Doctrine and Covenants 1: 19-28

 

How do you feel about knowing that the Lord uses "the weak and the simple" to accomplish His work"?

"19 The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh—

20 But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world;

21 That faith also might increase in the earth;

22 That mine everlasting covenant might be established;

23 That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers.

24 Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding.

25 And inasmuch as they erred it might be made known;

26 And inasmuch as they sought wisdom they might be instructed;

27 And inasmuch as they sinned they might be chastened, that they might repent;

28 And inasmuch as they were humble they might be made strong, and blessed from on high, and receive knowledge from time to time." (Doctrine and Covenants 1: 19-28)

And here's the commentary entitled: "The Lord uses “the weak and the simple” to accomplish His work." : 

"As you read Doctrine and Covenants 1:19–28, you might ponder what it means to be a servant of the Lord. What characteristics does the Lord want His servants to have? What is the Lord accomplishing through His servants? How are the prophecies in these verses being fulfilled throughout the world and in your life?

The Lord wants His servants to speak in His name instead of counseling his fellowmen and trusting in the arm of flesh. He wants them to open up about their mistakes. He wants them to seek wisdom and be instructed. He wants them to repent when they sin. He wants them to be humble so that they might be made strong, and blessed from on high, and receive knowledge from time to time. 

The Lord is proclaiming the fullness of His gospel unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers, through His servants, the weak and the simple. 

The prophecies in these verses are being fulfilled throughout the world indeed. The number of missions has been increasing as the number of young missionaries are more willing to serve as full-time missionaries to proclaim the fullness of His gospel unto the ends of the world. My home country, the Philippines, used to be covered by only one mission. The very first mission, the Philippines Manila Mission used to cover the whole of the Philippine Islands. Now, every one of the three biggest islands (Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao) has already a number of missions. Every region is covered by one mission or two. My home Region (Bicol Region) got covered by one mission before, the Naga Philippines Mission. Now it has another mission, the Legazpi Philippines Mission. 

When my father met the missionaries for the first time, the Philippines was under the Philippines Manila Mission. When I served as a full-time missionary, our home region was already under the Naga Mission. I served in the former Philippines Ilagan Mission. My only brother served in the Philippines Angeles Mission. My baby sister served in the Bacolod Philippines Mission. 

I was one of those weak and simple whom the Lord called to proclaim the fullness of His gospel. At 21, I was young and needed to learn and grow to become the kind of servant the Lord wanted me to be. I did trust in the Lord to be able to speak in His name. I did open up about my mistakes. I did seek wisdom and was instructed. I did repent when I sinned. The Lord did make me strong as I humbled myself before Him. I did receive blessings from on high, and received knowledge from time to time. 

Alma 56: 33; 46-47; 53: 19; 56: 47; 57: 26

 

How have you been preserved by God's marvelous power as you faced life's battles so far?

"33 And it came to pass that Antipus did march forth with a part of his army, leaving the remainder to maintain the city. But he did not march forth until I had gone forth with my little army, and came near the city Antiparah." (Alma 56: 33)

"46 For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.

47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." (Alma 56: 46-47)

"19 And now behold, as they never had hitherto been a disadvantage to the Nephites, they became now at this period of time also a great support; for they took their weapons of war, and they would that Helaman should be their leader." (Alma 53: 19)

"47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." (Alma 56: 47)

"26 And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power." (Alma 57: 26)

And here's the introduction commentary for this week's reading assignment: August 19–25: “Preserved by His Marvelous Power” Alma 53–63 :

"When compared with the Lamanite armies, Helaman’s “little army” (Alma 56:33) of young men shouldn’t have stood a chance. Besides being few in number, Helaman’s soldiers “were all … very young,” and “they never had fought” (Alma 56:46–47). In some ways, their situation might seem familiar to those of us who sometimes feel outnumbered and overwhelmed in our latter-day battle against Satan and the forces of evil in the world.

But the army of Helaman had some advantages over the Lamanites that had nothing to do with numbers or military skill. They chose Helaman, a prophet, to lead them (see Alma 53:19); “they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them” (Alma 56:47); and they had “exceeding faith in that which they had been taught.” As a result, they were protected by “the miraculous power of God” (Alma 57:26). So when facing life’s battles, we can take courage. Helaman’s army teaches us that “there [is] a just God, and whosoever [does] not doubt, [will] be preserved by his marvelous power” (Alma 57:26)."

God has been preserving me myself. He has been protecting me by His miraculous power as I face my own battles in life. I've been living my second life for already three decades since surviving typhoid fever. It's a miracle that my physical body fully recovered even though all its functions went down after getting dehydrated while having thyphoid fever. It's a miracle that I got accepted in my teaching job here in Thailand (in my school where I've been teaching for 18 years now) when the school officials wanted to accept only those who completed four years of Education degree in college while my completed four-year-degree is in business administration and I only completed 18 units of Education degree, 6 units of Master's degree, did practice teaching and took the licensure exam for teachers. It's a miracle that I was permitted by my school to continue teaching even though I did not get the Covid vaccine which was required for all the teachers to take. It's a miracle that I've been able to get my medical certificate which I was able to submit to my school officials and which they did honor. It's a perfect timing that my asthma returned at that very moment when I needed to get a medical proof that I do have asthma, therefore I couldn't take the Covid vaccine. It's a miracle that after taking my medication and after the pandemic, my asthma also left me. It's a miracle that my school did renew my contract even though I was the only teacher in the whole school who did not take the Covid vaccine during the Covid pandemic. It's a miracle that my Coordinator last year (Grade 1 and grade 2) decided to get my contract renewed for a whole year even though she didn't like the way I was communicating with her as I was being really honest and straitforward. It's a miracle that she still appreciated my best efforts especially in preparing students for presentations even though there are times when she didn't feel comfortable approaching me when she needed some help. When God is with us, no one can trule be against us. This is my faith. I believe in being honest and even though it was not convenient, I did say the truth to help improve the situation. And my honesty was appreciated by my friend/co-teacher in Grade 1/Grade 2, the very person who told me to say nothing, don't let our co-teachers know about our decision to not give them access to our prepared presentations. My choice to be honest turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Even though it caused some unpleasant reactions, eventually it put me in a better position. My courage to say the truth blessed me with being able to get moved to my teaching position at the moment. This school year 2024-25 I started to teach my Nursery class, a class of 19 students who are mostly two-and-a-half-year-olds. And I've been enjoying teaching them. I just love preparing my lessons and my visual aids for them. I love caring for them and seeing their smiles as I teach them and play with them. Teaching a class has never been easier for me than it is now. The Lord has lightened my load from teaching 700 students who are challenging to teach within a week before, to teaching only 19 and super easy-to-handle students. The Lord did deliver me from the bondage that I was feeling that I was in before. His hand worked in ways that I never have imagined. 

Alma 37: 35-37

 

How have you been blessed so far because of honoring, listening to, and obeying your parents or those who acted as your parents? 

"35 O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.

36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." (Alma 37: 35-37)

And here's the commentary entitled: “Counsel with the Lord.” : 

"In Alma 37:35–37, look for Alma’s invitations to his son Helaman. Which of these invitations do you feel prompted to act on? For example, you might ponder what it means to “counsel with the Lord” (verse 37). How have you tried to do this? How has He directed you for good?"

I've always believed that parents always want what's best for their children. And even though I'm not a perfect daughter myself (I didn't really listen to my parents all the time), I've always wanted my parents' blessing so when it comes to making big decisions in life like in terms of career and in marriage, I would choose to obey them as much as possible. Most of all, I want my parents to be proud of me. 

I love Alma's invitations to his son Helaman. Counseling with the Lord makes so much sense to me. If we want to keep our needed connection with the Lord while we are living in this troubled world, we truly need to counsel with the Lord regularly, throughout the day every day. I've been doing this myself and I feel so blessed for doing so because I've been seeing how the Lord is truly involved in the details and the details and the details and the details of our lives. He does make even simple miracles happen for us. We see them happening more often and they bring us more joy when we are more aware of them. When you are expressing gratitude to the Lord throughout the day, you'll see more miracles happening. Today, a simple miracle happened to me. I didn't have to go back to get my glue gun from my former staffroom at school (Grade 1-2 staffroom) because the opportunity for me to go there came up as I got asked by my Thai teacher to accompany our Thai Assistants to the main campus of our school to pick up some stuff we're using during our Thai Mother's Day Activities next week. So, I was able to glue up to fix and strengthen the craft I'm using during our Morning Time activity on Monday. I didn't have to do it right before we start doing our activity at 7:30AM. I didn't have to be at the Nursery building 15 minutes before the time at the most because the things I'm using for our Morning Time activity no longer needed some fixing and strengthening--I already got it done today so I'm just picking them up on Monday.

Alma 8: 14; 31: 30; 35: 15; 35: 16; 38: 9

What do you choose to feel about the state of the world today? What are you choosing to do about it?

"14 And it came to pass that while he was journeying thither, being weighed down with sorrow, wading through much tribulation and anguish of soul, because of the wickedness of the people who were in the city of Ammonihah, it came to pass while Alma was thus weighed down with sorrow, behold an angel of the Lord appeared unto him, saying:" (Alma 8: 14)

"30 O Lord God, how long wilt thou suffer that such wickedness and infidelity shall be among this people? O Lord, wilt thou give me strength, that I may bear with mine infirmities. For I am infirm, and such wickedness among this people doth pain my soul." (Alma 31: 30)

"15 Now Alma, being grieved for the iniquity of his people, yea for the wars, and the bloodsheds, and the contentions which were among them; and having been to declare the word, or sent to declare the word, among all the people in every city; and seeing that the hearts of the people began to wax hard, and that they began to be offended because of the strictness of the word, his heart was exceedingly sorrowful." (Alma 35: 15)

"16 Therefore, he caused that his sons should be gathered together, that he might give unto them every one his charge, separately, concerning the things pertaining unto righteousness. And we have an account of his commandments, which he gave unto them according to his own record." (Alma 35: 16)

"9 And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness." (Alma 38: 9)

And here's the introductory commentary for this week's reading assignment: July 29–August 4: “Look to God and Live”  Alma 36–38

"When Alma saw wickedness around him, he felt deep “sorrow,” “tribulation,” and “anguish of soul” (Alma 8:14). “Wickedness among this people,” he said of the Zoramites, “doth pain my soul” (Alma 31:30). He felt something similar after returning from his mission to the Zoramites—he observed that the hearts of many of the Nephites “began to wax hard, and that they began to be offended because of the strictness of the word,” and this made his heart “exceedingly sorrowful” (Alma 35:15). What did Alma do about what he saw and felt? He didn’t simply become discouraged or cynical about the state of the world. Instead, “he caused that his sons should be gathered together” and taught them “things pertaining unto righteousness” (Alma 35:16). He taught them that “there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. … Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness” (Alma 38:9)."

Many people in the world tend to simply become discouraged or cynical about the state of the world today. How about you? You don't want to be one of those people who would choose to give in to their tendency to become discouraged or cynical, right? You can do better than that. You can choose to be like Alma. He didn't give in to the same tendency. Instead, “he caused that his sons should be gathered together” and taught them “things pertaining unto righteousness”. What a brilliant idea! Now, how can you and I do the same? I don't have sons of my own and yet I have siblings. With the technology now, even though we can't gather together physically right away because of the distance between us, we can gather virtually (online). And if we can't meet together online, we can always send messages to one another. This is something I recently did myself. I sent a message to each of my siblings and shared with them “things pertaining unto righteousness” as we navigate a family situation we are in at the moment.