Hi friends. Welcome back to primarily Scripture. I'm your host, Cindy Young, and I'm so grateful that you are here with me this week. As you can see, I am in my car. I'm traveling, but I wanted to be sure that you got an episode this week. As you know, we follow come follow me, and this week we are in Doctrine and Covenants, section 64 through 66. But, as you also know, this podcast isn't just about following come follow me. This is about helping you learn to study the scriptures on your own. So let's dive in and see what we can do with this week's study. As you can see, I'm sharing my screen with you and we're looking at the first page of the worksheet for this week. This is covering Doctrine and Covenants section 64, verses 7 through 11. We've got the verses right here in this column on the left and then here in the middle. Is the next column where it's put in more modern language. And you can see I've got some blanks for you to fill in here so that you can learn how to understand the language of the scriptures. And then of course, on this right hand column we've got a couple of activities and things for you to look for. Down at the bottom we've got a journal area and always a quote from general conference. Every activity that I put on these worksheets for you or that I recommend in the podcast is intended to help you do two things, okay? First of all is to learn the doctrine. And second is to apply it to your own life and feel it in your heart. And I want to tell you a story about a friend I had in high school. She was my dear friend. She was wonderful, and she was very active in her church. She was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but she was a Christian. And we had some discussions about religion and I just knew in my heart that if she would read the Book of Mormon, that she would feel what I felt. Every time I read the Book of Mormon, I feel the spirit, and I just knew if she would read that book that she would feel the spirit too. And I was convinced that she would want to join our church. And I was shocked when she told me that she had already read the Book of Mormon. And she didn't believe that it was the word of God. And I thought, how can that be? Because I feel it so strongly every time I read. But do you remember in Moroni promise, we're told we need to have a sincere heart and real intent. And it took me a while to realize that she didn't intend to join our church if she read the Book of Mormon and found it to be good. Therefore, the spirit didn't testify to her. It didn't help her change her heart because she didn't intend to change. So she continued going to her church and I continued going to mine and we remained good friends, but it was a lesson to me that your intentions matter. She had read the Book of Mormon and it didn't change her life one bit. So when you read the scriptures, I want you to take a look at your own heart and figure out where your heart is. What are you wanting to do with these scriptures? If you are wanting to tell your mom,"yes, I read my scriptures today" and basically check that box ... done... I did it... Well, that's a different reason to read your scriptures than if your reason is "I want to feel the spirit. I want to be more like Jesus. I want my life to be better. I want to follow the Lord." So now let's look at these verses. Verse nine and 10 here."Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." So the activities that I have this week have you check a couple of footnotes to expand your knowledge, and also look for promises and look for warnings. Those are things that you can find, but then what are you going to do with them? That's the most important thing. Where is your heart? So if we look in verse nine, it's easy to see right here."Ye ought to forgive one another." In some ways, it gets harder to forgive as you get older because when you are a little kid, what are you forgiving for? You're forgiving your brother for taking your toy, or you're forgiving the friend at the playground who took your swing. Okay? Then as we get older now, we have to forgive people for bigger offenses. They've done things that are more hurtful to our hearts and it can be really hard to forgive. But here's this warning, "he that forgiveth not his brother..."(or his sister... brother means any person, right?) "standeth condemned before the Lord." You are the one that Heavenly Father's gonna look at and say, um, how come you haven't forgiven him? It doesn't say anywhere here that the Lord will ask you, oh, did they do something really bad? Then it's okay that you didn't forgive them. The Lord's not gonna say that! You are required to forgive who? Let's double check verse 10. You are required to forgive all people, everywhere. Okay, so we've talked about the doctrine that we need to forgive everybody and it might be hard. Now, to find the real power in this, you have to apply it to yourself. So think about your own life and I guarantee you there's somebody in your life that your heart is kind of upset at them and that you haven't forgiven them fully for something. Now remember that forgiving doesn't mean that you have no boundaries. Because boundaries are important and the Lord wants us to stay safe. Physically and emotionally, he wants us to stay safe. So it doesn't mean no boundaries, but it does mean that you let go of the hurt and you let their problems be their problems. If they're mean, then they're mean. And it doesn't hurt your heart anymore. And if they are rude, they're rude, but it doesn't hurt your heart anymore. Stop getting upset yourself, when other people make mistakes, and that's a very important part of forgiveness. It's really hard though! So hard! So difficult! I could talk to you and give you examples, but the most important thing for you to do is to examine your own life and think about how you can be more forgiving. If you take it to the Lord and pray about it and say, "Heavenly Father, I want to be more forgiving. Who can I forgive? And what can I do in order to feel at peace in my heart?" He will help you. He wants you to obey his commandments. What did Nephi say?"I know the Lord giveth, no commandment unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way." If you are struggling with forgiveness, take it to the Lord and ask him to help you. And it might take more time than you think, but eventually forgiveness and peace will come to your heart. Whether you're checking the footnotes to learn a little bit more and dive deeper, or searching for warnings or looking at promises. If you are reading a conference, talk about forgiveness. No matter what it is you're doing, pause and apply it to yourself. Don't just say, okay, I read it. I want you to think about how you can actually change your own life. And be very specific when you do this. Make a list, write it down, and make a plan, because applying it to your own heart is what makes the difference. It's how you go from just reading your scriptures, to actually having a spiritual experience, and it's so powerful and so amazing. So there are a lot of different ways to study the scriptures and reading is the first step, but then you have to do a little bit more to turn it into studying. And remember, I can talk to you all day long about what you should do, but if you don't do it yourself, then it will never sink into your heart. So go open up your scriptures for yourself, search, ponder, and pray, and I can promise you that if you have real intent, you want to change something about your heart and about your life, then the Lord will help you to know what it is you can do. I'm Cindy Young. Thanks for being here on Primarily Scripture. I'll see you next time. Bye guys. Thanks for tuning into primarily Scripture with Cindy Young. Don't forget you can subscribe to the newsletter and download free worksheets on the website, primarily scripture.com. And if you like the channel, be sure to subscribe, like, share, and leave a review. See you next time.