March 25, 2019 How does the Atonement of Jesus Christ work in our lives?

We had zone Conference this week, and I got to see

Elder Bills! He hits his one-year mark on Thursday. 

Pretty hard to believe it's already been that long!

This week I've been really grateful for the opportunity to teach a couple of lessons. I often ask other missionaries what their favorite part of being a missionary is, and I can say for myself that it's definitely teaching. There is no better feeling than feeling the spirit as we are able to teach and testify about gospel truths that improve and enhance all of our lives.

We also had an opportunity to serve a member this week by helping her paint her kitchen. I want to

Painting

give a shout out to my mom and dad who gave me several opportunities to practice this skill at home, enabling me to help a member in need.

Another highlight of the week was having 4 investigators in church! This was definitely the Lord's doing, because that's a significant increase from 0 we've had in church the past several weeks. On top of that, the other elders had 5 in church, so our ward had 9 investigators there in total! I've never experienced that before, so that was pretty incredible.

This week I was pondering and studying how we can truly apply the power of the Atonement in our lives. We hear regularly in church that we should "rely on the Atonement", that we should "apply the atonement", or "draw" the power of the Atonement into our lives daily, but how do we actually do that? A few insights I had have helped me feel the power of the Savior in greater measure and to understand how I can better use the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life. I've come to understand that perhaps the greatest way we can draw on the atonement (although we might not consider it as such) is recognizing and following the promptings of the spirit. Why?

We learn in Alma 7:11-13 that Jesus Christ suffered our pains, afflictions, temptations, sicknesses, and infirmities so that his bowels may be filled with mercy, that he might know how to succor us according to our infirmities.

The atonement enables Christ to perfectly understand the difficulty and circumstances of our trials, which allows him to give perfect counsel in helping us overcome them, because he wants us to act and not be acted upon. "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good;" (Alma 37:37)

He's able to give perfect counsel, so we can be agents of righteousness, but how does He communicate and counsel with us? He does so through the Holy spirit. Therefore, if we seek the spirit and follow its promptings, we show we value his counsel and our faith that it will bring us the greatest happiness and lead us down the path of overcoming our weaknesses.

"For the natural man is an enemy to God and will be forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord." (Mosiah 3:19)
We cannot assume it is our own will power or sheer grit that helps us overcome our weaknesses. We must constantly listen for the whispering of the spirit and then be courageous and unwavering in following them, even when difficult. We cannot assume that Christ will simply take our trial or difficulty from us, but we can be absolutely certain that he will tell us what we can do to overcome them and put off the natural man.

I think many of us seek the promptings of the Holy Ghost, but we may not conscientiously realize that by so doing, we are accessing the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. An understanding of this principle helps us to better understand the matchless power of our Savior Jesus Christ and to see his hand in the details, both big and small, in our daily lives.


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