That is totally and completely. . .

Partially right.

The Lord said with the rainbow, He would “establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you.” (Genesis 9:9)

The rainbow symbolizes His covenant! 

All of the covenant.

This is the same covenant the Lord had already made with Enoch.

That their seed would multiply in righteousness and spread the gospel far and wide and that God would remember these people.

It’s the same covenant God later renewed with Abraham.

And it’s the same blessing we experience today. 

Yes, this covenant to Noah specifically mentions not flooding the earth again, but it’s important to remember there is another half to this.

We are still benefiting from and fulfilling this same covenant, this same promise with God, today!

Rainbows are a beautiful token of this covenant that God will remember and bless His people who remember Him.

“Just as in Noah’s time, we live in a day of prophetic promise and fulfillment.” – Paul E. Koelliker

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Rainbows  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

And he wept. ⁣

This encouraged him to plead with the Lord for a blessing on Noah’s descendants. ⁣

And the Lord made an oath:⁣

Never again would the earth be covered in a flood of water, and Noah’s descendants would be blessed to multiply and stay on the earth. ⁣

Ready for some of the most poetic language I think the Lord uses throughout all of scripture?!⁣

I love it. ⁣

When He talks about the dark days that will accompany the Savior’s Second Coming, Enoch becomes mournful again. ⁣

And so the Lord makes this promise, RIGHT after they had discussed Noah’s flood:⁣

“Righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood” (Moses 7:62). ⁣

Righteousness and truth is sweeping the earth like what?! ⁣

Like a FLOOD! ⁣

The destructive flood waters will not cover the entire earth again.⁣

But now, WE are the flood!⁣

Sharing righteousness and truth across the entire world in unprecedented ways. ⁣

Covering literally every corner of the earth with the influence of goodness. ⁣

Helping Christ to be known, loved, and worshipped by anyone who desires to. ⁣

I am beyond grateful that I am not living in the time of Noah’s flood that Enoch foresaw. ⁣

We missed that flood. ⁣

But I am also beyond grateful that I am here when another flood is sweeping the earth:⁣

This one filled with truth and righteousness. ⁣

And I think this is one I definitely want to be swept away in! 

“We live in the day foretold when righteousness is sent down out of heaven and truth out of the earth ‘to sweep the earth as with a flood,’ and to gather out the elect ‘from the four quarters of the earth.’” – Dallin H. Oaks

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Two types of floods  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

But for a long time, I was stuck there.

In fact, I still am often stuck there.

I recently was having a tough time with a kid who was behaving in a way that made it really difficult for me to know how to respond.

I was getting frustrated. My tactics weren’t working. The kid was getting more and more frustrated, too.

I thought, “How am I supposed to know what to do?!”

And then I thought, “Duh.”

I said a small, silent prayer, right in that moment.

I said something to my kid. I did something else. Everything was deescalated.

Jonah, in the belly of that great fish, said, “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord”. (Jonah 2:7)

It’s good to remember the Lord at the beginning and the end of the day.

But it’s also so good to remember Him in the heat of the moment.

When our soul faints. When our temper rises. When our embarrassment takes over. When our anxiety starts running. When our sadness rolls.

We can find strength when we remember the Lord in that very moment that we need Him.

And not just regular strength.

COVENANTAL strength.

When we “always remember Him”…

We get access to very real, priesthood, covenantal strength and power.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Remember in the moment first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Oh yeah, yeah. The light of Christ. Everyone receives it.

But I’ve usually heard it in CONTRAST with the GIFT of the Holy Ghost.

Every individual born on earth is given the light of Christ, but those who make baptismal covenants with God have access to His constant presence.

But I don’t want to contrast it today.

EVERYONE is given the light of Christ.

AMAZING!

Everyone is given that innate desire to become better.

That guiding light that pulls them toward goodness and truth.

Members of the restored church of Jesus Christ don’t even come close to having a monopoly on goodness in the world.

And prophets have confirmed that this is in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy!

“I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions”. (Joel 2:28)

President Joseph Fielding Smith said of Joel’s words:

“I am not going to confine this prophecy to the members of the Church. The Lord said he would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh. … [This means that] the Lord would pour out his blessings and his Spirit upon all people and use them to accomplish his purposes”.

The Lord is using EVERYONE to accomplish His purposes in these final days.

And President Gordon B. Hinckley said:

“From the day that He and His Beloved Son manifested themselves to the boy Joseph, there has been a tremendous cascade of enlightenment poured out upon the world. … The vision of Joel has been fulfilled”.

Invention and advancement and ingenuity.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE being part of God’s covenant people and having access to an even greater portion of His spirit, priesthood power, and ordinances.

But everyone else in the entire world has opportunities to move His work forward, too.

They’ve got His spirit. They’ve got blessings from Him.

No one is lost to Him.

God is pouring out His spirit upon ALL flesh.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The light of Christ first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I’ve said silent prayers like this many times.

When a friend brings up a difficult gospel topic, when I’m comforting someone in need, or when I’m teaching a Sunday School lesson…

I’ve sent that super prayer upward, pleading for words to come to my mind that would help me to navigate the situation.

The words don’t always appear instantly.

In fact I’ve noticed that sometimes I have to stumble through a lot of wrong words before I start to find my pathway forward with words that fit better.

But when I have a good, Christlike need for communicating, I have found that the support comes in one way or another.

The Savior mentioned that this is actually part of the covenant that He makes with those who turn away from sin.

“My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed”. (Isaiah 59:21)

When we covenant to take Jesus’ name upon us and always remember Him, He in turn promises that we can always have His Spirit to be with us.

And when we have the Spirit with us, we can be blessed to know what words to say at the right time.

Not a witty remark or a good comeback or anything else that might be self-serving.

But when we are in the position to bring people closer to the Savior or to strengthen our own testimony, the words associated with the gospel of Jesus Christ can be found within our mouths.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Righteous words first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

My sister was playing with a toy that I wanted, and I took it out of her hands.

Immediately, I knew I had done something wrong, and I felt so badly!

I had already messed up!

I had made a promise at baptism to always remember Jesus, and now I had forgotten.

Aaaaand I’m pretty sure this was the evening after I got baptized, so I hadn’t lasted very long at all.

The Israelites made such an eager promise when Moses read what the Lord had taught him:

“All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.” (Exodus 24:7)

Spoiler alert: the Israelites did NOT keep this promise.

They broke it many times, just as each of us break the promises and covenants that we have made.

But the good news?

Repentance and the sacrament make it possible to re-commit to those promises!

So have you re-committed recently?

Have you thought about what covenants you’ve made, and decided to keep them again?

Do you trust in the Savior’s ability to really cleanse?

And can you draw on the Savior’s strength to re-commit over and over?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Messing up first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I also remember him teaching me that when I was dunked under the water, it was as if I was being buried and then coming back to life, just like Jesus.

I thought that was pretty cool, because it’s as if we were acting out what was happening!

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that a lot of ordinances are accompanied with physical actions.

Like when we take the bread and water for the sacrament!

But I’ve also learned that the action itself isn’t what causes me to make a covenant.

Just eating bread and water itself isn’t what’s renewing my covenants each week.

Yes, ordinances are formal acts that are super important.

But we also have to make sure our mind is engaged with what we are actually promising!

Our heart and our mind have to be involved with some level of intention.

When Moses was instructing the children of Israel on how to perform the Passover to avoid their firstborn sons dying, he referred to the act of painting their door frames with lamb’s blood as an “ordinance”.

So the Passover was an ordinance for the children of Israel!

The physical act of what they did was so important… but so was what their hearts were doing at the same time.

Look at what they were thinking about as they reflected on this ordinance:

“It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt… And the people bowed the head and worshipped.” (Exodus 12:27)

They worshipped.

I think it is so cool that so many ordinances have physical acts associated with them that can help us ponder even deeper on the covenants being made.

But I also know that just “going through the motions” isn’t what saved the firstborns during the Passover.

And “going through the motions” isn’t what will help our hearts become molded to what the Lord wants them to be.

The sacred action + engaging our minds = true worship and lasting change!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Ordinances and actions first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I used to picture the Abrahamic covenant as some promise God made with Abraham a long long time ago.

And that’s it.

I know I’ve been told to study it and learn about it, but in my mind it was only to learn about history.

Here’s the cool realization I made, though!

Abraham’s covenant is not about him.

Yes, he’s the one being blessed, but what is the blessing all about?

Let’s see what we learn in Genesis 26:3-4, which is where the Abrahamic covenant is being extended now to his son, Isaac:

“I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries… And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

This blessing is about YOU! It is about ME!

We are the ones being blessed, across countries, and without number.

When we live a righteous and faith-filled life, we are being part of this covenant and we are being blessed.

And then we, in turn, become the ones who reach out and bless other people’s lives as we emulate Christ and share what we know.

This isn’t just a history lesson; we are the ones fulfilling the covenant!

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post We are the blessing first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“That they may always have His spirit to be with them.”

Like, this is my goal in life.

You know those people that you looked up to in your ward growing up, who just exuded kindness and love no matter what?

Those people you meet now who seem so genuine and sincere in all they do?

I think I’ve discovered the secret to what makes these people so awesome.

Really, there is a big connection that I’ve made:

They all attend the temple on a regular basis.

And I say “regular basis” because I have lived both near and far from temples, and these individuals all worship there “regularly”, whatever that means to them.

Try it out— talk to that person that just magnifies the Spirit in all they do, and bring up their thoughts on the temple.

Because I think they real key to always having the Spirit with us is to always be keeping our covenants.

And to keep them, we have to know them and ponder on them regularly.

King Abimelech noticed this quality about Abraham, someone who was very familiar with covenants:

“God is with thee in all that thou doest”. (Genesis 21:22)

The Spirit is with those who draw priesthood power into their lives by keeping powerful and eternal covenants with God.

What have you covenanted to do?

Those actions will keep the Spirit pouring into your life, in all that you do.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post In all that you do first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

You know, that one they did at Stanford years ago where they placed a marshmallow in front of a kid and told them that if they didn’t eat it before the adult returned, they would get two marshmallows.

(For the record, my mom always said that I was the type of kid who would have waited for the two marshmallows, even from a super young age.)

As I’ve studied about the famous covenant that God makes with Abraham, one thing that really caught my eye is that so many of the blessings of this covenant are for AFTER Abraham’s lifetime!

The Lord makes promises that Abraham’s seed will know God, and that “unto thy seed have I given this land”. (Genesis 15:18)

His seed were promised land and great spiritual blessings, but most of this would not be during Abraham’s lifetime.

And yet Abraham still rejoiced in this covenant!

Not all of our covenant blessings are going to be fulfilled while we are here on the earth.

Some will, just like Abraham was still given a firstborn son. And certain covenants, such as our baptismal promises to always have His spirit to be with us, are being fulfilled constantly here on earth.

But there’s also a huge portion of our “reward” that we can barely even imagine right now.

Promises for our future posterity that won’t be fulfilled until after this life.

Promises about our own future that won’t be fulfilled until the eternities.

Blessings of peace and rest that we can get glimpses of now, but that might not be fully realized until much later.

There is so, so, so much good that God gives us right now on the earth.

It’s like He is giving us one marshmallow and telling us we can enjoy it now.

But there is also another marshmallow waiting on the other side.

Probably a million more marshmallows, actually.

So are we willing to be patient? To look for the blessings filling our life now, but also to expect so much more in the future?

Covenants are powerful and binding and real, and we can count on God to pour out the blessings when we fulfill our portion, even if that means practicing some delayed gratification.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Covenants and marshmallows first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.