confidence before God

When I speak of having confidence before God, I am referring to having confidence in approaching God right now! I am referring to praying with confidence that Heavenly Father hears us, that He understands our needs better than we do. I am referring to having confidence that He loves us more than we can comprehend, that He sends angels to be with us and with those we love. I am referring to having confidence that He yearns to help each of us reach our highest potential.

Now, how do we gain such confidence? The Lord answers this question with these words: “Let thy bowels … be full of charity towards all men, … and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God.”

There’s the key! In the Lord’s own words, charity and virtue open the way to having confidence before God! Brothers and sisters, we can do this! Our confidence can truly wax strong in the presence of God, right now!

Russell M. Nelson

"Confidence in the Presence of God", General Conference April 2025

turned her loving concerns over to Heavenly Father

Years ago I received a phone call from a distraught mother. She told me that her daughter had moved far from home. She sensed from the little contact she had with her daughter that something was terribly wrong. She pleaded with me to help.

I found out who the daughter’s home teacher was. You can tell by that name that it was a long time ago. I called him. He was young. Yet he told me that he and his companion both had been awakened in the night with not only concern for the daughter but with inspiration that she was about to make choices that would bring sadness and misery. With only that inspiration of the Spirit, they went to see her.

At first she did not want to tell them about her situation. Under inspiration, they pleaded with her to repent and choose the path the Lord had for her. She realized then, I believe by the Spirit, that the only way they could have known what they knew about her life was from God. A mother turned her loving concerns over to Heavenly Father and the Savior. The Holy Ghost had been sent to those home teachers because they were willing to serve the Lord. They had followed the counsel and promise found in the Doctrine and Covenants:

“Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.

“The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.”

Henry B. Eyring

"Our Constant Companion" General Conference October 2023

When you need encouragement, think of the qualities the people around you have: this one’s energy, that one’s modesty, another’s generosity, and so on. Nothing is as encouraging as when virtues are visibly embodied in the people around us, when we’re practically showered with them.

It’s good to keep this in mind. 

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Modern Library. 2003. P.80, Book 6, #48. Also see The Internet Classics Archive | The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (mit.edu)

vice clothed as virtue

That act of service yesterday - was it in fact, at root, a matter of creating a perception of you and your virtue? Don't answer too quickly! They way you cheerfully greet those around you today - is it, upon further reflection, mainly fueled by what you want others to think of you? Is it not, as Augustine put it, vice clothed as virtue? 

Dane C. Ortlund

Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners by Dane C. Ortlund. Crossway. 2021. p.41

Jesus: The Perfect Leader - Fixed principles

Jesus knew who he was and why he was here on this planet. That meant he could lead from strength rather than from uncertainty or weakness. 

Jesus operated from a base of fixed principles or truths rather than making up the rules as he went along. Thus, his leadership style was not only correct, but also constant. So many secular leaders today are like chameleons; they change their hues and views to fit the situation—which only tends to confuse associates and followers who cannot be certain what course is being pursued. Those who cling to power at the expense of principle often end up doing almost anything to perpetuate their power.

Jesus said several times, “Come, follow me.” His was a program of “do what I do,” rather than “do what I say.” His innate brilliance would have permitted him to put on a dazzling display, but that would have left his followers far behind. He walked and worked with those he was to serve. His was not a long-distance leadership. He was not afraid of close friendships; he was not afraid that proximity to him would disappoint his followers. The leaven of true leadership cannot lift others unless we are with and serve those to be led.

Jesus kept himself virtuous, and thus, when his closeness to the people permitted them to touch the hem of his garment, virtue could flow from him. (See Mark 5:24–34.)

Jesus: The Perfect Leader By President Spencer W. Kimball. From an address delivered to the Young Presidents organization, Sun Valley, Idaho, 15 January 1977. Ensign. August 1979.

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

a great beauty secret

We have been taught that “the gift of the Holy Ghost … quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections. … It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features.” Now, that is a great beauty secret!... Alma asks a penetrating question for each of us to consider: “Have [you] received his image in your countenances?”

Recently, a group of young women visited my office. At the end of the visit, one young woman confided with tears in her eyes, “I have never thought of myself as beautiful. I have always felt very ordinary. But today, as I walked past the mirror in your office and glanced into it, I was beautiful!” She was beautiful because her face shone with the Spirit. She saw herself as our Heavenly Father sees her. She had received His image in her countenance. That is deep beauty.



Elaine S. Dalton, "Remember Who You Are!" General Young Women Meeting, April 2010

these are the times in which a genius would wish to live

These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.


Abigail Adams writing to her son John Quincy Adams before he departed with his father to France in 1777 as quoted by John Adams by David McCullough. Simon and Schuster, 2001. p.226

virtue

Virtue is a prerequisite to entering the Lord’s holy temples and to receiving the Spirit’s guidance. Virtue “is a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards.” It encompasses chastity and moral purity. Virtue begins in the heart and in the mind. It is nurtured in the home. It is the accumulation of thousands of small decisions and actions. Virtue is a word we don’t hear often in today’s society, but the Latin root word virtus means strength. Virtuous women and men possess a quiet dignity and inner strength. They are confident because they are worthy to receive and be guided by the Holy Ghost.


Elaine S. Dalton, “A Return to Virtue,” Ensign, Nov 2008, 78–80

What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just;
And he but naked, though locked up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.


William Shakespeare, King Henry, in King Henry VI, pt. 2, act 3, sc. 2.

Assume a virtue if you have it not.


William Shakespeare, Hamlet, in Hamlet, act 3, sc. 4, to Gertrude.