Establishing Zion

 

A Glorious Day of Restoration

By Elder Kyle S. McKay

General Authority Seventy and Church Historian and Recorder

...the gathering is not simply a grouping of friends, relatives, or like-minded people. The purpose for gathering is to be gathered unto God, in His presence. Ancient Israel carried the traveling tabernacle, a symbol of God’s presence. The same is true for modern Israel. Joseph Smith declared that the “main object” for the gathering of modern Israel is “to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation.” In short, the purpose for gathering was to establish Zion, a place where God can dwell among a people with whom He is comfortable dwelling in His temple.

Building Christlike Connections in Relationships

 

Keys to Building Christlike Connections in Relationships

By Jeremy R. Jaggi

Of the Seventy

Many young adults struggle with pornography use, which, when left unchecked, can create barriers to developing true intimacy with others. Artificial intelligence is also becoming a tool not just for information but also for fabricated connections. Some young adults falsify their feelings of belonging by devoting their time to comparing themselves to social media influencers or keeping up with the world’s beauty and lifestyle trends. Some invest excessive time in books, video games, or television, imagining connections with fake people with unrealistic relationships. Others merely seclude themselves and substitute worldly comforts for true intimacy, avoiding interactions with real people as much as possible....

Unfortunately, the adversary makes isolation look much more enticing than connection—it’s easier to stick to old habits than to take steps to change and build relationships. He knows that compassionate, authentic relationships among friends, family, leaders, and spouses can help us feel more connected to each other and to the pure love of Jesus Christ...

What we choose to give our time, energy, or focus to will determine the reward we will reap...

Start with small goals. Get off the computer, the gaming system, the phone, and spend time every day in the Word!...

Envelop yourself in Jesus Christ. He is the Word!...

If you need motivation to connect with God and with others, ask Heavenly Father for help. As you grow in intimacy and connection with God, your capacity for experiencing charity in your own life and in your relationships will deepen....

Sharing our struggles, weaknesses, desires, interests, and feelings takes vulnerability and courage. But there is one main barrier that keeps us from talking deeply about these kinds of issues:

Pride.

It’s the feeling that we can’t let our true selves show because of what someone might think. Will we be loved, or will we be rejected? Comparison to others can steal away our joy.

Vulnerability, meekness, and candor lead to increased trust, closeness, and intimacy in relationships. Sharing sensitive emotions can feel like a risk, but we are protecting our pride when we don’t share feelings in our relationships.

We need humility.

How can we invite deeper humility into our lives?

Stand in holy places. Be with holy people. Engage in holy habits....

If we prioritize being where the Spirit has touched our hearts, such as the temple, institute, or sacrament meeting, we will begin to desire humility; we will begin to desire a closeness with God and want to have deeper, connecting conversations....

Our connection with Jesus Christ is the key to changing our habits, our attitudes, and our willingness to connect deeply with those around us. As we prioritize our relationship with Him, we can fully show up as our authentic selves and build true intimacy and meaningful relationships that enrich our lives with enduring joy and love.

Warm Welcome of a Temple Worker - Manifest Him

 

The Power of Godliness: Temple Work Connects Us to Jesus Christ

By Norman C. Hill

We also learn in the temple that the garment is “a symbol of the Savior Himself."...

The Holy Ghost can teach us and testify to us in—and outside—the house of the Lord, helping us know of God’s love for us and for all of His children. The Holy Ghost can reveal to us what is important, give us a vision of our eternal destiny, and help us know that the Lord has forgiven us. All of these are ways the Lord may manifest Himself to us in mercy in His house.

Making covenants with the Lord in His house shows that we desire a closer relationship with Him. As President Nelson taught, “The covenant path is all about our relationship with God.”...

The Lord may manifest His transformative power to us in the temple as we focus on our covenant relationship with Him, thinking less about what is happening around us in the temple and more about what is happening in us. The house of the Lord thus becomes a place of refuge, recalibration, and renewal. “I promise that increased time in the temple will bless your life in ways nothing else can,” said President Nelson.

Manifested in Others

The Lord may manifest His love to us in the service rendered by others. Every good act is inspired of Him and can remind us that He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). We might see Him in the warm welcome of a temple worker, in the kind gesture of someone holding a door open for us, in the inspiring examples of other members who come to the temple to serve.

In Christ's Hospital

 

The Atonement of Jesus Christ, God’s Mercy, and You

By Elder Jörg Klebingat

Of the Seventy

Does Jesus Christ ever seem to you too distant, too inaccessible, and too impersonal to ever move from being a picture on the wall or a statue or a name in the scriptures to becoming your personal, practical, and daily Savior?...

• We know, as Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, that “our individual identity is stamped in us forever. In ways we don’t fully understand, our spiritual growth there in the premortal world influences who we are here.”...

You and I are marked—indeed, earmarked—because of our premortal loyalty and obedience. Having already stood firmly with our Savior once, including during the War in Heaven, we are now called to enlist once more in this final battle, with the War in Heaven continuing, as it were, on this side of the veil along the same battle lines of good versus evil, light versus darkness, and truth versus falsehood.

I hope you sense that Jesus Christ was then and is now our Friend, our Guide, our Great Physician, our Counselor, and, above all, our Savior, Redeemer, and Advocate with the Father....

If you were indeed close to Him premortally (and I believe you were), if He really suffered and died for you (and He did), if His atoning sacrifice is meant for you individually and specifically (and it is), if the remission of sins and incremental growth line upon line in this life is why you are here in the first place (and it is), you can perhaps understand why the Father’s anger is kindled against those who “will not understand [His] mercies which [He] hast bestowed upon them because of [His] Son” (Alma 33:16).

His atoning sacrifice is meant for you individually and specifically.

God Enjoys Being Merciful

Ongoing repentance is meant to be a joyful experience as we access the Savior’s Atonement and therefore the remission of sins. The adversary, on the other hand, would have us believe that repentance is a hopeless, self-deprecating exercise—nothing more than a constant reminder of our never-ending imperfections.

Please remember that the Savior’s Atonement and free-will offering protects us not only from our sins but also from our weaknesses. Have faith that the Savior is perfect at distinguishing between our weaknesses and our premeditated, intentional sins....

My dear friends, in the “process of time” (Moses 7:21) and “line upon line, precept upon precept” (2 Nephi 28:30), as we humbly seek a remission of sins by sincerely and quickly repenting every day and becoming holy, the practice of letting “God prevail” and “thinking celestial” must and will find reflection in our very nature, character, and being; in our heart, might, mind, and soul (see Luke 10:27); in our thoughts, words, and deeds.

The Master Physician

Brothers and sisters, I testify of the Savior’s reality and of His practical Atonement. I testify that in His hospital, He is the Great Physician, Chief Surgeon, and Healer. I testify that He specializes in healing the weakest of the weak and in bringing relief to those who least expect it. I testify that all hospital and outpatient fees were paid for by Him in a garden and on a cross. I testify that you are welcome there for routine spiritual checkups as well as for lifesaving emergency operations. He is open for business 24/7, and there is always a room and a bed for you.

The Savior specializes in healing the weakest of the weak and in bringing relief to those who least expect it.

The only deductible is your love for Him, your real intent, your full-hearted discipleship and willingness to strive to be a covenant keeper—in short, your broken heart and contrite spirit (see 2 Nephi 2:7; 4:32).

Christ Can Heal You

 

Healing in the Temple

By Jonathan A. Stapley

Church History Department

The Savior suffered, died, and rose from the dead so He would “know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:12). Jesus Christ invited all to “repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you” (3 Nephi 9:13). This healing can be physical, but we also have spiritual and emotional traumas that can be healed in Christ.

For example, during a period of crisis in the early Restoration, Jesus Christ reminded the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of their great commission and then stated that they would have both temptations and tribulations. He explained that “if they harden not their hearts, and stiffen not their necks against me, they shall be converted, and I will heal them” (Doctrine and Covenants 112:13), suggesting that the Savior would heal their spiritual afflictions....

You Have the Resources of Heaven Available To Carry Out His Work

 

See the Good in Them

By Sister Kristin M. Yee

Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency

We need to rely upon the Lord to know the needs of His children.

Sisters, you have the resources of heaven available to carry out this righteous and exalting work, including the blessings of the Lord’s priesthood power through keeping your covenants and delegated priesthood authority through your callings and ministering assignments. These blessings help provide the revelation we need to minister in His way.

The Spirit can help soften our hearts to see others “as they really are” (Jacob 4:13) and not have our vision obscured by assumptions, casualness, or even weariness....

As children of God, we are meant to grow and change and to become like our heavenly parents. And ministering in love is a catalyst to that end. Ministering is not just a program; it is a divine process through which God blesses and changes the hearts of His children from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh (see Ezekiel 11:19).

Ministering is loving and caring for others as the Savior would. It is a way of being; it is the way of our Savior Jesus Christ and all those who covenant to follow Him....

Acting as the Savior would and relying upon Him changes our very natures to become as He is, making us eventually fit to return to the presence of our Father in Heaven.

President Russell M. Nelson taught that “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.”...

Our experiences leading up to ministering aren’t always convenient or joyful. Just like anything that is important, there are usually some hurdles. But when you do minister, you don’t regret being His hands and ears. You don’t regret bringing His love and relief....

And the Lord has planted you in your specific part of the vineyard to bring His love and relief to His children. Every act of kindness matters; every willing heart and hand matters; every expression of love and patience matters. What you do really matters.