God possesses all joy and happiness. It is his will for us to have all that he has. While he can give you some things (such as your mortal life) without any action on your part, the majority of what he has to give you can only be received through your choice. He is not limited in what he is willing to give, but you are limited in what you are willing to receive.
We can receive God a little, a lot, or not at all. For example, when the Lord visited his followers after his resurrection, he delivered many teachings and blessings. Still, he had to stop short of all he had to give because they were not able to receive it:
2 I perceive that ye are weak, that ye cannot understand all my words which I am commanded of the Father to speak unto you at this time.
3 Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again. (3 Nephi 17)
Why have you not yet received all that he has? He said: “...I will order all things for your good, as fast as ye are able to receive them. Amen.” (D&C 111:11) He is not the arbiter of what you receive—you are.
What does it mean to receive God?
To receive God means to learn his knowledge, to develop his character within you, and to obtain and endure all experiences necessary to do so:
1 Hearken and listen to the voice of him who is from all eternity to all eternity, the Great I Am, even Jesus Christ—
2 The light and the life of the world; a light which shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not;
3 The same which came in the meridian of time unto mine own, and mine own received me not;
4 But to as many as received me, gave I power to become my sons; and even so will I give unto as many as will receive me, power to become my sons.
5 And verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth my gospel receiveth me; and he that receiveth not my gospel receiveth not me. (D&C 39)
Receiving God is neither automatic nor easy. It takes effort and work on our part:
14 Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.
15 Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.
16 I came unto my own, and my own received me not. And the scriptures concerning my coming are fulfilled.
17 And as many as have received me, to them have I given to become the sons of God; and even so will I to as many as shall believe on my name, for behold, by me redemption cometh, and in me is the law of Moses fulfilled. (3 Nephi 9)
We receive God by learning more about and from him:
22 For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me.
23 But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation; that where I am ye shall be also.
24 This is eternal lives—to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law.
25 Broad is the gate, and wide the way that leadeth to the deaths; and many there are that go in thereat, <u>because they receive me not, neither do they abide in my law. (D&C 132)</u>
Receiving God means living as he lived:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. (John 1)
We are received by God only to the extent that we receive him:
Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye end of the earth, and be saved. (3 Nephi 9:22)
What are you willing to receive from God? What limits what you receive from God?
Limiting God through unbelief
Faith is a principle of action. Faith is belief unto action, or what we are willing to do because of what we believe. Faith is the ratio of how much you are willing to do to how small a reason you have to believe. Your ability to believe things that are not readily apparent will dictate what and how much you can receive from God.
Unbelief is when you do not believe things when given sufficient reason to. Unbelief will limit your actions, which will in turn limit what God can give you.
You can only receive what God wills to give you up to the level of interest and effort you exercise:
9 And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.
10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.
11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell. (Alma 12)
Unbelief is not an all-or-nothing affair. Rather than being like a light switch, it is more like a fuel gauge. Unbelief happens by degrees, just as faith—its opposite—does.
Unbelief is manifest in many ways, each of which is further described below.
Limiting God through low expectations
Do you really believe that God has all power? Or do you minimize his capabilities by what you are willing to believe is possible? What reason has he given you to limit him? The honest answer is that the source of the limits you place on him is to be found only in yourself.
Some people write off their low expectations by citing humility. Humility does not mean minimizing the value of what God has given you. In fact, it is impossible to be humble if you do not recognize and value the gifts and blessings God has given you because to do so would mean that you have those of yourself or that they are not really worth much. “And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.” (D&C 78:19)
Humility does not mean minimizing the value of what God is willing to give you. In fact, humility requires you to realize the true magnitude of what you lack—what God has that you do not. The more you think you have, the less you will get.
When you are humble, you have exceedingly high expectations, because you don’t limit what you can imagine to your own constraints. The Lord said: “...He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do....” (John 14:12) If you believe God has incredible things to give you, and that as he teaches you and blesses you, you will likewise do incredible things.
You must deeply believe that no matter what you presently have, there is something radically better beyond your awareness. Do you believe God possesses all things? Do you possess all things? If God possesses all things, and you do not, then in order to fulfill his promise of your becoming a joint heir with Christ and possessing all things he possesses, you will have to change.
Don’t be afraid to dream. If you limit your dreams, you will unavoidably limit your actions. Without great hope in the future, you won’t be willing to do what it takes to obtain the best life you could otherwise have.
Even your greatest dreams are less than what God desires to grant you. Think of the greatest outcomes you could ever imagine for yourself in life. Now, realize that if you seek God with all your might, mind, and strength, what he will lead you to is unequivocally better than that.
Paul said “...eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) Isaiah wrote: “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” (Isaiah 64:4)
We have been warned about “understand[ing] not the things which are prepared for [us].” (D&C 78:10) If you go with the current of society, you will be blind to what you could be experiencing, because you will be convinced that whatever you currently possess is all there is to have.
Do you believe that God has prepared things for you that exceed anything you’ve ever considered? If so, how do you think you will get them? They are “prepared.” They are “wait[ing]” for you. Recognize that something is being offered. It is already there.
We are ignorant of most of what God offers. The cure to this is to assume great things are always offered to us beyond what we recognize. This opens us to what we need to see. It is all already there, you just haven't claimed it. What are you doing about it?
The only reason you would act differently than you do now is if you thought there was a better way, far more available than you possess, or something far greater than you have already experienced. What is better is unlikely to seem that way from your present vantage point. That's why you don't have it already.
You can't have more joy without believing and acting differently than you do now. In order to live an abundant life, you must obtain something extraordinary. You don’t see miracles because you don’t go to where they are found. Nothing radically good ever happened to anyone unwilling to do radical things. In order to obtain that which is greater, you must be willing to do things that are different from what everyone else does:
Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. (Mosiah 4:9)
Those with faith live a life filled with things that are difficult and unlikely. Their lives are an unbroken chain of long shots. In absolute terms, they have missed many more shots than normal people. But their success in life is not the ratio of wins to losses, which is much worse than normal peoples’, but rather the sum of their wins. People with faith fail more, but they are the only ones who ever bother trying what other people consider impossible. Because they try, they discover that many impossible things are only difficult. In trying what others dismiss as impossible, and by pushing past where others quit, they encounter experiences and outcomes that others never see.
God will give you far more and far better than you can imagine if you will trust in him and follow him with full purpose of heart.
Limiting God by taking things off the table
What if God told you there was an indescribable amount of joy available to you, but it would require you going through the thing you least wanted to go through? Would you still do it?
What if he told you it would require two years to obtain? What about ten? What about four decades?
What is the limit of what you are willing to endure to receive what God promises you? Because, in fact, he has promised you unlimited joy if you will but set aside any limits you place on what he is able to do and how he needs to do it.
God requires the sacrifice of all things. He requires all of our heart, might, mind and strength. There is no discount available.
There is an oft-repeated story in the New Testament that is typically used to illustrate how relative effort is more important than absolute contribution:
41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. (Mark 12)
What is at least equally important is how this parable shows that everyone is required to give all they have. Those who follow the gospel path unabashedly describe as their goal being joint-heirs with Christ. In other words, they make claim on everything God has. Fewer believers realize that the price for everything he has is everything you have:
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 10)
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14)
Are you willing to do anything God asks you? Or do you arbitrarily limit what he can give you through an unwillingness to travel certain paths to obtain it?
Limiting God through low intensity
A seemingly cryptic story appears in the Old Testament where the king of Israel visits the prophet Elisha to enlist God’s assistance in the impending invasion by the Syrians:
14 Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.
15 And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows.
16 And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands.
17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.
18 And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.
19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. (2 Kings 13)
The miracle by Elisha was intended to teach the importance of intensely seeking what God is willing to give. Elisha’s disappointment at the low intensity of Joash is indicative of God’s response when we seek him with faltering intensity.
The behavior of the blind man healed by Jesus is an example of the intensity that enables us to receive the fullness of what God offers:
46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.
47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.
49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. (Mark 10)
This man responded to obstacles by increasing his intensity until he received what Jesus was willing to give him.
Jesus told two parables to demonstrate the importance of tenacity in receiving him:
2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. (Luke 18)
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. (Luke 11)
Receiving what God offers requires everything we have to give:
4 ...how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you.
5 ...how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not.
6 ...how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose <u>of heart. (3 Nephi 10)</u>
Full purpose of heart means that we desire him more than all other things in this world; it means all our heart, all our mind, all our strength.
Imagine, for a moment, that you knew it was going to rain. What would you do? If you didn’t particularly care about water, you would do nothing. If you really appreciated it, you would put out a container to catch it. What size of a container would you grab? Some would grab a measuring cup, some a bowl, and some a garbage can, depending on how much they valued water.
Most people are indifferent to God’s blessings. Some care as long as what he wants to give overlaps with what they desire. Some few are wise enough to realize that anything God offers is worth obtaining, whether it fits into what they currently understand to be valuable or not. These last people are capable of receiving everything God has because they do not choose containers too small to fit what he offers.
You can only have what you are willing to pay for. Too many people stop far short of the happiness and joy they could have were they willing to work as hard as required, endure the pain required, sacrifice what is required, and so on.
Low intensity is insufficient to receive what God would like you to have. It is foolish to expect great outcomes without great effort. It’s only after you have done all that lies in your power that you can assume the Lord will intervene to do great things.
You truly have to “hunger and thirst after righteousness.” (Matthew 5:6) God requires “all [your] heart...all [your] might, mind, and strength....” (D&C 59:5) Your heart refers to your desire. Your might refers to your capacity. Your mind refers to your thoughts. Your strength refers to your effort. All of these things determine how much and what you obtain from God. If you want to receive all he has, it requires all your desire, all your capacity, all your thoughts, and all your effort. Anything less than this means you are leaving behind good things he wills to give you because you are not willing to receive them.
Limiting God through fear
We miss out on too many opportunities for greater joy by being fearful. We fear that our attempts at finding greater joy will fail, leading to pain and suffering. If you are afraid of failure, you won’t try: “The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.” (Proverbs 22:13)
The root cause of fear paralysis is a misunderstanding of how things work. God doesn’t promise you that everything you try will work. What he does promise is that if you try everything you can, enough of what you try will work to make the effort worthwhile. God doesn’t need you to be successful at everything you try, but he does need you to try enough things with enough effort that he can work through some of them to bring about great things.
God gives us as much as he can without overcoming us. The more we trust in him, the less we will fear, and the more we can endure without being overcome.
The amount of peace and joy you have in your life is not a function of luck. It is a function of how many times you are willing to fail and still try again. The happiest people are not those who find themselves in externally easier circumstances. Rather, they are the people who relentlessly searched for more and more happiness in spite of a mountain of failures. They are never satisfied with what they’ve already found. They always risk it all again and again in the search for more.
The happiest people realize that there is no failure so large that it can cut them off from eventually encountering all the joy God has to give:
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8)
If we truly believe him, we will fear nothing. If we truly believe him, we will leap into enough things with enough intensity that we will not miss out on opportunities he intends to use to help us receive all that he has.
Limiting God through what we are willing to endure
The principle limit we place on God isn’t so much in what we think we want or how much we think we want it, but what we are willing to endure as the Lord sends us what is required to obtain what we want.
The Lord said, “Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.” (3 Nephi 15:9) To “endure to the end” is to retain your willingness to let go of what you already have in exchange for something better, even when it is not readily apparent that it is better, until God has given you all there is to receive and all he has.
What are your limits?
Perhaps what you think you lack is ideal starting conditions. Lack of ideal conditions is insufficient to preclude trying. “The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.” (Proverbs 20:4) “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.” (Ecclesiastes 11:4)
What is your pace?
30 I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
31 And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
32 Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.
33 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
34 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man. (Proverbs 24)
How do you limit God in how fast you can receive things? Is there any aspect of your life that is off limits to improvement? Is there anything you aren’t willing to do?
How different are you willing to be? Can you withstand unlimited persecution?
He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough. (Proverbs 28:19)
How long are you willing to endure? The length of the path is insufficient to preclude trying. “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.” (Proverbs 22:29) “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.” (Proverbs 28:20) When you try to take a shortcut to the desired outcome, you fail to experience the process that is required to become the type of person to whom those outcomes manifest. Your desire for the outcome without the requisite process will require you to engage in unsavory means to achieve what can’t be purchased without a price.
How much effort are you willing to exert? It will require everything. “The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.” (Proverbs 21:25)
How far can you go until you quit? If the spirit comes upon you to the point of overwhelming you, do you say “Lord, it is enough?” If the Lord provides pathways to higher blessings, do you say “Lord, this is too hard”?
Be willing to endure all things. Realize that the path to obtaining all God has is through descending below all things.
7 ...all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he? (D&C 122)
Limiting God by what we appreciate
Receiving from God requires having gratitude for what you already have and appreciating what you don’t yet have.
Gratitude doesn’t simply mean acknowledging the fact that you’ve been given something. It means to comprehend the potential of what you have been given and appreciating the cost.
God does not ask us for gratitude as most humans would—to satisfy petty pride or to feel good about himself. He asks it solely for our benefit. This benefit is realized only when you comprehend and use what you have been given for its full potential.
Far too many people treat God’s gifts—ranging from every specific thing to the gospel itself—like the key to a storage shed. God’s gifts are something they never think about and only use every once in a while, for a brief moment.
Suppose you are gifted a sports car. You could drive it fast, as sports cars are meant to be driven. Or you could drive it slowly, making it no different than a normal, far less expensive car. Or you could just leave it in your garage, making it less appreciated than any car that is actually driven. Or you could leave it parked outside to slowly rust, never being driven, tossed aside like filth in the streets. Only the first option uses the gift to the full extent of what was intended.
Gratitude for what you already have determines how much more you will receive. When the Lord said: “...prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it,” (Malachi 3:10), part of what he meant was that he will be bless you up to just beyond your capability to recognize and appreciate. When you learn to recognize and appreciate what you have, you will receive more, and in that instant, God:
`...will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have. (2 Nephi 28:30)`
Gratitude means accurately assessing the value of his hand in your life. You become an expert at feeling overwhelming gratitude for his goodness. You act as grateful in plenty as you would be in want, in pleasure as you would be in pain, in abundant belonging as you would in absolute loneliness, in wealth as you would in abject poverty.
In order to receive more of what you don’t yet have, you first have to learn to appreciate what is good but not yet valued:
29 Ye who are quickened by a portion of the celestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.
30 And they who are quickened by a portion of the terrestrial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.
31 And also they who are quickened by a portion of the telestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.
32 And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they <u>are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that</u> which they might have received.
33 For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.
34 And again, verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same. (D&C 88)
Adam and Eve lived in paradise, but they did not recognize or appreciate it. They did not recognize what the two trees offered them in Eden. They did not value the fruit of the tree of life. They did not appreciate what it would be like not to have it. That is why they made very little use of what was offered. They could not receive the joy God had prepared until they suffered very much.
Everything God has is always offered to you, but you will only receive what you value. What God offers is repulsive to those who do not yet have it. We lack the knowledge and wisdom to value what is of great value. As we have faith, we can walk down paths we would otherwise not walk, and he can teach us of the true value of things.
How to know when you have stopped receiving
When accosted by opportunity to receive more, most people react with some form of disobedience, rebellion, or obstinance. These reactions are all about rejecting what God offers and instead adhering to what they already have. They react with “wonder and amazement, and with anger.” (Mosiah 13:8) Anger is obvious, but wonder and amazement aren’t so obvious. Telltale signs of this reaction include people being entertained by an idea, but not activated by it, as if to say, “well, that’s something...”, having a reaction far lower in intensity than the interaction merits, eliciting a response devoid of any interest whatsoever, or eliciting an outright rejection.
There are several telltale signs to indicate that you have ceased to receive more from God. Invitations to change will start stacking up. Don’t fool yourself into believing that you are considering them and just need more time. A decision not to decide is still a choice, and it is a choice that will permanently stall your progress with God until you correct it. You will note that the reasons you enumerate for not responding to an invitation to change will not be the real reason. Your choices will cease to be rational and self-consistent. This is an honesty problem. Whenever you are willing to be dishonest about your reasons, you will find your vague ambiguity about the situation will always and suddenly convert into a hard turn away from what you know is right. You will remove yourself from the opportunity to receive more by avoiding thinking or even being around situations that draw your attention to the problem and the consequences of your lack of action to resolve it. You stop arguing, stop talking, and stop acting. You put yourself in the power of the idea that you have decided upon instead of standing in the light and letting it lead you along. You are like sheep who not only stop obeying the shepherd, but pinch their eyes shut and turn off their ears as they run headlong into a worse situation. The good news is that you will find relief from the cognitive dissonance that previously assaulted you. The bad news is that the relief comes from the loss of the light that showed you the path forward (see D&C 93:39).
Attitudes for maximizing receipt
There is a skewed perception in the world that our relationship with God is about what we give him. God has absolute dominion. He needs nothing from us. Rather, everything he does is about giving what he has to us. The only thing he asks is for us to act in a way that maximizes what we can receive from him:
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; (Acts 17)
Even the most arcane or ritualistic sacrifice is not about what we give, but about what we become willing to receive:
8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. (Psalm 50)
Believe you are nothing. Believe you know nothing. Only an empty vessel has room to be filled.
Believe God has all things. Believe God will give you all things. Only a hopeful person will seek what can be found.