December 6, 2015

These are quotes taken from the CES Institute Manual for the New Testament.  I have been enjoying and learning a lot from reading the four Gospels before Christmas.

The Romans divided the night hours into four watches, corresponding roughly to 6:00–9:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m.–midnight, midnight–3:00 a.m., and 3:00–6:00 a.m. When the Savior came to the disciples in the fourth watch (see Matthew 14:25), they had been rowing all night against a contrary wind. Sister Susan W. Tanner, while serving as Young Women general president, testified that the Lord will come to each of us, though we may need to be patient:

“I know that [the Lord’s] tender mercies and His miracles, large and small, are real. They come in His way and on His timetable. Sometimes it is not until we have reached our extremity. Jesus’s disciples on the Sea of Galilee had to toil in rowing against a contrary wind all through the night before Jesus finally came to their aid. He did not come until the ‘fourth watch,’ meaning near dawn. Yet He did come. (See Mark 6:45–51.) My testimony is that miracles do come, though sometimes not until the fourth watch” (“My Soul Delighteth in the Things of the Lord,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2008, 83).

 

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles described some blessings that come from fasting: “Fasting, coupled with mighty prayer, is powerful. It can fill our minds with the revelations of the Spirit. It can strengthen us against times of temptation. Fasting and prayer can help develop within us courage and confidence. They can strengthen our character and build self-restraint and discipline. Often when we fast, our righteous prayers and petitions have greater power. Testimonies grow. We mature spiritually and emotionally and sanctify our souls. Each time we fast, we gain a little more control over our worldly appetites and passions” (“The Law of the Fast,” Ensign, May 2001, 73).