Teaching the Proclamation to Children Part 5

This Month’s Selection

“The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.”

How to Explain This to Children

Because we know about Heavenly Father’s plan, we know we can be a family even after we die. In the temple, we make promises with Heavenly Father and learn how to be obedient. We can also be sealed as a family in the temple, which means that if we are faithful, we can live with Heavenly Father and our families forever.

Activity Idea

Hang a picture of a temple somewhere in your home—cut a picture out of the Church magazines or draw a temple if you wish. Look at the picture as a family and talk about what you can do to live together with Heavenly Father someday. If you haven’t already been sealed as a family, make a plan to get to the temple. If your family has been sealed, share your testimony of what happened on that special day, and set goals to continue making faithful choices. Visit FamilySearch.org and learn more about family members who have died. Talk about meeting them again someday. Are there any family members who need temple ordinances done?

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

What We Learn From the First Vision

It is an amazing and enlightening experience to analyze what we learn from this sacred, awe-inspiring experience. I would like to share a sampling of truths we learn from Joseph Smith’s First Vision regarding the eternal nature of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ; the reality of Satan; the struggle between good and evil; and other important aspects of the great plan of salvation.

We learn that the scriptures are true and can be taken literally and applied in our lives.

We learn that pondering the scriptures brings power and insight.

We learn that knowledge alone isn’t enough; acting on what we know results in God’s blessings.

We learn to put our trust in God and look to Him for answers to life’s most important questions and not to put our trust in man.

We learn that prayers are answered according to our unwavering faith and according to Heavenly Father’s will.

We learn the reality of Satan’s existence and that he has actual power to influence the physical world, including us.

We learn that Satan’s power is limited and superseded by God’s power.

We learn that Satan will stop at nothing to destroy the work of God and that Satan must have known the importance of Joseph Smith in his role as the prophet of the Restoration.

We learn that we can overcome Satan by calling upon God and putting our complete faith and trust in Him.

We learn that where there is light, darkness must depart.

We learn that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are two separate and distinct beings, resembling each other in features and likeness.

We learn that we are created in God’s image.

We learn that Christ is risen.

We learn that God knows us personally and is aware of our needs and concerns. He called Joseph by name.

We learn of the relationship between the Father and the Son. Jesus defers to His Father, and the Father communicates with mortals here upon the earth through His Son.

We learn that Jesus Christ is beloved of His Father by the Father’s designating Jesus as His Beloved Son.

We learn that the true Church of Jesus Christ as He originally organized it was not found upon the earth at the time of Joseph Smith, confirming the reality of the Great Apostasy foretold by Paul the Apostle.

We learn that when we care enough to desire God’s input in our life, He will reveal a refining course for us. At Joseph’s time all the denominations and sects were wrong.

We learn that every dispensation of time receives the visions, blessings, and glories of God.

We learn insight into how God chooses His prophets.

We learn that God chooses the pure in heart who are righteous and have righteous desires to do His work, confirming the teaching from the Bible that God looks upon the heart and does not choose based on outward appearance or social status or standing (see 1 Samuel 16:7).

The First Vision: Key to Truth

By Elder Richard J. Maynes

Of the Presidency of the Seventy

Four Accounts of the First Vision

• The First Vision: Key to Truth

By Elder Richard J. Maynes

Of the Presidency of the Seventy

From a worldwide devotional for young adults, “The Truth Restored,” delivered at the Salt Lake Tabernacle on May 1, 2016; for the full text and video, go to lds.org/broadcasts. The full text of the four accounts of the First Vision can be found at history.lds.org/firstvision.

The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote or dictated four known accounts of his First Vision. Additionally, his contemporaries recorded their memories of what they heard Joseph say about the vision; five such accounts are known. It is a blessing to have these records. They make Joseph’s First Vision the best-documented vision in history. I encourage you to visit history.lds.org to learn more about the accounts and see how they work together to paint a more complete picture.

The Gospel Topics essay “First Vision Accounts” states: “The various accounts of the First Vision tell a consistent story, though naturally they differ in emphasis and detail. Historians expect that when an individual retells an experience in multiple settings to different audiences over many years, each account will emphasize various aspects of the experience and contain unique details. Indeed, differences similar to those in the First Vision accounts exist in the multiple scriptural accounts of Paul’s vision on the road to Damascus and the Apostles’ experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. Yet despite the differences, a basic consistency remains across all the accounts of the First Vision. Some have mistakenly argued that any variation in the retelling of the story is evidence of fabrication. To the contrary, the rich historical record enables us to learn more about this remarkable event than we could if it were less well documented.”

Jesus Beheld Him and Loved Him

Then Jesus Beholding Him Loved Him

By Elder S. Mark Palmer

Of the Seventy

As we learn to see others as the Lord sees them rather than with our own eyes, our love for them will grow and so will our desire to help them.

No true teaching or learning will ever occur when done in frustration or anger, and hearts will not change where love is not present. 

Love should never be withdrawn when a child, friend, or family member fails to live up to our expectations.

My dear brothers and sisters, now anytime you feel you are being asked to do something hard—give up a poor habit or an addiction, put aside worldly pursuits, sacrifice a favorite activity because it is the Sabbath, forgive someone who has wronged you—think of the Lord beholding you, loving you, and inviting you to let it go and follow Him. And thank Him for loving you enough to invite you to do more.

Unwavering Faith

Confide in God Unwaveringly

By Elder Ulisses Soares

Of the Presidency of the Seventy

Mortal life is a period of testing where we will be proven to see if we will do all things that the Lord our God shall command us.3 This will require unwavering faith in Christ even in times of great difficulty. It will require that we press forward with steadfast faith in Christ, being led by the Spirit and trusting that God will provide for our needs...

God blesses us according to our faith.10 Faith is the source of living with divine purpose and eternal perspective. Faith is a practical principle that inspires diligence. It is a vital, living force manifest in our positive attitude and desire to willingly do everything that God and Jesus Christ ask of us. It takes us to our knees to implore the Lord for guidance and to arise and act with confidence to achieve things consistent with His will...

If we are steadfast and do not waver in our faith, the Lord will increase our capacity to raise ourselves above the challenges of life. We will be enabled to subdue negative impulses, and we will develop the capacity to overcome even what appear to be overwhelming obstacles. ...

 I testify that by the power of your unwavering faith in Christ, you will become free of the captivity of sin, of doubt, of unbelief, of unhappiness, of suffering; and you will receive all of the promised blessings from our loving Heavenly Father.

Certain Women

Consider these synonyms of one meaning of the word certain as connected to faithful, certain women: “convinced,” “positive,” “confident,” “firm,” “definite,” “assured,” and “dependable.”...

Drusilla Hendricks and her family were among those who, as new converts, suffered during the persecution of the Saints in Clay County, Missouri. Her husband was permanently paralyzed during the Battle of Crooked River. She was left to care for him as well as provide for her family.

“At one particularly distressing time, when the family was out of food, she remembered that a voice told her, ‘Hold on, for the Lord will provide.’”

When her son was needed to volunteer for the Mormon Battalion, at first Drusilla resisted and wrestled in prayer with Heavenly Father until “it was as though a voice said to her, ‘Do you not want the highest glory?’ She answered naturally, ‘Yes,’ and the voice continued, ‘How do you think to gain it save by making the greatest sacrifices?’”....

Sisters, when we have become distracted, doubtful, discouraged, sinful, sorrowful, or soul-stretched, may we accept the Lord’s invitation to drink of His living water, as did the certain woman at the well, inviting others to do the same as we bear our own certain witness: “Is not this the Christ?”

When life seems unfair, as it must have seemed to Martha at the death of her brother—when we experience the heartaches of loneliness, infertility, loss of loved ones, missing opportunities for marriage and family, broken homes, debilitating depression, physical or mental illness, stifling stress, anxiety, addiction, financial hardship, or a plethora of other possibilities—may we remember Martha and declare our similar certain witness: “But I know … [and] I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.”

Certain Women by Linda K. Burton

Walking with the Savior

"Walk with Me”

By President Henry B. Eyring

First Counselor in the First Presidency

Brethren, our ordination to the priesthood is an invitation from the Lord to walk with Him. And what does it mean to walk with thtoe Lord? It means to do what He does, to serve the way He serves. He sacrificed His own comforts to bless those in need, so that’s what we try to do. He seemed to take particular notice of people who were overlooked and even shunned by society, so we should try to do that too. He testified boldly yet lovingly of the true doctrine He received from His Father, even if it was unpopular, and so must we.

...the Lord’s work is not just to solve problems; it is to build people. So as you walk with Him in priesthood service, you may find that sometimes what seems like the most efficient solution is not the Lord’s preferred solution because it does not allow people to grow. If you listen, He will teach you His ways. 

Walking with the Savior in priesthood service will change the way you look at others. He will teach you to see them through His eyes, which means seeing past an outward appearance and into the heart (see 1 Samuel 16:7). 

Holiness

Holiness is in the striving and the struggle to keep the commandments and to honor the covenants we have made with God. Holiness is making the choices that will keep the Holy Ghost as our guide.3 Holiness is setting aside our natural tendencies and becoming “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.”4 “Every moment of [our lives] must be holiness to the Lord.”5

Sisters, if we would be holy, we must learn to sit at the feet of the Holy One of Israel and give time to holiness. Do we set aside the phone, the never-ending to-do list, and the cares of worldliness? Prayer, study, and heeding the word of God invite His cleansing and healing love into our souls. Let us take time to be holy, that we may be filled with His sacred and sanctifying Spirit. With the Holy Ghost as our guide, we will be prepared to receive the Savior in the beauty of holiness.24

The Beauty of Holiness by Carol F. McConkie