Personal Nature of God

Day Thirty

This being the Sabbath Day my prayers were focused on remembering.  I prayed that I might remember my Father in Heaven and my Savior so the I might keep them in my heart today and have the Holy Ghost to be with me. I prayed that I might take the Sacrament with the full intent to renew my covenants and to make every effort to keep them in the coming week.  I thanked the Lord for the opportunity I would have to worship Him and grow closer to him.

I decided that I would study the Articles of Faith first.  I need to understand the doctrines in each article and how they apply to me personally. I need to know that I can replace We Believe with I Believe. I will begin with number 1:

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

Joseph Smith once said "It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God."

I love the fact that there are three separate divine beings in my life, it means that I have three sets of divine eyes watching out for me instead of just one!  The fact that the Father and the Son have glorified bodies of flesh and bone makes them that much closer to me.  It means that they have felt emotions, pains, sorrows and joys like I have. It gives me hope that I too can become like them.

I understand why it is difficult for some people to believe such a statement, they view it as a weakness if God had a physical body.  I believe it is a strength, it gives Him an understanding that could not be there if He hadn't experienced it for Himself. 

I know that there is doctrine in the world that flat out denies this belief.  After reading Joseph Smith's quote does it not make sense that if the Devil wanted to really mess things up that he would try and confuse men with false doctrine about the character and nature of God?

If we have a true understanding of God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, we realize who we are and what we can become.  Our relationship becomes personal and we desire to live our lives in such a way that we can return and be part of the Heavenly Family again. This weakens Satan's ability to influence us and we all know that he can't stand that.

It is my hope that I will always remember that I have a divine part of me and that I truly have a Father in Heaven who loves me and a loving brother who loved me enough to atone for my sins.  I am grateful to the Holy Ghost for the affirmation of these things in my life.

I think it is safe to say that I can replace the We Believe with I Believe in this case.