The Faithful Prayer of a Priesthood Leader

What every priesthood leader should pray for:

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I close now with this counsel to the Lord’s priesthood servants. Ponder deeply and diligently in the scriptures and in the words of living prophets. Persist in prayer for the Holy Ghost to reveal to you the nature of God the Father and His Beloved Son. Plead that the Spirit will show you what the Lord wants you to do. Plan to do it. Promise Him to obey. Act with determination until you have done what He asked. And then pray to give thanks for the opportunity to serve and to know what you might do next.

I testify that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live. They are resurrected and glorified beings who love us and watch over us. The keys of the priesthood were restored by heavenly messengers to the Prophet Joseph Smith. They have been passed in an unbroken line to President Thomas S. Monson. Those keys are held by each of the living Apostles.

I leave you my blessing that you may come to feel by the Spirit the magnitude of the trust and promises you have received as ordained priesthood servants in the Lord’s true Church, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844)

Stay Focused on the Ultimate Goal of Eternal Life

"Over the years I have had the great privilege of playing a few holes of golf, at different times, with Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Mike Weir, and Arnold Palmer. Each of these individuals is a very impressive man and a superb golfer. A seemingly unimportant event occurred while playing with Arnold Palmer that has had a lasting and profound effect on me. Some of you may recall this story I have shared before from my mission to Australia.

After hitting our drives, I was standing near Mr. Palmer as his young caddy was describing some of the hazards of the hole we were playing. The conversation went something like this:

Young caddy to Mr. Palmer: “Sir, near the green and just to the left there is a small creek, which is just out of view, and they have let the rough on the right grow an additional two inches.”

Mr. Palmer to caddy—firmly, succinctly, but nicely: “Please, young man, do not plant in my mind what is on the left and what hazard I may face on the right. The only piece of information that is important is the distance from this ball to the flag stick.”

Too often in life we focus on what is on the left and what is on the right rather than what is straight down the middle. Former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare John W. Gardner pointed out, “What we have before us are some breathtaking opportunities disguised as insoluble problems.”16 Solving our spiritual challenges is an opportunity we can all be successful in accomplishing.

It has been said that “what we do in life echoes in eternity.”17 My young friends, may we be successful in traveling the highway of life and be the recipients of the happiness that comes from fully vesting ourselves in our Father in Heaven’s plan for us. It is a marvelous time to be alive!"

Bishop H. David Burton,  “The Road of Life” 

CES Fireside for Young Adults • May 2, 2010 • Brigham Young University–Hawaii

Good Things to Come

On those days when we have special need of heaven’s help, we would do well to remember one of the titles given to the Savior in the epistle to the Hebrews. Speaking of Jesus’ ”more excellent ministry” and why He is “the mediator of a better covenant” filled with “better promises,” this author—presumably the Apostle Paul—tells us that through His mediation and Atonement, Christ became “an high priest of good things to come.” 1
 
Every one of us has times when we need to know things will get better. Moroni spoke of it in the Book of Mormon as “hope for a better world.” 2 For emotional health and spiritual stamina, everyone needs to be able to look forward to some respite, to something pleasant and renewing and hopeful, whether that blessing be near at hand or still some distance ahead. It is enough just to know we can get there, that however measured or far away, there is the promise of “good things to come.”

My declaration is that this is precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us, especially in times of need. There is help. There is happiness. There really is light at the end of the tunnel. It is the Light of the World, the Bright and Morning Star, the “light that is endless, that can never be darkened.” 3 It is the very Son of God Himself. In loving praise far beyond Romeo’s reach, we say, “What light through yonder window breaks?” It is the return of hope, and Jesus is the Sun. 4 To any who may be struggling to see that light and find that hope, I say: Hold on. Keep trying. God loves you. Things will improve.



Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. Of that I personally attest. I thank my Father in Heaven for His goodness past, present, and future, and I do so in the name of His Beloved Son and most generous high priest, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Jeffrey R. Holland, “‘An High Priest of Good Things to Come’,” Ensign, Nov 1999, 36

Earning a Great Reward?

Saints all over the world sing a favorite hymn, ”Come, Come, Ye Saints,” in which the question is asked, “Why should we think to earn a great reward, if we now shun the fight?”

Is that really what we’re doing—earning a great reward? I don’t think so, since the word “earn” doesn’t even appear once in any of the standard works. As we face the fight rather than shun it, God transforms us.

The final destination may be “Far away in the West” but development is found all along the trail. The great reward is not just something we will receive - but rather what we become—through the journey and the grace of Christ.

Jesus doesn’t love us because we are good. Jesus loves us because He is good.

-Brad Wilcox - BYU Education Week address 8/17/2009 - The Atonement: After All We Can Do

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference