Helps to Teach "Is the Gospel Written in My Heart?" (October 23)
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Are you teaching in Young Women’s or Young Men’s about if the gospel of Jesus Christ is written in our hearts? This one is typically taught on October 23 and refers to the scripture in Jeremiah 31:33- “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Often when we think about the gospel being written in our hearts, it seems more of an abstract concept. As we ponder it a little bit, we realize that General Conference is one way we are constantly being told how to do this, how to make the gospel a part of us so much that it is written in our hearts. Let's discuss some ideas for teaching this lesson.
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Let God Prevail
The Come Follow Me manual suggests going back to the talk, “Let God Prevail” by President Russell M. Nelson (October 2020). Introduce this excellent talk by posting three pieces of paper on the board with the word “Israel” divided across the three papers- so “Is” on one, “ra” on another sheet, and “el” on the last sheet. Then ask people what “Israel” means. It's been talked about a lot so if they've been studying and following along they'll probably know the answer. It's okay if they don't though, you can remind them when you flip each paper over. One the backside, have reveal “Willing to let God prevail.” Most of the time they'll probably just say, “let God prevail”, but it's important to add that, “willing to” part as President Nelson says: “The word willing is crucial to this interpretation of Israel.”
What does it mean to let God prevail? It means we're willing to put God first in our lives. There are several questions in President Nelson’s talk that you can then read out loud for people to either ponder their answers or they can write down a quick Yes or No. Read the questions, pause for a minute, let them think, and then write their answers, or at least mentally put their answer down. Some of the questions include:
Are you willing to let God prevail in your life?
Are you willing to let God be the most important influence in your life?
Will you allow His words, His commandments, and His covenants to influence what you do each day?
Will you allow His voice to take priority over any other?
Are you willing to let whatever He needs you to do take precedence over every other ambition?
Are you willing to have your will swallowed up in His?
If any of those answers were a no, then ponder why. What is it that's holding us back? What are some steps that we can take to change that no into a yes? How can we change that weakness into a strength? We're not perfect but what can we do to change and become more?
If all our answers were yes, that's excellent, but do our choices reflect that answer? And if not, where can we strengthen ourselves? What are our weaknesses? Where can we fortify and what can we do better in order to make that not only a yes but back it up with our actions? There are a couple of great quotes that you can read from the talk as well:
“Your willingness to let God prevail in your life will allow your covenants with God to remain intact. You do not need to wander or wonder.”
We're constantly talking about covenants these days because we're Covenant Israel. The Children and Youth program is all about becoming and being ready to take upon us additional covenants in the temple. Another great quote to use is:
“When your greatest desire is to let God prevail to be part of Israel, so many decisions become easier. So many issues become non-issues.”
This quote leads perfectly to the next idea…
The New For the Strength of Youth Guide
Talk about the new For the Strength of Youth guide that was announced at the October 2022 General Conference. I'm sure it’s already been a topic of conversation and here’s another great opportunity to bring it in. That manual is an opportunity to get those principles, those doctrines of the gospel written in our hearts so the choices that we need to make are so much easier. Each section in the For Strength of Youth manual is broken down into:
Eternal truth- those are the things we need written on our hearts.
Invitations meaning ways that we can apply the truth in our lives.
Promised Blessings as a reminder of why we want to have those eternal truths and follow those invitations.
Lastly, there's always at least one temple recommend question that goes right along with those truths. Again, helping us remember about covenants and being prepared to make and keep those sacred covenants when we are ready to attend the temple.
As you go through each section or one section, go over some of those four parts and talk about how we can then make sure that we are remembering these truths in our lives. How can we develop a testimony of those truths and what can we do to make it even better?
In the back of the guide, it tells us to do our own spiritual checkups. Don't wait for an interview. Do your own spiritual checkup regularly. We need to choose to make the gospel written in our hearts every single day. Doing these spiritual checkups often is a great way to make sure we're doing that. The guide includes the themes for Young Men’s and Young Women’s, the 10 commandments, and has the temple recommend questions. Going through those questions by yourself and being able to answer them in a way that shows you are letting God prevail in your life is an excellent way to answer this question, “Is the gospel written in my heart?”.
Putting Off the Natural Man
In order to be able to write the gospel on our hearts, we have to put off the natural man and be humble. A fun object lesson that you can do for that includes play dough, stress putty, or even silly putty. They each come in a hard container. We cannot really write on the container with just a toothpick. We can't etch into it. We have to shed the natural man, or the hard container. Take the putty out of the container and show how it is a pliable substance. You can then take a toothpick and etch in there the word “gospel.” If you have silly putty, you can take the Sunday comics and press it against the silly putty to copy it on. We are then able to really make those things from the Lord etched into our hearts.
Try giving everybody a little bit of silly putty or play dough for them to write in themselves. Remember, we want to use lots of different learning styles as we teach because we all learn in different ways. Being able to touch something and do something with our hands for a little bit is a great way to bring in an additional learning style.
It All Comes Tumbling Down
For this idea, you need a stacking block game like Jenga and a miniature doll. If you don't have one, you can get a clothespin and draw a face on it. It just needs to be something that can stand up on its own. Place your doll up on the top of your stacking block tower. As a class, name your doll. I’m going to call mine, Princess Sunshine Unicorn. The blocks are going to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ and all the parts of it.
Next, invite people to come up one at a time and take a Jenga piece out. Now you're not going to put it on top as you would in the game, you are only going to take the blocks out of the tower. With each block you remove, say what it represents in the gospel of Jesus Christ. For example, Princess Sunshine Unicorn has decided that she's not going to obey the word of wisdom. She likes drinking a cup of coffee every day so we're going to take that block out. Then remove another one and this time she's decided that she doesn't want to pay her tithing. She wants to use that money for something else, et cetera until the Jenga tower tumbles over.
We cannot pick and choose which part of the gospel we're willing to follow. We need to write it all on our hearts, accept all of Jesus Christ on our hearts, the whole thing. It doesn't work when we just pick some of it. Eventually, that's going to tumble over. When we say that we want God to prevail in our lives, we want God to prevail in all parts of our lives.
Eat Your Spiritual Veggies
In October 2018, Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave a talk where he encouraged us to eat our spiritual veggies. We need to eat our spiritual veggies and allow the gospel of Jesus Christ to penetrate our hearts and our souls every single day. What could be some spiritual vegetables? Bring some vegetables to display in front of you, and invite people to pick up a carrot and say something that it represents. This is a time for your class to share what things they do to let God prevail in their lives every single day.
If you want to use what Elder Christofferson said in his talk, I have printable vegetables with those words written on them. Print out those vegetables, draw a basket on the board, and tape up those vegetables. You can give a vegetable to each individual in your class or break into groups and invite them to discuss how we can have those things in our lives every day- what that looks like, what that means. For example, worthily partaking of the sacrament each week does mean we've repented beforehand, but what else might it mean? How do we prepare for the sacrament? We want our actions to be more purposefully intentional, not just a happenstance. How do we love our neighbor? Yes, we can wave and smile and drop off a plate of cookies at Christmas, but how can we really love them? Discuss those things in groups then present them up on the board and put them in a basket. What are some other vegetables people have come up with? They can make their own to add to the basket as well.
Be sure to tune into Chatting with Camille next week as someone shares their faith-filled story of how they have chosen to let God prevail in their lives.
