Good morning, my spiritual siblings. I’m pleased to have the opportunity to address you today. I was asked to speak on the topic of “How the principles of the Gospel have blessed me and my family.”
When I told my wife, she suggested I add one word: “How LIVING the principles of the Gospel has blessed me and my family.” I think that was a good suggestion, and being a wise-ish man, I decided to listen to my dear wife.
The nice thing about this topic is it’s super-broad. The challenging thing about this topic is . . . it’s super-broad. So, I’m going to go ahead and take some license to focus on one specific sub-topic regarding gospel principles that I feel inspired to comment on today.
First, let’s look at the obvious question: what is a principle? The Guide to the Scriptures defines a principle as a basic doctrine, truth or law. Living by correct principles helps us be happy, enjoy the companionship and guidance of the Holy Ghost, and eventually return to live with Heavenly Father with eternal progression.
The next obvious question is, what are the principles of the Gospel? Well, there are many principles, but Article of Faith Number Four lists the FIRST principles and ordinances as:
First, faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ,
Second, repentance,
Third, baptism by immersion for the
remission of sins, and
Fourth, laying on of hands for the
gift of the Holy Ghost.1
The first: FAITH — living by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has definitely blessed me and my family. When you have faith in a perfect, loving, all-powerful Being who wants the very best for you, it helps you appreciate the good times and endure the bad. You know that each part of life can yield growth and joy, and that brings peace.
The second: REPENTANCE — without the opportunity to repent day by day — even moment by moment, sometimes — we’d be utterly and irretrievably lost. Everything would be hopeless, futile, and for nothing. But because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can repent and be forgiven — over and over again — by a loving, eternally patient, perfect Father. That also brings growth and joy and peace.
The third: BAPTISM — it’s an essential ordinance. It’s the first ACTION that sets us on the straight and narrow path to salvation and exaltation. To be legitimate, it must be performed appropriately by one having the true priesthood authority. Anything else is just getting wet.
The fourth: the gift of the HOLY GHOST — receiving the Holy Ghost is so critical, because He helps us so much throughout life. Indeed, He helps us endure to the end.
In Doctrine and Covenants section 11 verse 13, the Lord says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy.”2
Today I want to focus on the Holy Ghost because I believe there’s a powerful connection between the Holy Ghost and my topic of principles, and how that connection has blessed my life and my family’s life.
As we established, a principle is a basic doctrine, truth or law, and we know that there are many principles that guide our journey of growth throughout mortality. But no doctrine, truth or law is of any use to us unless we can accurately identify it and understand it. Seeing things as they really are is a pre-requisite for gaining knowledge of principles. That requires discernment — and that’s where the Holy Ghost comes in.
The Holy Ghost has several key purposes in His mission, and one is to testify of truth. In other words, to give you the discernment you need to be able to identify truth.
You’re likely familiar with Moroni chapter 10, verse 5: “And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”3 That makes it quite clear that the Holy Ghost is the key to knowledge and discernment of what’s true. Indeed, it’s by a witness from the Holy Ghost that we receive a testimony of the restoration of the Gospel, or of the Prophet Joseph Smith, or of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the reality of God, or any other doctrine, truth or law — any principle of the Gospel.
In Doctrine and Covenants section 8, verses 2 and 3 we read:
“Yea, behold, I will tell
you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come
upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Now, behold, this is the spirit
of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the
children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground.”4
In Doctrines of Salvation, Joseph Fielding Smith wrote that through the Holy Ghost, every member of the Church “has a right to the revelations that are expedient and necessary for his guidance individually…he has a right through his obedience, through his humility, to receive light and truth as it shall be revealed through the Spirit of Truth, and he who will hearken to that Spirit and seek for the gift of the Spirit in humility and faith shall not be deceived.”5
A key point embedded in that quote is the necessity of righteousness in the revelatory equation. We cannot expect to be blessed with the boundless knowledge of eternity if we are unwilling to keep the commandments. Sure, we all fail, and repent, repeatedly…but we must be willing to try, always doing our honest best. Then we qualify to receive the truths we seek.
President Ezra Taft Benson said, “Keep the commandments of God and you will have the wisdom to know and discern that which is evil.”6 So, there’s clearly a solid link between obedience and discernment.
President Smith also noted in Doctrines of Salvation, “The nearer we approach God, the better we endeavor to keep his commandments and the more we search to know His will as it has been revealed, the less likely it will be for us to be led astray by every wind of doctrine…we will be protected; and we will have the power to understand, to segregate truth from error; we will walk in the light, and we will not be deceived.”7
He goes on to say, regarding the mysteries of the kingdom, that “these truths cannot be understood except by the law of the gospel on which the reception of this knowledge is based. It was for the same reason that the Lord told Nicodemus, ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’”8
Now, I had always taken “see the Kingdom of God” to mean, “arrive at that location” — like “seeing” the Grand Canyon. But “see” here actually means to “truly comprehend,” …like when you say, “don’t you SEE what I mean by this?” So, it is only through trying to live the Gospel that we can really see truth.
Bringing this back around to the topic, I believe that striving to live the principles of the gospel as a family has blessed me and my family, by blessing us individually — and in our home generally — with the presence of the Holy Ghost, which in turn has helped us have the personal revelation and discernment necessary to navigate these relentlessly twisted times. There is a war on truth, a battle for souls that much like the War in Heaven is centered around the power of influence. Discernment is key to survival in this war, and maintaining close proximity with the Holy Ghost is the only way to be able to cling to truth and avoid being deceived.
So, study your scriptures with purpose, pray with real intent, and repent as needed to keep the Holy Ghost near. Serve others…and do the things that you know feel good inside because they’re good things. It’s up to each of us.
In his book, Act in Doctrine, Elder David A. Bednar says, “We cannot expect the Church as an organization to teach or tell us all the things we need to know and do to become devoted disciples. The ultimate responsibility for developing spiritual strength and stamina rests upon each and every member of the Church.”9
That means we need to make the effort to discover truth. The first step is to prepare ourselves by keeping the commandments and repenting as needed. Then, we seek. You will quickly learn that there’s no shortage of information out there…the trick is to find what’s true. To find truth, you need to look in the right places. Doctrine and Covenants section 109 verse 7 says, “seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith.”10 And after you’ve searched, pondered, and prayed, the Holy Ghost can confirm the truth to you.
Now,
it just wouldn’t be one my talks if I didn’t include a relevant quote from Elder
Neal A. Maxwell. He taught, “To those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, it
is clear that the Father and the Son are giving away the secrets of the
universe!”11
I testify that He wants you to have the peace, joy, and personal growth that comes from learning those secrets of the universe. I encourage each of you to take a personal inventory and examine ways you can strive to live the principles that will invite the Holy Ghost to be your constant companion and bringer of truth, so you will have the discernment required in these perilous times. You’ll be blessed with the spiritual preparation that repels fear and invites peace.
Living the principles of the Gospel has blessed me and my family in countless ways over the years. I can’t even begin to list off the many examples…I only know that without the principles of the Gospel, we’d be lost, weak, deceived, desperate, aimless, broken, and afraid. The principles of the Gospel give us hope, joy, peace, and a certainty about our eternal future that would be impossible by any other means.
Because of the witness of truth from the Holy Ghost, I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His church restored to the earth. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, that we’re led by a true prophet, and that through the ordinances of the temple we can live together as families, forever. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
1 Articles of Faith 1:4
2 D&C 11:13
3 Moroni 10:5
4 D&C 8:2-3
5 Doctrines of Salvation, Joseph
Fielding Smith
6 A Principle with a Promise, Ezra
Taft Benson, Ensign, May 1983
7 Doctrines of Salvation, Joseph
Fielding Smith
8 Doctrines of Salvation, Joseph
Fielding Smith
9 Act in Doctrine, David A. Bednar
10 D&C 109:7
11 Meek and Lowly, Neal A.
Maxwell, BYU Speeches, October 1986
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