“The major strides which must be made by the Church will follow upon the major strides to be made by us as individuals. We have paused on some plateaus long enough. Let us resume our journey forward and upward.”
What does this quote mean?
Over the last 31 years the membership of the Church has increased by 325%. This is an indicator that the Church as a whole has had some strides.
Just because the Church as a whole has made some strides does that mean that all of us have also made great strides?
How has our stakes, wards or personal selves progressed?
How does an athlete work to increase their stride?
1. Determine their strike rate
2. Workouts/Exercises
3. Work on developing their breathing patterns and pacing techniques.
What would be the results for someone who tried to shortcut take a different approach to this pattern?
1. Quite often taking the wrong approach leads to a loss of stride and speed instead of an increase.
2. Not taking the time to evaluate where you are and what you want to accomplish will prevent from being successful, no goal = no success.
3. The wrong exercises could result no benefit or even cause negative results.
4. Not learning to control your breathing or pacing can cause you to become exhausted or prevent you from finishing what you started.
How do we lengthen our spiritual stride?
1. First we must make sure that we have the proper approach
Spiritual Progression Chart
2. Personal introspection about where we are at spiritually. Know where you are and where you want to be.
In order to know where we are, we must first know where we want to be.
Moses 1:39
For behold this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
What is it that the Lord wants for us?
The atonement was designed to help us with this; Physical death, Spiritual death.
How can we help?
Three fold mission of the Church: Missionary work, Perfect the Saints, and Redeem the Dead
3. What activities do we participate in that build or destroy our faith?
a. Foundation activities
b. Covenants
What covenants do we make?
Baptismal Covenants:
• Come into his kingdom and keep his commandments
• Stand as a witness of God at all times and in all places
• Always remember him
Reward: His Spirit to be with us
Priesthood Oath and Covenant:
• Be faithful
• Magnify calling
• Give diligent heed to the words of eternal life
• Live by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God
Reward: Sanctified by the Spirit and receive all that the Father hath
Temple Covenants:
• Renewal of Baptism and Priesthood covenants
• Marriage Covenants
• Additional sacred covenants to more fully serve the Lord
Result: Salvation from sin
4. We must stretch ourselves but not go faster than we are able.
We must not push ourselves so hard that we burn ourselves out.
Endure to the end.
Life is not easy everyone has their own unique challenges. It is how we decide to handle these challenges that determine our stride.
“He will not ask us to bear more than we can bear nor thrust upon us that for which we are not yet ready. But likewise, we must not tarry too long when we are ready to move on
“It seems to me that basically there are two major causes for the holding back which we see in the Church: First, sin which results in disinterest or immobilization and guilt; and second, the reluctance of good members of the Church to stretch just a little bit more in the service, instead of being too slow to see the power of their example or too shy about letting their light shine. It is time for us all to take those seemingly small steps forward which will, when compounded, mean major progress for the Church!” (Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, Let Us Move Forward and Upward, May 1979, 82)
