a collection of individuals

After bearing witness of who He was and of His mission, Jesus invited the multitude—all twenty-five hundred of them—to come unto Him “one by one.”(3 Nephi 11:15) That same day He healed the sick and afflicted one by one. (3 Nephi 17:9) He later “took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed . . . for them.” (3 Nephi 17:21) He ministered to and ordained the twelve disciples one by one. (3 Nephi 18:36)

No matter the size or composition of your organization, it will always be a collection of individuals. Regardless of the quorum, class, team, or organization—church or otherwise—focusing on the progress of individuals will lead to greater achievement and more joy. This principle applies in every setting. In church, we can think of it as looking at each individual and determining the next ordinance that they need to continue their progression on the covenant path toward eternal life with a loving Heavenly Father. Outside of church, it can mean helping others achieve their potential. It always requires a caring focus on the one.

Mark A. Bragg

"A Master Class in Leadership: One Day with the Savior," BYU Speeches. February 7, 2023

consider your ways

I repeat the admonition of the Lord to His people delivered through the Old Testament prophet Haggai: “Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.”

Each of us should evaluate our temporal and spiritual priorities sincerely and prayerfully to identify the things in our lives that may impede the bounteous blessings that Heavenly Father and the Savior are willing to bestow upon us. And surely the Holy Ghost will help us to see ourselves as we really are.

As we appropriately seek for the spiritual gift of eyes to see and ears to hear, I promise that we will be blessed with the capacity and judgment to strengthen our covenant connection with the living Lord. We also will receive the power of godliness in our lives—and ultimately be both called to and chosen for the Lord’s feast.

David A. Bednar

"Put On Thy Strength, O Zion" General Conference October 2022

rise above this fallen world

My plea to you this morning is to find rest from the intensity, uncertainty, and anguish of this world by overcoming the world through your covenants with God. Let Him know through your prayers and your actions that you are serious about overcoming the world. Ask Him to enlighten your mind and send the help you need. Each day, record the thoughts that come to you as you pray; then follow through diligently. Spend more time in the temple, and seek to understand how the temple teaches you to rise above this fallen world.

Russell M. Nelson

"Overcome the World and Find Rest" General Conference October 2022

I have already revealed

...Personal revelation will be in harmony with the commandments of God and the covenants we have made with Him. Consider a prayer that goes something like this: “Heavenly Father, Church services are boring. May I worship Thee on the Sabbath in the mountains or on the beach? May I be excused from going to church and partaking of the sacrament but still have the promised blessings of keeping the Sabbath day holy?” In response to such a prayer, we can anticipate God’s response: “My child, I have already revealed my will regarding the Sabbath day.”

Dale G. Renlund

"A Framework for Personal Revelation" General Conference October 2022

trust the doctrine of Christ

If we trust the doctrine of Christ, we will approach our Heavenly Father every day in humble, secret prayer, where we can express gratitude for the gift of His Son and for all of our blessings. We can pray for the revelatory companionship of the Holy Ghost, pray to align our will with His, pray to reflect upon our covenants and renew our commitment to keep them. We can pray to sustain and express love for our prophets, seers, and revelators; pray for the cleansing power of forgiveness; and pray for the strength to resist temptation. I invite you to make prayer a priority in your life, seeking each day to improve your communication with God.

If we trust the doctrine of Christ, we will set aside the shiny things of the world so that we can focus on the Redeemer of the world. We will limit or eliminate time spent on social media; digital games; wasteful, excessive, or inappropriate entertainment; the allure of this world’s treasures and vanities; and any other activities that give place to the false traditions and misguided philosophies of men. It is only in Christ we find truth and lasting fulfillment.

Evan A. Schmutz

"Trusting the Doctrine of Christ" General Conference April 2023

hold up your light

To the Nephites, Jesus said: “Hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up.” We hold up the Lord’s light when we hold fast to our covenants and when we support our living prophet as he speaks the words of God.

President Russell M. Nelson said, when serving in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Our sustaining of prophets is a personal commitment that we will do our utmost to uphold their prophetic priorities.”

To hold up the prophet is a sacred work. We do not sit quietly by but actively defend him, follow his counsel, teach his words, and pray for him.

Ronald A. Rasband

“Behold I Am the Light Which Ye Shall Hold Up” General Conference October 2024

seek to understand temple covenants and ordinances

And to each of you who has made temple covenants, I plead with you to seek—prayerfully and consistently—to understand temple covenants and ordinances. Spiritual doors will open. You will learn how to part the veil between heaven and earth, how to ask for God’s angels to attend you, and how better to receive direction from heaven. Your diligent efforts to do so will reinforce and strengthen your spiritual foundation.

Russell M. Nelson

"The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation" General Conference October 2024

See also Ronald A. Rasband “Behold I Am the Light Which Ye Shall Hold Up” General Conference October 2024

mortality works

For several years I was assigned to home teach an older sister in my ward. She did not have an easy life. She had various health problems and experienced a lifetime of pain due to a childhood accident on the playground. Divorced at age 32 with four young children to raise and provide for, she remarried at age 50. Her second husband passed away when she was 66, and this sister lived an additional 26 years as a widow.

Despite her lifelong challenges, she was faithful to her covenants to the end. This sister was an avid genealogist, a temple attender, and a collector and writer of family histories. Though she had many difficult trials, and without question she felt at times sadness and loneliness, she had a cheerful countenance and a gracious and pleasant personality.

Nine months after her passing, one of her sons had a remarkable experience in the temple. He learned by the power of the Holy Ghost that his mother had a message for him. She communicated with him, but not by vision or audible words. The following unmistakable message came into the son’s mind from his mother: “I want you to know that mortality works, and I want you to know that I now understand why everything happened [in my life] the way it did—and it is all OK.”

Brook P. Hales

"Mortality Works!" General Conference October 2024

you can simultaneously have peace

Please learn that as you wrestle with a challenge and feel sadness because of it, you can simultaneously have peace and rejoicing. Yes, pain, disappointment, frustration, and anguish can be temporary scenes played out on the stage of life. Behind them there can be a background of peace and the positive assurance that a loving Father will keep His promises. You can qualify for those promises by a determination to accept His will, by understanding the plan of happiness, by receiving all of the ordinances, and by keeping the covenants made to assure their fulfillment.

Richard G. Scott

"Trust in the Lord" General Conference October 1995

adam’s obedience preceded his understanding

Adam’s obedience preceded his understanding and prepared him to receive the sacred knowledge that he was participating in a sacred symbol of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Our humble obedience will, likewise, pave the way for our spiritual discernment of God’s ways and His divine purpose for each of us. Reaching to elevate our obedience brings us closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ, because obedience to His laws and commandments is effectually reaching out to Him.

Additionally, our fidelity to the knowledge and wisdom we have already inherited through our faithful adherence to gospel principles and sacred covenants is crucial preparation for our readiness to receive and be stewards of communications from the Holy Spirit.

Tracy Y. Browning

"Seeking Answers to Spiritual Questions" General Conference October 2024

our greatest spiritual conditioning

The Lord’s method of teaching is “line upon line, precept upon precept.” We may be required to “wait upon the Lord” in the space between our current line of understanding and the next yet to be delivered. This sacred space can be a place where our greatest spiritual conditioning can occur—the site where we can “bear with patience” our earnest seeking and renew our strength to continue to keep the sacred promises we have made to God through covenant.

Tracy Y. Browning

"Seeking Answers to Spiritual Questions" General Conference October 2024

your covenants are with me

A sister does her best each day, after her husband was unfaithful to her and the children. I deeply admire her and others like her. One day while folding laundry, her hand on a stack of garments, she sighed to herself, “What’s the point?” She felt a tender voice assure her, “Your covenants are with me.”

Gerrit W. Gong

"Holiness to the Lord in Everyday Life" General Conference October 2024

a house of light, a house of hope

There is no pain, no sickness, no injustice, no suffering, nothing that can darken our hope as we believe and hold tightly to our covenants with God in the house of the Lord. It is a house of light, a house of hope.

Neil L. Andersen

"The Triumph of Hope", General Conference October 2024

hope is a living gift

My brothers and sisters, hope is a living gift, a gift that grows as we increase our faith in Jesus Christ. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” We build this substance—the evidence blocks of our faith—through prayer, temple covenants, keeping the commandments, continually feasting on the scriptures and the words of modern-day prophets, taking the sacrament, serving others, and worshipping weekly with our fellow Saints.

Neil L. Andersen

"The Triumph of Hope", General Conference October 2024

more important than being authentic

While it is true that each of us travels an individualized discipleship journey on the covenant path, striving to keep our hearts and minds centered on Christ Jesus, we need to be careful and constantly vigilant to not be tempted to adopt this type of worldly philosophy in our life. Elder Quentin L. Cook said that “being sincerely Christlike is an even more important goal than being authentic.”

My dear friends, when we choose to let God be the most powerful influence in our life over our self-serving pursuits, we can make progress in our discipleship and increase our capacity to unite our mind and heart with the Savior. On the other hand, when we don’t allow God’s way to prevail in our life, we are left to ourselves, and without the Lord’s inspiring guidance, we can justify almost anything we do or don’t do. We can also make excuses for ourselves by doing things our own way, saying in effect, “I am just doing things my way.”

Ulisses Soares

"Aligning Our Will with His", General Conference October 2024

please accept the gift

I invite you to receive, either for the first time or to a greater extent than ever before, the magnificent realisation that you truly are God’s beloved child. You must undo the bow, tear off the wrapping paper, open the box, and actively receive with grateful humility a true, pure understanding of this foundational truth. The Holy Spirit can bear witness to your heart that you are indeed a child of the Most High.

When you welcome this majestic reality into your very soul and feel both the comfort and the thrill of it, your entire paradigm shifts! You can feel His love, hear His voice, and recognise His hand, no matter what is happening, or not happening, in your life. You can redefine how you see yourself and others. Your covenant bond with your Saviour becomes even stronger, and through the lens of this sweet gift, life takes on new brilliance, beauty, and hope.

Please, will you pray to understand if you are truly receiving this transformative knowledge deep in your soul? Will you please accept the gift? Will you do so more deeply, more freely, more abundantly than you ever have before—and in so doing be showered with all of those other gifts that come with it?

Patrick Kearon

"Receive His Gift," General Conference April 2025

to have eyes to see and a heart to feel

[T]he Savior’s perfect love is focused on enabling all of God’s children to fulfill our divine potential that we may “partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption.” As we become more like our Master, our desire to help our brothers and sisters along the covenant path will naturally increase.

For instance, we can uplift and befriend those who feel offended or forgotten, help those who are new to our congregation feel welcome, or invite friends to worship with us at sacrament meeting—perhaps this coming Easter. There are countless ways to encourage and assist others in their progression if we deliberately and prayerfully seek heaven’s help to have eyes to see and a heart to feel how Jesus Christ sees and feels for them.

Michael B. Strong

"Charity—a Sign of True Discipleship", General Conference April 2025

with great fervency and reverence

My wife and I have personally experienced some sacred mountain moments in reverence as we have strived to apply these principles in our life, which has caused a meaningful transformation in our discipleship. I remember like it was yesterday walking through the cemetery before burying our second child, who was born prematurely and did not survive, while my wife was still recovering in the hospital. I recall praying to God with great fervency and reverence, asking for help to cope with that challenging trial. In that instant, I received a clear and powerful spiritual assurance in my heart: Everything will be fine in our lives if my wife and I endure, holding on to the joy that comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. What seemed like an overwhelming, sorrowful challenge at the time turned into a sacred, reverent experience, a capstone that has helped sustain our faith and has given us confidence in the covenants we have made with the Lord and in His promises for me and my family.

Ulisses Soares

"Reverence for Sacred Things", General Conference April 2025

reverence for sacred things

Brothers and sisters, we do not need to climb to the top of a mountain, like Moses did, to discover reverence for sacred things and convert our discipleship into a deeper level of spirituality and devotion. We can find it, for example, as we strive to protect our home environment from worldly influences. This can be accomplished by sincerely and fervently praying before our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ and seeking to better know our Savior through our diligent study of the word of God found in the scriptures and in the teachings of our prophets. Additionally, such spiritual transformation can come as we strive to honor the covenants we have made with the Lord by living in obedience to the commandments. These efforts can bring a quiet and certain stillness to our hearts. Focusing on such actions can surely help transform our homes into reverent places of spiritual refuge—personal sanctuaries of faith where the Spirit resides, much like the mountain experience of Moses.

Ulisses Soares

"Reverence for Sacred Things", General Conference April 2025

we are delightful

We don’t stay on the covenant path by never making a mistake. We stay on the path by repenting every day.

And when we’re repenting, God forgives without shaming us, comparing us to anyone else, or scolding us because this is the same thing we were repenting of last week.

He’s excited every time He sees us on our knees. He delights to forgive us because to Him we are delightful!

Tamara W. Runia

"Your Repentance Doesn’t Burden Jesus Christ; It Brightens His Joy", General Conference April 2025