Bringing Worldliness into the Gospel

 Elder Ezra Taft Benson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:

"Christ taught that we should be in the world but not of it. Yet there are some in our midst who are not so much concerned about taking the gospel into the world as they are about bringing worldliness into the gospel. They want us to be in the world and of it." (in Conference Report, Apr. 1969, 11). 

 

Steady in the Storms

By President Henry B. Eyring

Second Counselor in the First Presidency

Liahona May 2022

My prayer is that I might help you stand steady in the storms we face, with a peaceful heart.

The place to begin is to remember that we are each a beloved child of God and that He has inspired servants...

The perils of greatest danger come to us from the forces of wickedness. Those forces are increasing. And so it will become more difficult, not easier, to honor the covenants we must make and keep to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

...there is hope in the promise God has made of a place of safety in the storms ahead...

“And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, … whereon if men build they cannot fall.”³

The misery and endless woe of which he spoke are the terrible effects of sins should we not fully repent of them. The growing storms are the temptations and the increasing attacks of Satan. It has never been more important than it is now to understand how to build on that sure foundation...

He invited his people and us to build on the only sure rock of safety, who is the Savior. He made clear that we are free to choose between right and wrong and that we cannot avoid the consequences of our choices. He spoke directly and sharply because he knew what sorrow would come to those who might not hear and heed his warnings...

King Benjamin went on to say, “O, all ye old men, and also ye young men, and you little children who can understand my words, for I have spoken plainly unto you that ye might understand, I pray that ye should awake to a remembrance of the awful situation of those that have fallen into transgression.”⁴

For me, the power of that warning to repent forms in my mind a picture of the sure time when you and I will stand before the Savior after this life. We want with all our hearts not to shrink but rather to look up at Him, see Him smile, and hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: … enter [in].”⁵

King Benjamin makes it clear how we can receive the hope to hear those words if we find the way in this life to have our natures changed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That is the only way we can build on the sure foundation and so stand firm during the storms of temptations and trials ahead. King Benjamin describes that change in our natures with a beautiful metaphor that has always touched my heart. It was used by prophets for millennia and by the Lord Himself. It is this: we must become as a child—a little child.

For some, that will not be easy to accept. Most of us want to be strong. We may well see being like a child as being weak. Most parents look for the day when their children act less childish. But King Benjamin, who understood as well as any mortal what it meant to be a man of strength and courage, makes it clear that to be like a child is not to be childish. It is to be like the Savior, who prayed to His Father for strength to be able to do His Father’s will and atone for the sins of all of His Father’s children and then did it. Our natures must be changed to become as a child to gain the strength we must have to stand steady and at peace in times of peril.

Here is King Benjamin’s stirring description of how that change comes: “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”⁶

We receive that change as we make and renew covenants with God. That brings the power of Christ’s Atonement to allow a transformation in our hearts. We can feel it every time we partake of the sacrament, perform a temple ordinance for a departed ancestor, testify as a witness of the Savior, or care for someone in need as Christ’s disciple.

In those experiences, we become over time like a child in our capacity to love and obey. We come to stand on the sure foundation. Our faith in Jesus Christ brings us to repentance and to keeping His commandments. We obey, and we gain power to resist temptation, and we gain the promised companionship of the Holy Ghost.

Our natures change to become as a little child, obedient to God and more loving. That change will qualify us to enjoy the gifts that come through the Holy Ghost. Having the Spirit’s companionship will comfort, guide, and strengthen us....

God. I have learned from many experiences that the Holy Ghost speaks most often in a quiet voice, heard most easily when one’s heart is meek and submissive, like that of a child. In fact, the prayer that works is “I want only what You want. Just tell me what that is. I’ll do it.”

When the storms in life come, you can be steady because you are standing on the rock of your faith in Jesus Christ. That faith will lead you to daily repentance and consistent covenant keeping. Then you will always remember Him. And through the storms of hatred and wickedness, you will feel steady and hopeful.

More than that, you will find yourself reaching out to lift others to safety on the rock with you. Faith in Jesus Christ always leads to greater hope and to feelings of charity toward others, which is the true love of Christ.

I bear you my solemn witness that the Lord Jesus Christ has given you the invitation “Come unto me.”⁷ He invites you, out of love for you and for those you love, to come to Him for peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come. He knows perfectly the storms you will face in your test as part of the plan of happiness.

I plead with you to accept the Savior’s invitation. Like a meek and loving child, accept His help. Make and keep the covenants He offers in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They will strengthen you. The Savior knows the storms and the places of safety on the way home to Him and to our Heavenly Father. He knows the way. He is the Way.

 

Navigating Difficulties in Relationships

By Christy Monson

Retired Marriage and Family Therapist

Liahona Jan 2023

Navigating challenges in our family relationships can test us to our emotional limits. As a therapist, I saw many heart-wrenching situations. But I also witnessed blessings in the lives of those who faced their family trials by seeking the Lord’s help to improve their communication, increase their love and understanding, and work together on making important changes. With the Lord’s help, they found strength to grow through their problems....

Ideas for Saving Disconnected Relationships

We believe families can be together forever. But sometimes our choices or the choices of family members can cause significant damage to our relationships. Here are some ideas for how you can help repair or strengthen difficult relationships:

• Include God in your healing, individually and together.

• Make plans for walking away from a harmful relationship if both of you won’t do the work.

• Find outside help, such as a therapist or your bishop.

• Learn to listen.

• Learn how to talk about hard things.

• State your needs and wants.

• Set boundaries.

• Take a time-out when the communication becomes blaming or critical.

• Don’t end a difficult conversation without deciding what each of you will do differently.

• Find ways to appreciate each other.

• Be willing to forgive and seek forgiveness.

Regular Immersion in the Book of Mormon

 Recently, President Russell M. Nelson taught: “Few things build faith more than does regular immersion in the Book of Mormon. No other book testifies of Jesus Christ with such power and clarity.”²

When he said this, I realized I received power because the Book of Mormon testifies of Jesus Christ, and He is the source of strength! Regular immersion in the Book of Mormon builds our faith, which gives us power.

After My Divorce, I Needed Strength Beyond My Own

Name withheld

Liahona Jan 2023

Perfection isn't possible in family relationships

 

Finding the Divine Design in Our “Un-ideal” Family

By Jenet Erickson

Associate Professor, Department of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University

Liahona Jan 2023

I have come to believe that “perfection” isn’t actually possible in family relationships, for anyone—at least in this life. But honesty, integrity, and genuine closeness are. In fact, pretending or expecting perfection will interfere with genuine closeness to God, our families, and others. Instead, as we allow ourselves to be seen as we truly are by Christ, our families, and others, including in all that is “less than ideal,” we can invite His sanctifying power into our lives. We can experience His miraculous power to reconcile the unresolvable, fill us with His love, and change us into beings that have deeper relationships with Him and our loved ones.

Parable of the Sower

 

Prepare Your Spiritual Soil

By Brother Milton Camargo

First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2023/01/come-follow-me/19-prepare-your-spiritual-soil?lang=eng

Such a great talk about the parable of the sower and what our ground looks like. 

He Can Change Water into Wine in Our Lives

 

If He Can Turn Water to Wine …

By Adam C. Olson

Church Magazines

Liahona Jan 2023

3. “And they filled them up to the brim”

The Savior directed the servants to fill six waterpots of stone with water. “And they filled them up to the brim” (John 2:6–7).

While experts have suggested different amounts, it is probably safe to say that each pot held several gallons. Whether it’s harder to turn one gallon or 100 gallons of water into wine, I don’t know. What has changed my life is the idea that Jesus has the power to change one thing into something entirely different. He didn’t just make wine-flavored water; He took water, with its simple molecular structure, and turned it into wine, a complex mixture of hundreds of chemical compounds.

If He can do that, then He can turn my challenges into blessings—not just adding a silver lining to the storm but actually changing the substance of the trial into something that blesses me (see Romans 8:28; 2 Nephi 2:2).

And if He can do it with one challenge, He can do it with all of them. So when life seems filled to the brim with trials, remember that He can change water into wine. He can exchange ashes for beauty (see Isaiah 61:3). He can take evil and turn it to good (see Genesis 50:20). He can turn my mistakes into growth and take my sins and change them from condemnation to progress.³

And, to me, that realization is the most significant of all. This miracle that I once overlooked has taught me that through His power, if we have the faith to do what He asks, He can change us from what we were into what we can become—like Him.

Overdependence on Ourselves

 

Ladder of Faith

By Elder Larry S. Kacher

Of the Seventy

Conference May 2022

Accepting His will in place of our own is key to finding joy no matter our circumstances....

An overdependence on ourselves can impede our ability to access the powers of heaven...

Unbelief blocks our ability to see miracles, whereas a mindset of faith in the Savior unlocks the powers of heaven.

Peacemakers are not passive

 

Following Jesus: Being a Peacemaker

By Elder Neil L. Andersen

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Conference May 2022

How does a peacemaker calm and cool the fiery darts? Certainly not by shrinking before those who disparage us. Rather, we remain confident in our faith, sharing our beliefs with conviction but always void of anger or malice...

Peacemakers are not passive; they are persuasive in the Savior’s way.⁸

What gives us the inner strength to cool, calm, and quench the fiery darts aimed toward the truths we love? The strength comes from our faith in Jesus Christ and our faith in His words...

Peacemakers are not passive; they are persuasive in the Savior’s way.⁸

What gives us the inner strength to cool, calm, and quench the fiery darts aimed toward the truths we love? The strength comes from our faith in Jesus Christ and our faith in His words.

Conflict is Inevitable; Contention is a Choice

 

Five Messages That All of God’s Children Need to Hear

DIETER F. UCHTDORF

of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

August 17, 2021

Conflict is inevitable. It is a condition of mortality. It is part of our test. Contention, however, is a choice. It is one way that some people choose to respond to conflict.

When we contend with others, we cause discord, dissension, resentment, and even rage. Harmful emotions almost always accompany contention: anger, hurt, jealousy, hostility, revenge, and malice—to name just a few.

Our world overflows with contention. We have 24/7 access to it: on the news, on social media, and even, at times, in our relationships with those we love.

We cannot adjust the volume on others’ bitter­ness, wrath, or rage. We can, however, choose our response. We can choose a better way—the Lord’s way! Of course this is easy to say and ­difficult to do....

As you partake of the sacrament, you remember the covenant you made at baptism to take the Savior’s name upon yourself and to walk in the path of discipleship. You approach the mercy seat of God and, in humility, lay your sins before Him as an offering of sacrifice and plead for His mercy. You recommit to loving and serving Him and to loving and serving others. You ask for His blessing as you dedicate your thoughts and actions to His service.

My dear brothers and sisters, you will feel the hand of God stretching out over you. The God of the universe will infuse you with the strength and motivation to do better. There will be mistakes and stumbles in the future. But just as each sunrise signals the beginning of a new day, each time we repent, we make a fresh start on our path of discipleship. We can begin again. Over and over, day after day, we can begin again.

My brothers and sisters, my testimony to you is that God yearns for you to come to Him. His mercy is sufficient to heal your wounds, inspire you to move forward, cleanse you of sin, strengthen you for trials to come, and bless you with hope, wisdom, and His peace.

#aang

Overcome the World

Each person who makes covenants in baptismal fonts and in temples—and keeps them—has increased access to the power of Jesus Christ. Please ponder that stunning truth!

The reward for keeping covenants with God is heavenly power—power that strengthens us to withstand our trials, temptations, and heartaches better. This power eases our way. Those who live the higher laws of Jesus Christ have access to His higher power. Thus, covenant keepers are entitled to a special kind of rest that comes to them through their covenantal relationship with God....

Because the Savior, through His infinite Atonement, redeemed each of us from weakness, mistakes, and sin, and because He experienced every pain, worry, and burden you have ever had, then as you truly repent and seek His help, you can rise above this present precarious world. You can overcome the spiritually and emotionally exhausting plagues of the world, including arrogance, pride, anger, immorality, hatred, greed, jealousy, and fear. Despite the distractions and distortions that swirl around us, you can find true rest—meaning relief and peace—even amid your most vexing problems. ...

What does it mean to overcome the world? It means overcoming the temptation to care more about the things of this world than the things of God. It means trusting the doctrine of Christ more than the philosophies of men. It means delighting in truth, denouncing deception, and becoming “humble followers of Christ.”⁶ It means choosing to refrain from anything that drives the Spirit away. It means being willing to “give away” even our favorite sins.⁷

Now, overcoming the world certainly does not mean becoming perfect in this life, nor does it mean that your problems will magically evaporate—because they won’t. And it does not mean that you won’t still make mistakes. But overcoming the world does mean that your resistance to sin will increase. Your heart will soften as your faith in Jesus Christ increases.⁸ Overcoming the world means growing to love God and His Beloved Son more than you love anyone or anything else.

How, then, do we overcome the world? King Benjamin taught us how. He said that “the natural man is an enemy to God” and remains so forever “unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord.”⁹ Each time you seek for and follow the promptings of the Spirit, each time you do anything good—things that “the natural man” would not do—you are overcoming the world.

Overcoming the world is not an event that happens in a day or two. It happens over a lifetime as we repeatedly embrace the doctrine of Christ. We cultivate faith in Jesus Christ by repenting daily and keeping covenants that endow us with power. We stay on the covenant path and are blessed with spiritual strength, personal revelation, increasing faith, and the ministering of angels. Living the doctrine of Christ can produce the most powerful virtuous cycle, creating spiritual momentum in our lives.¹⁰

As we strive to live the higher laws of Jesus Christ, our hearts and our very natures begin to change. The Savior lifts us above the pull of this fallen world by blessing us with greater charity, humility, generosity, kindness, self-discipline, peace, and rest...

Now, how does overcoming the world bless our lives? The answer is clear: entering into a covenant relationship with God binds us to Him in a way that makes everything about life easier. Please do not misunderstand me: I did not say that making covenants makes life easy. In fact, expect opposition, because the adversary does not want you to discover the power of Jesus Christ. But yoking yourself with the Savior means you have access to His strength and redeeming power....

My plea to you this morning is to find rest from the intensity, uncertainty, and anguish of this world by overcoming the world through your covenants with God. Let Him know through your prayers and your actions that you are serious about overcoming the world. Ask Him to enlighten your mind and send the help you need. Each day, record the thoughts that come to you as you pray; then follow through diligently. Spend more time in the temple, and seek to understand how the temple teaches you to rise above this fallen world.¹⁴

As I have stated before, the gathering of Israel is the most important work taking place on earth today. One crucial element of this gathering is preparing a people who are able, ready, and worthy to receive the Lord when He comes again, a people who have already chosen Jesus Christ over this fallen world, a people who rejoice in their agency to live the higher, holier laws of Jesus Christ.

I call upon you, my dear brothers and sisters, to become this righteous people. Cherish and honor your covenants above all other commitments. As you let God prevail in your life, I promise you greater peace, confidence, joy, and yes, rest.

President Russell M. Nelson - October 2022 General Conference

***Can't sleep because I'm thinking about aang? Let it go and have REST!