Heavenly Father ALWAYS Keeps His Promises!

[Admin]

I the Lord am bound, when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise!

Many people suffer terrible consequences after they have broken their covenant. This is always a sad situation.

Some people do not like the consequences of their own actions, and at times blame Father. This usually results from not understanding who Father is, and what His method is for helping us progress. Of course, sometimes we just blame Heavenly Father, because we do not want to take responsibility for our own agency. But, if we do not follow Heavenly Father's advice, why get upset when things go wrong?

As can easily be seen and experienced, negative consequences always come when we disregard Father's advice. No matter how much we try to find reasons, excuses, justifications, explanations, lies, deceptions, crying, threatening, etc., etc., etc., the bottom line is: Consequences come anyway!

When we do have negative consequences, sometimes we say: God is not loving! We need to realize, it is really us that is not loving. It is us that did not love our spouse enough; it is us that did not love our child enough; it is us that did not love God enough to keep our covenants. It is a hard truth to look at, but it is up to us to love our spouse/children enough to follow Father's advice! And when we do wrong, and have negative consequences, it is up to us to accept our fault, and happily take the consequences and put in the work to undo the damage; anything less is not love!

How often do we hear: Why does not Father follow His own advice? He did! He came here and lived and died and lived again, so we could have the chance to make things right and be forgiven. So, let us not waste Father's love; let us make things right, and never do it again. Let us accept His love; keep our covenants and be forgiven!

[Chris]

Exactly. Very well put. Something always to remember!

I'm reminded of some other scriptures that essentially say the same thing...

[Chris]

"And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved."

~ 2 Nephi XIII:4

[Chris]

"And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you."

~ Mosiah I:7

[Chris]

“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father”

~ John 14:21

[Amy]

"... And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying, Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people, and deliver them out of bondage. ..."
Mosiah XI, pg 206

Here is an example with both parties keeping their covenants.

[Ted]

I think Jonah does a good job of illustrating how Heavenly Father can only keep his side of the his promises, if we keep our side.

Jonah Chapter 2

- 1 Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly,

2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.

7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.

10 And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. -


I like how verse 8
"They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy."
Very clearly shows the negative side, and how verse 9
"But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord."
Shows the exact opposite, which is what we need to be doing to allow Father to fulfill his side of the promise.