Anthony Sweat gave 6 Devotionals to Inklings Institute (Instagram) on Tapping into the Powers of Heaven through our Temple Covenants. Some really great insights!
Priesthood Power - Dependant upon Righteousness | Instagram 10/18/20
If I could rename this lesson I would call it Tapping into the Powers of Heaven to help bring about the Salvation of the human family. This is why, when I say Priesthood lots of questions might come into your mind, but when I talk about tapping into the powers of Heaven maybe that simplifies things.
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In this first lesson I want to start with a focus on the Restoration. When we consider the restoration it is important to remember it is a restoration of The priesthood and The Covenants: The power of God to administer covenants. Covenants that connect people to God and that connect people to each other. We are going to talk a lot more about that.
In this first lesson I’m going to give some definitions so that we are all using the same terms.
Priesthood
Priesthood Power
Priesthood Authority
Priesthood Office
Priesthood Ordinances
Priesthood Keys
Action items:
Read section 121:36-45
...how do you tap into the powers of Heaven?
Listen to the the All In podcast with Wendy Ulrich
Listen to the Y Religion podcast with Barbara Morgan Gardner
The Presentation of the Endowment | Instagram 11/15//20
Today we are talking about how you and I tap into the powers of heaven.
Priesthood
Covenants
President Nelson taught that the heavens are just as open to any woman who is endowed with God’s power as it is to any man.
There’s a difference between endowment and the presentation of endowment.
One is a power. Capacity.
The other is a pedagogy or a method.
What power did the great high priests have?
Power to move mountains.
Perform miracles.
Speak with angels.
Build temples.
In the temple we will learn to become like God.
Sacred rituals in a sacred place.
A covenant that binds you with God.
That is where the power comes.
The oath and the covenant is talking about this Priesthood Covenant.
The ordinances and covenants of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood.
It is what makes you part of the Abrahamic family.
Covenant Israel.
You are on the path of becoming women who are endowed with power.
That power is delivered to you through ordinances and covenants.
The greatest covenants come through the temple.
God bless you as we learn how to tap into the power of heaven.
Tapping into the Powers of Heaven, The 5 Major Covenants of the Temple | Instagram 12/20/20
A Sabbath discussion on what it means to live after the order of the Son of God.
The five major covenants of the temple.
How we learn to tap into the powers of Heaven
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The Law of Sacrifice | Instagram 1/18/21
The law of sacrifice is to willingly give up what God asks us to let go.
One of the reasons God asks us to sacrifice is to make manifest what we truly love (see John 15:13). Sacrifice cuts through vain words and rote actions to lay bare what we really prioritize.
Sacrifice prepares us to live the law of the gospel. The law of the gospel centers on following our Savior, taking his name upon us by covenant, and being born again to become more holy like Christ in our character.
It is a deep enduring relationship where we trust our Lord, align our life with him, commit to him by covenant, and receive his Spirit to become one with him today (see 3 Nephi 27:13-20, D&C 33:10-12, D&C 36:9). “Yea, this is my gospel” (3 Nephi 27:21).
In a lot of ways it’s like a marriage. “I am married unto you” he plainly said to the Israelites (Jeremiah 3:14). “Thy maker is thine husband,” Isaiah wrote (Isaiah 54:5).
As we live his gospel and receive his Spirit, we become more saintly and holy in our character, and we leave behind telestial and terrestrial ways of living and more fully live the Lord’s higher ways as taught in the Sermon on the Mount.
As we sacrifice to willingly give up what God asks us to let go, and as God’s transforms our character to be more pure and holy, we will live in a blessed state, one that has access and can tap into the powers of heaven.
The Law of Chastity | Instagram 2/21/21
In this video we talk about the law of chastity and how that covenant encompasses broader principles of tapping into the powers of heaven.
The Law of Chastity is situated between greater principles like the laws of the gospel and consecration because being chaste encompasses greater principles itself. The law of chastity is about trust; It is about righteous use of power; It is about care; It is about creation; It is about covenant family.
There is a reason why sex has been compared to fire. sexual intimacy has the power to warm, to create, to purify, but it also has the power to burn, to destroy, and engulf. A chaste person knows how to care for the fire and use it properly without scorching themselves or another person, or—just as important—putting out the flame.
God is a being who uses power wisely, purposefully, and with temperance (or self-control). These characteristics allow God to create and maintain an eternal family, and to have us as his children completely trust, or in other words, have faith. True power is found in restraint.
While some in our modern society of moral relativism and freedom of expression bristle when lines are drawn related to human sexuality, they forget that power without bounds is the foundation of both corruption and chaos. Remember, even God has boundaries in which he abides and won’t cross, or he “would cease to be God” (Alma 42:22, 25). What a revolutionary doctrine! As we learn to properly control power and abide within covenant boundaries we learn to become more like God. The righteous use of power, as evidenced in the law of chastity, helps tap us into his eternal power.
Chastity is a celestial law for a reason.
The Law of Consecration | Instagram 3/21/21
the ultimate covenant to help us tap into the power of heaven: the Law of Consecration.
To consecrate means to dedicate. Specifically, we dedicate our time, talents, and means to help build up the Kingdom of God on the earth.
Consecration is not merely monetary and cannot be reduced to communal economics. Consecration involves our very beings—our breath, our bodies, our abilities, our opportunities.
Sacrifice is to give things up; consecration is to dedicate them to God, but often we retain them. Sacrifice is the release of the unholy; consecration retains to make holy. Where sacrifice is about letting go of our will, consecration is about absorbing God’s will. Sacrifice, chastity, obedience, and the gospel each contribute and prepare us to fully implement the law of consecration.
We need not wait for any new divine directive to live this eternal law of consecration today. As the lovely Cindy Sweat (the #Sweatheart) once said, “Everybody has needs, and everyone has abundance of something. If we will all live the Law of Consecration, we can build Zion."
And if you want to do anything on the stories here is something:
Three ways to live the law of consecration TODAY:
1) Implement current prophetic directives regarding time, talents, and means. Pay tithing, pay a generous offering, serve in church callings, minister to assigned families. Those are basics for us all.
2) Ask God in prayer how he would have us use our individual time, talents, and means and then follow personal promptings from the Holy Ghost. We are individuals and have a unique life’s mission. Ask God what he would have you do with what he’s given you, and then follow it to fulfill your mortal purposes to build his Kingdom.
3) As an agent who represents God, proactively use our agency to serve others with our time, talents, and means. Choose to bring about God’s will and help people overcome the effects of the Fall. For example: help educate, ease someone’s pain, eliminate injustice, balance unfairness, feed the hungry, befriend someone who is lonely. The power is in us.
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