Quotes

Your particular valiancy is measured more by your acceptance of today's messengers of the Lord than by your reaction to those whose lives are not part of the past.

-Student Manual of Religion 121-122

The adversary has a better chance of to persuade us that what we believe is foolish if we worry about looking foolish in from of our fellowmen. - Neal A. Maxwell

"A little prosperity and peace, or even a turn slightly for the better, can bring us feelings self-sufficiency. We can feel quickly that we are in control of our lives, that the change for the better is our own doing, not that of a God who communicates to us through the still, small voice of the Spirit. Pride creates a noise within us which makes the quiet voice of the Spirit hard to hear. And soon, in our vanity, we no longer even listen for it. We can come quickly to think we don't need it." -President Henry B. Eyring

Does everyone need to repent? The answers yes. Too many people consider repentance as a punishment - something to be avoided, except in the most serious circumstances. But this feeling of being penalized is engendered by Sarah. He tries to block us from looking to Jesus Christ, who stands with open arms, hoping and willing to heal, forgive, cleanse, strengthen, purify and sanctify us...Thus when Jesus asks you and me to repent, He is asking us to change our mind, our knowledge, our spirit, even the way we breath. He is asking us to change the Wayne love, think, serve, spend our time, treat our spouse, teach our children, and even care for our bodies. Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event. It is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind...When we choose to depend, we choose to change. 

President Russell M. Nelson

When we hear the counsel of the Lord expressed through the shows that there is safety, peace, prosperity and happiness in responding to prophetic counsel. -Russell M. Ballard

Prophets

 Both Johan and Ham prophesied to the capital city of Assyria in Nineveh. "In the time of Jonah, the people repented but not so in Nahum's time. By Nahum's time, however, Nineveh had become extremely wicked. Therefore, Nahum pronounced the Lord's burden upon the city. Nineveh had repented once and was saved but then forgot the lessons and slid back into wickedness. Oahu's message is still true, decadence ends in destruction. Although the Lord is 'slow to anger', He is also 'great in power', and His mercy shall not rob justice, but neither will HIs justice rob His mercy. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him." (Nahum, a Poet Prophet, Rasmussen)

President Dallin H. Oaks taught: "We should never set ourselves up as judges of who is ready to hear the gospel and who is not. The Lord knows the hearts of all His children, and if we pray for inspiration, He will help us find persons He knows to be 'in preparation to hear the word.' (Alma 32:6)

The arbiter of truth is God not your favorite social media news feeds, not Google and certainly not those who have disaffected from the church. Many claim that truth is relative and that there's no such thing as divine law or a divine plan. Such a claim is simply not true. There is a difference between right and wrong. Truth is based upon laws God has established for the dependability, protection and nurturing of His children. Eternal laws operate in and affect each of our lives whether we believe in them or not. Sometimes we as leaders of the church are criticized for holding firm to the laws of God, defending the Savior's doctrine and resisting the pressures of our day. But our mission as ordained apostles is to go into all the world and to preach the Gospel unto every creature. That means we are to teach the truth. In doing so we are sometimes accused of being uncaring as we teach the requirements exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom. But wouldn't it be far more uncaring not to tell the truth, not to teach what God has revealed? It is precisely because we do deeply care about all of God's children that we proclaim His truth. We may not always tell people what they want to hear. Prophet are rarely popular, but we will always teach the truth. -President Russell M. Nelson

Numbers, Prophets

 In a sense, the story in Numbers is a dramatic but tragic drama, a story of unrequited love. On one hand we witnessed the infinite kindness and covenant love for His covenant people; He literally would not let Israel go. One the other hand we witness Israel's difficulty with receiving and appreciating God's offer to make of her His peculiar treasure, His holy nation of kings and priests, queens and priestesses. In addition, Jehovah straightened His people for their rebellion and chastened them for their failure to heed His word and the directives of His anointed servants." -Robert L. Millet

One sign of spiritual maturity is the capacity to receive revealed truths and act upon them in a balanced and appropriate manner. The children of Israel had just learned the importance of every man a woman becoming a prophet within his or her own sphere and that it is the privilege of each person to be guided and enlightened by the Spirit of God. Now they needed to learn order in this matter of revelation, and the significance of sustaining the one person given keys-directing power, the right of presidency- over the whole church." God molds his prophets, and God alone stands in judgement upon His prophets. The prophets words are to be received as if from the very mouth of the Lord and the Saints are to receive it in all patience and faith." -Robert L. Millet

To have faith in Christ is not merely to believe that he is who He says He is. Many in the church believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He is the Savior of the world but that He cannot save them. They believe in His identity but not in His power to cleanse and purify and save them. To have faith in His identity is only half the process; to have faith in His ability, in HIs power to cleanse and to save, that is the other half. We must not only believe in Christ when He says I can cleanse you and make you celestial. Spiritually there are some that are petrified by the questions, am I Celestial? Am I going to make it? Was I good enough today? We are so worried that we cannot make any progress. It's those times that the Savior graves us, throws His arms around us and says, I've got you. I love you. I'm not going to let you die. If we can relax and trust Him and believe Him as well as believe in Him then together we can begin to live the gospel. He puts His arms around us and we begin to make progress.  -Stephen E. Robinson