failure?

" 'As I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.' [John 5:30.]
That is a wonderful saying, and there is a great deal in it. Now, what we want is to have that spirit in every act of our lives and in every undertaking, whether temporal or spiritual, and not think of self. We should try to ascertain how we should spend the money and the information that God has given us. The answer is simple—for the glory of God. Our eye should be single to the glory of God. That is what we left the other life for and [came] into this. We should seek to promote the interests of the Most High God, and to feel as Jesus felt, 'I can of mine own self do nothing.' Inasmuch as we act today and tomorrow, this week and next week, in the interest of God, and have our eye single to His glory, there can be no failure. " - President Lorenzo Snow

"We cannot always do what we would like to do, but we shall have the power to do that which we should do. The Lord will give us the power to do this." - President Lorenzo Snow

• Why can it be difficult to seek His will?

"So many of us are kept from eventual consecration because we mistakenly think that, somehow, by letting our will be swallowed up in the will of God, we lose our individuality (see Mosiah 15:7). What we are really worried about, of course, is not giving up self, but selfish things—like our roles, our time, our preeminence, and our possessions. No wonder we are instructed by the Savior to lose ourselves (see Luke 9:24). He is only asking us to lose the old self in order to find the new self. It is not a question of one’s losing identity but of finding his true identity! ....

"Thus, acknowledging God’s hand includes, in the words of the Prophet Joseph, trusting that God has made 'ample provision' beforehand to achieve all His purposes, including His purposes in our lives (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 220). Sometimes He clearly directs; other times it seems He merely permits some things to happen. Therefore, we will not always understand the role of God’s hand, but we know enough of his heart and mind to be submissive. Thus when we are perplexed and stressed, explanatory help is not always immediately forthcoming, but compensatory help will be. Thus our process of cognition gives way to our personal submission, as we experience those moments when we learn to 'be still, and know that I am God' (Ps. 46:10).....

"In conclusion, the submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we 'give,' brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!" (Neal A. Maxwell, 1995 General Conference)

Tori also quoted from story of a young man battling cancer and striving to follow God's will.

" 'Up until this point, I had a hard time reconciling the need for my faith in Christ with the inevitability of His will. I saw them as two separate things, and sometimes I felt that one contradicted the other. "Why should I have faith if His will ultimately is what will prevail," I asked? After this experience, I knew that having faith—at least in my circumstance—was not necessarily knowing that He would heal me, but that He could heal me. I had to believe that He could, and then whether it happened was up to Him.

'As I allowed those two ideas to coexist in my life, focused faith in Jesus Christ and complete submission to His will, I found greater comfort and peace. It has been so remarkable to see the Lord’s hand in our lives. Things have fallen into place, miracles have happened, and we continually are humbled to see God’s plan for us unfold.' " (David A. Bednar, March 2013 CES Devotional)

As we seek to follow the will of the Father, may we find our true identity as His Daughters.