Teaching the Proclamation to Children Part 4

“In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life.”

How to Explain This to Children

Before we were born on earth, we lived with Heavenly Father as His spirit daughters and His spirit sons. Heavenly Father told us He had a plan for us. In this plan we would get a body by being born on earth. We would have experiences that would help us grow. We could choose to learn and become more like our Heavenly Parents. One day we would return to Them. We loved Heavenly Father and accepted this plan.

Activity Idea

Review the plan of salvation by labeling different places in your house as different parts of the plan (for example, pre-earth life, life on earth, spirit world, eternal life). As you move from place to place, talk about why that part of the plan is important. If possible, find a picture of Jesus Christ to take with you. At each stop, talk about why Jesus is important to that part of the plan and how He can help us get to the next place successfully. Talk about why Heavenly Father’s plan is sometimes called the “plan of happiness.”

Find other teaching tips and a copy of the family proclamation at ProclamationKids.lds.org.

Teaching the Proclamation to Children Part 3

“All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.”

How to Explain This to Children

Every single person on earth is an important child of Heavenly Parents. We can grow up to be like Them! Each person here on earth was created as a girl or a boy even before they were born. They are here as a girl or a boy for a reason. And after this life, they will continue to be a girl or a boy.

Activity Idea

Give each child a piece of paper and invite them to fill it with a collage of pictures and words showing what makes them unique. They could cut pictures out of magazines, draw their own, or print pictures from online. Talk about how wonderful it is that people have different talents and interests. Point to two different tools that were used to create your collages—a pair of scissors and a bottle of glue, for example. Although these tools look different and do different things, they worked together to create something beautiful. Explain that boys and girls are created to be different, but neither one is better than the other. Men and women work together to create beautiful families.

Find other teaching tips and a copy of the familyproclamation at ProclamationKids.lds.org.

Teaching the Proclamation to Children Part 2

“We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”

How to Explain This to Children

This proclamation was written to the world by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It teaches what Heavenly Father wants us to know about families. Heavenly Father wants men and women to be married and create families because families are one of the most important parts of the plan of salvation. Families help us reach our “eternal destiny,” which is to learn and grow to become more like our Heavenly Parents.

Activity Idea

Show your children pictures of your wedding or the wedding of grandparents or other couples in your family history. Tell your children the story of how you and your spouse met, or share other stories from family and friends. Invite your children to draw pictures of what they imagine their wedding and family will be like someday. Testify of the blessings that have come into your life because of marriage.

Find other teaching tips and a copy of the family proclamation at ProclamationKids.lds.org.

Teaching the Proclamation to Children Part 1

Read out loud the full title of the proclamation: “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.”

How to Explain This to Children

A “proclamation” is a very important announcement. Sometimes kings and queens make proclamations to the people in their land. This proclamation wasn’t written by a king or a queen—it was written by the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles! It teaches us important things that Heavenly Father wants us to know about families. It warns us about actions that will hurt our families or our communities. It also teaches us how we can stay safe and happy in this life. These teachings are so important that we want everyone in the entire world to hear this message. President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008), who was the prophet before President Monson, first read this proclamation at a general Relief Society meeting in September 1995.

Activity Idea

Imagine your family had the chance to share a message when the entire world was watching. What would you say? Create your own proclamation by writing or drawing your testimonies onto a large paper or poster board. Take turns standing on a chair and reading the statements of testimony out loud in a bold way, as if you were making an announcement. How does sharing your testimony make you feel? Why would it be important to listen to the proclamations and testimonies of the First Presidency and the Apostles?

Find other teaching tips and a copy of the family proclamation at ProclamationKids.lds.org.

Doesn't Know Thoughts

Another significant limitation is that Satan does not know our thoughts unless we tell him. The Lord explained, “There is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart” (D&C 6:16).

Perhaps this is why the Lord has given us commandments such as “Do not murmur” (D&C 9:6) and “Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor” (D&C 42:27). If you can learn to bridle your tongue (see James 1:26), you won’t end up giving too much information to the devil. When he hears murmuring, complaining, and criticizing, he takes careful notes. Your negative words expose your weaknesses to the enemy.

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The War Goes On

By Elder Larry R. Lawrence

Of the Seventy

Contention

The devil has learned from centuries of experience that where there is contention, the Spirit of the Lord will depart. Ever since he convinced Cain to kill Abel, Satan has influenced siblings to quarrel. He also stirs up problems in marriages, among ward members, and between missionary companions. He delights in seeing good people argue. He tries to start family arguments right before church on Sunday, right before family home evening on Monday night, and whenever a couple plans to attend a temple session. His timing is predictable.

When there is contention in your home or workplace, immediately stop whatever you are doing and seek to make peace. It doesn’t matter who started it.

Contention often begins with faultfinding. Joseph Smith taught that “the devil flatters us that we are very righteous, when we are feeding on the faults of others.”6 When you think about it, self-righteousness is just a counterfeit for real righteousness.

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Temptation

The devil is brazen when it comes to putting wicked ideas into our minds. The Book of Mormon teaches that Satan whispers unclean and unkind thoughts and sows thoughts of doubt. He nags us to act on addictive urges and to entertain selfishness and greed. He doesn’t want us to recognize where these ideas are coming from, so he whispers, “I am no devil, for there is none” (2 Nephi 28:22).

How can we resist this direct temptation? One of the most effective tools is to simply send Satan away. That’s what Jesus would do.

The New Testament account of the Savior on the mount of temptations is instructive. After each temptation the devil presented to Him, Jesus used a two-step defensive technique: first, He ordered Satan to leave; then He quoted scripture.

Let me give you an example: “Get thee hence, Satan,” commanded Jesus, “for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:10). The next verse records, “Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him” (Matthew 4:11). The Savior’s defense was very effective!

The biography of President Heber J. Grant (1856–1945) gives insight into how President Grant, as a young man, resisted the devil. When President Grant recognized that Satan was whispering to him, trying to plant doubts in his heart, he simply said out loud, “Mr. Devil, shut up.”4

You have the right to tell Satan to leave when you are confronted with temptation. The scriptures teach, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

The other part of the Savior’s defense was to quote scripture. There is great power in memorizing scripture, as Jesus did. Scriptural verses can become an arsenal of spiritual ammunition.

When you are tempted, you can recite commandments such as “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy,” “Love your enemies,” or “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly” (Exodus 20:8; Luke 6:27; D&C 121:45). Scripture power not only intimidates Satan, but it also brings the Spirit into your heart, reassures you, and fortifies you against temptation.

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By Elder Larry R. Lawrence

Of the Seventy

Give More of Yourself

"May I suggest that we give more of ourselves... It might be something as simple as smiling more on your home. What would you think of speaking more cheerfully? Try more often to say please and thank you? What would you think of finding an opportunity for one sincere compliment for each person each day, then watching them respond? What if you decided to be more cheerful at the dinner table, and in spite of what others might do or say, hold to your course. See how long you can uplift your whole family."

H. Burke Peterson

Body of Deity

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has put it this way: “If having a body is not only not needed but not desirable by Deity, why did the Redeemer of mankind redeem His body, redeeming it from the grasp of death and the grave, guaranteeing it would never again be separated from His spirit in time or eternity? Any who dismiss the concept of an embodied God dismiss both the mortal and the resurrected Christ.”

Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent,” Ensign, Nov. 2007, 42.

No Young Woman Should Be Judged For Not Serving a Mission

No Young Woman Should Be Judged for Not Serving a Mission

“President Monson never intended for all of the young women in the Church to go on missions by dropping [the] age [to 19]. We’re very grateful for those who go. It’s changed the face of the Church. … But we do not want anyone feeling inadequate or left out or undignified or tarnished because she did not choose to serve a mission. And we’re a little irritated with young men who say, ‘Well, I’m not going to date you because you didn’t serve a mission.’ … We do not want that kind of climate over dating or marriages. … It isn’t our place to pass a judgment.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Face to Face broadcast, Mar. 8, 2016, facetoface.lds.org.