My dearest friends, I consider it a singular privilege to be with you today for this assignment from the First Presidency to participate in this devotional. It is a time when we can "lay our books and papers by" and direct our attention heavenward. I wish to thank Mark Beck, Ashlee Berry, Aaron Ellis, and Kimberly Neumann who will be assisting us today. At the appropriate time, each of them will read a scripture important to the subject at hand, and I saw a very impressive witness of the importance of this [the scriptures] in your hand today.
Contrary to what you may be accustomed to, I would ask that you not try to look up the verse, for that will only distract your attention from what is being read. Trust us, the words are in the "books," every word that you will hear. By listening carefully, we shall place ourselves in the best position to feel what the Spirit will teach.
Additionally, you needn't worry about making notes, except those that come as an impression to you. These remarks will be made available for your use. Besides, all will be registered in your minds ready for instant recall when needed by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is one of the marvelous promises from our Heavenly Father. With the Holy Spirit as our guide, let us now reason together, learn together, and, listening with the "ears of our minds" and the feelings of our hearts, let us be edified together.
I bring you President Monson's greetings and love. He is mindful of your circumstances, of you, and your challenges. He feels the blessings coming from your faith and prayers in his behalf. He is God's prophet, and I bear solemn witness of this truth.
For over forty-four years across the breadth of this earth, President Monson has labored as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has taught, encouraged, admonished, blessed, and served as the Master did. It has been my privilege to be under his personal tutelage for some thirty-three years. He has encouraged me when my steps would have faltered and guided me when my vision was unclear. I have been the happy recipient of his friendship, his correction, and his love. I know him "close up" so to speak, and I testify that he is every bit as much a prophet close up as he is at a distance. His character, loyalty, and love for God and God's children are as real in private as in public.
When President Monson was sustained as Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and President of the Church, my mind retraced these years of experiences. I thought of the wonderful stories he has shared illustrating the application of the Lord's teachings in daily life. As the disciples of old marveled at the Savior's teachings and "wondered" as they contemplated their meanings, I asked myself: "You have heard the stories, but have you learned the lessons? Do you know what it means to personally care for the widow and orphan? Is your daily walk and talk a ministry, or are your oblations reserved for Sundays and service projects? That was a sobering interrogatory.
I resolved to retrace my experiences with him, to review the timeless truths he has imparted, and to personally assure myself that I have learned. You may wish to do so as well.
For example, because of President Monson my Christmas celebrations will never be the same. I shall, of course, read and marvel anew over the scriptural account of the birth of the Son of God. In addition, however, I shall also reacquaint myself each December with A Christmas Carol by Dickens. In this timeless story, gospel teachings are demonstrated, life becomes more than possessions, a boy teaches as only a child can, and Ebenezer Scrooge is changed from a miser to a man of generosity and love. This memorable story enriches President Monson's Christmas each year. I shall follow his example.
My mind will reflect upon the marvelous truths President Monson has captured in a treasure trove of what I call sermonettes or couplets. I mention but two:
· "If we are on the Lord's errand, we are entitled to the Lord's help."
· "When God speaks and man obeys, that man will always be right."
Two scriptures oft quoted by President Monson have become mainstays in my life. They are-- ". . . I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."[1] -AND- "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."[2]
God be thanked for our Prophet dear!
Forty-eight years ago I received a special key. I was 19 years of age, and since then this special key has proven to be a boon in all aspects of my life. Today, I wish to give it to you. A key is a tool or devise used to unlock the way. To the extent possible, it is uniquely designed and fitted to the barrier before us, be it a door, a computer, or a lack of understanding or faith. You all have keys. They unlock your apartment, they start your car, they make it possible for you to do things with technology that otherwise would escape you.
This key that I wish to give you will unlock the pathway to your future, to a successful future. Used properly, it will enrich your life and ensure your success spiritually, mentally, temporally and even financially. By the show of hands, how many of you wish to receive this key? Wonderful! I was hoping you would say that!
This is the key: "An undivided faith and belief in God our Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and the power of prayer." Such an undivided faith and belief requires that we know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The power of prayer depends upon this knowledge ripening within us.
Man, unaided by divine revelation, cannot obtain unto this knowledge. Rational search alone neither confirms nor disproves their existence, and since the world generally begins from the premise that man evolved into being, it similarly (and falsely) asserts that the concept of God originated with man.
In the year 1909, the First Presidency declared: "Man, by searching, cannot find out God . . . .
The Lord must reveal himself or remain unrevealed . . . ."[3] In some ways, we are like the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well whom Jesus taught. She apparently knew the words of the prophets and certainly knew the traditions of her fathers, but she lived after the manner of the world. Her knowledge about God had not ripened within. Jesus said of her and others of similar circumstance: "Ye worship ye know not what . . . ."[4] To rescue us from a similar plight, the Lord says: FIRST READER (Mark Beck): " . . . I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.". . . I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one--"The Father because he gave me of his fullness, and the Son because I was in the world and made flesh my tabernacle, and dwelt among . . . men. . . ."I give unto you these sayings that you may . . . know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name and in due time receive of his fullness."[5]
The responsibility rests on each of us to know how to worship and what we worship. Ask yourself:
- When I pray, whom or what do I pray to?
- When I trust, how and what am I trusting in?
- When I attend church, partake of the sacrament, participate in temple ordinances, or go through the routines of daily living, how and what do I worship?
President Kimball observed: " . . . Carnal man has tended to transfer his trust in God to material things [and has] . . . put in . . . place a hope in the 'arm of flesh' and in 'gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know' that is, in idols. . . . Whatever thing," he continued, "a man sets his heart and trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn't also happen to be the true and living God of Israel, that man is laboring in idolatry. . . ."[6]
The scriptures warn that "every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol. . . ."[7]
He who taught the woman at the well also teaches us: SECOND READER (Ashlee Berry): ". . . this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."[8]
Knowledge of the true and living God, Elohim, is indispensable if we are ever to know WHO WE ARE and WHAT WE MAY BECOME. It is only in this knowledge that we come to KNOW OURSELVES, for WE ARE HIS OFFSPRING.
In fact, it was precisely because Jesus knew and understood His Father that He was able to do what He did for us. Said He: "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth . . ."[9]
And further, Jesus taught: "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me"10 and "I speak that which I have seen with my Father . . ."[11] No wonder then that Jesus admonishes each of us to come to the knowledge of God in the same way He did. THIRD READER (Aaron Ellis): ". . . there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them; ". . . he created man, male and female, after his own image and in his own likeness, created he them;"And gave unto them commandments that they should love and serve him, the only living and true God, and that he should be the only being whom they should worship."[12]
Our understanding of, and relationship with, our Heavenly Father is singular and unique. He is the father of our spirits. He is the author of the plan for our salvation. It is God, the Father, who framed the heavens and the earth and all things in them. He is the creator of Adam and Eve, and He set forth the means whereby all of us were born. Said the Prophet Joseph Smith: "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man. . . . If you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form--like yourselves in all the person, image and very form as a man. . . ."[13]
In our pre-mortal state, Heavenly Father was the provider of this earth and all creation, the source of our personal agency, and the protector of our eternal opportunity. In our mortal lives, Heavenly Father is the center of truth, the embodiment of love, and the reason there is redemption. As our Eternal Father, He is the grantor of all good things and the head of our heavenly home. Hence, Jesus commanded: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him."[14] Oh, my Father, thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place,I do yearn to once again be--With thee, and behold thy face. Then shall I, in adoration Bow before my Savior dear, Thank Him for His great Atonement,Wash His feet with many tears. And with grateful heart a-swelling, Seeing I am not alone--Will feel Thy love, and hear Thy greeting,"SONS AND DAUGHTERS, WELCOME HOME!"[15]
It now becomes our privilege to consider the incomparable life and mission of Jesus the Christ, our Lord and King. FOURTH READER (Kimberly Neumann): ". . . God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."[16]
It is with great reverence and awe that I bear witness of our Redeemer, the Savior of the world. In doing so, I am reminded how careful we must be in the use of His name. While His influence, teachings, and deliverance endear Him to us, we would do well not to speak of Him as though He were the friend next door.
He is the first born of our Father's spirit children, His only begotten in the flesh. He is our Lord and King. In the grand council of heaven, it was Jesus Christ who said, "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever."[17]
Under the direction of Elohim, Jesus created the earth and all things--hence all things give Him reverence and bear witness of Him. "And behold all things have their likeness and all things are created and made to bear record of me [the Lord], both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me."[18] "He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New...."[19] He told the ancient prophets what to write about Him, what to prophecy concerning His life, His ministry, and His second coming--and He fulfills every word ever uttered under such direction.
From Isaiah: "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief . . .
". . . he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."[20]
From Alma: ". . . he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."[21]
From the Prophet Joseph Smith: ". . . he that feareth me [meaning reverence the Lord] shall be looking forth for the great day of the Lord to come . . .". . . And, behold," He said, "I will come; and they shall see me in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory; with all the holy angels . . .
"Then shall they know that I am the Lord; for I will say unto them . . . I am he who was lifted up. I am Jesus that was crucified. I am the Son of God."[22] So complete is His oneness with the Father, that whosoever hath seen the Lord, heard His voice, felt His redeeming love, has also come to know the Father--for through the Son is the Father revealed unto us.
In mortality, He was conceived by the power of God, born of Mary, grew from grace-to-grace, walked the dusty roads of Palestine, submitted to the indignities and cruelties of men and the cross, died, preached to the spirits in Paradise, and inaugurated the missionary efforts to those who found themselves in spirit prison. He rose the third day, opened the graves of those long dead, appeared to many as the resurrected Lord, ate fish and honeycomb with the apostles, and invited multitudes on both hemispheres to feel the wounds in His hands, feet and side that all might know he is the God of Israel. He is resurrected. He is the living Christ.
He appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the sacred grove, on numerous other occasions, and in the Kirtland Temple giving rise to these now familiar words: "This is the testimony last of all which we give of him: That he lives!"[23] He will come again to rule and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
To all He declares: "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live . . . "And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."[24]
Of Him the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote these stirring lines: "I beheld round the throne holy angels and hosts, And sanctified beings from worlds that have been, In holiness worshipping God and the Lamb, For ever and ever. Amen and amen. "And now after all of the proofs made of him, By witnesses truly, by whom he was known,This is mine, last of all, that he lives; yea, he lives! And sits at the right hand of God on his throne. "And I heard a great voice bearing record from heav'n, He's the Saviour and only begotten of God; By him, of him, and through him, the worlds were all made, Even all that careen in the heavens so broad. "Whose inhabitants, too, from the first to the last, Are sav'd by the very same Saviour of ours; And, of course, are begotten God's daughters and sons By the very same truths and the very same powers."[25]
He is God's Son, our Lawgiver and Judge. He is the Redeemer of the world. In time, the words of Isaiah shall all be fulfilled, for ". . . the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."[26] He is my Savior, Lord, and King. He is the Holy One. Of this I bear solemn witness in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] D&C 84:88
[2] Proverbs 3:5-6
[3] The First Presidency, November 1909
[4] John 4:22
[5] D&C 93:2, 3-4, 19
[6] The False Gods We Worship, Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, Jun 1976
[7] D&C 1:16
[8] John 17:3
[9] John 5:19-20
[10] John 7:16
[11] John 8:38
[12] D&C 20:17-19
[13] Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p 345
[14] D&C 59:5
[15] Personal adaptation of O My Father, Hymns, #292
[16] John 3:16-17
[17] Moses 4:2
[18] Moses 6:63
[19] The Living Christ, The Testimony of The Apostles
[20] Isaiah 53:3, 5
[21] Alma 7:12
[22] D&C 45:39, 44, 52; see also the entire section
[23] D&C 76:22
[24] John 11:25-26
[25] The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Aug 1843, Vol. IV, p 51
[26] 2 Nephi 19:6; Isaiah 9:6