I believe that a change of heart is really about putting the Lord first. Once that happens, really truly happens the heart is a new place; like a temple to the Lord. The changed believing heart has every desire and strength to choose the right consistently. The right is not always chosen in the face of evil but instead often the change of heart involves planning to avoid the situations where the evil is which means that the choice is made ahead of time. I guess one question is how to get to the point where we desire to put the Lord first. A complementary question is how do we get to the point where we know that the Lord is not first, but should be? I don't know the answer to either question but think that a rebirth is a good start. Involve the heart and mind, let the old ways die to make room for the new ways. Make new more "right choosing" friends. For some it may be a self-renewal that leads to the rebirth, but others might be reborn by circumstances. Some compelling circumastances might include repentance from serious sin (Mosiah 27:8-19), sudden death of a loved one and oppression.
Once the truth of the Bible is established for a person, that person understands that the Lord loves His children and is willing to make Himself known to those that love and fear him. Since God is the same, any of his children, might be a special witness. Does the Lord love all His creations? Yes, he does and He desires all creation to worship him. If a people worship him incorrectly or not at all, the Lord is willing to appoint special witnesses to help correct the errors and to spread His Word. These special witnesses are called prophets or apostles. Men like Noah, Moses and Abraham were prophets. Once of the duties of prophets is to record the Word of the Lord. We call these writings Scriptures. Some examples of Scriptures are the Holy Bible (King James Version), and the Book of Mormon.
I've thought about this before and used it during my mission to teach about member missionary work. Try to imagine the excitement when we looked down from the spirit world and witnessed the Birth of Jesus Christ, or the 4 generations of Nephites that passed away in righteousness! What exciting times those would have been. If we can let some of that excitement spill over into our current daily activities, sharing the gospel would be very easy. In fact there would be very little sharing for us to do since everyone around us would be asking us what is going on? What is so exciting? Why are you so happy?
See complete parable Luke 16:1-12
This is a parable on several levels.
- One is the way we handle our physical stewardship. Are we using our time, energy, talents, money and blessings to build the kingdom of God? If we handle well the little bit that is given to us here we will have a rich reward in heaven, but we we are not faithful in this life we will not be found worthy to rule over anymore than what we've already proved we cannot handle.
- Are we preoccupied with spiritual love and devotion the way some are preoccupied with money, fame, and wealth? If not, we should be! As true followers of Jesus Christ, that is, Christians, we should be thinking a lot about joy, love, peace and patience with long suffering. (See Galatians 5:21-22 ) Once we over come the 'natural man' and desire righteousness more than evil and once we never get tired of doing good and worshipping him, we are feasting on the words of Christ and have started on the path that will allow us to return to live with Him.
- Please consider the promise we make each week to always remember Him that we may have His spirit to be with us. Are we living up to this promise? If we are not, then we show God that we are not ready nor able to live up to higher, heavenly covenants. It will be helpful for each person to review their life to ensure this first promise is being kept. If this promise is not being kept what are some goals that I can set to bring me closer to where I want to keeping that promise during the week?