not a casual or occasional practice

Following Christ is not a casual or occasional practice. It is a continuous commitment and way of life that should guide us at all times and in all places.

Dallin H. Oaks

"Following Christ", General Conference October 2024

the choice to submit our will to God’s

The choice to submit our will to God’s is an act of faith that lies at the heart of our discipleship. In making that choice, we discover that our agency is not diminished; rather, it is magnified and rewarded by the presence of the Holy Ghost, who brings purpose, joy, peace, and hope we can find nowhere else.

David P. Homer

"Trusting Our Father", 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

a courageous and a willing heart

It takes a courageous and a willing heart to pause and pursue an honest and meek introspection to acknowledge the presence of weaknesses of the flesh in our life that may impede our ability to submit ourselves to God, and ultimately decide to adopt His way rather than our own. The ultimate test of our discipleship is found in our willingness to give up and lose our old self and submit our heart and our whole soul to God so that His will becomes ours.

One of the most glorious moments of mortality occurs when we discover the joy that comes when doing always those things that “work for and please the Lord” and “what works for us” become one and the same! To decisively and unquestioningly make the Lord’s will our own requires majestic and heroic discipleship! At that sublime moment, we become consecrated to the Lord, and we totally yield our wills to Him. Such spiritual submissiveness, so to speak, is beautiful, powerful, and transformational.

Ulisses Soares

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

fill our hearts with greater charity

As followers of Jesus Christ, we should lead the way as peacemakers. As charity becomes part of our nature, we will lose the impulse to demean others. We will stop judging others. We will have charity for those from all walks of life. Charity towards all men is essential to our progress. Charity is the foundation of a godly character.

Let us plead with our Heavenly Father to fill our hearts with greater charity—especially for those who are difficult to love—for charity is a gift from our Heavenly Father for true followers of Jesus Christ. The Savior is the Prince of Peace. We are to be His instruments for peace.

Russell M. Nelson

"Confidence in the Presence of God", 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

a cherished friend

[F]ollow Jesus Christ and to trust the Holy Ghost as you would a cherished friend. Rely on those who love you and who love the Savior. Seek God’s guidance to develop your unique abilities, and help others, even when it isn’t easy.

Dale G. Renlund

"Personal Preparation to Meet the Savior", General Conference April 2025

true discipleship is for volunteers only

True discipleship is for volunteers only. Only volunteers will trust the Guide sufficiently to follow Him in the dangerous ascent which only He can lead. 

Neal A. Maxwell

Not My Will, but Thine by Neal A. Maxwell. 2008. Deseret Book. p. 95

this mortal micro-dot

By developing faith enough to know "who" we are and "why" we are here, we can better resist the tempting taunt, "Why not?" and the devilishly democratic, "Everybody does it!" If we know the realities of "things as they really are," we will view daily life differently. Deciding and acting out of eternal considerations, we can keep this mortal micro-dot in perspective. Jesus' disciples are not like everybody else.

Neal A. Maxwell

Not My Will, but Thine by Neal A. Maxwell. 2008. Deseret Book. p. 82

obedient children

Spiritual submissiveness, a freely given obedience to God's purposes, is neither docility nor ignorant compliance. "As obedient children" (1 Peter 1:14) we are seeking to become more like our Heavenly Father. Yeilding to Him, therefore, indicates neither disdain for life nor fatalistic resignation. Instead it is progressive participation in a very demanding discipleship. 

Neal A. Maxwell

Not My Will, but Thine by Neal A. Maxwell. 2008. Deseret Book. p. 2

my task is to seek to be a Saint

As a disciple of Christ I may perform at any moment a saving deed. Wherever I am, the world will be there too, and others will need my help. I can bear witness to what is beyond the world. I can testify that God loves every soul. I can be as a little sanctuary for his Spirit. At home, at work, along my way, I can be just. In the midst of compromise I can be constant. I can seek virtue before advancement, endure humiliation rather than cause it, speak kindly to anger. My task is to seek to be a Saint in the most telling way: to forget great feats and to live a common life, performing routine duties and daily chores, all with the attitude of sanctity. 

The Lord’s Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response by Dennis Rasmussen. Brigham Young University Press. April 1985. Chapter Four, “Whom Shall I Send?” p.45

gathers them into wholeness

It is occasionally said that man is naturally self-interested. But most men do not pursue their own interest. Instead they follow illusions, momentary desires, mutually conflicting wants. They are directed by whim rather than purpose and seek pleasure tather than perfection. The paradox is that man never gains control over his own mind and will until he surrenders them to something higher than himself. The beginning of true self-interest is self-forgetfulness, and the source of real freedom is humility before another. Only the disciple can learn discipline. Jesus has many admirers but few disciples. And yet the Father sent his Son to call all men to follow him. Christ’s life alone can give to man the higher pattern that he needs. Reaching all the scattered aspects of man’s being, Christ gathers them into wholeness.

The Lord’s Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response by Dennis Rasmussen. Brigham Young University Press. April 1985. Chapter Two, “Do Not I Fill Heaven and Earth?” p.21

under any circumstance

As Christ followed the Father under any circumstance, we should follow His Son. If we do so, it matters not what kind of persecution, suffering, grief, or “thorn in the flesh” ( Corinthians 12:7) we face. We are not alone. Christ will assist us. His tender mercies will make us mighty under any circumstance (1 Nephi 1:20). 

Walter F. González, "Followers of Christ." April 2011 General Conference

drinking our cup

Action… can help us to claim and celebrate our true self. But here again we need discipline, because the world in which we live says: “Do this, do that, go here, go there, meet him, meet her.” Busyness has become a sign of importance. Having much to do, many places to go, and countless people to meet gives us status and even fame. However, being busy can lead us away from our true vocation and prevent us from drinking our cup.

It is not easy to distinguish between doing what we area called to do and doing what we want to do. Our many wants can easily distract us from our true action. True action leads us to the fulfillment of our vocation…. The most prestigious position in society can be an expression of obedience to our call as well as a sign of our refusal to hear that call, and the least prestigious position, too, can be a response to our vocation as well as a way to avoid it.

Drinking our cup involves carefully choosing those actions which lead us closer to complete emptying of it, so that at the end of our lives we can say with Jesus: “It is fulfilled” (John 19:30). That indeed, is the paradox: we fulfill life by emptying it. In Jesus’ own words: “Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 10:39).

When we are committed to do God’s will and not our own we soon discover that much of what we do doesn’t need to be done by us. What we are called to do are actions that bring us true joy and peace. Just as leaving friends for the sake of the Gospel will bring us friends, so too will letting go of actions not in accord with our call.

Actions that lead to overwork, exhaustion, and burnout can’t praise and glorify God. What God calls us to do we can do and do well. When we listen in silence to God’s voice and speak with our friends in trust we will know what we are called to do, and we will do it with a grateful heart.



Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing: Living A Prayerful Life, Compiled & Edited by Wendy Wilson Greer. 1999. p. 141, 142.  Originally quoted in Can You Drink the Cup? 1974.

If we choose the course of steady improvement, which is clearly the course of discipleship, we will become more righteous and can move from what may be initially a mere acknowledgment of Jesus on to an admiration of Jesus, then on to adoration of Jesus, and finally to emulation of Jesus. In that process of striving to become more like Him through steady improvement, we must be in the posture of repentance, even if no major transgression is involved.


Neal A. Maxwell (1926 – 2004) was an apostle and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1981 until his death. "Testifying of the Great and Glorious Atonement," Ensign, October 2001, 11