HEAVEN'S GIFT

 

I love this painting of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Not only because it is aesthetically pleasing but because of its’ title, “As One”. It tells me everything about the Plan of Salvation at a glance. Our rise to godhood could never happen without the combined efforts of these three holy personages: the Father’s Plan, the Son’s implementation of the Plan and the Holy Ghost’s refining process which enables our rise to the pinnacle of that Plan. Each are dependent on the other and without all three nothing would be possible. I am in awe of this process.

We know that without faith, repentance and baptism, exaltation is not possible (2 Nephi 31:17,18). A crucial component of this process is the fourth element being the Holy Ghost through whom comes  remission of our sins, by fire (v 17). This is how important the Holy Ghost is: “You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half – that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost” (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 5:499)

Elder David A. Bednar pointed out something significant to this end: “Following our baptism, each of us had hands placed upon our head by those with priesthood authority and was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the Holy Ghost was conferred upon us (see D&C 49:14). The statement ‘receive the Holy Ghost’ in our confirmation was a directive to strive for the baptism of the Spirit…..We were baptized by immersion in water for the remission of sins. We must also be baptized by and immersed in the Spirit of the Lord, ‘and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost’ (2 Nephi 31:17)’ (in CR April 2006, 29; or Ensign May 2006, 29). Receiving the Holy Ghost is not a passive gift, it is a striving for its cleansing power.

Elder Lynn A. Mickelsen of the Seventy confirmed this theory and explained how it is dependent on the Atonement of Jesus Christ: “Through the Atonement, the Saviour, giving Himself as the ransom for our sins, authorizes the Holy Ghost to cleanse us in a baptism of fire. As the Holy Ghost dwells in us, His purifying presence burns out the filthiness of sin. As soon as the commitment is made, the cleansing process begins” (in CR Oct 2003, 11; or Ensign Nov 2003, p 12). This is suggestive of the gradual process of sanctification just as repentance is sometimes not instantaneous but gradual. The important part of sanctification is the commitment of repentance when we partake of the sacrament. After that, our striving for the companionship of the Holy Ghost should be our daily pursuit.

Father’s Plan cannot come to fruition without the Atonement and neither can sanctification that comes through the mercies of the Atonement by the Holy Ghost. Sanctification cannot happen without the Atonement and the Atonement is not complete without the sanctification. Both the Atonement and sanctification, however, are the necessary components of Father’s Plan. This is the Godhead, As One.

My understanding of and gratitude for the Holy Ghost has increased over the years. I yearn to know this personage once again as I knew Him before. I have wept on many occasions when I have felt Him close; when He has enlightened my mind to understand the truths of eternity; when He has encircled me in the arms of my Father’s love. I am deeply grateful for His administration to me and His sanctifying power as I strive to walk in paths of righteousness.

 

You are the flaming fire

That burns with sacred might;

I surrender my sins

And grant you entrance

To the caverns of my heart.

CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: As One by Danny Hahlbohm)