Philippians 1-4--Find Solutions in the Scriptures to Life's Challenges

--             As members of the church, we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. Once we have been baptized we have become disciples of Christ and need to behave as such. It does not matter what the dispute, especially petty ones that mean nothing, we cannot strife with one another. We need to be without murmurings and disputations. We cannot be blameless if we fight with one another and are not humble and lowly of heart. So we need to be as our savior and humble and obedient to what Heavenly Father has commanded us to do. When we do that we will be of on heart and one mind and the petty problems will go away. You cannot hate the person you actively love.

--             To those youth that feel that they can rely on their parents testimonies and not discover your own. There will come a time in the not so distant future in your life when that will not suffice. Just as Paul commanded the early saints to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” Philip 2:12, we all need to do the same. It is not enough to say ‘because my fathers knew it’ and expect everything to be OK. David O McKay also spoke on the matter and said “To work out one’s salvation is not to sit idly by dreaming and yearning for God miraculously to thrust bounteous blessings into our laps.” It takes serious dedication and prayer. If you do not find your own testimony to stand on, there will come a time when Satan will try you in such a way you will realize that your parent testimony is no longer to stand on and you will be left wanting.

--             This life is all about learning to submit yourself to God’s will. This inherently means that it is going to be difficult. Each one of us has our own trials, Satan does not want any of us to be happy or receive exaltation, he will do everything he can and through every stumbling block in our path to try and make us fall. But like Paul, we must be willing to give up everything we possess to find Christ. There is nothing that we should not be willing to give up in pursuit of our savior, without salvation we are nothing. Though it won’t be easy, we are promised to be strengthened as we turn to our savior. Just as Paul said “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”.