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Friday, July 1, 2011

"I am a Child of God and He has sent me here."

  We are all children of God.  This is made evident numerous times in the scriptures, such as when Jesus Christ taught his disciples that while they pray to address God as "Our Father which art in heaven." (Matthew 6:9)  Another great example is the time when the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans said, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God..."  He goes on to instruct the Romans about why this is so important, "...And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:16-17)  We have a divine heritage as children of God, we are capable of so much good.  We have been sent here to live on this earth to learn and grow and become more like our heavenly father so that we may dwell with him some day. (Alma 34:32)

  I was recently studying in the Pearl of Great Price, a volume of scripture which includes revelations from the Prophet Joseph Smith about other great prophets such as Moses and Abraham.  While reading I came across a great story about the prophet Moses.  While Moses was in the process of praying and trying to receive revelation from our heavenly father, Satan came and tried to distract him from what he was doing and said, "Moses, son of man, worship me."  Satan, who is the enemy of all happiness and righteousness, attempted to get Moses to forget his relationship with his Father in Heaven.  Satan knew that if he could do this he could lead Moses astray and that Moses would never be able to live up to his potential as a child of God and would never become the great prophet that he was destined to become.  Moses in response to this blasphemous command said, "Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee?" (Moses 1:12-13)  In his time of temptation and trial he remembered who he was and the great things that were in store for him if he submitted himself to his father's will.  I know that each and everyone of us are also children of our Heavenly Father and that we all have a great potential to live up to.