Language is the hallmark of the human species. It is language that culture itself depends—and within language is where humanity’s knowledge resides. There is a buildup of energy inside of our minds that needs to be released because God has not only sowed in people’s minds a seed of religion of which we have spoken, but also revealed himself and daily discloses himself in the whole workmanship of the Universe. As a consequence, we cannot open our eyes without being compelled to see God. The Universe is a large book, a mirror, and a theater for the display of God’s attributes—preeminently for the display of his goodness to us, but also of his glory, wisdom, power, and justice. God can be known through his works, and by speculation concerning his essence. It is by nourishing his sense of divinity and his conscience, with the contemplation of God’s work, that humans can in principle arrive at a knowledge of God. We should take a moment to examine the difference between our experiences of the outside World and our interactions with the mental World. When we are just thinking, we are free to create whatever thoughts we want in our minds, and these thoughts are expressed through the voice. We are very accustomed to settling into the playground of the mind and creating and manipulating thoughts. This inner World is an alternative environment that is under our control. #RandolphHarris 1 of 11

Our thoughts are not always good. Sinful thoughts are often something we believers struggle with because there are so many images and things happening around us. However, we are able to take control of any thoughts in our head and it is important because the outside World operates by its own laws. All of the thoughts in our heads and the ideas from the outer World intermix and actually influence our experience of the World around us. What we end up experiencing is really a personal presentation of the World according to our own interpretations, and it may not be the true experience of what is out there. However, God’s Word helps us to recognize our thoughts for what they really are, and how to act (or not act) upon them. “Do not conform to the pattern of this World, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will,” reports Romans 12.2. The mind talks all the time because we gave it a job do to. We use it as a protection mechanism, a form of defense. Ultimately, it makes us feel more secure. Our thoughts are a doorway to the depths of our being. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things,” reports Philippians 4.8. #RandolphHarris 2 of 11

The voice of the Holy Spirit is always edification. It speaks messages intended to lift us up, encourage us, bring strength, faith, joy, and peace to the threshold of our fantastic inner journey. When properly used, the mental voice can become the foundation for true spiritual awakening. The Spirit of God wants us to know we are never alone, we are loved, the Lord provides us with strength, there is no sin too serious that God will not forgive us, all things work together for our good, and the Lord’s plans for us are good. Once we come to know the Lord, we will understand the great mysteries of creation. However, sin, although primarily a matter of the will, infects human’s reason. Perversity leads to blindness and distortion because this seeing does not direct one to the truth, much less enable an individual to attain it in this sinful state. Thus, the consequences of humanity’s willful alienation from God is not merely that one does not know God, but also that one’s views about God are now so incomplete and distorted that nothing at all can be built on them. The effects of sin are far more pervasive than people realize. Not only does sin disrupt human’s relation to God; it thereby spreads corruption throughout the whole of human life. Of course, it does not impair our natural faculties as such. #RandolphHarris 3 of 11

Reason and will are human’s chief faculties, and the person in sin may be as intelligent and as capable of making decisions as the person who knows God. The corruption is to be found, rather, in the use we make of our native capacities. To state accurately what sin does to people’s use of their native talents, we must distinguish between human’s supernatural gifts, their abilities concerning Heavenly things, and their natural gifts, and their abilities concerning Earthly things. The supernatural gifts comprise human’s ability to know God, to worship him properly, and to obey him inwardly as well as outwardly. However, when we sin, we are stripped of these gifts. The film The Memory Keeper’s Daughter accurately depicts how the sin of one person can have a devastating ripple effect and destroy an entire family, and the impact can also hurt the community. Dr. David Henry separated his daughter from her twin brother at birth. To hide the fact that the daughter was born with a disability, he told his wife, Nora Henry, that the girl died at birth. In reality, he had a nurse take the daughter to a mental hospital where they planned to leave her until her death. However, the nurse kept the baby after seeing what horrors were awaiting the baby in the mental hospital. Meanwhile, the family has a funeral for the girl, but for years Nora grew up wondering what it would have been like to have a daughter. As a result of her yearning for a daughter, Nora often ignores her son Paul, and cries or lashes out when he does good things.  #RandolphHarris 4 of 11

Feeling incomplete and like she has a whole in hear heart, Nora also goes on to have an affair. Her son Paul actually catches her in the act of letting another man talk under her skirt, so it erodes the trust and respect he has for his parents and sends him on a downward spiral. The film lays out how one lie devastated the entire family, and if they had just lived by the laws of God, it could have all been prevented. Now the father lives with a dark secret he can never reveal. Often times, little sins have impacts that can have lifelong consequences because we experience an estrangement from God. If human society is to be preserved, we have to retain some sense of the laws of God. We tend through natural instinct to foster and preserve society. The human abilities concerning Earthly things have not been destroyed by sin, but they have been corrupted. Both reason and will have been gravely wounded; the mind becomes both weak and plunged into deep darkness. And depravity of the will is all too well known. “People who remain and dies in sin receives wages of everlasting punishment,” reports Mosiah 2.33. If our natural gifts are to be healed and our supernatural gifts restored, our sin must be overcome; we must come to know God. We have already sensed that for this purpose human’s conscience, our sense of divinity, and our awareness of God’s revelation in the objective World must be restored. Through faith, we again know God. #RandolphHarris 5 of 11

Indeed, faith, consisting as it does in a clear knowledge about God coupled with proper worship and true obedience, is a certain sort of knowledge of God—that certain sort which focuses on the Savior as interpreted in the Scriptures. God does not minimize nor dismiss our sins, but the Lord reminds us that our sins are covered. If we confess, in prayer, and repent, we can be free. The voice of God shows us a way out and gives us the strength to do the hard work of making amends. Our inner growth is completely dependent upon the realization that the only way to find peace and contentment is to be conscious of what we are doing because our thoughts, rightly focused, can be our best friends. When we correct what is on the inside of our minds, our external World will reflect it. If we want to achieve peace in the face of our problems, we must understand why we perceive a particular situation as a problem. “The Lord has commanded that people should not envy,” reports 2 Nephi 26.32. Jealousy means to be fervent and to have sensitive and deep feelings about someone or something, and to be envious of someone or suspicious that another will gain some advantage. Envy impedes our spiritual growth and harms our relationships with others. Jealousy feels so overwhelming because it is more than a surface phenomenon. “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work,” reports James 3.16. However, by eliminating envy, we can improve our relationships with others and our view of ourselves. #RandolphHarris 6 of 11

When we realize that we are not competing with others, we can then rejoice in their accomplishments. The practice of comparing ourselves to others is usually at the root of envy.  It causes people to feel that they are not good enough and that in order to be acceptable one has to achieve more, acquire more, or in other ways appear to be better than others. The tension felt in jealousy may be that of much greater World colliding than can be seen by looking only at one’s personal situation. It occurs when people do not value themselves sufficiently as children of God and consequently feel they have to prove their worth by doing or having. To attain true inner freedom, people must be able to objectively watch their problems instead of becoming lost in them. No solution can possibly exist while one is consumed by the energy of the problem. Part of the reason envy can be so difficult to recognize in oneself is that it often disguises itself in other feelings and behaviours. One costume envy wears is the tendency to criticize. Another is the desire to act in a way that will provoke envy in others. The good news is, once we unmask envy and begin to eliminate it, we can take corrective actions towards remediation of its cause, and this will allow us to feel much better about ourselves and others around us. Real spiritual growth is about consistently moving toward maturity because we want God’s deepest wisdom. #RandolphHarris 7 of 11

Wisdom is one of the most important things in the World because once we become conscious enough to understand our predicament, then we can commit ourselves to the inner work of freedom. Drawing near to God is the key to unlocking every door that seems shut in our lives. The rewards of drawing near far outweigh any sacrifice of time. The Holy Spirit is waiting to show us special insights into the problems that we face today. The Holy Ghost wants to help us walk in perfect truth and strength. God makes salvation. There is nothing higher or deeper than consciousness. Consciousness is pure awareness. “You will keep in perfect peace one whose mind is steadfast, because one trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal,” reports Isaiah 26.3-4.  God’s purpose and the Supreme Court have something in common. The Supreme Court of the United States is a place of honor, respect and procedure. Many of us would like to show up and pursue some righteous changes in the Court. If we are given the privilege, there is one thing we need to do first—answer the call. When court is called into session, all persons having business in the Court are first called to draw near. However, if everyone is in attendance, why call them to draw near and give their attention? It is simple. Just showing up is not enough to get results. #RandolphHarris 8 of 11

If anyone really wants to achieve a victory in what they are pursuing, they must participate and show their intent by drawing near (coming closer) and giving their attention. There is another court in which we must draw near and give our full attention—the court of Heaven. God is seated on the throne of the highest court, and he is making the same call to draw near. God has dominion over the Earth and he does not just call us to draw near for his own benefit. Drawing near to God and waling in the spirit are a lifestyle—a lifestyle of victory and triumph. The more we abide in God’s Word and in His presence, the more we will hear his voice and the more victorious and successful we will be in every area of life. When we get closer to God, he pays special attention to us and the doors of communication are opened wide. We can hear his instruction, correction, and encouragement. And, we will enjoy the other rewards that come directly through this relationship.  When we are in tune with God, we get to follow him to a very special place known and accessible only to his followers. It is a place called truth. If you are a business person, the Holy Spirit may show up and show you how to increase your profits and reduce expenses. If you are a parent, God has the power to settle arguments between your children. If you are a student, it means the Holy Spirit will show you how to excel in your classes. #RandolphHarris 9 of 11

God is the author of truth. If there is a truth to know—God is the one to reveal it. The Spirit of God will continually direct us, and he will show us things to come. God will reveal to us how to prevent problems and trouble. Even when tests and trials come, we will walk right through them. When we find ourselves in an impossible situation—one we just do not have the strength or the ability to handle, we may be tempted to give up and accept defeat? Maybe it is not just one challenge, but a whole onslaught of trials all at once—an infirmary, a strained relationship, bad news from the fake news media, or a temptation we never thought we would face. However, we these are not things that have power over us. God has miracle-working power. When human strength ends, that is where God’s power begins. And the Lord has promised that his miraculous power will bring us through! No matter what our needs or goals, it is the wisdom that comes from the Word of God that will get us there. When we focus our thoughts on God and do what is right, everything we need and desire (even somethings we never imagined) come right to us. “In that day the LORD Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. He will be a spirit of justice to those who sit in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate,” reports Isiah 28.5-6. #RandolphHarris 10 of 11

 Drawing near God moves us into the supernatural, were God’s ability moves onto our ability, and we are no longer dependent on our own knowledge, intelligence, or talents. God will give us the supernatural ability to accomplish what he asked of us. When we have access to the gifts and rewards of God, there is nothing we cannot do. “Lord, you established peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us,” reports Isaiah 26.12. Father in Heaven, we thank you that you desire to spend time with us, and you have even called us to be your friend and children. God, your Word says, if we draw near you, you will draw near to us—and we want to be near you. So right now, we ask you that you cause us to draw near you above everything else. Help us to have supernatural time-management abilities, help us to see clearly when we can set aside time to spend with you, and help us to never compromise that time. Father, you said that you are a rewarder of those who diligently seek you. We have pursed you with passion and perseverance. Still, help us to put your Word first in every decision we make, to pray continually throughout the day, and to look for opportunities to listen to your teachings that will build our knowledge and understanding of who you are and what you want for our lives. Thank you. #RandolphHarris 11 of 11