Always Rejoice

The Book of Mormon is full of recipes.

The recipe for repentance, the recipe for revelation,
the recipe for conversion to Jesus Christ.

Each recipe is vital to our success in becoming who we are meant to become.

Today however, I want to focus on a certain recipe found in Mosiah 4 that teaches us how we can "ALWAYS REJOICE". That sounds pretty great, but seems impossible. In my experience, if we fail to achieve a promise given in the Book of Mormon it is because we have stopped following the recipe.

This particular recipe requires some prep work (found in Mosiah 4:9-10).

It is simple to say, difficult to do:

1) Believe in God, that he exists and created all things, has all wisdom and all power.

2) Recognize that we can't understand everything that He understands.

3) Repent and forsake, or leave behind, your sins. Humbly ask God to forgive you.

Quite the prep work, wouldn't you agree? I think at some point in our lives most of us have done a version of this prep work. We were blessed with a realization of our own nothingness before God and plead for forgiveness of our sins and weaknesses. If our pleading was sincere, we felt the love of God and His spirit of peace fill our souls. If it has been a while, the prep work probably needs to be repeated.

Once the prep work is done the recipe to always rejoice is pretty simple. It is found in the middle of verse 11:

"(1)Remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and (2)humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, (3) calling on the name of the Lord daily, and (4) standing steadfastly in the faith."

Then comes the promise in verse 12: "If ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins."

I defy anyone to sincerely act upon this recipe and not see the promise fulfilled.

The Book of Mormon is true.