Our safety and happiness and our wealth depend upon our obedience to God and his laws

 All that we possess is the gift of God. We should acknowledge him in all things. We sometimes talk about men having this right and the other right. We have no rights, only such as God gives us. And I will tell you what he will show to the Latter-day Saints. He will yet prove to them that the gold and the silver are his, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, and that he gives to whom he will, and withholds from whom he pleases. He will yet show you this is a matter of fact. Our safety and happiness and our wealth depend upon our obedience to God and his laws, and our exaltation in time and eternity depends upon the same thing.

Chapter 19: Temporal Blessings and the Law of Tithing

John Taylor

Teachings of Presidents

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-john-taylor/chapter-19?lang=eng&verse=#p

reminds me of this:

Our Safety Lies in Repentance

Some, in speaking of war and troubles, will say, are you not afraid? No, I am a servant of God, and this is enough, for Father is at the helm.

Some, in speaking of war and troubles, will say, are you not afraid? No, I am a servant of God, and this is enough, for Father is at the helm. It is for me to be as clay in the hands of the potter, to be pliable and walk in the light of the countenance of the Spirit of the Lord, and then no matter what comes. Let the lightnings flash and the earthquakes bellow, God is at the helm, and I feel like saying but little, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth and will continue his work until he has put all enemies under his feet, and his kingdom extends from the rivers to the ends of the earth

Chapter 16: Strengthening Our Relationship with God

John Taylor

Teachings of Presidents

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-john-taylor/chapter-16?lang=eng&verse=#p

Jesus Christ's focus was not on the political challenges of the day; it was on the perfection of the Saints

 As we contemplate the challenges of our day, we must remember that the Savior, during His earthly ministry, also lived in turbulent and violent times. His focus was not on the political challenges of the day; it was on the perfection of the Saints

The Lord Is Hastening His Work

October 2025

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/10/27cook?lang=eng&verse=#p

They did not need to fear or be anxious, because they would survive and prosper.

The Savior first told the parable of the ten virgins. In this parable, ten virgins went to a wedding feast. Five wisely brought oil to fill their lamps, and five foolishly did not. When the bridegroom’s imminent arrival was announced, the foolish virgins left to buy oil. When they returned, it was too late; the door to the feast was shut.

Jesus identified three aspects of the parable to help us. He explained:

“And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins.

“For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall … abide the day.”

In other words, they did not need to fear or be anxious, because they would survive and prosper. They would prevail...

Consistent, personal, private acts of devotion invite the Holy Ghost to guide us.

Personal Preparation to Meet the Savior Dale G. Renlund, April 2025 General Conference

Our goal should be to live optimistically on the sunny side of the street

 We all should strive to exhibit joy and happiness even as we face the challenges of life. Our goal should be to live optimistically on the sunny side of the street. I have observed my precious companion, Mary, do this her entire life. I have appreciated her sparkling, uplifting approach even as we have faced problems throughout the years.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ Provides the Ultimate Rescue

April 2025

General Conference

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/04/16cook?lang=eng&verse=#p

Those who have the name of the Savior upon their lips and the Holy Spirit in their souls,

 My beloved brothers and sisters, my dear young friends, there will likely be difficulties for each of us in the days ahead. However, as we enter this coming decade of unprecedented moments, may we share glad tidings through the simple activities of living, caring, inviting, and uniting. As we do so, the Lord will bless us with experiences never to be forgotten.

I testify that those who approach the Lord with a sincere heart and real intent, those who have the name of the Savior upon their lips and the Holy Spirit in their souls, those who embark upon this grand and glorious pilgrimage will discover and experience bounteous celestial blessings and receive a witness that God hears you, knows you, and loves you. You will experience days never to be forgotten. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Days Never to Be Forgotten

October 2024

General Conference

Gary E. Stevenson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/44stevenson?lang=eng&verse=#p

For you personally, this will be a decade never to be forgotten. But it will be doubly so if you actively strive to become a light unto the world

 Picture the photos your phone will serve up 10 years from now! You may see yourself graduating from high school or college, receiving your endowment, going on a mission, getting married, and having your first child. For you personally, this will be a decade never to be forgotten. But it will be doubly so if you actively strive to become a light unto the world of how the glad tidings of the gospel of Jesus Christ can enrich and enhance not only your lives but also those of your family, friends, and social media followers.

Days Never to Be Forgotten

October 2024

General Conference

Gary E. Stevenson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/44stevenson?lang=eng&verse=#p

These words remind me of this talk by Elder Robert D. Hales

Title: To the Aaronic Priesthood: Preparing for the Decade of Decision
Where: Ensign, May 2007, 48–51

In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen.

 my dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns “with power and great glory,” He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful.

Nonetheless, we are presently living in what surely is a most complicated time in the history of the world. The complexities and challenges leave many people feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.

Overcome the World and Find Rest

October 2022

General Conference

Russell M. Nelson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/47nelson?lang=eng&verse=#p

Similar To:

Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives, Russell M. Nelson, April 2018 General Conference

We have never needed positive spiritual momentum more than we do now, to counteract the speed with which evil and the darker signs of the times are intensifying.

 We have never needed positive spiritual momentum more than we do now, to counteract the speed with which evil and the darker signs of the times are intensifying. Positive spiritual momentum will keep us moving forward amid the fear and uncertainty created by pandemics, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and armed hostilities. Spiritual momentum can help us withstand the relentless, wicked attacks of the adversary and thwart his efforts to erode our personal spiritual foundation.

Many actions can ignite positive spiritual momentum. Obedience, love, humility, service, and gratitude are but a few.

The Power of Spiritual Momentum

April 2022

General Conference

Russell M. Nelson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/47nelson?lang=eng&verse=#p

His gospel is the only answer when many in the world are stunned with fear.

 Brothers and sisters, the gospel of Jesus Christ has never been needed more than it is today. Contention violates everything the Savior stood for and taught. I love the Lord Jesus Christ and testify that His gospel is the only enduring solution for peace. His gospel is a gospel of peace.

His gospel is the only answer when many in the world are stunned with fear.

Preaching the Gospel of Peace

April 2022

General Conference

Russell M. Nelson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/11nelson?lang=eng&verse=#p

You will face emotional and spiritual challenges that most of your pioneer ancestors could never have imagined.

 Many years ago, some of my younger cousins were assigned to do a service project at our Grandpa Crozier Kimball’s farm. As a reward, they were promised Grandma Clara’s fabulous homemade cake.

When they had completed their tasks, they headed to the kitchen for their reward. Grandpa, however, blocked the kitchen door. My cousin Kathy Galloway, who was about 14 at the time, recalls that he sat down on a piano bench and invited the cousins to sit on the floor. He thanked them for their hard work and then said he had something important to share before they ate their cake.

“There will come a time in your lives when you will need to know and act on what I am about to share with you,” he said.

He explained that his grandfather Heber C. Kimball (1801–68) and other pioneer ancestors had faced arduous physical challenges. Grandpa said the pioneers quickly learned that to survive, they had to work together and love and serve each other.

“This is one of the great legacies they left to you!” he said as tears began to roll down his cheeks.

“In my calling as a patriarch and as your grandfather, when I look down the corridors of time, … my heart aches for you,” he said. “You will face emotional and spiritual challenges that most of your pioneer ancestors could never have imagined.”

Unless the younger generation honors the pioneers’ great legacy of love and service, he added, “many of you will fail because you will not be able to survive on your own.”

Then, with a spirit-to-spirit connection, Grandpa Kimball concluded: “We need each other. In addition to sharing our testimonies of the gospel with one another, our duty is to love and serve and strengthen and nourish and support and sustain each other, … especially in our family. Please remember that in the last days, your very survival may depend on your willingness to work together and to love and serve each other. Now, let us go eat cake!”....We need loving families, service-filled quorums and Relief Societies, and supportive branches, wards, and stakes.

Pursuing the Path of Happiness

January 2022

Liahona

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2022/01/pursuing-the-path-of-happiness?lang=eng&verse=#p

Pursuing the Path of Happiness

January 2022

Liahona

Quentin L. Cook

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2022/01/pursuing-the-path-of-happiness?lang=eng&verse=#p

Grow in the Principle of Revelation

This article is abundant in it lines and directions.  Here are a few:

Because of the increasing dangers we face, our need for divine guidance has never been greater, and our efforts to hear the voice of Jesus Christ—our Mediator, Savior, and Redeemer—have never been more urgent

....

If we will stay on our knees for a while after we finish our prayer, thoughts, feelings, and direction will come into our mind. Recording those impressions will help us remember what actions the Lord would have us take

....

“The standard is clear,” taught Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “If something we think, see, hear, or do distances us from the Holy Ghost, then we should stop thinking, seeing, hearing, or doing that thing. If that which is intended to entertain, for example, alienates us from the Holy Spirit, then certainly that type of entertainment is not for us. Because the Spirit cannot abide that which is vulgar, crude, or immodest, then clearly such things are not for us.”

.....

When we receive revelation, we spend time in the presence of God as He reveals His mind, will, and voice unto us (see Doctrine and Covenants 68:4).

Grow into the Principle of Revelation

January 2021

2021

Russell M. Nelson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2021/01/grow-into-the-principle-of-revelation?lang=eng&verse=#p

I know now that the place of safety in this world is not in any given place; it doesn’t make so much difference where we live; but the all-important thing is how we live

In Kelsey, Texas, in 1942, at the height of World War II, a group of Latter-day Saints approached President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973), who was at the time a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They asked, “Is now the day for us to come up to Zion, … where we can be protected from our enemies?”

President Lee took the question seriously. After pondering, studying, and praying for some time, he concluded: “I know now that the place of safety in this world is not in any given place; it doesn’t make so much difference where we live; but the all-important thing is how we live, and I have found that security can come to Israel only when [we] keep the commandments, when [we] live so that [we] can enjoy the companionship, the direction, the comfort, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit of the Lord, when [we] are willing to listen to these men whom God has set here to preside as His mouthpieces, and when we obey the counsels of the Church.”

Prophecy of War, Prescription for Peace

August 2021

2021

Matthew S. Holland

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2021/08/prophecy-of-war-prescription-for-peace?lang=eng&verse=#p

A Defense and a Refuge From the Storm

 When Daniel interpreted the dream of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, making known to the king “what shall be in the latter days,” he declared that “the God of heaven [shall] set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all [other] kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” The Church is that prophesied latter-day kingdom, not created by man but set up by the God of heaven and rolling forth as a stone “cut out of the mountain without hands” to fill the earth.

Its destiny is to establish Zion in preparation for the return and millennial rule of Jesus Christ. Before that day, it will not be a kingdom in any political sense—as the Savior said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Rather, it is the repository of His authority in the earth, the administrator of His holy covenants, the custodian of His temples, the protector and proclaimer of His truth, the gathering place for scattered Israel, and “a defense, and … a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth.”

Why the Church

October 2015

2010–2019

D. Todd Christofferson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/10/why-the-church?lang=eng&verse=#p

If a man is living his religion and enjoys the favor and Spirit of God, it makes no difference to him what takes place on the earth.

 Now, if you have the Holy Ghost with you—and every one ought to have—I can say unto you that there is no greater gift, there is no greater blessing, there is no greater testimony given to any man on earth. You may have the administration of angels; you may see many miracles; you may see many wonders in the earth; but I claim that the gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest gift that can be bestowed upon man. It is by this power that we have performed that which we have. It is this that sustains us through all the persecutions, trials and tribulations that come upon us....

When we enjoy the Holy Spirit, when we are trying to live our religion here on the earth, we are the happiest people on God’s footstool, no matter what our circumstances may be. I do not care whether we are rich or poor, whether in happiness or affliction, if a man is living his religion and enjoys the favor and Spirit of God, it makes no difference to him what takes place on the earth. There may be earthquakes, war, fire or sword in the land, but he feels that it is all right with him. That is the way I feel.

Chapter 5: The Holy Ghost and Personal Revelation

Wilford Woodruff

Teachings of Presidents

The time is coming when … it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God

Heber C. Kimball was one of the original Twelve Apostles of this dispensation and First Counselor to President Brigham Young. He warned: “The time is coming when … it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God. Then … look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall.” He concluded that there is “a TEST coming.”

In our day, the influence of Christianity in many countries, including the United States, is significantly reduced. Without religious beliefs, there is no feeling of accountability to God. Accordingly, it is hard to establish universal values about how to live. Philosophies which are deeply held often conflict with each other.

Unfortunately, this also happens with some members of the Church who lose their bearings and become influenced by the cause of the moment—many of which are clearly not righteous.

In line with Heber C. Kimball’s prophecy, Elder Neal A. Maxwell said in 1982: “Much sifting will occur because of lapses in righteous behavior which go unrepented of. A few will give up instead of holding out to the end. A few will be deceived by defectors. Likewise, others will be offended, for sufficient unto each dispensation are the stumbling blocks thereof!”

Valiant in the Testimony of Jesus

October 2016

2010–2019

Quentin L. Cook

The world is “in commotion,” but the kingdom is in forward motion as never before!

Granted, brothers and sisters, the world is “in commotion,” but the kingdom is in forward motion as never before! (see D&C 88:91; D&C 45:26). Its distinctiveness is being more sharply defined by adverse trends in the world, where traditional values are not fastened down by the rivets of the Restoration. They are sliding swiftly (see D&C 105:31).

Neal A. Maxwell, Plow in Hope, April 2001 General Conference

We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life

Nobel Prize–winning Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn expressed the idea that the problems of the Western world began in the Renaissance. He indicated that the thought processes enshrined during the Renaissance “did not [see in] the existence of … man … any higher task than the attainment of happiness on earth. … Modern Western civilization [has developed] on the dangerous trend to worship man and his material needs. …
“… We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life.”

The Essential Role of Revelation

August 2019

Ensign

Terence M. Vinson

This is the greatest season in the history of the restored church. And we get to live now. We to to be here.

Every generation has its tests. I don't think it was easy for young people your age to pull handcarts, I don't think it was easy for young people your age to live through World War II. I don't think it was easy in our youth to face certain things. So everybody in a generation faces changes, challenges of various kinds.   I had an experience with President Hinckley a number of years ago where he and I were seated and together and he said, "David this is the greatest season in the history of the restored Church.  Never has the Church been as well known and as well regarded. Never have we had the resources to help move the word forward in all the earth as we do today. Oh, David, this is the greatest season in the history of the restored Church.  It was not better in the days of Joseph Smith. It was not better in the days of Brigham Young.  This is the greatest season in the history of the restored church. And we get to live now. We get to to be here."  People throughout all previous dispensations have looked forward to this day and the things that would occur.  So there are great challenges and opportunities equal to or greater than those challenges for those who are true and faithful to the covenants that we enter into as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ


May 12, 2015 Face to Face with Elder and Sister Bednar, World Wide Youth Event 0:26 -2:40

Transcribed by me on 7/1/2019 using closed captioning, English

On that day it will be clear that His is the only voice that ever really mattered.

One day all of God’s children will know what is right—including those who now mock the truth.

They will bow the knee and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer, the Savior of the world. They will know that He died for them.

On that day it will be clear that His is the only voice that ever really mattered.

You will know with certainty how blessed you are because you kept the faith, kept God’s commandments, served your fellowmen, and built God’s kingdom here on earth.

Your Adventure through Mortality

March 2019

Ensign

Dieter F. Uchtdorf