Russell M Nelson is the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I acknowledge Him as a living, modern-day prophet of God. He was called as a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles in April 1984. I recently reviewed every talk he has given since becoming president of the church. My favorite statements from many of them are found below.
When the focus of our lives is on Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening – or not happening – in our lives.
Drawing The Power Of Jesus Christ Into Our Lives
The gospel of Jesus Christ is filled with His power, which is available to every earnestly seeking daughter or son of God.
Ministering With The Power And Authority Of God
A hallmark of the Lord's true and living church will always be an organized, directed effort to minister to individual children of God and their families. We will minister in His name, with His power and authority, and with His loving kindness.
Revelation For The Church, Revelation For Our Lives
Incoming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.
Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints
I urge you to find a way to make an appointment regularly with the Lord – to be in His holy house – then keep that appointment with exactness and enjoy. I promise you that the Lord will bring the miracles he knows you need as you make sacrifices to serve and worship in His temples.
Anytime you do anything that helps anyone – on either side of the veil – take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty. You can be a big part of something big, something grand, something majestic!
The Correct Name Of The Church
So, what's in a name? When it comes to the name of the Lord's church, the answer is everything! Jesus Christ directed us to call the church by His name because it is His church, filled with His power.
We Can Do Better And Be Better
Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression that is a regular, daily focus on repentance. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ invites us to take the covenant path back home to our heavenly parents and be with those we love.
Our greatest joy comes as we help our brothers and sisters.
In some respects, it is easier to build a temple than to build people prepared for a temple.
Our ultimate quest in life is to prepare to meet our maker. We do this by striving daily to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. And we do that as we repent daily and receive His cleansing, healing, and strengthening power. Then we can feel enduring peace and joy, even during turbulent times.
As we seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our efforts to hear Him need to be ever more intentional. It takes conscious and consistent effort to fill our daily lives with His words, His teachings, His truths.
When your greatest desire is to let God prevail, to be part of Israel, so many decisions become easier. So many issues become non-issues... Emboldened evil abounds. Therefore, the only way to survive spiritually is to be determined to let God prevail in our lives, to learn to hear His voice, and to use our energy to help gather Israel.
I invite you to turn your heart, mind, and soul increasingly to our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Let that be your new normal.
As I have watched workers dig out of tree roots, plumbing, wiring, and a leaky fountain, I have thought about the need for us to remove, with the saviors help, the old debris in our lives.
What We Are Learning And Will Never Forget
If you look at your life prayerfully, I believe you will see many ways in which the Lord has been guiding you through this time of hardship... I testify that he has been, and is, indeed leading us along, as we seek to hear Him. He wants us to grow and to learn, even though – perhaps especially through – adversity.
Christ Is Risen, Faith In Him Will Move Mountains
You're growing faith in Him will move mountains - not the mountains of rock beautify the earth but the mountains of misery in your lives. Your flourishing faith will help you turn challenges into unparalleled growth and opportunity.
Pure Truth, Pure Doctrine, and Pure Revelation
The pure doctrine of Christ is powerful. It changes the life of everyone who understands it and seeks to implement it in his or her life. The doctrine of Christ helps us find and stay on the covenant path. Staying on that narrow but well-defined path will ultimately qualify us to receive all that God has. Nothing could be worth more than all our Father has!
The Temple And Your Spiritual Foundation
Whenever any kind of upheaval occurs in your life, the safest place to be spiritually is living inside your temple covenants!
If most of the information you get comes from social or other media, your ability to hear the whisperings of the spirit will be diminished... I plead with you to make time for the Lord! Nothing invites the spirit more than fixing your focus on Jesus Christ... Make your Sabbath a delight as you worship Him, partake of the sacrament, and keep His day hopefully.
We have the sacred responsibility to share the power and peace of Jesus Christ with all who will listen.
The Power of Spiritual Momentum
Today I would like to suggest five specific actions we can take to help us maintain positive spiritual momentum.
- Get on the covenant path and stay there
- Discover the joy of daily repentance
- Learn about God and the way he works
- Seek and expect miracles
- And conflict in your personal life