To serve God valiantly is to do all that he commands, not just good hobbies, not just what I think is tolerable. its to do the boots on the ground hard work that needs to get done. Do you want to please God? Then ask: Am I out of debt? Am I spending time with my family regularly and teaching them the gospel? Am I being nice to those around me? Am I doing well in school and career goals for the betterment of society and my household? Am I making good choices with my body, including healthy food and exercise? Am I making my home an environment for ideal child development, and keeping the doors open thereto? Am I ministering to my spouse and neighbors? Young men, have you completed your church missions? Young adults, ask, have I married and got my children on the way and my career beginning, including taking full advantage of educational opportunities? (For a brilliant discourse from Elder Anderson in 2011 about having children while going to school see his message “Children”, where he recounts president Kimball’s council to a young student, “would the Lord want you to break one of his important commandments in order for you to become a doctor? With the help of the Lord, you can have your family and still become a doctor. Where is your faith?” (Conf. Report, Oct. 2011 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/children?lang=eng.)) Know that yes, God will give me time for recreation, hobbies, learning and teaching of the various fields of knowledge, especially gospel knowledge, but when He has commanded, and the servant is not quick to obey every call, that is a slothful servant, and loses his reward.
Remember always, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams (1 Sam. 15:22). If you have a great idea but it means you would not be able to obey the commands of the Lord to enact that idea, know that said idea needs to be put in its place, and take a backseat priority as compared to the Lord’s commands. Long have the people of the Lord been commanded to offer the firstlings of their flocks, the cream of their crop, the best of the harvest, not the leftovers or the blemished. There may be room for the sand after the rocks have fit into the jar, but never will the rocks fit if you put the sand first. To put the rocks in first (meaning the prophetic priorities) is to trust God and lean not unto your own understanding (Psalms 3:5-6). While following the promptings of the Holy Ghost to do wonderful things in the Lord’s kingdom, being not commanded in all things but doing much good of your own free will (D&C 58:26), we must discern that the spirit of God is what leads us in accordance and within the boundaries of the laws of God.
Some Commandments & Councils
This is a list of things which God has asked us to do via his prophets in the Latter-days. If you doubt any of these, notify me and I’ll help get you the reference for them showing prophets who have asked these things of us. Though some of these may be considered mere ‘councils’ rather than ‘commandments’, we, like Jesus our leader, seek to ‘live by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God’
-The ten commandments, including ‘6 days shalt thou work’
-The word of wisdom (don’ts as well as do’s; no tobacco alcohol coffee tea, yes wheat fruit vegetables meat sparingly and exercise etc.)
-the law of tithing (10% of your income give to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
-study the scriptures often (Elder Ballard says to do it thirty minutes each morning before you start your day)
-live the law of chastity (no sexual relations except between a man and wife lawfully married)
-follow the prophet (receive their council as from the mouth of the Lord Himself)
-pray often (to the Father in the name of Christ)
-the law of the fast, including fast offerings (In The Miracle of Forgiveness, President Kimball says to not fast is a sin; not only sins of commission are sin, but sins of omission are sin too.)
-young men to serve full time missions (if you question as to weather this is a commandment, see my post “Missions: Commanded to Go”. I’ve compiled prophets quotes on how this is not up to debate.)
-service in the church
-monthly home teach for men, visit teach for women.
-men receive the Priesthood
-women have children
-be baptized
-come unto Jesus Christ
-teach your children the gospel freely by age 8 (or the sins of the child are on the parents’ head)
-get endowment in the temple
-marry in the temple
-keep temple covenants
-redeem your ancestors via the temple
-men provide for your family
-women nurture your family
-have 1-year supply of food storage
-love God and your neighbor
-establish a house of order
-no dating until 16 years old
-dress modestly (see church guidelines)
-find people for the missionaries to teach
-rejoice
-lift up your head
-warn your neighbors about the gospel
-get a personal witness from the Holy Ghost that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is his true and living church on the earth today.
-sustain your local church leaders
-obey the law of the land
-partake of the sacrament (worthily) on Sundays
-repent of all your sins
-don’t let secret combinations take charge of your nation
-stand up for the rights of your children and country
-follow the Holy Ghost’s promptings
-be still and behold the salvation of God
-be anxiously engaged in a good cause
-don’t run faster than you have strength (Elder Neil A Maxwell says this is a type of nervousness that disables us from giving our all)
-study foreign and local governments
-study geography, oceanography, and things over the earth
-study languages of foreign nations
-study all good science and learning
-give all you have to build up the Church and Kingdom of God on earth
-don’t judge others unrighteously
-pray for mercy
-turn the other cheek when others smite you
-when asked to go one mile go two
-when asked for something give it and more
-settle disputes amongst yourselves rather than taking things to court when possible (agree with thine enemy whilst thou art in the way with him)
-uphold the Constitution of the USA
-pay back those you have wronged
-don’t gossip or backbite
-elect political leaders whom are righteous men of God
-feed the hungry
-clothe the naked
-visit the lonely
-care for your parents when they grow old
-visit the imprisoned
-treat others with the same respect and charity that we would Christ
-always recognize your nothingness before God and your dependence on him and his hand in all things.
-confess your sins at church
-attend your church meetings faithfully
-magnify your calling (leave it better than you found it like the parable of the ten virgins)
-attend the temple often
-flee from Babylon
-build Zion
-seek to make your calling and election sure (Joseph Smith admonishes us to do that as well as Paul)
-have Family Home Evening once a week (usually Monday nights)
-avoid debt like the plague (TSM calls debt a demon)
-be civil in your dealings with others
-what you would have done to you, to do others
-don’t idol away your time
-learn the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
-confess major sins to your bishop, whom will help you be forgiven in the name of the Church seeing as he is a judge in Israel.
-men no earrings or other piercings
-women only one pair of earrings.
-no tattoos
