Prayer as Communication with Our Father

As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. Many of the so called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings. 

Bible Dictionary, Prayer

Importance of Covenants for Exaltation

I remember we had in our community in Arizona a good man who passed away. He and his lovely wife had resisted the teachings of the Church. And the wife, when he died, said, “I know that we will be associated as husband and wife through eternity.” But she could say that a thousand times and it would still not come true because they were not humble enough to accept the law of marriage. They may receive other blessings, but not exaltation. That is reserved for those who are faithful and who ovey the commandments. 

Spencer W Kimball, Teachings of Spencer W Kimball, 298

Sweet Joy of Saviorhood

Men rise through temple work to high levels of character and spiritual joy. Once only may a person receive the temple endowment for himself, but innumerable times he may receive it for those who have gone from the earth. Whenever he does so, he performs an unselfish act for which no earthly recompense is available. He tastes, in part, the sweet joy of saviorhood. He rises toward the stature of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for all. Men who thus serve the dead go out of the temple into the marts of men with renewed power to deal fairly with others, to put into practice the golden commandment “Do ye unto others as ye would have others do unto you? 

 Elder John A Widtsoe, Improvement Era, 6, April 1939 p 228

Fear Not, I am with thee

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed, For I am they God and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous, Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand
-How Firm a Foundation, Hymn 85, verse 3

Faith Brings Joy and Happiness

When faith is properly understood and used, it has dramatically far-reaching effects. Such faith can transform an individual’s life from maudlin, common everyday activities to a symphony of joy and happiness. 

Richard G Scott, "The Transforming Power of Faith and Character" October 2010

Good Things To Come

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nczw6xHJ0I

Accomplishing Our Life Mission

All my life, I have prayed that if I didn't come by chance, that the Lord would help me to accomplish what He sent me to do, so that when my mission here on earth was completed, he wouldn't have to say to me: “This is what we sent you to do, but you failed and we had to raise up someone else to do your work for you.”    True success to me is to accomplish the purpose for which the Lord sent me upon the earth."

LeGrand Richards, Improvement Era, Volume 17 p 250

Speak Positively of Yourself

We should honor the Savior’s declaration to “be of good cheer.” ⁷ (Indeed, it seems to me we may be more guilty of breaking that commandment than almost any other!) Speak hopefully. Speak encouragingly, including about yourself. Try not to complain and moan incessantly. As someone once said, “Even in the golden age of civilization someone undoubtedly grumbled that everything looked too yellow.”

Jeffrey R Holland, "The Tongue of Angels", April 2007

Take Things One Day at a Time

Asking God for our daily bread, rather than our weekly, monthly, or yearly bread, is also a way to focus us on the smaller, more manageable bits of a problem. To deal with something very big, we may need to work at it in small, daily bites. Sometimes all we can handle is one day (or even just part of one day) at a time.

D Todd Christofferson, "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread" CES Fireside, January 9, 2011

Our Lives are a Sum of Our Thoughts

Why, of course, you will be held accountable for your thoughts because when your life is complete in mortality, it will be the sum of your thoughts. That one suggestion has been a great blessing to me all my life, and it has enabled me upon many occasions to avoid thinking improperly because I realize that I will be, when my life’s labor is complete, the product of my thoughts” 

George Albert Smith “Pres. Smith’s Leadership Address,” Deseret News [Church section], 16 Feb. 1946, p. 1

Don't Give Up Hope for Becoming Christlike

“We must be careful, as we seek to become more and more godlike, that we do not become discouraged and lose hope. Becoming Christlike is a lifetime pursuit and very often involves growth and change that is slow, almost imperceptible. The scriptures record remarkable accounts of men whose lives changed dramatically, in an instant, as it were: Alma the Younger, Paul on the road to Damascus, Enos praying far into the night, King Lamoni. Such astonishing examples of the power to change even those steeped in sin give confidence that the Atonement can reach even those deepest in despair.

“But we must be cautious as we discuss these remarkable examples. Though they are real and powerful, they are the exception more than the rule. For every Paul, for every Enos, and for every King Lamoni, there are hundreds and thousands of people who find the process of repentance much more subtle, much more imperceptible. Day by day they move closer to the Lord, little realizing they are building a godlike life. They live quiet lives of goodness, service, and commitment....

“We must not lose hope. Hope is an anchor to the souls of men. Satan would have us cast away that anchor. In this way he can bring discouragement and surrender. But we must not lose hope. The Lord is pleased with every effort, even the tiny, daily ones in which we strive to be more like Him. Though we may see that we have far to go on the road to perfection, we must not give up hope” 

Ezra Taft Benson, “A Mighty Change of Heart,” Ensign, Oct. 1989, 5 

Scripture: Repentance

Mosiah 4:2-3 - We know we are forgiven when we have peace of conscience.

Matthew 6:14-15 - Have to forgive to be forgiven.

Be So Familiar with Truth That Nothing Can Sway You

The greatest achievement mankind can make in this world is to familiarize themselves with divine truth, so thoroughly, so perfectly, that the example of conduct of no creature living in the world can ever turn them away from the knowledge that they have obtained.

Joseph F Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p 3-4

Stay the Course

With any major decision there are cautions and considerations to make, but once there has been illumination, beware the temptation to retreat from a good thing. If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now. Don’t give up when the pressure mounts. Certainly don’t give in to that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness. Face your doubts. Master your fears. “Cast not away therefore your confidence.” Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you.

Jeffrey R Holland, "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence", BYU Devotional, March 2, 1999

Dishabited

If couldst empty all thyself of self
Like to a shell dishabited
Then might He find thee on the ocean shelf
and say, "This is not dead"
And fill thee with Himself instead

But thou are all replete with very thou
And hast such shrews activity.
That when He comes He says, "This is enough
Unto itself - 'twere better let it be.
It is so small and full, there is no room for me."

Sir Thomas Browne

Two Hands on the Temple; All We Have

If we must give all that we have, then our giving only almost everything is not enough. If we almost keep the commandments, we almost receive the blessings. For example, some young people assume they can romp in sinful mud until taking a shower of repentance just before being interviewed for a mission or the temple. In the very act of transgression, some plan to repent. They mock the gift of mercy that true repentance allows.

Some people want to keep one hand on the wall of the temple while touching the world’s “unclean things” ²¹ with the other hand. We must put both hands on the temple and hold on for dear life. One hand is not evenalmost enough.

Bruce C Hafen, "The Atonement: All for All",  April 2004

We Have Time IF We Don't Waste It

It is hard to know when we have done enough for the Atonement to change our natures and so qualify us for eternal life. And we don’t know how many days we will have to give the service necessary for that mighty change to come. But we know that we will have days enough if only we don’t waste them.

Henry B Eyring, "This Day", April 2007

Atonement is not Limited

There are times you cannot mend that which you have broken. Perhaps the offense was long ago, or the injured refused your penance. Perhaps the damage was so severe that you cannot fix it no matter how desperately you want to.

Your repentance cannot be accepted unless there is a restitution. If you cannot undo what you have done, you are trapped. It is easy to understand how helpless and hopeless you then feel and why you might want to give up, just as Alma did.

The thought that rescued Alma, when he acted upon it, is this: Restoring what you cannot restore, healing the wound you cannot heal, fixing that which you broke and you cannot fix is the very purpose of the atonement of Christ.

When your desire is firm and you are willing to pay the “uttermost farthing,” ¹⁶ the law of restitution is suspended. Your obligation is transferred to the Lord. He will settle your accounts.

I repeat, save for the exception of the very few who defect to perdition, there is no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no transgression, no apostasy, no crime exempted from the promise of complete forgiveness. That is the promise of the atonement of Christ.

Boyd K Packer, "The Brilliant Morning of Forgiveness" October 1995

We Have a Great Obligation

 There is no opportunity for Latter-day Saints to say we shall be as the world is, unless the world has the same aim that we have. We are here to build Zion to Almighty God, for the blessing of all the world. In that aim we are unique and different from all other people. We must respect that obligation, and not be afraid of it. We cannot walk as other men, or talk as other men, or do as other men, for we have a different destiny, obligation, and responsibility placed upon us, and we must fit ourselves for that great destiny and obligation." 

(Widtsoe, CR, April, 1940, p.36) 

Make Principles Popular

Even while bravely following correct principles, we should meekly strive to make those correct principles popular rather than ourselves. ...We cannot improve the world if we are conformed to the world (see Rom. 12:2). The gospel represents constancy amid change, not compliant adaptation to changing fashions and trends. Firm followers of Jesus, therefore, will not be mere chameleons—adapting their colors to match the ever-changing circumstances by simply blending in.

Neal A Maxwell, "Popularity and Principle", Ensign, March 1995

Spiritually Correct is Better than Politically Correct

We should not allow our personal values to erode, even if others think we are peculiar. We have always been regarded as a peculiar people. However, being spiritually correct is much better than being politically correct. Of course, as individuals and as a people we want to be liked and respected. But we cannot be in the mainstream of society if it means abandoning those righteous principles which thundered down from Sinai, later to be refined by the Savior, and subsequently taught by modern prophets. We should only fear offending God and His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the head of this Church.

James E Faust, "Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart" April 1998

Our Duty to Ask for Gifts that Lead us to Perfection

“If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make us perfect. … No man ought to say, ‘Oh, I cannot help this; it is my nature.’ He is not justified in it, for the reason that God has promised to give strength to correct these things, and to give gifts that will eradicate them. If a man lacks wisdom, it is his duty to ask God for wisdom. The same with everything else. That is the design of God concerning His Church. He wants His Saints to be perfected in the truth. For this purpose He gives these gifts, and bestows them upon those who seek after them, in order that they may be a perfect people upon the face of the earth.” 

George Q Cannon, Millennial Star, Apr. 1894, p. 260. (Quoted by Dallin H Oaks in "Spiritual Gifts", Ensign Sept 1986)

All Are Treasured

Brothers and sisters, I testify that no one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. I testify that He loves each of us—insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. He doesn’t measure our talents or our looks; He doesn’t measure our professions or our possessions. He cheers on every runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other.

Jeffrey R Holland, "The Other Prodigal", April 2002

We Are Well Acquainted with God

“I want to tell you, each and every one of you, that you are well acquainted with God our Heavenly Father … , for there is not a soul of you but what has lived in his house and dwelt with him year after year; and yet you are seeking to become acquainted with him, when the fact is, you have merely forgotten what you did know.

“There is not a person here to-day but what is a son or a daughter of that Being” 

Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954], p. 50

We Know the Father

"Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us".

– President Ezra Taft Benson, 'Jesus Christ--Gifts and Expectations', BYU, 10 Dec 1974

Be a Participant, Not a Spectator

There are feet to steady, hands to grasp, minds to encourage, hearts to inspire, and souls to save. The blessings of eternity await you. Yours is the privilege to be not spectators but participants on the stage of priesthood service.

Thomas S Monson, "Willing and Worthy to Serve", April 2012

We Can't Do It Alone

You need not, you cannot find your way alone. You have a Redeemer. The Lord will lift your burden if you choose to repent and turn from your sins and do them no more. That is what the Atonement of Christ was for.

Boyd K Packer, "Ye Are the Temple of God", October 2000.

Don't Face Life's Burdens Alone

Why face life’s burdens alone, Christ asks, or why face them with temporal support that will quickly falter? To the heavy laden it is Christ’s yoke, it is the power and peace of standing side by side with a God that will provide the support, balance, and the strength to meet our challenges and endure our tasks here in the hardpan field of mortality.

Howard W Hunter, "Come unto Me", Conference Report, October 1990

Sin Brings Punishment

There can be noforgiveness without real and total repentance, and there can be no repentance without punishment. This is as eternal as is the soul.

Spencer W Kimball, To Bear the Priesthood Worthily, Conference Report, April, 1975

Compensatory Restitution

Sometimes, however, restitution is not possible in real terms, such as when one contributed to another’s loss of faith or virtue. Instead, a subsequent example of righteousness provides a compensatory form of restitution.

Neal A Maxwell, Repentance, Conference Report, October 1991

Remove All Ill Will

No one can be classed as a true follower of the Savior who is not in the process of removing from his heart and mind every feeling of ill will, bitterness, hatred, envy, or jealousy toward another.

H Burke Peterson, Removing the Poison of an Unforgiving Spirit, Conference Report, October 1983

Don't Procrastinate Repentance

As the time of repentance is procrastinated, the ability to repent grows weaker; neglect of opportunity in holy things develops inability.

James E Talmage, Articles of Faith, p 114.

Scripture

Moses 1:6 - Heavenly Father Connects Creation with Atonement. Heavenly Father tells Moses that he is in the similitude of Christ. Could have said that he is in the similitude of Heavenly Father but wanted to form the connection between Christ (and the Atonement) and the Creation.

Path to Happiness

Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God

Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 255–56

Raising Children in Wicked Times

The measure of our success as parents, however, will not rest solely on how our children turn out. That judgment would be just only if we could raise our families in a perfectly moral environment, and that now is not possible...It is my conviction that those wicked influences one day will be overruled.

Boyd K Packer, "Our Moral Environment", Ensign, May 1992

We Can Do All Things

As children of God we are somebody. He will build us, mold us, and magnify us if we will but hold our heads up, our arms out, and walk with him. What a great blessing to be created in his image and know of our true potential in and through him! What a great blessing to know that in his strength we can do all things!

Marvin J Ashton,  “In His Strength,” Ensign, July 1973, 24

Potential to Become Perfect

One of the great teachings of the Man of Galilee, the Lord Jesus Christ, was that you and I carry within us immense possibilities. In urging us to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect, Jesus was not taunting us or teasing us. He was telling us a powerful truth about our possibilities and about our potential. It is a truth almost too stunning to contemplate.

President Spencer W Kimball, “Jesus: The Perfect Leader,” Ensign, Aug. 1979, 5–7