​Francis Harper ​Message for 7/20/2018

​------ Forwarded message ------
From: Francis Harper
wbfrmsup@iowatelecom.net


​Francis Harper ​Message for 7/20/2018

Dear Ones,

Have you ever wondered how the Lord feels about your thoughts? As he said; “I the Lord search the heart . . .” (Jeremiah 17:10). We need the Holy Spirit to help us recognize how our thoughts appear to God. “God cannot look upon sin (or sinful thoughts) with the least degree of allowance; nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:5-f).

Perhaps we have not considered that we will be held accountable for our sinful thoughts, such as lusting and coveting, even as we are accountable for our sinful deeds? Jesus said, “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup, and of the platter; but within they are full of extortion and excess. Ye blind Pharisees! Cleanse first the cup and platter within, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of the bones of the dead, and of all uncleaness. Even so, ye also appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:22-25 IV; 23:25-28 KJV).

Our faith can be measured by the extent to which our thoughts of material things are being replaced by thoughts of eternal things. Our faith or lack of faith can be measured by the amount of time we spend worrying and fearing about our tomorrows.

“If suddenly upon the street, my gracious Savior I should meet . . . His eye would pierce my outward show, His thought my inmost thought would know; And if I said, “I love thee Lord,” He would not heed my spoken word unless my daily life should tell that verily I loved Him well” (Hymns of the Restoration, 354).

“Perhaps one of the most uplifting examples of a Christian whose thought life was saturated with God’s presence and God’s love was John Fletcher, a co-worker of John Wesley, who was said by Wesley to be the godliest person he had ever known.

“Fletcher’s thoughts were so full of prayer and praise that his greetings when meeting one of his friends was, Do I meet you praying? He was said to labor constantly “to bring every thought into captivity in obedience to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

“As Fletcher lay dying his thoughts were filled with God. Again and again he said, God is love! It fills me every moment! God is love! Shout! Shout aloud!” Taken from the book, Measure Your Life, by Wesley L Duewell. 1992.

If our thoughts are always filled with images of Jesus and his virtues, our lives will be changed into Christ-likeness. And “when he shall appear, we shall be like him . . . And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

“Let the wicked man forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7).

My Love to All,
Francis Harper


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Watch Your Thoughts

“. . . if you do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds,
and observe to keep the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard
concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish” (Mosiah
3:49).
Our thoughts are the source from which our words and deeds flow. Jesus said: “. . . out of
the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man, out of the good treasure of the
heart, bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil
things” (Matthew 12:29-30 IV; 12:34-35 KJV). If our thoughts are good we will speak good
words and our doings will also be good. As a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs
23:7).
David the psalmist wrote: “Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my
thoughts; And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm
139:23-24).

Lyrics of a favorite hymn come to mind:
“Think of the beautiful, Think of the true;
Though like an avalanche sin sweeps over you;
Keep not the multitude, sort them with care,
Testing by purity, purging by prayer,
Think of the beautiful, Think of the fair”
(Hymns of the Restoration, 226).

It has been said, evil thoughts are somewhat like birds;
They come flying into your head but you don’t need to let
them build a nest there! We need to quickly shoo evil thoughts
out of our minds! If we think beautiful thoughts, it is likely that
we will talk of beautiful things. The next verse of the song
begins: “Talk of the beautiful . . . .” The final verse begins:
“”Live for the beautiful . . . lifting the fallen as Christ lifted
you.”

Jesus knows our thoughts. A book of remembrance is kept “for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him” (Malachi 3:16-17).
“Jesus saw Nathanael coming unto him, and said of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael said unto him, whence knowest thou me? Jesus answering said unto him, . . . when thou wast under the fig tree I saw thee” (John 1:47-48). Nothing about us is hidden from God. He knows even our thoughts.
Our thoughts are hidden from everyone except God. The thoughts of our mind have been compared to a picture gallery. Would you want your mother, or your spouse, to walk through the picture gallery of your mind? Would you open it for all to see?
Finally, bretheren, whatsoever things are true; whatsoever things are honest; whatsoever things are just; whatsoever things are pure; whatsoever things are lovely; whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things”
(Philippians 4:8).

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