Like a Fire is Burning

Imagine leaving the safety and warmth of your own home to go camping. You get out and during the dead of night it, and the freezing temperature gets to you. To stay warm you gather logs and in hopes of starting a fire. As you gather logs, you long to hear the crackling of the fire, feel the warmth of the fire and see the glow of it as you watch the flames dance. The fire now built, you enjoy the comfort it brings as you stare into the star filled sky.

The title of the blog, comes from one of my favorite hymns "The Spirit of God". We have all ventured on a spiritual camping trip from our heavenly home, but God has not left us to alone during this mortal stay on earth. We have been promised that we can have the Holy Ghost to be with us. Like a fire on a camping trip, the Holy Ghost, also called the Spirit, brings warmth, light and comfort, hence why it is often compared to a fire in the scriptures. Like a fire takes our own effort to build, we must do our part as described in 2 Nephi 31:13 to have the Spirit to be with us. Also as you must stay close to a fire to enjoy the radiant heat, you must also stay close to the Spirit to enjoy all of the blessings the Spirit brings.

How does one stay close to the Spirit? A revelation was given concerning a man who "exalted himself in his heart, and received not counsel, but grieved the Spirit" (see Doctrine and Covenants 63:55). The Spirit acts as a guide to those who receive it, so when we choose not to listen to the counsel given, we offend the Spirit and distance ourselves from it, and the warmth and light it brings to our lives dimish just as the influence of the fire dimishes with distance. To put another way, How would you feel if a person came seeking guidance from you, but after you give that counsel, they chose to completely ignore your counsel? You might just be offended. So with the Spirit, whose job it is to "guide [us] into all truth" (John 16:13).

This blog will be insights I have gained as I have studied the scriptures. The main job of the Spirit is to testify of truth, so that we can be guided through the wilderness of our life back into the presence of our Heavenly Father. I hope you will feel the comfort the spirit brings into your life as you read my posts.