Some background info. on patriarchal blessings: A patriarchal blessing is a special, sacred blessing that Heavenly Father gives to his children through an ordained patriarch. The patriarch has the power of God-- he is a seer. I like to think of my patriarchal blessing as my own personal scripture. It contains blessings and warnings directly from Heavenly Father to me. I received my patriarchal blessing nearly seven years ago, and I have found that parts of my blessing have been fulfilled, in some cases, multiple times. The important thing to remember is that all promised blessings are predicated upon our obedience to God’s commandments. “For I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise” (Doctrine and Covenants 82:10). The idea that the Lord expects us to not only declare our dedication to him but to demonstrate that love has always made sense to me. He explicitly declared in the New Testament, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
Now, this blog post is the first of four I will make each month as assignment for my Doctrine & Covenants class I’m enrolled in this semester. I think one of the most significant similarities between individual patriarchal blessings and the Doctrine & Covenants is the Lord’s emphasis on keeping covenants. As previously stated, when we try our best to obey the Lord’s commandments, he is bound to keep his promise. Likewise, when we rebel or betray God’s word, the promise is broken. In section 101 of the D&C, this idea of a broken promise is demonstrated by the saints who withdraw from the Spirit of God: “They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble” (verse 7). Of course, when we make mistakes, or if we find that at one point we were slow to hearken to God’s voice, we have the unconditional promise of repentance. We have the invitation to return to God and choose to quickly hearken to him in the future. The take-away here is that, although the Lord blesses us immeasurably, he is not bound to give us those specific blessings discussed in our patriarchal blessings if we are not interested in his will. I’d like to testify that I know that God is our Heavenly Father, and that he loves us. He provided us a way to overcome the natural man and be forgiven of our sins through the Atonement of his son, my Redeemer Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father has a plan for his children, but it is our choice to comply-- or not. I know that in my life, compliance with his plan results in true joy and peace of mind. We, as his children, are each capable of receiving revelation from him, by the power of the Holy Ghost. This revelation comes through scripture, through the words of living prophets, through patriarchal blessings, and through prayer to him. He answers in his perfect time and way. He loves us. His son loves us. And I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I think I might create a separate blog just for my D&C posts-- I’ll post that url once it has been created.
