0:00:00 - 0:00:23 Today, we're gonna cover a set of topics that I find very important surprise. Uh This presentation doesn't have too many slides, but I think you'll find the information in it to be, uh, quite dense, quite rich. Right? There's a whole set of questions that I find myself asking that. I'm surprised no one 0:00:23 - 0:00:51 else asks me. I call these questions not asked. So you have frequently asked questions. Um, these are questions not asked or a Q and A session. I'd say that's a little pun. So this question is why do you spend so much time talking about desires? I think it's interesting that so much of what the Lord 0:00:50 - 0:01:13 is talking to me about are things that I've never heard in a church. And I can't imagine ever being discussed in a church. And I don't really see people having that same thought to say, wow, this, this is, uh, this is different. This is not what I would expect to hear from a quote unquote preacher or 0:01:13 - 0:01:32 even objecting to this. You know, what kind of dollar store preacher are you that you keep teaching about things that seem to have nothing to do with religion. It turns out that it's massively important this topic of what you desire and why. And actually it's the focus of a great deal of what I've been 0:01:32 - 0:01:55 writing that hasn't been published yet. So, whatever you see is the slice of the size of the slice of the pie that I spend on this so far, it's actually way bigger than that. I just haven't shared it with you. So, as I like to do, I've, I've taken a chunk of that, condensed it down and really synthesized 0:01:54 - 0:02:17 a lot of it across, across a lot of material to try to give you some nuggets here that I think will, I hope will open your eyes to some things that you don't currently see or maybe just get them a little more open to things that you might be seeing in a haze right now. OK. So I wanna walk you through 0:02:17 - 0:02:38 a few points and then we're gonna look at some pictures. So the first point I'd like to make is that God only gives us blessings that we are willing to receive. You'll see this phrase throughout scripture. Here are two references, DNC 100 and 1111. That's a lot of ones I will order all things for your 0:02:38 - 0:03:04 good as fast as you are able to receive them. And so this is a promise from God and it's a pretty big deal, all things for our good. I mean, you can't get any better than that by definition. But then the condition on that is as fast as we are able to receive them. And so if our ability to receive has 0:03:04 - 0:03:26 anything to do with our choice. And uh here's a clue it does that it's pretty important to figure out what it means to be willing to receive because we need to work on that. It's the, it's the aperture through which we, we receive God's blessings this willingness to receive. So we better understand what 0:03:26 - 0:03:49 it is. DC 8832 says, and they who remain shall also be quickened. Nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place to enjoy that which they are willing to receive. This is talking about the resurrection because they were not willing to enjoy that, which they might have received this. Like most 0:03:49 - 0:04:17 of the scriptures on these topics. It's kind of confusing and, and uh it seems unnecessarily detailed if we don't understand all the components that are in play here. But to highlight some ideas, we've got this idea of being willing to receive and then we've got this idea of being willing to enjoy. So 0:04:16 - 0:04:40 what's the tie between a willingness to enjoy and a willingness to receive? The one controls the other? The one dictates the other? That's interesting. We're gonna come back to that. But hold that in your mind. We're, we're gonna look at some Venn diagrams later. That's, those are the pictures we're 0:04:40 - 0:05:07 gonna look at and you're gonna see the importance of what you're willing to enjoy. That is actually good. See all things for your good and willingness to enjoy. That's one of the relationships we're going to look at. See people tend to think that whatever is good will just feel good automatically intrinsically 0:05:06 - 0:05:32 . It couldn't be farther from the case mankind is fallen. And what that means is by default, we do not enjoy what is actually good and who determines what's good God. He's the one that understands what the cost and benefit is for everything. And so the process of mortality, it's an opportunity to quote 0:05:32 - 0:06:00 , learn to discern good and evil. What the heck does that mean? It means to come to see and feel the way God does about everything. People incorrectly frame sin and repentance as this battle of will. Oh, I wanna do bad things. But if I just beat myself up enough, I'll submit to God and, and I'll let 0:05:59 - 0:06:28 go of the things that I really want to do and accept the things he wants me to do. No. Guess what? Guess why you can't repent because you see it that way. The truth is that the Gospel is a mechanism to help you feel good about the right things. The truth is that, that your desire is its own thing and 0:06:28 - 0:06:55 it's good. It points to God, you just don't know that yet. The Gospel is the process of showing you how it actually points to God and helping you divorce yourself from the false belief that it's connected to all these sins. Cause it's not, actually, the whole thing is just a satanic magic trick. That's 0:06:54 - 0:07:21 temptation is persuading you to incorrectly value things. That's, that's all temptation is. And so what's the cure? Truth? Truth is a cure information. All right, the next principle is that God only gives us blessings that are aligned with what he wants. Boy, I wish people would understand this. Don't 0:07:21 - 0:07:41 ever ask God for something that he doesn't want because it's not going to work. It's not gonna work. Now, the scriptures are replete with evidence for the principles. I'm sharing you with you here. But um we just for the sake of brevity, we have to just pick a few and limit it to that. But here's one 0:07:41 - 0:08:06 John 1414, if you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now here we're going to for the benefit of those who don't already know um uh uh reveal the mystery of what he means by his name. His name is his character. It's how he is. It's what he does. It's why he does it. That's what names are in 0:08:06 - 0:08:36 the scriptures. So his name to ask something in his name is to ask for something that he would ask for. If he were in your place for all the same reasons he would ask for it. And he says, if you line up with that, he'll do it. This is a really powerful idea because I guess it's a promise. It's more than 0:08:36 - 0:00:00 an idea. It's a promise and it's powerful because it shows us that we're in control. We decide how much we're going to learn about him and we decide how completely we want to point towards what he would do in our place. And when we align fully, we receive the fullness. It puts the keys in our hands. 0:00:00 - 0:09:31 Ees 115 says, whatsoever thing you shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, you shall receive it. And then Helaman 10 5 says, I will make the mighty. This is a, this is a promise that the Lord gives to man who had lived his life dedicated to the Lord's will. He says 0:09:31 - 0:09:53 , I will make thee mighty in word and deed in faith and in works. Yet even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word. For thou shalt ask not thou shalt not ask that, which is contrary to my will. In other words, you've aligned yourself completely with me. Therefore, whatever you ask 0:09:53 - 0:10:20 is what I would ask. Therefore, whatever you ask is what I'll do. It's pretty simple. It's incredibly powerful, but it's pretty simple. Ok? We've got some more principles. So if, if God will give us whatever we ask for, that's what he wants, that begs the question. What does he want. Well, this is, this 0:10:20 - 0:10:47 is the kicker because what he wants is what's best for us. Isn't this interesting? So God commands us well, more than commands God has set things up so that the efficacious flow of His blessings occur when we ask for what is best for us? Is that amazing? Right? It, it literally couldn't be any better 0:10:46 - 0:11:17 . So what benefits us and is aligned with how He is? That's his name, how he is. So here's one from DNC 8864. He says whatsoever ye ask the father in my name, it shall be given unto you. We've heard that one before but listen to this condition that is expedient for you. What does that mean? What does 0:11:16 - 0:11:49 um expedient? What does that mean? So it's basically efficacious or what is, what is needful, what is beneficial? It's, it's something suited to your condition because your condition matters. So what would be right for someone else or beneficial for someone else? Maybe for the place you're in, your situation 0:11:49 - 0:12:07 is different, right? Like if you have a kid that's super skinny and he or she says, hey, can I have a piece of cake after dinner? You say, yeah, sure. You have a a kid that's struggling a little with their weight and they say, can I have a piece of cake after dinner? You say no, you're a little heavy 0:12:07 - 0:12:26 right now. Let's skip the dessert. Now, I don't know the way the world is today. Maybe that sounds like child abuse. I don't know, I'd say the reverse would be child abuse. But I realize we're in strange times. So it's not expedient for a fat kid to get more cake, but it is expedient for a skinny kid 0:12:26 - 0:12:53 to get some cake. All right, here's another scripture. 2nd 5 26 24. He uh the Lord doeth not anything. Save it be for the benefit of the world, for he loveth the world even that he lay down his own life that he may draw all men. And to him, this is a brief but very important verse. So first we have that 0:12:53 - 0:13:21 the Lord won't do anything. That's not for the greatest possible benefit of who of a random person. No, the whole world, the whole world, the whole system of creation, everything is perfectly optimized. His will is the optimization of all things. OK? And it's what's best for everyone. So if, if you want 0:13:20 - 0:13:42 to know what the Lord's will is, you kind of have to figure out what's best for everyone and that's no easy feat. So react like the challenging part of figuring out all of this is at the beginning. Oh What does God want? What? It's such a mystery? No, it's the easiest thing in the world. The hard part 0:13:41 - 0:14:02 is at, at some point, you need to know something about reality. You need to know how things actually work. You need to have a vast awareness of how everything is that approaches God's because as long as you're short of that, you for sure are going to see things differently than he does and want things 0:14:02 - 0:14:23 differently than he does. And it all has to align to flow and that's where the complications come in. That's where the work comes in. But in modern Christianity everyone spends all their time on the front end, the easiest part. Oh, I got to wrestle with. What do I wanna do? What God wants me to do? Oh 0:14:23 - 0:00:00 , it's so hard. That's supposed to be the easy part. Folks. The hard part is learning what he knows, not doing what he does as far as you believe it. That's the easy part. But all religion seems to spend its time on, on that part instead of just saying, look, this is what we gotta do. Let's move on. 0:00:00 - 0:15:20 All right. So I've underlined this segment that he might draw all men unto him. Why do you think that that was included in a verse that's about him doing what is of the greatest benefit for the world? What's the greatest possible benefit that anyone could receive? I hope you already know the answer to 0:15:20 - 0:15:46 this question. Here's some verses to help you out DNC 14 7. If you keep my commandments and endure to the end, you shall have eternal life. Which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God. What is the greatest possible benefit, eternal life. But what's eternal life? Now, we can have a discussion about 0:15:45 - 0:16:09 that, that, that uh I'm sure there are many viewpoints on that one. First e 5 1536 says wherefore the wicked are rejected from the righteous and also from that tree of life whose fruit is most precious and most desirable above all other fruits. Yeah. And it is the greatest of all the gifts of God. Hold 0:16:09 - 0:16:36 on. So now we have two things that are the greatest gift of God. No, there can only be one, there can only be one greatest thing, only one greatest gift in this case from God. And so we have that the fruit of the tree of life is the same thing as eternal life. Now, let's keep reading, here's another 0:16:36 - 0:16:59 passage about the tree of life in the fruit of the tree of life from first Nephi 11 verses 22 and 23. And I answered him saying, yay, it is the love of God which shed eth itself abroad in the hearts of the Children of men, wherefore it is the most desirable above all things. And he spake unto me saying 0:16:58 - 0:17:23 , yeah, and the most joyous to the soul, eternal life, the fruit of the tree of life, the love of God. Those are all the same thing, those are all the same thing and specifically with the love of God. Just to be totally clear, that's coming to a greater awareness of the love that God has for you. And 0:17:23 - 0:17:46 that's shedding itself abroad in the hearts of the Children of men. It's loving others with that same love that is eternal life and it will get you more joy than anything else. That's why it's the greatest of his gifts. It's not something like your grandmother gives you a pair of jeans and says this 0:17:46 - 0:18:14 is the best gift. This Christmas. trust me. It, it actually is the greatest and it's the greatest because it does give you the most joy. All right. So let's keep moving through. Here's another principle, God will limit what He gives you to what you want. By the way, if that's gonna seem like a loose 0:18:13 - 0:18:34 end, what we just talked about with the love of God and eternal life and the benefit of the world and his name. It's all gonna come together in the end. God will limit what He gives you to what you want, even if He has better things to give you. Ok. So we talked about what he wants and now we're placing 0:18:33 - 0:18:56 a condition on that a limit, which is how much you want of what he wants. Here are a few passages to um confirm that idea. Matthew seven ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened to you, which makes it sound like, hey, whatever you want, God will give you but 0:18:56 - 0:19:17 let's keep reading for every one that Asth receives and he that seeketh find and to him that knock it shall be opened or what man is there of you? Whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish? Will he give him a serpent? If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto 0:19:16 - 0:19:41 your Children. How much more shall your father which is in heaven? Give good things to them that ask him so implicit in all of this is there's a relationship between what he wants and what you want and you, he will only give you what you want. The share of what you want out of that. He may well think 0:19:41 - 0:20:11 it's better to give you a stone or a serpent, but he's not going to do that if all you want is bread and a fish. Now there's an element here that, that I didn't have time to really delve into this promise of you will get what you want. It's conditioned on you actually living that way, living according 0:20:10 - 0:20:35 to what you say you want because as you do, what's going to happen is you're going to learn much more about reality. And if what you want is actually pretty dumb, you're going to find out, but only if you live to receive what you want. If you just say it's what you want and you never do a dang thing 0:20:34 - 0:20:57 to move towards getting it. That's as far as you're ever going to get and you'll be able to hold the hope of the thing that you're never going to receive until even that is taken away from you usually violently by some surprise, some tragedy in life. But if you move towards what you say you want and 0:20:57 - 0:21:26 you actually live to receive that blessing, what you're going to find is that you're going to gain massive amounts of information about the world and yourself, which will drastically change what you want and why it's all designed that way. It's all designed that way. Here's another verse de C 8833. It 0:21:26 - 0:21:48 says what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him and he received, not the gift, behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in Him, who is the giver of the gift. And so we see that God will limit what He gives you to what you want. So let's put all this together 0:21:48 - 0:22:11 into some pictures and it will be much clearer what we're dealing with. There's a logical rule called and sometimes it's called an intersect. But pictorially, we just, we draw two circles and there's an overlap the and it's what it's what's in the middle of the two conditions. It's the overlapping part 0:22:11 - 0:22:32 of the two circles in this case, what we're talking about is what God wants and what you want, you're only going to receive what's in the middle of that. This is very important. So what you want is not independent of what God wants. He's not going to give you what you want if it doesn't align with how 0:22:31 - 0:22:59 He is and what he wants. And so your window seat might be really tiny and it probably is, but it's no mystery if I asked you, how do you make it bigger? You align the two circles and guess what, what God wants isn't going to change. He already knows everything. You do not. So guess who's going to have 0:22:59 - 0:23:24 to move if you want these two things to align you will and how are you going to move? What you want has to change. How is that going to happen? Information? You need to learn more about how things really are the truth, the truth about yourself, the truth about other people, the truth about the world 0:23:24 - 0:23:49 and the truth about God. And so that is why I spend so much time on all of these things. And that is why going to church is never going to get you anywhere because you never talk about any of those things at church. And one reason you don't talk about them is because the person teaching your church has 0:23:49 - 0:24:17 no idea about them. So I wanna share with you this, this uh triplet of verses from first John five and, and this is not a translation of that it's a reflection of that. So you're not gonna find this in the King James or any other translation. But if you look up, if you look up the Greek and you mix it 0:24:17 - 0:24:39 with a whole bunch of other understanding and information, you might get something like this. So just think about it. I've written these things to you who know and live according to the character of the Son of God, that you might understand the eternal life you have and that you might continue to obtain 0:24:38 - 0:25:05 and live according to the character of Jesus Christ, by which you have it. So our knowledge of God's will and our obedience to it in all things is our confidence with God. It is how we know what to ask from Him and how we know that He will give us what we ask. I think that that is crystal clear, but 0:25:05 - 0:25:37 maybe to you, it is maybe to you, it isn't what is eternal life. We said it's, it's to, to know the love of God and to give it to other people, God is love. It's to understand His character and to have developed it in yourself. That's what it is. And here in this rendition of this passage, John says 0:25:36 - 0:26:05 that you might understand the eternal life you have. There are a lot of people fighting over whether they have eternal life or not thinking that it is some completed state like uh if I, if I gave you car keys, you have them or you don't. But here it's described as a process that you endure in or you 0:26:05 - 0:26:31 don't, it's a continuous process. It's not an outcome unless the outcome is getting into that process, which that's better described as a gate, not an outcome, but you're either in that process still or you're not. And to be off of it isn't to be finished, it's to have turned back and to be out of the 0:26:31 - 0:27:06 way. So getting into that is accomplished by learning more about and living more like Jesus. And if you turn out of that because you cease to learn more or you cease to act as he would in your situation, you're out of it. So how do you know what to ask for? Well, you have to get to know how God is to 0:27:06 - 0:27:29 the extent you do all that you'll get what you ask for. But this isn't the only picture we're going to take this several layers deeper. And then hopefully, when we back off a bit, it's crystal clear. Here's a related mystery that people ask about. I say, what is the testimony of Jesus? Read about that 0:27:28 - 0:28:00 in revelation and in other places. Well, it's to receive him. But what, what does it mean to receive him here? We have another intersection of two properties. You have to believe him and you have to know how he actually is. Let me share two scriptures and then we'll talk a little bit more about this 0:28:00 - 0:28:27 . Dinse see 39 4 says, but to as many as received me, gave I power to become my sons. And even so will I give unto as many as will receive me power to become my son? So this is an eternal promise. It's true in the past and it's going to be true in the future. And it's true right now. If you receive him 0:28:26 - 0:28:55 , he will give you power to become his son or daughter. What does it mean to be a son of God? If you look at the Greek word that's translated into Sun, this, this, this passage is from the doctrine and covenants which was given in English. But God uses consistent vocabulary. And in this case, if we go 0:28:54 - 0:29:25 back to where that all started in the Greek, the word for Sun is fios, which means much more than the genetic offspring. It means one who fully embodies the father. So Jesus said that if we see him, we see the father because he only does what the father would do in his place. That a big part of the purpose 0:29:25 - 0:00:00 of his mortal ministry was to demonstrate what the father would do as a man on earth. And that's exactly what he did. And then he tells us, he says, I am the light of the world and you are the light of the world live your life. So that when people see you, they learn something more about the father. 0:00:00 - 0:30:07 That's what he charges us with in the New Testament. It's a high calling. Demonstrate, God, that's what it means to become his son. So in order to do that, you have to receive him. So you see, this seems super cryptic until you peel it apart. And then you realize it's the, it's the simplest idea in the 0:30:07 - 0:30:30 world and he's saying it exactly how he needs to, to be the most clear he can. It's just, we've gunked it all up with our religious retardation. It's, it's crystal clear here. We have it again in DNC 1130 verily verily, I say unto you that as many as received me to them, I will give power to become the 0:30:30 - 0:31:01 sons of God even to them that believe on my name here, we have that name again. What does it mean to believe on his name? It means, you know how he actually is and that is how you believe him to be. Now, the intersection of these two things is how mu how much like God you've become. But one issue is 0:31:01 - 0:31:28 that what people believe about God is wrong. A whole lot of it is wrong. It can only be useful, beneficial if it overlaps how he actually is. And I haven't talked a whole ton about it, but there's a big case to be made that we have no clue how God actually is and learning how he is, is actually really 0:31:27 - 0:31:59 hard. It's a challenge. There are a lot of reasons for that, but this isn't even the whole story. We have to take this a little deeper because oops, this is off the slide. Let me fix this real quick because how we believe God to be, this is on the last picture is not necessarily how you live. So the 0:31:59 - 0:32:25 question is, do you always do what the Lord would do in your situation and nothing else? Yes or no. And if you're honest, your answer is most assuredly no, but doesn't have to be because it's possible to be sinless and that would be taking this in doing this. Ok? Now the label here, it doesn't say what 0:32:25 - 0:32:52 you do. It says what you want. Now, why do you think I wrote what you want and not what you do? Because what you do is what you want, what you do is what you want. If I say, what do you want, you'd list off. Oh, you know, I really want a giant house and a, a happy family and I want to feel deep meaning 0:32:51 - 0:33:12 in my life and I want to be strong against the challenges that life throws at me and I want to help other people and I want a brand new pair of sneakers too. All right. Well, how do you live your life? Well, uh I just kind of randomly go to work and uh I spend my discretionary time scrolling through 0:33:12 - 0:33:36 Tik Tok. Uh ok, then what you said you want is not actually what you want. Now, maybe that I just described you perfectly. Maybe. Ok, but probably not. So let's get a little more specific and make people a little more uncomfortable. Let's say what you say you want is eternal life. Oh, well, that sounds 0:33:36 - 0:34:03 shiny. How could you possibly criticize me if what I want is eternal life that's safe. Well, what do you do to get it? Well, I, I, I'm a fanatic at studying the scriptures and uh I go to church a lot. Ok? If God himself plopped down into your life and shadowed you for the day, you know, bring your Jesus 0:34:03 - 0:34:25 to work day. If he shadowed you from when you got up to, when you went to sleep and for the benefit, just give me the benefit of the doubt. Let's just suppose that it turns out that every single time you did anything that'd be different than what he did, he would correct you. And I know that you probably 0:34:24 - 0:34:47 don't believe in a Jesus who correct you because you have a different definition of love than I do and uh whatever. But let's just suppose that Jesus would correct the snot out of you any time he saw anything that was different than what he would do in your place, how often would he be correcting you 0:34:46 - 0:35:04 like yesterday? Let's just pick a random day, if you go through yesterday and you went through the whole day thinking what would Jesus do in my place? And if he was here and he'd slap me upside the head every time I did something differently and say, hey, why did you do that? That doesn't align with 0:35:04 - 0:35:27 what you say you want. Hey, why'd you do that? Don't you think you'd be better too? Hey, why'd you do that? You could have done this instead. How many times would, would he be slapping you upside the head? If your answer is more than zero, then your circles are not aligned. Now, let's say your answer 0:35:27 - 0:35:51 is zero and I promise you, it can be, let's go back two days and let's repeat the exercise and let's say you say, well, I'm good. The last two days, the answer is zero and I promise you it's possible. Let's go back a week. Let's go back a month. Let's go back two months. Let's go back a year. Let's go 0:35:51 - 0:36:18 back two years. Now, if you're two years out from having done something differently than you believe Jesus would have with your understanding at the time, not your understanding today, then I'd say you're doing pretty good and I'd like to meet you, but that's probably not the case. And so the space between 0:36:18 - 0:36:39 these two circles, there's a lot we could say about this. But for the purposes of this presentation, what I want to call this is doubt. And you say, wait, I don't understand how that's doubt, isn't it sin? Yeah. But let's not use the S word in this presentation. Let's call it doubt. And let's shine a 0:36:39 - 0:37:04 light on a little different facet of that DC. 1 21 45 says, let thy bows also be full of charity towards all men. What's charity? Love? And that harkens back to what we're talking about at the beginning and let virtue. What is that righteousness garnish thy thoughts unceasingly, by the way, what virtue 0:37:04 - 0:37:29 , righteousness? It's how God is. It's how you believe God to be. Then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dues from heaven. So here we have the relationship between you loving everyone, which by the way is a commandment 0:37:29 - 0:37:55 . It's the most important curve and knowing and being like God. And if you live your life that way, doing exactly what the Lord would as far as you understand, then your confidence will wax strong in the presence of God and these two things will be the same. There's another thing that changes that we'll 0:37:55 - 0:38:18 talk about in a minute. Here's another one. This is from the story that we've, we've talked about this. This is from the story of the father who had a son who had, had a lot of issues his whole life. And I like this translation from the NRSV. Uh this is Mark 923. This is the help thou my unbelief guy 0:38:18 - 0:38:45 and he comes to Jesus and where that starts, he says, if you're able to do anything to help my son and Jesus cuts him off and he says, if you're able all things can be done for the one who believes this is a nice example of the Jesus that slaps you upside the head when you say something stupid where 0:38:44 - 0:39:14 you know, better. So, um, of course he's able, he's Jesus. So all things can be done for one who believes. If you actually believe in God, you also have to believe that it's possible for you to keep his commandments, that it's possible for you to do what he would do in your place. You can't believe in 0:39:14 - 0:39:37 God without believing that it's, it's what it means to believe. Look up the word um, in Greek, I believe it's pus to believe it's much more than just, oh, I'd like to believe that this is the case or I really wish it was the case really hard. I wish really hard that Jesus was real and that he's who he 0:39:37 - 0:40:00 says he is. No, if you believe it, you do it. That's how, you know, if you believe it, you do it. If you don't do it, you don't believe it. And so you should like this guy say, help thou my unbelief. I don't actually believe in you, but I'd like to, can you help me and he will? All right. Now, we're 0:39:59 - 0:40:21 going to add a little more to this diagram. So these circles are the same ones we had before, but we've added one here. And this is interesting because it's the merger of two things we looked at before. Remember we had the, how God actually is and what God wants turns out those are the same thing. What 0:40:20 - 0:40:55 he wants is how He is, what He wants is what he would do. So hopefully you're with me so far. That's a big thing to understand. And so now what we have is that the window of receipt is defined by how much like God you are because that is what determines how much you receive from God. Do you get how all 0:40:55 - 0:41:19 this connects? Now, do you understand why it's so important to correctly understand how God is and why it's so important to live exactly how He would in your place and how by not doing those things, if you're off, even by a little, it radically reduces the good that God can put into your life because 0:41:18 - 0:41:44 you don't give Him the space to send it, you can't receive it. Let's go over three scriptures 13, 5, 1820. This is the Lord speaking. He says, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, which is right believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be given unto you. What does this mean, in plain 0:41:44 - 0:42:11 English, if you want to receive something from God, it better be according to his character. It better be what actually benefits and you better believe that you will receive it because you live exactly how He would in your place. It's, it's not the first time you're doing this. You don't start believing 0:42:10 - 0:42:36 in Him when you pray for something you need, you better be doing that before Marone 726. We have basically the same thing whatsoever thing. Ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good in faith, believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you. What is good? That's the difference 0:42:36 - 0:43:00 . The first verse said, which is right and this one says, which is good. Those are the same, right means according to God's will and according to his will means according to his character, which is how He is good is what benefits, guess what benefits the most. It's what God is and what He He would do 0:43:00 - 0:43:23 in your place. And then Mormon 921 says, whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing whatsoever. He shall ask the Father in the name of Christ. It shall be granted him. And this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth. So it's kind of important. It's always in play. It's the way it works 0:43:23 - 0:43:50 . And here we have highlighted this idea of doubt and belief. It's not a question of wishing, it's a question of how you choose to live your life over time. If you believe in Christ, you will live how He would in your place. And if you live how he would in your place as we saw with that prior one about 0:43:49 - 0:44:13 confidence waxing strong in the presence of God. It's also your confidence waxing strong that you are the presence of God as far as you understand Him to be. It's not a place you get taken to alone. Obviously, the presence of God is a literal place where He is. But inasmuch as you are like Him, you are 0:44:12 - 0:44:42 one with Him and He is wherever you are. So that doubt needs to be erased. These circles need to be brought together and I realized that's slightly off the slide. It's OK. You already know what goes there. But there it is all right, bringing all this together is our final picture. This is the goal. It's 0:44:42 - 0:45:07 for all of these things to be the same how God actually is what God wants. Those two are the same how you believe God to be and what you want. Those are the ones that you control. So in the beginning, we were talking about that verse, it said He draws men to him because it's what benefits the most. This 0:45:06 - 0:45:35 is what that means. He draws men to him self through helping them become as He is. He needs to help you believe that He is what He actually is. You need to learn what he actually is and how He is and why He is. And then you need to want that all that same thing too. You need to be as he is. Do what he 0:45:35 - 0:00:00 would do in your place but also desire it, not look at it like well like a cross. See you, you come to God through the cross. He draws men to him through the cross. You can look up those, those references if you search that He draws men to Him through the cross, but the cross is actually the throne. 0:00:00 - 0:46:34 And until you see that until you deeply feel that you're not one with Him, this circle will not look like this for you. It will look like this and the space in the middle will be really tiny. You have to actually desire what He is and how He is and what he would do in your place. And when you do this 0:46:34 - 0:47:00 is what's going to happen, John 1623 and 24. And in that day, you shall ask me nothing verily verily I say unto you whatsoever. You shall ask the father in my name. He will give it to you hitherto. Have you asked nothing in my name? Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full. And so here we have 0:46:59 - 0:47:23 all these things brought together. Remember uh the greatest of God's gifts in the most joyous to the soul. Well, here Jesus says, here's how your joy will be full. You become like me. And when you're like me, you can ask the father because whatever you ask will be exactly what I would ask. And he'll 0:47:23 - 0:47:53 give it to you for all the same reasons he'd give it to me. This is absolutely profound and it's so simple. This isn't the hard part. The hard part is figuring out how he is, which requires you to understand an awful lot about reality. And some go through some heavy deep waters of suffering to tie this 0:47:53 - 0:48:11 up. I just want to repeat this passage from my reflection of first John five. I've written these things to you who know and live according to the character of the Son of God that you might understand the eternal life you have and that you might continue to obtain and live according to the character of 0:48:11 - 0:48:26 Jesus Christ, by which you have it, our knowledge of God's will and our obedience to it in all things is our confidence with God. It is how we know what to ask from him and how we know that He will give us what we ask.