Lesson for April 19 2009
Reading assignment: Doctrine and Covenants 42:30–42; 51; 78; 82; 104:11–18; Our Heritage,page 26.

In February 1831, soon after the Saints began to gather in Kirtland, Ohio, the Lord revealed that they should begin to live the law of consecration. To consecrate means to set apart or dedicate something to the Lord’s service.

• What are the purposes of the law of consecration? (See D&C 42:30–35, 40, 42; 51:9; 78:3–7, 14; 82:17–19.)

The law of consecration is an organized way in which individuals consecrate their time, talents, and possessions to the Church to build the Lord’s kingdom and serve His children.

• What do you think could be some of the blessings of living in a community where people lived the law of consecration?

• As Saints of God, we must be prepared and willing to live the law of consecration in its fullness. But we do not need to wait for a future day to consecrate our lives to the Lord. In what ways can you live the law of consecration in your life today?

Scripture Chain: The Law of Consecration

The overall purpose of this lesson is to;
help us understand the law of consecration and its eternal purposes and desire to consecrate our lives more fully to the service of God.

What does consecrate mean?
It means to set apart or dedicate something to the service of the Lord.
What is the law of consecration?
It is an organized way in which individuals consecrate their time, talents, and possessions to the Church to build the Lord’s kingdom and serve His children.

I believe that today we spend more time consecrating of our time and less of our possessions. The Lord still requires that we offer assistance to those that are in need, but the law of consecration has not been give to us as a commandment that we are too live by, as it is laid out in the Doctrine & Covenants. Another way that we assist with consecration as it is today, is by fast offerings. When we give our fast offering each month, we are helping to assist the poor and those in need. That money is used by Bishops to help families that are struggling financially and need assistance. The money is also used to fill the Bishops storehouse, a grocery story for those families that are in need of assistance.

As Saints of God, we must be prepared and willing to live the law of consecration in its fullness. But we do not need to wait for a future day to consecrate our lives to the Lord. As we do all we can to live the law of consecration today, we will be better prepared to live the fullness of the law when the Lord asks us to do so.

It is important to understand that the things that we have, our earthly possessions are not ours, they are the Lords. Sure we my spend out time laboring and working for them, but all that we have first belong to the Lord. D&C 104:13-14;

13 For it is expedient that I, the Lord, should make every man accountable, as a steward over earthly blessings, which I have made and prepared for my creatures.
14 I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine.

It becomes easier, if we understand and believe this little principle, to give our possessions up when that time comes. The Lord warrens us about being selfish and coveting our property. (D&C 19:26) It is important they we do not become attached to things that we have, they are only on loan to us, and what the Lord givith he taketh away.

At what point do we start to consecrate our lives FULLY to the the Lord?

How about when we start to let our lives and the decisions we make be based on the Lords will…How about when we do anything and everything that he asks of us…How about when we do all that we can to support and help our brethren, even when it is not asked of us…How about those times that we share the gospel with someone that we know, and help them to understand what it is that makes us so rich in spirit.

Giving is sometimes easy to do, when we have to give we are willing to do it. It is those times that we do not have that makes it hard to give. The Lord is not going to wait for us to be ready before he asks us to give to our brother, he will ask when he is ready, and thus we must always be ready no matter what we have or do not have.