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Abinadi Appearing before King Noah, by Arnold Friberg, © 1951 IRI |
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
The Prophet Abinadi Preaches to the Wicked King Noah and his Priests
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus
A most priceless blessing available to every member of the Church is a testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ and His church. A testimony is one of the few possessions we may take with us when we leave this life.
To have a testimony of Jesus is to possess knowledge through the Holy Ghost of the divine mission of Jesus Christ.
A testimony of Jesus is to know the divine nature of our Lord’s birth—that He is indeed the Only Begotten Son in the flesh.
A testimony of Jesus is to know that He was the promised Messiah and that while He sojourned among men He accomplished many mighty miracles.
A testimony of Jesus is to know that the laws which He prescribed as His doctrine are true and then to abide by these laws and ordinances.
To possess a testimony of Jesus is to know that He voluntarily took upon Himself the sins of all mankind in the Garden of Gethsemane, which caused Him to suffer in both body and spirit and to bleed from every pore. All this He did so that we would not have to suffer if we would repent. (See D&C 19:16, 18.)
To possess a testimony of Jesus is to know that He came forth triumphantly from the grave with a physical, resurrected body. And because He lives, so shall all mankind.
To possess a testimony of Jesus is to know that God the Father and Jesus Christ did indeed appear to the Prophet Joseph Smith to establish a new dispensation of His gospel so that salvation may be preached to all nations before He comes.
To possess a testimony of Jesus is to know that the Church, which He established in the meridian of time and restored in modern times is, as the Lord has declared, “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.” (D&C 1:30.)
Having such a testimony is vital. But of even greater importance is being valiant in our testimony.
A testimony of Jesus means that we accept the divine mission of Jesus Christ, embrace His gospel, and do His works. It also means we accept the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith and his successors and follow their counsel. As Jesus said, “Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” (D&C 1:38.)
Speaking of those who will eventually receive the blessings of the celestial kingdom, the Lord said to Joseph Smith:
“They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given.” (D&C 76:51.)
These are they who are valiant in their testimony of Jesus, who, as the Lord has declared, “overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true.” (D&C 76:53.)
“Those who are just and true!” What an apt expression for those valiant in the testimony of Jesus. They are courageous in defending truth and righteousness. These are members of the Church who magnify their callings in the Church (see D&C 84:33), pay their tithes and offerings, live morally clean lives, sustain their Church leaders by word and action, keep the Sabbath as a holy day, and obey all the commandments of God.
To these the Lord has promised that “all thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ.” (D&C 121:29.)
Not to be valiant in one’s testimony is a tragedy of eternal consequence. There are members who know this latter-day work is true, but who fail to endure to the end.
One who rationalizes that he or she has a testimony of Jesus Christ but cannot accept direction and counsel from the leadership of His church is in a fundamentally unsound position and is in jeopardy of losing exaltation.
From the days of my youth, I have gratefully cherished a testimony of the truth of this glorious work in which we are engaged. I want you to know of my love for my counselors, my brethren of the Twelve, the Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric. I know them to be men appointed by our Lord under the inspiration of heaven. I sustain their inspired words and counsel and testify of the unity that we all feel among the General Authorities of this church.
I love the members of the Church. I love all our Father’s children and desire all to realize the blessings of eternal life. I know that is what the Lord, our Savior and Redeemer, desires for each one of us.
My appeal to all members of the Church is to be valiant—true and loyal,
True to the faith that our parents have cherished,
True to the truth for which martyrs have perished,
To God’s command,
Soul, heart, and hand,
Faithful and true [may] we ever stand.
(Hymns, 1985, no. 254.)
I bear testimony that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. He presides over it and is close to His servants. God bless us all to be valiant in our testimony of Him, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. -- Ezra Taft Benson
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Waiting upon the Lord: Thy Will Be Done
To wait upon the Lord means planting the seed of faith and nourishing it “with great diligence, and … patience.”17
It means praying as the Savior did—to God, our Heavenly Father—saying: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.”18 It is a prayer we offer with our whole souls in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Waiting upon the Lord means pondering in our hearts and “receiv[ing] the Holy Ghost” so that we can know “all things what [we] should do.”19
As we follow the promptings of the Spirit, we discover that “tribulation worketh patience”20 and we learn to “continue in patience until [we] are perfected.”21
Waiting upon the Lord means to “stand fast”22 and “press forward” in faith, “having a perfect brightness of hope.”23
It means “relying alone upon the merits of Christ”24 and “with [His] grace assisting [us, saying]: Thy will be done, O Lord, and not ours.”25
As we wait upon the Lord, we are “immovable in keeping the commandments,”26 knowing that we will “one day rest from all [our] afflictions.”27
And we “cast not away … [our] confidence”28 that “all things wherewith [we] have been afflicted shall work together for [our] good.”29
17. Alma 32:41.
18. Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2.
19. 2 Nephi 32:5.
20. Romans 5:3.
22. Alma 45:17.
23. 2 Nephi 31:20.
24. Moroni 6:4.
26. Alma 1:25.
27. Alma 34:41.
28. Hebrews 10:35.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Come What May, and Love It
Learn to Laugh
Seek for the Eternal
Understand the Principle of Compensation
Trust the Lord
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Jesus is the Christ
Each of us can gain a personal testimony that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus said, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will he will know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” (John 7:16-17) I have sought truth, and I have found it. I have asked to know the truth, and I have received it. I have knocked on the door of salvation, and it has been opened unto me. Each of us can know the truth for ourselves. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” (John 14:6)
In the final chapter of the Book of Mormon, Moroni writes: “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is. And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.”
Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
I Thank Thee for the Stone Cut-out of a Mountain without Hands to Fill the Whole Earth
"Our most important message, which we are both divinely commissioned and commanded to take everywhere in the world, is that there is a Savior. He lived in the meridian of time. He atoned for our sins, was crucified, and was resurrected." -- L. Whitney Clayton
For more information, go to: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/the-time-shall-come?lang=eng
For more information, go to: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/the-time-shall-come?lang=eng
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Prophet of the Restoration
Thursday, February 9, 2012
I Thank Thee For The Simple Gospel Truths
Even a Child Can Understand
People who try to find God sometimes think that they have to look for Him in intellectually complicated concepts.
However, our Heavenly Father is always available to us. He adapts to our level of understanding. “If He comes to a little child, He will adapt himself to the language and capacity of a little child” (Joseph Smith, in History of the Church, 3:392). God would indeed be unjust if the gospel were only accessible to an intellectual elite. In His goodness, He has ensured that the truths regarding God are understandable to all His children, whatever their level of education or intellectual faculty.
In reality, the fact that a principle can be understood even by a child is proof of its power. President John Taylor said, “It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it” (“Discourse,” Deseret News, Sept. 30, 1857, 238).
Little children have a marvelous disposition to learn. They have total trust in their teacher, a pure spirit, and great humility—in other words, the same qualities which open the door to the Holy Spirit. Knowing God is a matter of opening our hearts to gain a spiritual understanding and a fervent testimony of the truth of these few fundamental points of doctrine. Knowing God is having a testimony of His existence and feeling in one’s heart that He loves us. It is accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and having a fervent desire to follow His example.
I pray that we will know how to open our hearts like a little child and take pleasure in hearing and practicing the word of God in all the power of its simplicity. I bear testimony that if we do this, we will gain the knowledge of the “mysteries [of God] and [the] peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal” (D&C 42:61). In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. -- GÉRALD CAUSSÉ
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
He Restoreth My Soul
Psalm 23
David declares, The Lord is my shepherd.
4 Yea, though I awalk through the bvalley of the cshadow ofddeath, I will fear no eevil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they fcomfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou aanointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely agoodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Keith Green's version of the 23rd Psalm
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