We Can Live With God Again

We come to this life to grow and learn and be tested. That all sounds pretty taxing, but it’s not hard to see how much joy we can find here on earth as well. One great part of Heavenly Father’s plan is that all the happiness and satisfaction we get from learning new things and all the love we develop within our families will go with us to the next life.

Just like our family bonds, we can carry the knowledge we gain in this life with us after we die. Contrary to some representations of heaven, we will not be sitting on clouds, gazing at the face of God for eternity. We’ll have more opportunities to grow and challenge ourselves. All these wonderful blessings depend on our faithfulness, here and now, as we work to keep God’s commandments throughout our lives.

Our Spirits Are Eternal

It’s comforting to know that God has a plan for us. We lived with Him before we were born and we will continue to live with Him into eternity if we choose. Our life on earth is fundamental to His plan, as is death. It’s always sad when God calls our loved ones home, but we can be certain that their spirits live on.

Life after Death

When our bodies die, our spirits continue to live. The spirits of those who have received and lived God's plan will visit those who have not, teaching them and giving them the chance to follow God's plan.

Everyone’s spirit will then be reunited with his or her perfected physical body, which will never die again. We’ll be judged and rewarded according to our works. Those who follow God's plan will then join Him in heaven.

We Can Find Happiness

We often fall into the trap of thinking a new car, job promotion, beauty makeover, or fame will make us happy. And often they do—for a time. But it never lasts because wealth, power, beauty, and fame simply don’t bring lasting happiness, as much as we wish they would.

True Happiness

True happiness comes from following Christ’s example and developing Christlike attributes such as obedience, goodness, honesty, gratitude, humility, love, charity, and forgiveness. It comes from serving others and helping them to follow Jesus Christ. It comes from controlling the appetites of our human bodies and following the promptings of the Spirit. It comes from working hard and having a healthy lifestyle, friends, family, and personal achievements.

Regardless of what you do or don’t have in this life, your deepest, most lasting happiness will come from knowing God’s plan and following it. One ancient prophet put it this way:

“I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.”

Jesus Christ Is the Way

More than anything else, God wants to help us through this life and bless us with eternal life in the next. He sends His Spirit to offer us this help. But the scriptures say that His Spirit cannot be with us if we are sinful. As hard as we try to live good lives, we all commit sins that separate us from God.

Being separated from God by sin is called spiritual death. We feel a profound loneliness when we separate ourselves from God, our Heavenly Father.

How can we overcome spiritual death and always have God’s Spirit with us if we are imperfect?

God Provided a Savior

Heavenly Father chose His Son, Jesus Christ, in our pre-earth life and sent Him to earth to be our Savior. If we believe in Jesus Christ, follow His teachings, and repent when we commit sins, His Atonement, or sacrifice, can wash us clean of our sins and make us worthy to return to God’s presence. Christ’s sacrifice and Resurrection also allow us to overcome physical death. Every one of us will be resurrected just like Christ was and live forever in perfected bodies after we leave this life.

We Have to Do Our Part

Each of us will be resurrected and overcome physical death regardless of what we do in this life. But we have to do our part to overcome spiritual death.

To be forgiven of our sins, we need to repent and increase our faith in Jesus Christ throughout our lives. We will not be saved simply because we get baptized or say we believe in Jesus Christ. It takes work, but the work we do doesn’t only prepare us for heaven, it blesses us in this life too.

Our families will be happier, we’ll get along better with others, and we’ll feel more peace during hard times when we live according to Jesus Christ’s teachings.

He Is Our Friend

The gospel of Jesus Christ gives us hope. Through Him, and only through Him, we can have everything Heavenly Father wants to give us. He is our Savior and our friend. He is our teacher and our perfect example. The closer we stay to Jesus Christ, the better we’ll be able to face life’s challenges.

Our Eternal Life

Many of us spend our lives looking for something to hold on to, something that will last. We look for ways to avoid aging or to become famous or rich. But we eventually realize that mortal life is temporary. Friends and family members grow old and die, the famous are soon forgotten, and wealth is lost as quickly as it is won. Our hope and happiness lie in knowing who we are, where we came from, and where we can go. We are eternal beings, spirit children of an eternal God. Our lives can be compared to a three-act play: premortal life (before we came to earth), mortal life (our time here on earth), and postmortal life (where we go after we die). God has had a plan for our lives since the beginning of the first act—a plan that, if followed, provides comfort and guidance now, as well as salvation and eternal happiness in our postmortal life.

True Conversion

"The way we answer questions about our faith ought to be by finding the quickest and most direct route to the Sacred Grove. The Restoration began with Joseph Smith on his knees in the Sacred Grove, and that is where the testimony of all Latter-day Saints must begin, on their knees in a sacred moment, asking of God. Everything that we believe as Latter-day Saints rests on the reality of what God said that spring morning to Joseph Smith." (Joseph Fielding McConkie The restoration and Religious Tolerance)
As we all do this same thing for ourselves, get on our knees and ask to know if this event really happened, I know that we will all find our testimonies grow or begin. And as the people in the Book of Mormon who were taught about the gospel and converted to the truth:
They "were converted unto the Lord, [and] never did fall away. For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren."
If we do the same and are converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we too will want to "lay down the weapons of [our] rebellion" and we will all become part of the righteous people and will be ready to enter into the rest of the lord!
I know that Joseph Smith did see God and Jesus Christ, and they did in reality speak to him and give him instruction to restore this gospel to the earth today. As you kneel and pray and find out the same I know you will feel a greater light in your life and a happiness that will not fade with time.

What Matters Most

What really matters most in your life? Is it your Job? Cars? Money? If so, it is time to rethink your priorities. If you have your priorities in line then you will begin to see your life run more smoothly, you will feel a joy in your life that you may have lost or may never have felt before. I testify to you that if you put your Savior and your family first all other things in your life will begin to work out.

The 5 Steps to Happiness

In 2 Nephi chapter 31 God the Father gives us a promise that if we do these these 5 steps that we will inherit eternal life, living forever with God and our families. These steps are first having faith in Jesus Christ, second repenting of the things we have done wrong in our lives, third being baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God, fourth receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and fifth endure to the end.
1) Faith in Jesus Christ means believing in him and the power he has to forgive our sins. Follow the example he set and keep his commandments.
2) Repenting, change the way we live. Everyone of us is imperfect and can only begin to become perfect by aligning our lives whit that of Jesus Christ. Repentance is a process that probably won't happen over night, it takes time and effort, but we are promised forgiveness if we complete the steps. First we need acknowledge that we have done some thing wrong, second we need to be sorry for what we have done, third is to confess the sin to God, fourth is to correct the wrong we have done or make restitution, and last do not do it again. If we do this God has promised all of us forgiveness for everything we have done.
3) Baptism is the "gate" as Nephi calls it to the path which leads to eternal life. After we are baptised by some one holding the priesthood authority of God, which has been restored to this earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith, then they have entered the gate and begin their journey back home.
4) Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is the ability we are given to actually receive that comforter that is promised to us by Jesus Christ in the New Testament. The Holy Ghost will purify us and lead us through our lives and help us make the right choices.
5) Enduring to the end means to keep pushing forward. Even though Satan will do all he can to get you off that path, you can overcome his temptations and keep going. That is one of the greatest gifts of the Spirit (or Holy Ghost) to help you over come temptations.
And as it says in 2 Nephi 31:20 if you will do all this you shall have eternal life!
I know this is true and i know each one of us is capable of getting there.