Strive to Gain Power Over Our Lives and Again

My dear brothers and sisters, we live in a virtually difficult dispensation. Challenges, controversies, and complexities swirl around united states. These turbulent times were foreseen past the Savior. He warned u.s.a. that in our day the adversary would stir up acrimony in the hearts of men and lead them astray.¹ Yet our Heavenly Begetter never intended that we would bargain with the maze of personal bug and social issues on our own.

God so loved the world that He sent His Merely Begotten Son^two to help us.³ And His Son, Jesus Christ, gave His life for usa. All so that we could have access to godly power—power sufficient to bargain with the burdens, obstacles, and temptations of our day.⁴ Today I would like to speak almost how we can describe into our lives the power of our Lord and Main, Jesus Christ.

We begin by learning about Him.⁵ "It is incommunicable for [us] to be saved in ignorance."⁶ The more than we know about the Savior'southward ministry building and mission⁷—the more than nosotros empathize His doctrine⁸ and what He did for u.s.—the more we know that He can provide the power that we need for our lives.

Before this year, I asked the young adults of the Church to consecrate a portion of their time each week to report everything Jesus said and did as recorded in the standard works.⁹ I invited them to let the scriptural citations about Jesus Christ in the Topical Guide become their personal core curriculum.¹⁰

I gave that challenge because I had already accepted it myself. I read and underlined every poetry cited almost Jesus Christ, as listed under the principal heading and the 57 subtitles in the Topical Guide.^eleven When I finished that heady practice, my wife asked me what bear upon it had on me. I told her, "I am a different homo!"

I felt a renewed devotion to Him as I read again in the Book of Mormon the Savior's own argument about His mission in bloodshed. He declared:

"I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.

"And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cantankerous."¹²

As Latter-day Saints, we refer to His mission equally the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which made resurrection a reality for all and made eternal life possible for those who repent of their sins and receive and go along essential ordinances and covenants.

It is doctrinally incomplete to speak of the Lord'due south apologetic cede by shortcut phrases, such every bit "the Atonement" or "the enabling power of the Atonement" or "applying the Atonement" or "being strengthened by the Atonement." These expressions present a real hazard of misdirecting faith by treating the upshot every bit if it had living being and capabilities contained of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Nether the Father's great eternal plan, it is the Savior who suffered. It is the Savior who broke the bands of death. Information technology is the Savior who paid the toll for our sins and transgressions and blots them out on condition of our repentance. Information technology is the Savior who delivers usa from physical and spiritual expiry.

At that place is no amorphous entity chosen "the Atonement" upon which nosotros may call for succor, healing, forgiveness, or ability. Jesus Christ is the source. Sacred terms such as Atonement and Resurrection describe what the Savior did, according to the Male parent's plan, so that nosotros may live with promise in this life and gain eternal life in the globe to come. The Savior'due south atoning sacrifice—the central human activity of all human history—is best understood and appreciated when nosotros expressly and conspicuously connect it to Him.

The importance of the Savior's mission was emphasized past the Prophet Joseph Smith, who declared emphatically that "the fundamental principles of our faith are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was cached, and rose again the third mean solar day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."^xiii

It was this very statement of the Prophet that provided the incentive for 15 prophets, seers, and revelators to result and sign their testimony to commemorate the two,000th ceremony of the Lord'due south birth. That historic testimony is titled "The Living Christ."^fourteen Many members accept memorized its truths. Others barely know of its being. Equally you seek to learn more about Jesus Christ, I urge you to study "The Living Christ."

As nosotros invest time in learning well-nigh the Savior and His atoning cede, nosotros are drawn to participate in another fundamental element to accessing His power: we choose to have religion in Him and follow Him.

Truthful disciples of Jesus Christ are willing to stand up out, speak upwardly, and be dissimilar from the people of the globe. They are undaunted, devoted, and courageous. I learned of such disciples during a recent assignment in Mexico, where I met with government officials besides equally leaders of other religious denominations. Each thanked me for our members' heroic and successful efforts to protect and preserve stiff marriages and families in their land.

There is nothing piece of cake or automatic about becoming such powerful disciples. Our focus must be riveted on the Savior and His gospel. It is mentally rigorous to strive to look unto Him in every idea.¹⁵ But when we do, our doubts and fears abscond.^sixteen

Recently I learned of a fearless young Laurel. She was invited to participate in a statewide contest for her high school on the same evening she had committed to participate in a pale Relief Society meeting. When she realized the conflict and explained to competition officials that she would demand to leave the competition early to nourish an of import meeting, she was told she would be disqualified if she did so.

What did this latter-day Laurel do? She kept her commitment to participate in the Relief Society meeting. Equally promised, she was disqualified from the statewide competition. When asked nigh her determination, she replied simply, "Well, the Church is more important, isn't it?"

Religion in Jesus Christ propels united states to practise things we otherwise would non do. Faith that motivates us to action gives united states more than access to His power.

We besides increase the Savior's power in our lives when we make sacred covenants and go along those covenants with precision. Our covenants bind us to Him and give us godly power. Equally faithful disciples, we repent and follow Him into the waters of baptism. Nosotros walk along the covenant path to receive other essential ordinances.¹⁷ And gratefully, God'southward plan provides for those blessings to be extended to ancestors who died without an opportunity to obtain them during their mortal lives.¹⁸

Covenant-keeping men and women seek for ways to keep themselves unspotted from the world and then there will be zilch blocking their access to the Savior's ability. I faithful wife and female parent wrote this recently: "These are troubled and perilous times. How blessed we are to have the increased knowledge of the plan of conservancy and the inspired guidance from loving prophets, apostles, and leaders to assist us sail these stormy seas safely. Nosotros stopped our habit of turning on the radio in the morning. Instead, we now listen to a general briefing talk on our mobile phones every morning as we gear up ourselves for another 24-hour interval."

Another element in drawing the Savior'southward power into our lives is to reach upwards to Him in religion. Such reaching requires diligent, focused attempt.

Do you remember the biblical story of the woman who suffered for 12 years with a debilitating problem?^nineteen She exercised keen faith in the Savior, exclaiming, "If I may touch on merely his clothes, I shall be whole."²⁰

This faithful, focused woman needed to stretch as far every bit she could to admission His power. Her concrete stretching was symbolic of her spiritual stretching.

Many of united states take cried out from the depths of our hearts a variation of this adult female's words: "If I could spiritually stretch enough to draw the Savior's ability into my life, I would know how to handle my heart-wrenching situation. I would know what to practise. And I would have the power to do information technology."

When you attain upward for the Lord's power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will exist yours. When the Savior knows you truly want to reach upwards to Him—when He tin can feel that the greatest want of your heart is to draw His ability into your life—you volition be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do.²¹

When you spiritually stretch beyond anything you take ever done before, then His power volition menses into you.²² And and then you will understand the deep meaning of words we sing in the hymn "The Spirit of God":

The Lord is extending the Saints' understanding. …

The knowledge and power of God are expanding;

The veil o'er the earth is beginning to burst.²³

The gospel of Jesus Christ is filled with His power, which is bachelor to every earnestly seeking daughter or son of God. Information technology is my testimony that when nosotros draw His power into our lives, both He and we will rejoice.²⁴

Equally 1 of His special witnesses, I declare that God lives! Jesus is the Christ! His Church building has been restored to the earth! God's prophet upon the globe today is President Thomas Due south. Monson, whom I sustain with all my centre. I so evidence, with my expression of love and blessing for each of you, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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Source: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2017/04/drawing-the-power-of-jesus-christ-into-our-lives?lang=eng

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