I have a great deal more confidence in men who rise here feeling their weakness and inability, than I have in those who feel that they are well informed and capable of teaching anything and everything.

 I have a great deal more confidence in men who rise here feeling their weakness and inability, than I have in those who feel that they are well informed and capable of teaching anything and everything. Why? Because when men trust to themselves they trust in a broken reed; and when they trust in the Lord they will never fail. … The Lord is over all, He watches over His people, and if these brethren will continue to trust in God … , His Spirit will rest upon them, enlighten their minds, enlarge their capacities and give to them wisdom and intelligence in time of need. They need not be under any apprehension with regard to the wisdom of the world; for there is no wisdom in the world equal to that which the Lord gives to His Saints; and as long as these brethren keep from evil, live their religion, and cleave to the Lord by keeping His commandments, there is no fear as to the results; and this will apply to all the Saints as well as to these brethren.

Chapter 8: Our Missionary Duty

John Taylor

Teachings of Presidents

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-john-taylor/chapter-8?lang=eng&verse=#p

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.

 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.

Do You Want to Be Happy?

October 2023

General Conference

Yoon Hwan Choi

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/10/26choi?lang=eng&verse=#p

God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability

God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability

(“It’s Service, Not Status, That Counts,” Ensign July 1975).

When we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help. Remember that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.

 The Lord will help us in our callings, especially when we feel overwhelmed by the responsibilities. When we pray to Heavenly Father for guidance, He will direct us through inspiration and will bless us to serve well. The Lord helps those who serve Him and will add His power to their efforts (see D&C 84:88). As President Thomas S. Monson promised, “When we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help. Remember that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.”

Thomas S. Monson, Ensign July 2013, Whom The Lord Calls

Don't Inhale & Don't Take Yourself too darn seriously

 Shortly after my call as a new General Authority, I had the privilege to accompany President James E. Faust for a stake reorganization. As I drove the car to our assignment in beautiful Southern Utah, President Faust was kind enough to use the time to instruct and teach me. One lesson I will never forget. Said he, “The members of the Church are gracious to the General Authorities. They will treat you kindly and say nice things about you.” Then he briefly paused and said, “Dieter, always be thankful for this, but don’t you ever inhale it.”

This important lesson about Church service applies to every priesthood holder in every quorum of the Church. It applies to all of us in this Church.

When President J. Reuben Clark Jr. counseled those called to positions of authority in the Church, he would tell them not to forget rule number six.

Inevitably, the person would ask, “What is rule number six?”

“Don’t take yourself too darn seriously,” he would say.

Of course, this led to a follow-up question: “What are the other five rules?”

With a twinkle in his eye, President Clark would say, “There aren’t any.”⁶

To be effective Church leaders, we must learn this critical lesson: leadership in the Church is not so much about directing others as it is about our willingness to be directed by God.

The Greatest among You, April 2017 General Conference, Dieter F. Uctdorf

Although You are Worthy to Receive Certain Callings...He May Say "This is not my calling for you."

No calling is beneath us. Every calling provides an opportunity to serve and to grow. The Lord organized the Church in a way that offers each member an opportunity for service, which, in turn, leads to personal spiritual growth. Whatever your calling, I urge you to see it as an opportunity not only to strengthen and bless others but also to become what Heavenly Father wants you to become.

When traveling to the stakes of Zion for the purpose of reorganizing a stake presidency, I have sometimes been surprised when, during an interview, a brother would tell me that he had received an impression that he would be in the next presidency.

When I first heard this, I wasn’t sure how to react.

It took some time before the Holy Spirit gave me understanding. I believe that the Lord has a certain calling for every man. Sometimes He grants spiritual promptings telling us that we are worthy to receive certain callings. This is a spiritual blessing, a tender mercy from God.

But sometimes we do not hear the rest of what the Lord is telling us. “Although you are worthy to serve in this position,” He may say, “this is not my calling for you. It is my desire instead that you lift where you stand.” God knows what is best for us.

Dieter F. Uctdorf, Lift Where You Stand, October 2008 General Conference

And the Battle Raged On

Spencer W. Kimball was one of the prophets of my youth. These past few years, after being called as an Apostle, I have found peace in his first message at general conference in October 1943. He was overwhelmed by his call; I know what that feels like. Elder Kimball said: “I did a great deal of thinking and praying, and fasting and praying. There were conflicting thoughts that surged through my mind—seeming voices saying: ‘You can’t do the work. You are not worthy. You have not the ability’—and always finally came the triumphant thought: ‘You must do the work assigned—you must make yourself able, worthy and qualified.’ And the battle raged on.”

Be Not Afraid, Ronald A. Rasband, October 2018 General Conference

Such as I am, I am at the Master’s pleasure. He died for me, and I hope that I shall never consider my life as too great a sacrifice to offer unto Him, if necessary, in return.

 Evan S. Morgan, age 62, accepted his mission call even with health concerns, stating, “Such as I am, I am at the Master’s pleasure. He died for me, and I hope that I shall never consider my life as too great a sacrifice to offer unto Him, if necessary, in return.” To this, President Smith replied, “God bless and heal that man, for he has a noble spirit; and his generous offering of sacrifice for the gospel’s sake is accepted. Let him be honorably released from the call with our blessing.”

Liahona March 2021, Early Missionary Calls: Voices from a Century Ago

When our heart is in the right place, we do not complain that our assigned task is unworthy of our abilities.

When our heart is in the right place, we do not complain that our assigned task is unworthy of our abilities. We gladly serve wherever we are asked. When we do this, the Lord can use us in ways beyond our understanding to accomplish His work.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Pride in the Priesthood, October 2010 General Conference

serving one another was one of the greatest opportunities to show our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ our gratitude for the Atonement

 While giving German ministers a tour of the operations of the church in Salt Lake City, F. Enzio Busche recounts, " We took some time to Pass by the Primary.  Little children were sitting there, and the teacher was teaching them in a most caring and loving style. She was well groomed...As we passed the Primary presentation, one of the ministers asked me in a somewhat haughty tone how much we paid a teacher like that.  I felt impressed to tell him that the teacher would be offended if she were offered pay.  She understood that serving one another was one of the greatest opportunities to show our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ our gratitude for the Atonement and our gratitude for the blessings of life and the plan of salvation.  She would see it as a privilege to teach children the gospel of Jesus Christ."

F. Enzio Busche, Yearing For the Living God,  p.217-218

Share with those who may turn down church callings.  What to say when someone turns down a call to serve.  

Perhaps when we make face-to-face contact with our Maker, we will not be asked, ‘How many positions did you hold?’ but rather, ‘How many people did you help?

President Thomas S. Monson likewise taught that “perhaps when we make face-to-face contact with our Maker, we will not be asked, ‘How many positions did you hold?’ but rather, ‘How many people did you help?’ In reality, you can never love the Lord until you serve Him by serving His people.”

In other words, sisters, it will not matter if we sat in the comfy seats or if we struggled to get through the meeting on a rusty folding chair in the back row. It won’t even matter if we, of necessity, stepped into a foyer to comfort a crying baby. What will matter is that we came with a desire to serve, that we noticed those to whom we minister and greeted them joyfully, and that we introduced ourselves to those sharing our row of folding chairs—reaching out with friendship even though we aren’t assigned to minister to them. And it will certainly matter that we do all that we do with the special ingredient of service coupled with love and sacrifice.

The Joy of Unselfish Service

October 2018

General Conference

Cristina B. Franco

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/the-joy-of-unselfish-service?lang=eng&verse=#p

And the Battle Raged On

Spencer W. Kimball was one of the prophets of my youth. These past few years, after being called as an Apostle, I have found peace in his first message at general conference in October 1943. He was overwhelmed by his call; I know what that feels like. Elder Kimball said: “I did a great deal of thinking and praying, and fasting and praying. There were conflicting thoughts that surged through my mind—seeming voices saying: ‘You can’t do the work. You are not worthy. You have not the ability’—and always finally came the triumphant thought: ‘You must do the work assigned—you must make yourself able, worthy and qualified.’ And the battle raged on.”

Be Not Troubled, October 2018 General Conference, Ronald A. Rasband

Store raged on

Feelings of Inadequacy and What Can Be Done

I speak, not to the slackers in the Kingdom, but to those who carry their own load and more; not to those lulled into false security, but to those buffeted by false insecurity, who, though laboring devotedly in the Kingdom, have recurring feelings of falling forever short.

Earlier disciples who heard Jesus preach some exacting doctrines were also anxious and said, “Who then can be saved?” (Mark 10:26.)

The first thing to be said of this feeling of inadequacy is that it is normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance. Following celestial road signs while in telestial traffic jams is not easy, especially when we are not just moving next door—or even across town.

.....

What can we do to manage these vexing feelings of inadequacy? Here are but a few suggestions:

We can distinguish more clearly between divine discontent and the devil’s dissonance, between dissatisfaction with self and disdain for self. We need the first and must shun the second, remembering that when conscience calls to us from the next ridge, it is not solely to scold but also to beckon.

We can contemplate how far we have already come in the climb along the pathway to perfection; it is usually much farther than we acknowledge. True, we are “unprofitable servants,” but partly because when “we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10), with every ounce of such obedience comes a bushel of blessings.

We can accept help as well as gladly give it. Happily, General Naaman received honest but helpful feedback, not from fellow generals, but from his orderlies. (See 2 Kgs. 5:1–14.) In the economy of heaven, God does not send thunder if a still, small voice is enough, or a prophet if a priest can do the job.

We can allow for the agency of others (including our children) before we assess our adequacy. Often our deliberate best is less effectual because of someone else’s worst.

We can write down, and act upon, more of those accumulating resolutions for self-improvement that we so often leave, unrecovered, at the edge of sleep.

We can admit that if we were to die today, we would be genuinely and deeply missed. Perhaps parliaments would not praise us, but no human circle is so small that it does not touch another, and another.

We can put our hand to the plow, looking neither back nor around, comparatively. Our gifts and opportunities differ; some are more visible and impactful. The historian Moroni felt inadequate as a writer beside the mighty Mahonri Moriancumer, who wrote overpoweringly. We all have at least one gift and an open invitation to seek “earnestly the best gifts.” (D&C 46:8.)

We can make quiet but more honest inventories of our strengths, since, in this connection, most of us are dishonest bookkeepers and need confirming “outside auditors.” He who was thrust down in the first estate delights to have us put ourselves down. Self-contempt is of Satan; there is none of it in heaven. We should, of course, learn from our mistakes, but without forever studying the instant replays as if these were the game of life itself.

We can add to each other’s storehouse of self-esteem by giving deserved, specific commendation more often, remembering, too, that those who are breathless from going the second mile need deserved praise just as the fallen need to be lifted up.

We can also keep moving. Only the Lord can compare crosses, but all crosses are easier to carry when we keep moving. Men finally climbed Mount Everest, not by standing at its base in consuming awe, but by shouldering their packs and by placing one foot in front of another. Feet are made to move forward—not backward!

We can know that when we have truly given what we have, it is like paying a full tithe; it is, in that respect, all that was asked. The widow who cast in her two mites was neither self-conscious nor searching for mortal approval.

We can allow for the reality that God is more concerned with growth than with geography. Thus, those who marched in Zion’s Camp were not exploring the Missouri countryside but their own possibilities.

We can learn that at the center of our agency is our freedom to form a healthy attitude toward whatever circumstances we are placed in! Those, for instance, who stretch themselves in service—though laced with limiting diseases—are often the healthiest among us! The Spirit can drive the flesh beyond where the body first agrees to go!

Finally, we can accept this stunning, irrevocable truth: Our Lord can lift us from deep despair and cradle us midst any care. We cannot tell Him anything about aloneness or nearness!

Yes, brothers and sisters, this is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us. Dis couragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage, and our personal progress should be yet another way we witness to the wonder of it all!

True, there are no instant Christians, but there are constant Christians!

If we so live, we too can say in personal prospectus, “And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for … then shall I see his face with pleasure” (Enos 1:27; italics added) for then will our confidence “wax strong in the presence of God,” (D&C 121:45; italics added), and He who cannot lie will attest to our adequacy with the warm words “Well done.”

Notwithstanding My Weakness, October 1976, General Conference,Neal A. Maxwell

Everyone should aspire only to magnify his own office and calling.

Eliza R. Snow reported: “[Joseph Smith gave] instructions respecting the different offices, and the necessity of every individual acting in the sphere allotted him or her, and filling the several offices to which they are appointed. He spoke of the disposition of many men to consider the lower offices in the Church dishonorable, and to look with jealous eyes upon the standing of others who are called to preside over them; that it was the folly and nonsense of the human heart for a person to be aspiring to other stations than those to which they are appointed of God for them to occupy; that it was better for individuals to magnify their respective callings. … Everyone should aspire only to magnify his own office and calling.”

Chapter 8: The Everlasting Priesthood, Joseph Smith Teachings of Presidents

Titles in the Church and in the Priesthood are not for adornment but rather appointment to Humble Service

“The God-given titles of honor … associated with the several offices in and orders of the Holy Priesthood, are not to be used nor considered as are the titles originated by man; they are not for adornment nor are they expressive of mastership, but rather of appointment to humble service in the work of the one Master whom we profess to serve. …

“… We are laboring for the salvation of souls, and we should feel that this is the greatest duty devolving upon us. Therefore, we should feel willing to sacrifice everything, if need be, for the love of God, the salvation of men, and the triumph of the kingdom of God upon the earth.”

The Powers of the Priesthood, April 2018 General Conference Dallin H. Oaks

He’s a better man at home.

During a recent trip, Julie and I attended church and saw this verse in action. A young man, soon to leave for his mission, spoke in sacrament meeting.

He said, “You all think my dad is such a good man at church, but …” He paused, and I anxiously wondered what he might say next. He continued and said, “He’s a better man at home.”

I thanked this young man afterward for the inspiring tribute he had paid his father. I then found out that his father was the bishop of the ward. Even though this bishop was serving his ward faithfully, his son felt that his best work was done at home.

Teaching in the Home—a Joyful and Sacred Responsibility, April 2018 General Conference, Devin G. Durrant

The young rich man came running...Nazareth was a little place, And so was Galilee.

The young rich man came "running " to the Savior (Mark 10:17), because he knew (Mark 10:18), but ultimately he turned from following him. Nearly every time I think of this I am reminded of this poem recounted by Thomas S. Monson:


Our appointed task may appear insignificant, unnecessary, unnoticed. Some may be tempted to question:

“Father, where shall I work today?”

And my love flowed warm and free.

Then he pointed out a tiny spot

And said, “Tend that for me.”

I answered quickly, “Oh no, not that!

Why, no one would ever see,

No matter how well my work was done.

Not that little place for me.”

And the word he spoke, it was not stern; …

“Art thou working for them or for me?

Nazareth was a little place,

And so was Galilee.”

Meade MacGuire, “Father, Where Shall I Work Today?” in Best-Loved Poems of the LDS People, comp. Jack M. Lyon and others (1996), 152.

Your Personal Influence, Thomas S. Monson, April 2004

What is the most important calling in the Church? It is the one you currently have.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to serve the Lord, but when we seek to gain influence in the Church for our own sake—in order to receive the praise and admiration of men—we have our reward. When we “inhale” the praise of others, that praise will be our compensation.

What is the most important calling in the Church? It is the one you currently have. No matter how humble or prominent it may seem to be, the calling you have right now is the one that will allow you not only to lift others but also to become the man of God you were created to be.

My dear friends and brethren in the priesthood, lift where you stand!

The Greatest Among You, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, April 2017 General Conference

When we comprehend His voluntary Atonement, any sense of sacrifice on our part becomes completely overshadowed by a profound sense of gratitude for the privilege of serving Him.

When we comprehend His voluntary Atonement, any sense of sacrifice on our part becomes completely overshadowed by a profound sense of gratitude for the privilege of serving Him.
Russell M. Nelson, October 1996 General Conference, The Atonement

It is not in the proper spirit for us to decide where we will serve or where we will not.

It is not in the proper spirit for us to decide where we will serve or where we will not. We serve where we are called. It does not matter what the calling may be.


Boyd K. Packer, Called to Serve, October 1997 General Conference