When Ye Are Converted

I was asked to speak in church today.  It is always a bit of a terrifying experience but I love preparing and even delivering a talk.  I was grateful for the Lord's help and what I learned about conversion in the process.  

Here are my notes:    :)

The gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to make us new creatures.  To sear us as if by fire so we are forever changed.  Having a personal and sustaining relationship with God gives us hope, helps us find purpose in our lives, and helps us understand a full range of truth that is available to us.  

1. Conversion is giving our whole commitment to the Lord.

President Eyring talked about testimony and conversion in the Ensign last month.  He referenced the Savior telling Peter, “When thou art converted, Strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32).  Peter had witnessed amazing miracles, he had a personal testimony of who the Savior is, but it wasn’t enough.  He still was capable of yielding to worldly pressure and denying what he knew.    Pres. Eyring explained, “Jesus taught Peter that there was still a great change that must go beyond having a testimony to being able to think, feel, and act as truly converted disciples of Jesus Christ.”  Peter denied him three times, but afterward in humility he knew he needed to repent and be better for it.  He became a more powerful apostle and witness of the Lord. Peter let his own faltering abilities bring him to repentance and greater resolve to follow the Lord.  I believe our own weaknesses can do the same thing.  We need to give everything we have to Lord, believe in Him, and then be willing to act boldly.  

How does this kind of a change take place?

   2. Conversion means we aren’t content how we are, but we are always striving to be better.

In the Book of Mormon, we read of the people of King Benjamin who after hearing his words said “Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually”  (Mosiah 5:2).

Because of how they felt as they heard the word of God, they didn’t want to sin, they wanted to be better. Their intentions became more pure.  

This process always involves the Spirit and the Spirit can change our lives.  My husband Stuart has a wonderful mom named La-Dell who joined the church when she was 17.  She waited for a long time for a family member to join the church, and three years ago her mother at 86, decided to get baptized.  It was such a wonderful thing to see.  The really amazing thing happened a year later when Stuart’s cousin, called to tell La-Dell and Grandma that her whole family, husband and two kids, had been baptized into the church.  Their teenage daughters had met the sister missionaries in a parking lot and invited them back to their house.  That cute faithful girl felt the Spirit and went to church by herself because she wanted to feel it again and she wanted her family to feel it too.  The whole family started taking the missionary lessons, and as they took that first step to get baptized so many blessings followed..  Stu’s cousin grew up in a hard spot.  Her parents were both addicted to drugs and her home was probably not the most stable or happy.  She ended up with two kids as a teenager, no dad in sight, and always seemed a little disconnected or spacey from what was going on. Life was hard and it was easier that way. More recently, she was trying to get life together.  She found a kind guy and got married.  

This good decision was a preparation for the good decisions that would follow.  The whole family started going to church and got baptized and as they made commitments to the Lord, something amazing happened to that family.  We had always felt sorry for her two little kids, life didn’t give them much of a shot, and so many obstacles stood in their way.  We’ve been able to visit them in Tucson since then and I can tell you that they are different people.  Stuart’s cousin is sharp and aware and absolutely connected to what is real and what is important.  Those kids are filled with light, they look like they have lived their whole life with the gospel. A couple of weeks ago, we dropped off Cody, one of her children, at the MTC.  He is so grateful to be going on a mission.  He wishes he had the gospel his whole life, and he really wants to share his testimony.  He has the light of the truth and wants to share it with others.  It makes me think about Peter again.  When we know it, we can strengthen our brethren.  We can invite others so that they can know the truth too.

  3.  Conversion happens because of the Spirit.

Elder Ballard has said, “True conversion comes through the power of the Spirit.  When the Spirit touches the heart, hearts are changed.  When individuals [...] feel the Spirit working with them, or when they see the evidence of the Lord’s love and mercy in their lives, they are edified and strengthened spiritually and their faith in Him increases.  These experiences with the Spirit follow naturally when a person is willing to experiment upon the word.  This is how we come to FEEL the gospel is true” (Now is the Time, Nov. 2000 Ensign).

In the scriptures, you’ve heard the Holy Ghost connected to the image of fire.  John the Baptist testified of the Savior’s unique role.  He said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” (Matt 3: 11) In the four gospels, two of the four Matthew and Luke, mention fire and the Holy Ghost.  And I also think it is interesting that in Mark and John, where that phrase is left out, Joseph Smith restored the wording “fire and the Holy Ghost” when he worked on his inspired translation. Fire is an important element of that understanding. Fire can symbolize cleansing but it can also mean a feeling that will come that gives us a new heart and helps us become a new person (see Loren C. Dunn, “Fire and the Holy Ghost”, June 1995 Ensign).

  4.  The Metaphor of Fire

When I think about faith, testimony, conversion, and the Spirit, I love extending this metaphor of fire.  I believe all of us come to earth with a spark of faith, a flame of goodness that helps us see right from wrong.  The more we cultivate that flame, the more it grows, but something more is needed.  Like Elder Ballard taught, we need to experiment on the word.  We need to open the scriptures and really read them.  For me, the scriptures are the kindling, the fuel that causes the flame to ignite into something where truth expands and makes our faith grow.  In order to make a fire, you need fuel and oxygen.  Prayer is like oxygen, connecting us to the breath of life only God can give.   I love thinking about prayer as breath, inhaling and exhaling, really talking to God.  It isn’t one sided, and I feel its power more when it is slow and deliberate.  Prayer fans the flames of our faith.

These are simple elements, reading the scriptures and praying, but they must be applied with real intent.  Next, a fire of faith grows into a testimony of truth.  It helps us find light in darkness, it makes us warm and content, but something more is meant to happen.  At this point, I think the Lord can take our meager efforts, our pure desires, and He can baptize us with fire and the Holy Ghost.  It is a gift only Christ can give.  The Spirit can descend on us with such force that our fire becomes a spiritual bonfire that is blazes brightly.  The Spirit as an active part of our life every day is a gift of God that extends to us the Lord’s grace and we are cleansed, changed, and better because of Him.  We are converted.

We recently had an experience with fire at our house.  Jackson threw a shirt up in an after school celebratory move, and it got stuck on our chandelier in our entryway.  Within minutes, it ignited and soon black ashes rained from the ceiling.  We all got out and it was a minor, contained fire, but it was a good reminder.   That’s what fire does: it takes any impurity and it incinerates it to dust.  When we give our weaknesses to God, he can take them away and make us holy and clean.

  5. Conversion helps us remember who we are.

In Alma 5:7 it says, “Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God.  Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word.”  

I love that phrase that they “awoke unto God.”  It makes me think of the words of William Wordsworth who said, “Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting.”  We once knew God personally.  We lived with him and we are all his children.  When we undergo this process of conversion, we awake unto God, we remember who we are and we want to be willing participants in doing God’s work.  The fire is burning and cannot go out.

  6. Conversion is the reward for repentance.

Marion G. Romney said, “A testimony comes when the Holy Ghost gives the earnest seeker a witness of the truth.  A moving testimony vitalizes faith; that is, it induces repentance and obedience to the commandments.  Conversion, on the other hand, is the fruit of, or the reward for repentance and obedience.”

So, going back to our image of a fire: Conversion is the result of all our work on this fire: there is warmth, light, and peace and our desires are pure.  Elder D. Todd Christofferson calls it more the divine assistance or grace that is extended to us because of Christ’s atonement.  When we feel and recognize the Lord’s grace in our lives, when we thank him for it and seek for it every day, we are converted. Conversion doesn’t mean we’re done, that all of a sudden we’re good and we can just sit back and relax.  It is a process that must be continued.  Fires can be extinguished, flames can be stomped out.  We need to remember to allow the Spirit into our lives every day so that it can change us.  

Helaman 3:35-   “Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filing their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.”

7.  Conversion is a process over a lifetime, not one miraculous instance.

After we are baptized, hands are laid on our heads and we are invited to “Receive” the Holy Ghost.  We are not told you now have it, but are encouraged to take it into our lives.  I remember being baptized and feeling so worthy and good and clean, and when I was confirmed, I felt a sweet warmth descend on my heart.  But I still needed to learn how to keep that Spirit always, to recognize its voice and follow its promptings.  For me, seminary and girl’s camp were the things that slowly changed my heart.  It didn’t matter any more what I wanted, I wanted to follow the Lord.  I remember one special meadow in the High Sierras where I poured out my heart to God, where tears flowed freely, where I made commitments to God, and I felt filled with love to overflowing.  I felt like Moses walking down that mountain with a fire in my heart.  But conversion must be continued, and it has been the every day encounters with the Spirit that have helped me keep that feeling with me.

8.  My Testimony of True Conversion

I know that truth speaks peace to our souls.  I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ in a grove of trees as he prayed, because I know God cares about his children and speaks to us in all ages because He loves us.  I know we have prophets today because Jesus Christ needs worthy servants to carry on his work.  I know Jesus Christ is real, that he endured agony and torment, so that we could be converted, changed, and somehow miraculously be clean and whole.

If your testimony isn’t what you’d like it to be, don’t be frustrated.  Remember to give fuel to your fire, and pray in faith for the Spirit to come into your life every day.  Stay on your knees until you feel something the Spirit is telling you, read until you feel the Spirit teach you something true.  Accept the Lord’s grace, make a brighter fire, let it burn out impurities, and give your whole heart willingly to God.  I have a testimony that this process works.  I know the Lord will help us.