Hear Him Heal You
This podcast is for those who are looking to experience the Savior more in their lives because of the peace and healing that only He can offer through revelation. Come unto Christ to get out of the mental mire, find meaning in emotion, leave bad behind, and finally, be whole. This is where we hear Him to be healed.
Hear Him Heal You
It's "Abide" Time: Drawing Power from Christ
Have you ever confused spiritual busyness with genuine connection to Christ? In this profound conversation, Morgan and Joel challenge the common misconception that checking religious boxes equates to spiritual growth. Drawing from personal experiences, including Morgan's recent church talk, they explore what it truly means to "abide in Christ."
The hosts paint a powerful picture of Christ not as a vacation home we visit occasionally, but as the permanent foundation upon which we build our entire lives. "You can't just pick up and go and leave and find a new foundation and think your building's going to stand," Joel explains. "Your life is your building. Christ is your foundation." This perspective shift invites listeners to reconsider how they approach their relationship with the divine.
One of the most compelling insights offered is the backward way many approach spiritual growth. Rather than trying to improve ourselves and then coming to Christ, Morgan suggests, "I shouldn't be telling myself I'm going to go be better. It's like I'm actually going to go be closer to Christ and Christ will make me better." This simple yet profound reframing transforms the spiritual journey from one of exhausting self-improvement to one of relationship and receiving.
The conversation also addresses why people sometimes blame God during difficult times, and how shifting our question from "What more do I need to do?" to "How can I better connect with Christ right now?" can completely transform our spiritual experience. In a world where stories of faith departures dominate, Morgan and Joel call for more testimonies of those who choose to stay—who find in Christ not just occasional comfort but a permanent dwelling place.
Whether you're wrestling with doubts, feeling spiritually exhausted, or simply seeking a deeper connection with Christ, this episode offers refreshing perspectives that will help you move beyond religious performance into authentic relationship. What might change in your life if you truly made Christ your permanent dwelling place?
Welcome to Hear Him Heal you with Morgan and Joel. This podcast is for those who are imperfect and rough around the edges but are still wanting to come under Christ. Essentially, it's for everyone. So join us to get yourself out of the mental mire, find meaning in emotion and leave bad behind. This is where we hear him to be healed. All right, welcome back, lil Flock, to another episode of Hear Him Heal you. I'm actually going to go. We're going to kind of do a deep dive into my talk I had to give on Sunday. I mean, it was kind of funny. This talk was actually supposed to happen like two months ago, and the reason being I gave it yesterday, not two months ago, is I had a baby's blessing and then, when they rescheduled me, they scheduled me on a day where they already had all these speakers and then they canceled my talk last minute, and so, yeah, I've been writing this talk for like two months and so it is pristine. Let me tell you, I've been thinking way too much about this.
Speaker 2:You know I can be given that three months heads up and still not with adhd, and all you know and I'll write it, I don't know the day before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm about it well, the thing is, I would get to the day and I would like do that, I would like work on it a lot like a day or two beforehand and then, and for a month they just I just had this talk written and no one was like letting me know when I was supposed to speak. I was like, and so I told them, I was like hey, I can, uh, I still have this talk written If you guys want me to speak there. Oh yeah, yeah, you can speak on this day. And so I like revamped it a little bit the day before as well, you know it's funny.
Speaker 2:I've actually had the conversation with my dad before about like what if I just like went ahead and just rewrote talks about different topics and common subjects within the church, Right, and then I just had them on hand ready to go? I just kind of like go through my folder, oh yeah, that one will fit with this topic pretty well and it's kind of you know, go.
Speaker 1:With this dude, I feel like half the time we write a talk before we even hop on here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, seriously, I feel like that's what happened, like I'm either like inspired from hearing someone else give a talk, where I'm like man, I would love to give a talk on this subject, and then instead I just dump it on y'all here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, people just love hearing us write and speak about random gospel topics. I enjoy it. I don't know about you. I random gospel topics. I enjoy it. I don't know about you. I actually love writing talks. I get the most out of it and that was kind of my.
Speaker 1:My inspiration to approaching you with this podcast was so we could talk more about Jesus, amen. Well, so I'll kind of tell you guys about my. What my talk was is currently our Bishop has been going through and wanting us to speak on Christ-like attributes, and I feel like everyone went through this, has gone through the Preach, my Gospel section on Christ-like attributes, and I opened up to this part and I was just going through like it was like faith, determination, charity, patience, virtue, integrity, and I was like I do not want to speak on a single one of these and so I was like really struggling. But I was like I knew what I wanted to speak on, which was like how, when we repent, and feeling the love of God or of Christ is what motivates us to change, and that was what I knew I wanted to speak on, but I didn't know how to tie that into a Christ-like attribute and so I just kept writing this talk on like okay, I guess I'll just call it experiencing charity and like the part that really spoke to me out of Preach, my Gospel was the part where it was like talking about in order to develop Christ-like attributes, we have to seek Christ, and so that was like the whole inspiration for my talk. And then finally I realized it was actually a uh, it was a Christ like attribute because and as I came to realize, it was just abiding in Christ like because, like there's multiple example after example of Christ constantly relying on his father in heaven, he would always like, even in in the garden of Gethsemane, he asked the let this cup pass from me.
Speaker 1:Nevertheless, let thy will be done, basically Right. Or there'd be times he would talk about how he was like all throughout John, he's constantly referring to the father, about like I was sent here to do the will of my father, or I don't preach my doctrine, I preach the will of the father. Or the doctrine of the father Right, or other things where he talks about how he's like the son of man doeth not of his own will, but what he seeth the father do right. So there's just all these instances of Christ always, constantly turning to his heavenly father for strength, for wisdom, for purpose, and I think, like out of all the attributes I want to develop, that is the one. I think if I could do that more with christ or make him my constant source of strength, of wisdom, of just overall comfort as well I don't know I think I would be a much happier person and a more impactful person to those around me, you know.
Speaker 2:I remember that was probably one of my favorite things that we taught on the mission was Christlike attributes, because it directly changed the way the person viewed themselves and what they could be and become. It made you could see. I think that was one of the things that really helped people see that the gospel was real right. One of the things that really helped people see that the gospel was real right, because for me I think all religion and all religious claims are subjective by nature and they're kind of anecdotal right, and so the best way to kind of prove the gospel is not with evidences of physical locations and geology, archeology and whatnot, but rather the fruit of living the gospel right. That's what it's really about. It's about the fruit of living the gospel right. That's what it's really about. It's about the fruit of living the gospel and acquiring Christlike attributes, and that's where you see the real proof. You see the change that happens within yourself and that becomes undeniable to you and at times it'll become undeniable to others who will see that change in you as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I I think like why else are we living the gospel too, if it isn't to change or to become better as well?
Speaker 1:And I also, like this is something that like I get frustrated when I see people leave the church, mainly because I'm like look at the life you've been able to to have because of how your parents either lived the gospel or even, up until this point, the life you've been able to have because you've been living the gospel, and then to just like turn your back and be like, oh, like all that is just because of my circumstance, not because of my religion or my belief in Christ.
Speaker 1:Because, I'll be honest, like there have been times where I felt like I've wanted to leave the church for whatever reason, but never once have I wanted to leave Christ, right, and that's a whole other question of like, yeah, maybe I, not I don't want to be part of this cultural things that the church has, or sometimes the, maybe the commandments have been inconvenient for me, right, or to to live a certain way. But like I have like way too many experiences of how Christ has impacted my life and if I can't leave Christ, I definitely can't leave his gospel and his church behind, you know either. So I think like when we do feel like we're wanting to give up on all of this, it might be because we have a strenuous relationship with Christ and not because of things in the church, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I actually. What's kind of interesting is when me and you were discussing this the other day, right, I was in the gym and there is a couple here at Snow College that I've met right, and they actually came up and started talking to me about it and I've talked to them before and they were like, hey, we remember you mentioning something about you do a podcast and like is that what you were talking about right there? And I was like yeah, that's exactly what we're talking about. And they started asking me questions about more about that topic and we were talking about receiving charity and Christ-like attributes. And then it went from that to like how do we like share the gospel better, like we want to find better ways to share it? And, long story short, they went into all these. They went into this long conversation and they brought up a family member who had left the gospel and has said he'd he'd sincerely prayed Right and asked to know if the book of Mormon was true and he didn't feel like God had given him an answer. And this guy was like a RM, like return missionary he's, you know, now somewhere in his 40s or whatnot, and I said, well, I think he's approaching it wrong.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of times we approach the gospel wrong. A lot of times we approach it as, oh, we're going to sincerely ask God and he should reveal it to us if it's true. Well, that's not actually what the promise in Moroni asked us to do. It doesn't ask you to just read and then ask him if it's true. He really actually starts, says I want you to start from Adam and Eve, start from the beginning and all the way down to the time you've received these things, right, that you've received them. And I want you to ask if these things are not true. Now, what's implied there is that you have already received the gospel, you're living the gospel, you've received these what do you call it? These attributes right, and you've experienced how it's changed you.
Speaker 2:And now Moroni is not asking you to ask if the book is true. That's not what he's asking. He's telling you to ask if the things you have received are not true. Right, he goes. He's basically saying ask God, god, am I imagining this? Am I imagining the fact that I'm happier, I'm a better person, that I'm more loving, that I'm, you know, more likable now because I generally care about people? Or, you know, I'm more patient with my family members and friends, like, is this just all in my head or is this, is this real? You know, I was like is this not real? And that's the mindset I think and I think that was really fascinating for me to kind of with this conversation with them was realizing we have such a mindset in church that we just need to go and ask, you know, rather than go, experience and then ask if the results are not real yeah, yeah, um, and this actually plays directly into my talk when I and why why I kind of switched the talk from experiencing cherry to abiding in christ.
Speaker 1:Because the definition as that I came up with about abiding in christ, based off of everything I studied, was abiding in Christ means to continually dwell in his love, relying on his strength instead of our own, yielding to his will and remaining in relationship with him so that his spirit can transform us into his image. And I think like that is like what Moroni is trying to get at. He's like come and stay with Christ. Like, like, come and stay with Christ, like wade into these waters which would be baptism right and just bask in Christ and see how it changes you. And when we do that, when we choose to stay, not just like, like, sometimes I feel like like we're supposed to make Christ our home, our dwelling right. But sometimes I think like even I have this like Christ.
Speaker 1:Christ and living in Christlike life is like a summer cottage. You know, like I'm going to go visit here from time to time, but sometimes I forget that like no, like that that's supposed to be a place of permanence. Like I can't just like when the seasons get bad or when the seasons are good, I'm at this summer, summer home, you know. But it it really means that I'm supposed to be there more often and like if I would do that more, I would feel Christ and his love more and it would change me for the better, quicker and more permanently. And I think, like that's what Moroni wants of us. He wants us to come and experience and just bask in Christ and then, and only then, after we've done all this work and felt all these changes, like you said, can we really at that point say like are these things not true?
Speaker 2:yeah, can we really just be like? This is not real. You know, like I'm actually not happier. You know I'm actually not in better relation with my Father in heaven and my Savior, jesus Christ. Right, you know, what's interesting is when you're talking about homes, it made me think of how Christ is constantly compared to being the cornerstone, or being the foundation in which we build.
Speaker 2:Right, and the thing is a cornerstone, a foundation. These things don't move, they don't go away. You don't just leave your foundation or move your foundation. It is the steady rock that you build upon. So, like I said, we reside there, and so that's the image they're trying to paint throughout the scriptures. They're saying you need to build first and foremost, upon the foundation of Christ, and you can't move your home from that foundation. You can't, it's going to fall apart. You can't just pick up and go and leave and find a new foundation and think your building's going to stand right. Your life is your building. Right, christ is your foundation.
Speaker 2:If you move that building off the foundation or you break that foundation, your building or life will fall apart, right, and so I think that's the analogy or the picture they're trying to paint constantly throughout the scriptures.
Speaker 2:They're showing you examples of people who are living with Christ and they're remaining steady through the storms, right, they're protected, they're sheltered and they stand fast, right. And then there's those who leave that foundation and they're like, wow, I was able to take my house somewhere way cooler, way, new, right In this analogy, right. But then all of a sudden their house starts to fall apart, like the prodigal son. He's like, oh man, this isn't working so well, and then it completely just crumbles, right, and he ends crawling back to that ultimate source or to that foundation, going back to that original foundation and pleading to be able to build there again. And Christ will always let us do that right. And so I loved that analogy of, or that perspective you brought up of living and abiding with him constantly. And we can't just, like you said, he's not a vacation home, he's not a mobile home, right, he is a steady foundation.
Speaker 1:We can't take Christ anywhere and everywhere we go, right, not every place is meant for Christ and if Christ isn't meant to be there, we're not meant to be there. Right, exactly, it was actually. I was actually having a conversation with a buddy this morning when we went. We went and did a cold plunge this morning, right, and we were talking about a few other people who we've seen over the years leave the church and it just so happened that these guys we were talking about had been married and divorced and I told them I was like dude, isn't it a shame that, like, sometimes, when, like, our life seems like it's imploding, that not only did this whole like relationship or things fall apart, then we go in, we remove the foundation of everything, everything we are, who we are, who we rely on, and and just abandoned it.
Speaker 1:And I was like how could, like, when your world has been rocked like that by like a divorce or something like that, why do we feel like we have to then go to the foundation, rip it up and then just it become a life altering moment that we might not come back from?
Speaker 1:And I've seen this again with people who in the church, where things don't work out and he told me he's like yeah, dude, that is so true. He's like and he's like why would I want like some relationship or some really bad thing to cause me to go do worse things? And I was like that's a good point. He's like I would want that bad moment to be a catalyst for me to do something even better or greater, and I think that's like the whole purpose of Christ. Even in the bad moments, like we have an option we could rip up the foundation of our home where we've been living with Christ, or we can return to the foundation and build even better house, you know, or even a better place, a stronger foundation, where those things might not happen again, or those type of things won't rock us in the same way or make us feel like our lives are in spiritual or even mortal danger, you know or make us feel like our lives are in spiritual or even mortal danger.
Speaker 2:you know, it's always funny to me that the first reaction to most people is when something bad or wrong goes and there are something goes wrong in their life, right, their first inclination is to blame God. Right, to be mad at him. Like, why would you get mad at the only person who's ever been there and cheering for you? Right, yeah, like, why would you be mad at the only person that's been there, a steady and constant source, right? And it's like you're mad because of choices you've made led to other results and decisions that you didn't feel like you wanted, right? Yeah, that's not God's fault.
Speaker 1:God doesn't control everything like that, or even letting other people's choices, too, yeah, be the reason for our actions. Like, yeah, maybe it wasn't your fault and maybe that person is the cause of your pain, but that doesn't mean you should then go blame God for it. It's not like God made that person do those things, you know.
Speaker 2:Exactly. It's like what benefit is there from complaining and blaming God? Right, god is not ever the cause of these things, right? I always wonder, when some people are like, oh, maybe this is just God testing me or challenging me, I'm like, well, I don't think he's directly challenging you or testing you. I think this is just what part of life is. Is experiencing right and I mean we're in a constant test right, whether good or bad is if we're going to stay true to him? Because when times are really good, it's just as easy to fall away from God when times are really good as it is when times are really rough.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because when times are really good, it's just as easy to say, well, maybe there is no God, Maybe God didn't give me this, Maybe I did this right. That's what pride comes into. And on the opposite side of the spectrum, there's two. You know we've talked about different types of pride before, but you start to believe more in your own strength rather than the strength of God, and so, regardless I think that's the thing we need to understand that circumstances of our life will change. President Nelson talked about this a while ago. I feel, like a couple of conferences ago right that our happiness and joy is not based on the present circumstances, rather our hope in Christ, and so realizing that, regardless of where we're at on this spectrum of whether we're destitute and in poverty or whether we are, you know, in the greatest, you know most productive times of our lives, that ultimately, we rely on God throughout all those times and we don't leave and we don't change our positions and our relationship. We remain consistent, as he has remained consistent with us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I do think like we get overwhelmed with with the church. You know, like we, we feel like there's so much that's required of us and, I'll be honest, like preparative to a lot of other religions, our church does require a ton of us. I don't know very many other churches where every member who attends church is asked to do a certain calling or duty at all times. And it made me realize, like, like, sometimes we do, like you were mentioning approach the gospel in in the wrong way. Sometimes we're like, oh, if I want to be doing better in the church or just better in general spiritually. You're like I have to be doing more and I think we confuse spiritual busyness with righteousness and I actually that is my like problem Like I think, like I got to be doing X, y, z all the time and then I'm good, but more I'm starting to realize that it's not doing more, it's receiving more of Christ.
Speaker 1:However, whatever that means to you, like in some instances in my life it meant I needed to repent of a certain action or recommit myself to the covenants I'd made and be more intentional about them. Sometimes it did mean I needed to read my scriptures more or pray more. Sometimes it also meant I needed to kind of like take a step back from doing certain things that I felt like were really like taking me away from Christ, and I wonder if we, instead of asking ourselves what more do I need to do, is like how can I better connect with christ?
Speaker 2:would that be the better question that would help us get out of some of these spiritual slumps, you know yeah, and I think that kind of goes on to, uh, what we talked about as well as we talked about sharing, like how do you, you know, gain more charity? And like how do you share and like, develop charity for one another? And ultimately we realized that you have to first receive charity, you have to first receive the love of Christ, you have to accept that love for yourself. And I like this. This is John 1, john 4, 19. And it's just simple real quick, we love him because he loved, he first loved us, right. Real quick, we love him because he loved, he first loved us, right.
Speaker 2:And so when we realized that, like you have to first receive and then you can share, and me and you had made this little analogy together about like a portable battery, right, a portable battery can give off energy, right, but it has to receive it from a source and it has to be recharged. It's not like charged up once and then good to go Right. It has not like charged up once and then good to go right. It has to continually be receiving, to give. And so we're not continually receiving charity and we're not continually receiving or experiencing Christ, right, how can we then go and try to give more Christ or give and share more of his love for others if we have not received it ourselves enough. No, that's what I really loved about how you brought up like spiritual busyness is not always equivalent to that relationship.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, I also like kind of adding to that is like there's been multiple times where I wanted to be better in a certain way when it came to the gospel and I would try like I think there's been so many you know me the best There've been times where I would try and try and dude. It felt like I would take three steps back or I would do good for a while and then I would fall apart or I would just yeah, and I realized like whenever we're like I'm going to be better, today I'm going to go do better, I'm like it's always from I'm going to do it all myself. I've realized this time and time again and I'm realizing now that like I shouldn't be telling myself I'm going to go be better. It's like I'm actually going to go be closer to Christ and Christ will make me better. And why don't I ever? Why do I always try to take myself from point A to point B when I don't have the power or capability? But if I'm like, okay, I'm actually going to go to point C, I'm going to go over here to Christ, who is point C or whatever, and he'll take me to point B, and it's just like.
Speaker 1:I just feel like I sometimes think about the gospel backwards, where like I'm going to do all this work and then I'm good and then Christ will take over the rest, instead of just letting Christ do it all, like I know that seems like counterintuitive, like I don't have a will or a choice. But my will and choice is just I want to choose Christ, I want to be with Christ. You know, and and I'm definitely oversimplifying it's much harder than I'm making it sound. But I think the attitude I think the attitude I need to carry that attitude more often right, because if I did, I would probably stay closer to Christ and actually benefit more.
Speaker 1:Like the, through Christ atone, we experience his grace and love it. Not only does that love change us like that we always talk about, like Christ changing us, but sometimes we don't talk about Christ also motivates us. Like I don't choose to wake up and try to live the commands just by my own ability. It's because I've experienced Christ before in my life and he is now like that motivation too. So he's first getting me off the couch, but then he's also sustaining me through this marathon of living the gospel too. So I think we forget about how he is the motivator, alongside the means as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it was funny. The little image that popped in my head when you were talking about point A and B and C is like a little analogy. Imagine like Christ is represented by a bus, right, and you walk all the way to your friend's apartment just to grab him, to bring him back to the bus. But the bus was supposed to be the means of getting you back and forth, right, so you've already come back to your own, you know. You're like, hey, I brought you to christ, all right, but we're together now. That was our whole goal was to get together and be with christ. But like you never were part of the journey or you were never part of, you never utilized the gift that christ gave you, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess a better analogy is say that like is connecting us, right, it's through, through christ's love is, and how we it? It's like we try to bring people to it rather than just saying, hey, come along and experience it with me. Does that make more sense? I have this mental image in my head, but it keeps getting more and more depth and layers. I can't express them all, but anyways, what I'm trying to get at is like we're not utilizing the gifts that Christ gives us. We're not utilizing, you know, the power that the atonement provides and we'd like to try to go out on our own efforts and bring people to it. That's a lot less effective than just using those tools and gifts. Right To help share with others, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I also think about like, how often do I put my time and energy into just like beating myself up for mistakes I made? Like, maybe if I would just be like give up on that part, like maybe this is the thing I'm supposed to take away from my own talk, and all this like maybe, instead of putting all this energy and perfectionism or or beating myself up or getting down on myself or even avoiding Christ, maybe I just transferred that energy, that mental and spiritual energy, into how can I be with Christ right now. Is that a prayer or is that like reading scriptures? Is it going and serving someone? How would that change my life? Because I feel like I'm putting all my energy in the wrong places all around Christ, but like never on Christ, exactly so.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I don't really have too many other thoughts besides what we discussed about receiving before we share and just living and experiencing. So I guess just my quick little final note that I have, and last thought is just like let's take time, let's slow down. Last thought is just let's take time, let's slow down, let's not get caught up in the checklist and then checking off all the things we need to do and start focusing on like what am I getting out of this? Right, why am I here at church? Here to partake of the sacrament? I'm here to become renewed and to come back into the good graces of my father.
Speaker 2:Okay, like, what's the purpose of serving? Serving is not just to lighten others burden, right, it's to sacrifice my own efforts. Right, it's giving up on myself, it's. You know, we have to realize the purpose behind the actions, and so that would be my advice to anyone right now struggling with the gospel or who is struggling to feel that they are abiding, even though they're going to church, they're reading the scriptures and they're praying. Why, why are you doing those things? As you get back to the source of what you're doing that, for I know that you will personally receive more that way than any other way, yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1:And I guess like the biggest thing is that I just to recap our conversation, and maybe this is for me but like don't get caught up in the spiritual busyness and thinking that is what the gospel is about. It really is making Christ the center of your life, making him your abode, your dwelling, a staying power on on Christ. Like you're definitely not going to get the benefits you want out of infrequently coming to Christ when things get tough or hard, but when we choose to stay and I think we need more testimonies of people staying, because I hear way too many people leaving Like we need more people who are choosing to stay and sharing those testimonies, showing those, sharing those stories. And then even we need more people talking about how they have returned to stay. I think, like those have always been some of my favorite testimonies when people are like I had this X, y, z reason to leave, but I chose to stay and I'm glad I did. And so, with that said, little flock despair, not build upon the rock, do good and always hear him Peace.