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

sustaining

The Savior is not absent from our mortal journeys. For the past two days we have heard Him speak through His chosen leaders that we might draw closer to Him. Time and again, with His pure love and mercy, He sustains us as we face the drama of life. Nephi describes: “My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions. … He hath filled me with his love.”

That love is evident when we sustain one another in His work.

We sustain our living prophet at general conference, and the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, General Authorities, and Officers of the Church. To sustain means to hold up another person, to give them our attention, to be faithful to their trust, to act upon their words. They speak by inspiration of the Lord; they understand the current issues, the moral decline of society, and the adversary’s increasing efforts to thwart the Father’s plan. In holding up our hands, we are committing our support, not just for that moment but in our daily lives.

Sustaining includes holding up our stake presidents and bishops, quorum and organization leaders, teachers, and even camp directors in our wards and stakes. Closer to home, we hold up our wives and our husbands, children, parents, extended family, and neighbors. When we hold up one another we are saying, “I am here for you, not just to hold up your arms and hands when they ‘hang down’ but to be a comfort and strength at your side.”

Ronald A. Rasband

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

faith is not faith if never tested

Faith is not faith if never tested. Faith is not strong if never opposed. So don’t despair if you have trials of faith or unanswered questions.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Nourish the Roots, and the Branches Will Grow" General Conference October 2024

plead for His help for your loved one

If you pray, if you talk to God, and if you plead for His help for your loved one, and if you thank Him not only for help but for the patience and gentleness that come from not receiving all you desire right away or perhaps ever, then I promise you that you will draw closer to Him. You will become diligent and long-suffering. And then you can know that you have done all that you can to help those you love and those you pray for navigate through Satan’s attempt to derail them.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Henry B. Eyring

"Simple Is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ" General Conference October 2024

we could be afflicted with and by pride

May I suggest that if you or I believe we are sufficiently strong and stalwart to avoid the arrogance of pride, then perhaps we already are suffering from this deadly spiritual disease. Simply stated, if you or I do not believe we could be afflicted with and by pride, then we are vulnerable and in spiritual danger. In the space of not many days, weeks, months, or years, we might forfeit our spiritual birthright for far less than a mess of pottage.

If, however, you or I believe we could be afflicted with and by pride, then we consistently will do the small and simple things that will protect and help us become “as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us].” “Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.”

David A. Bednar

"In the Space of Not Many Years" General Conference October 2024

the joy of the tomb bursting open

We may have been conditioned to suppose that the purpose of the sacrament is to sit in the pew thinking only about all the ways we messed up during the week before. But let’s turn that practice on its head. In the stillness, we can ponder the many ways we have seen the Lord relentlessly pursue us with His wonderful love that week! We can reflect on what it means to “discover the joy of daily repentance.” We can give thanks for the times the Saviour entered into our struggles and our triumphs and the occasions when we felt His grace, forgiveness, and power giving us strength to overcome our hardships and bear our burdens with patience and even good cheer.

Yes, we ponder the sufferings and injustices inflicted upon our Redeemer for our sin, and that does cause sober reflection. But we sometimes get stuck there—in the garden, at the cross, inside the tomb. We fail to move upward to the joy of the tomb bursting open, the defeat of death, and Christ’s victory over all that might prevent us from gaining peace and returning to our heavenly home. Whether we shed tears of sorrow or tears of gratitude during the sacrament, let it be in awesome wonder at the good news of the Father’s gift of His Son!

Patrick Kearon

"Welcome to the Church of Joy" General Conference October 2024

our heavenly guidance system

Deep inside each of us is a desire to return to our heavenly home, and Jesus Christ is our heavenly guidance system. He is the way. His atoning sacrifice makes it possible for us to make sacred covenants with God. Once we make covenants, we will at times find ourselves swimming against the current. Danger, disappointment, temptation, and affliction will test our faith and spiritual strength. Ask for help. Jesus Christ understands and is always eager to share our burdens.

Remember that He is known as “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” The Savior taught, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” His atoning sacrifice allows our sins to be forgiven to the point that He no longer remembers them.

Sergio R. Vargas

"Our Heavenly Guidance System", General Conference April 2025

a mysterious reservoir of power

Men as fit as you, when your everyday strength is gone, can draw on a mysterious reservoir of power far greater. Then it is that you can reach for the stars. That is the way champions are made.

George Pocock

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. Penguin Books. 2013

in men as well as in wood

The ability to yield, to bend, to give way, to accommodate... was sometimes a source of strength in men as well as in wood, so long as it was helmed by inner resolve and by principle.

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. Penguin Books. 2013

that very enemy is your friend

It is hard to make that boat go as fast as you want to. The enemy, of course, is resistance of the water, as you have to displace the amount of water equal to the weight of men and equipment, but that very water is what supports you and that very enemy is your friend. So is life: the very problems you must overcome also support you and make you stronger in overcoming them.

George Yeoman Pocock

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. Penguin Books. 2013

take my yoke upon you

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; … and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

The metaphor of the yoke is powerful. As President Howard W. Hunter explained: “The yoke was a device … that allowed the strength of a second animal to be linked and coupled with the effort of a single animal, sharing and reducing the heavy labor of the [task in hand]. A burden that was overwhelming or perhaps impossible for one to bear could be equitably and comfortably borne by two bound together with a common yoke.”

President Nelson taught: “You come unto Christ to be yoked with Him and with His power, so that you’re not pulling life’s load alone. You’re pulling life’s load yoked with the Savior and Redeemer of the world.”

How do we yoke or bind ourselves to the Savior? Elder David A. Bednar explains:

“Making and keeping sacred covenants yokes us to and with the Lord Jesus Christ. In essence, the Savior is beckoning us to rely upon and pull together with Him. …

“We are not and never need be alone.”

To anyone burdened, lost, confused: You do not have to do this alone. Through the Atonement of Christ and His ordinances, you can be yoked or bound to Him. He will lovingly provide the strength and healing you need to face the journey ahead. He is the refuge from our storms still.

Alan T. Phillips

"God Knows and Loves You," General Conference October 2023

the time we need that calling

We learned that when we think it is not a good time for us to receive a calling, it may be the time we need that calling the most. Whenever the Lord asks us to serve in any calling, whether it is a lighter or heavier calling, He sees our needs. He provides the strength we need and has blessings ready to be poured out upon us as we faithfully serve.

Yoon Hwan Choi

"Do You Want to Be Happy?" General Conference October 2023

not merely transactional; they are transformational

Our covenants are not merely transactional; they are transformational. (see 2 Cor. 5:17) Through my covenants I receive sanctifying, strengthening power of Jesus Christ, which allows me to become a new person, to forgive what seems unforgivable, to overcome the impossible. Intentionally remembering Jesus Christ always is powerful; it gives me added strength to “keep his commandments which he has given [me].” It helps me to be nicer, to smile for no reason, to be a peacemaker, to avoid conflict, to let God prevail in my life.

Joaquin E. Costa

"The Power of Jesus Christ in Our Lives Every Day," General Conference October 2023

to know the love of Christ

Paul didn't pray the tepid prayers we often pray. He prayed God-sized prayers. In one of the most spiritually nuclear passages in all the Bible he prays to the Father:

that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:16-19).

If we were to pray that reality into our lives and into our churches, what story would we be telling from heaven? 

What exactly is Paul praying for? Not for greater obedience among the Ephesians, or that they would be more fruitful, or that false teaching would be stamped out, or that they would grow in doctrinal depth, or even for the spread of the gospel. All good things, things we should and must pray for. But here Paul prays that the Ephesians would be given supernatural power - not power to perform miracles or walk on water or convert their neighbors, but power, such power, the kind that only God himself can give, power to know how much Jesus loves them. not just to have the love of Christ. To know the love of Christ.

Dane C. Ortlund

Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners by Dane C. Ortlund. Crossway. 2021. p.70,71

the ever-startling paradoxes

In the vision of a King born in a stable, attended by the animals and visited by the shepherds, I am led to the ever-startling paradoxes that are the essence of the gospel: out of weakness comes strength; out of simplicity, profundity; out of humility, dignity; out of humanity, divinity.


The Lord’s Question: Thoughts on the Life of Response by Dennis Rasmussen. Brigham Young University Press. April 1985. Chapter Six, “Knowest Thou the Condescension of God?” p.65

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

it was too painful for Him

In the last revelation Joseph Smith received before he was permitted to organize Christ’s Church on the earth—in what was the capstone of Joseph Smith’s preparation to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ—the Lord gave the only first-person detailed account of the suffering He endured so that we would not need to suffer the full effects of our disobedience:

For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; . . .

Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink— [D&C 19:16, 18]

There is something curious about this narrative. Verse 18 ends with a dash. The Savior did not complete His thought. Why? I don’t know, but I am persuaded by the explanation that the Savior might have cut short His description of what He suffered because it was too painful for Him—some 1,800 years after the event—to complete the description (see Eugene England, The Quality of Mercy [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992], 52). Now what kind of a God do we worship? An awesome God who wants us to know that His love for us is infinite and eternal. A God who wants us to know that His love for us gave Him the strength to suffer for us. Knowing this ought to be enough to move us to submit our lives to Him in obedience and gratitude.

 
“The Very Root of Christian Doctrine” by Thomas B. Griffith (judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit when this devotional address was given on 14 March 2006). Speeches - Brigham Young University 2005-2006.

that fabric of inner strength and conviction

Material things do not of themselves produce happiness and satisfaction and the joy of attainment on earth. Nor do they lead us to exaltation. It is nobility of character, that fabric of inner strength and conviction woven from countless righteous decisions, that gives life its direction. A consistent, righteous life produces an inner power and strength that can be permanently resistant to the eroding influence of sin and transgression. Your faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to His commandments will strengthen your character. Your character is a measure of what you are becoming. It is the evidence of how well you are using your time on earth in this period of mortal probation.

“The Transforming Power of Faith and Character,” by Richard G. Scott, General Conference October 2010

woven patiently from threads of applied principle, doctrine, and obedience

Faith and character are intimately related. Faith in the power of obedience to the commandments of God will forge strength of character available to you in times of urgent need. Such character is not developed in moments of great challenge or temptation. That is when it is intended to be used. Your exercise of faith in true principles builds character; fortified character expands your capacity to exercise more faith. As a result, your capacity and confidence to conquer the trials of life is enhanced. The more your character is fortified, the more enabled you are to benefit from exercising the power of faith. You will discover how faith and character interact to strengthen one another. Character is woven patiently from threads of applied principle, doctrine, and obedience.

“The Transforming Power of Faith and Character,” by Richard G. Scott, General Conference October 2010

a more indomitable and unyielding temper

Many men will say they have a violent temper, and try to excuse themselves for actions of which they are ashamed. I will say, there is not a man in this house who has a more indomitable and unyielding temper than myself. But there is not a man in the world who cannot overcome his passion, if he will struggle earnestly to do so. If you find passion coming on you, go off to some place where you cannot be heard; let none of your family see you or hear you, while it is upon you, but struggle till it leaves you; and pray for strength to overcome. As I have said many times to the Elders, pray in your families; and if, when the time for prayer comes, you have not the spirit of prayer upon you, and your knees are unwilling to bow, say to them, “Knees, get down there”; make them bend, and remain there until you obtain the Spirit of the Lord. If the spirit yields to the body, it becomes corrupt; but if the body yields to the spirit it becomes pure and holy (DBY, 267).


Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young, 28: Exercising Self-Control, 203