God does take care of us, and I feel all the day long like blessing the name of the God of Israel; and if we fear God and work righteousness, … we, the people of Zion, will be the richest of all people

 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. If we have means placed in our hands we will ask our Father to enable us to do what is right with it, and, as I have said, we will ask Him for our daily bread, and thank Him for it; just the same as the children of Israel did. They had manna brought to them from time to time by the angels. I do not know what kind of mills they had or who were their bakers; but they brought the manna. “He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack.” [Exodus 16:18.] I think that is the case sometimes with us. The angels do not feed us exactly with manna, but God does take care of us, and I feel all the day long like blessing the name of the God of Israel; and if we fear God and work righteousness, … we, the people of Zion, will be the richest of all people.

Chapter 4: Obedience, a Sacred Duty

John Taylor

Teachings of Presidents

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-john-taylor/chapter-4?lang=eng&verse=#p

A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.

 “Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons of God. A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.”

Chapter 37: Charity, the Pure Love of Christ

Joseph Smith

Teachings of Presidents

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-joseph-smith/chapter-37?lang=eng&verse=#p

To feel the love of God more abundantly in your life,

 If you would like to feel the love of God more abundantly in your life, may I invite you to consider the following:

First, pause frequently to remember that you are a child of God and think of the things you are grateful for.

Second, pray daily, asking Heavenly Father to help you know who around you needs to feel His love.

Third, ask sincerely what you can do to help that individual to feel the love of God.

And fourth, act promptly on the inspiration you receive.

If we consistently pray and ask on the behalf of others, God will show us the people we can help. And if we act promptly, we can become the means through which He answers their prayers. By doing so, in time, we will receive answers to our prayers and we will feel God’s love in our own lives.

The Love of God

April 2025

General Conference

Benjamin M. Z. Tai

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2025/04/56tai?lang=eng&verse=#p

To be clear, the idea that God has stopped loving should be so far down the list of possible explanations in life that we don’t get to it until after the mountains have left and the hills are gone!

 When we don’t feel the warmth of divine love, it hasn’t gone away. God’s own words are that “the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but [His] kindness shall not depart from [us].” So, just to be clear, the idea that God has stopped loving should be so far down the list of possible explanations in life that we don’t get to it until after the mountains have left and the hills are gone!

I really enjoy this symbolism of mountains being evidence of the certainty of God’s love. That powerful symbolism weaves into accounts of those who go to the mountains to receive revelation and Isaiah’s description of “the mountain of the Lord’s house” being “established in the top of the mountains.” The house of the Lord is the home of our most precious covenants and a place for us all to retreat and sink deeply into the evidence of our Father’s love for us

God’s Favourite

October 2024

General Conference

Karl D. Hirst

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/10/14hirst?lang=eng&verse=#p

The Covenant Path Does Not Mean That Life Will Be Easy, but It Will be Worth it. (I never said it would be easy; I said it would be worth it).

 Please do not fear or delay repenting. Satan delights in your misery. Cut it short. Cast his influence out of your life! Start today to experience the joy of putting off the natural man. The Savior loves us always but especially when we repent. He promised that though “the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed … my kindness shall not depart from thee.”

If you feel you have strayed off the covenant path too far or too long and have no way to return, that simply is not true. Please contact your bishop or branch president. He is the Lord’s agent and will help you experience the joy and relief of repenting.

Now, a caution: Returning to the covenant path does not mean that life will be easy. This path is rigorous and at times will feel like a steep climb. This ascent, however, is designed to test and teach us, refine our natures, and help us to become saints. It is the only path that leads to exaltation. One prophet described the “blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven … [and] dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.”

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

The 2nd Paragraph first line reminds me of this teaching by Elder Holland:

http://quotestokeep.blogspot.com/2019/10/doesnt-take-long.html

One of Satan’s greatest lies is that men and women cannot change

 One of Satan’s greatest lies is that men and women cannot change. This untruth gets told and retold in many different ways as the world says that we simply cannot change—or worse yet, that we should not change. We are taught that our circumstances define us. We should “embrace who we really are,” the world says, “and be authentic to our true selves.”....

Even God’s love, although infinite and perfect, is also subject to conditions. For example:

“If ye keep my commandments, [then] ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”

Elder D. Todd Christofferson further expounded on this gospel truth when he taught: “Some are wont to say, ‘The Savior loves me just as I am,’ and that is certainly true. But He cannot take any of us into His kingdom just as we are, ‘for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence’ [Moses 6:57]. Our sins must first be resolved.”

“Then Will I Make Weak Things Become Strong”

April 2022

General Conference

Kevin S. Hamilton

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/28hamilton?lang=eng&verse=#p

I submit that to “be of good cheer” (John 16:33) in [IS] the quest for “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ

 The Savior’s benediction upon His disciples even as He moved toward the pain and agony of Gethsemane and Calvary is the most moving of these words. On that night, the night of the greatest suffering that has ever taken place in the world or ever will take place, the Savior said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. … Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

What a stunning view of life in the most agonizing of hours! How can He possibly say that, facing what He knows He is facing? He can say that because His is the Church and the gospel of the happy endings! For us, the victory is already won. He is taking the long view; He is sharing the big picture.

I think some of us, however, must still have in us that clichéd remnant of Puritan heritage that says it is somehow wrong to be comforted or helped, that we are supposed to be miserable about something all of the time. I submit that to “be of good cheer” (John 16:33) in [IS] the quest for “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13) may be the commandment that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet surely nothing could be more grievous to the Lord’s merciful heart.

Pursuing the Fulness of Christ

April 2021

2021

Jeffrey R. Holland

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2021/04/pursuing-the-fulness-of-christ?lang=eng&verse=#p

Can’t you see that everyone around you is a sacred being?

While one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard,” for “His love [is] unfathomable.”

A few years ago my older sister passed away. She had a challenging life. She struggled with the gospel and was never really active. Her husband abandoned their marriage and left her with four young children to raise. On the evening of her passing, in a room with her children present, I gave her a blessing to peacefully return home. At that moment I realized I had too often defined my sister’s life in terms of her trials and inactivity. As I placed my hands on her head that evening, I received a severe rebuke from the Spirit. I was made acutely aware of her goodness and allowed to see her as God saw her—not as someone who struggled with the gospel and life but as someone who had to deal with difficult issues I did not have. I saw her as a magnificent mother who, despite great obstacles, had raised four beautiful, amazing children. I saw her as the friend to our mother who took time to watch over and be a companion to her after our father passed away.

During that final evening with my sister, I believe God was asking me, “Can’t you see that everyone around you is a sacred being?”

Taking upon Ourselves the Name of Jesus Christ

October 2018

General Conference

Robert C. Gay

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/taking-upon-ourselves-the-name-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng&verse=#p

Our love for the Sabbath day does not end when the chapel doors close behind us

Our love for the Sabbath day does not end when the chapel doors close behind us but instead opens the doors to a beautiful day of resting from routine tasks, studying, praying, and reaching out to family and others who need our attention. Instead of breathing a sigh of relief when church is over and frantically running in search of a television before the football game begins, let our focus remain on the Savior and upon His holy day.

April 2017 General Conference, Neil L. Andersen, "Overcoming the World"

To abide in God’s love in this sense means to submit fully to His will.

To abide in God’s love in this sense means to submit fully to His will. It means to accept His correction when needed, “for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.”21 It means to love and serve one another as Jesus has loved and served us.22 It means to learn “to abide the law of a celestial kingdom” so that we can “abide a celestial glory.”23 For Him to be able to make of us what we can become, our Heavenly Father pleads with us to yield “to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and [put] off the natural man and [become] a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and [become] as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”24

"Abide in My Love", D. Todd Christofferson, General Conference October 2016

Blessings of God are Not Entitlements Rather They Are Blessings for Which We Must Qualfiy

Nevertheless, God’s greater blessings are conditioned on obedience. President Russell M. Nelson explained: “The resplendent bouquet of God’s love—including eternal life—includes blessings for which we must qualify, not entitlements to be expected unworthily. Sinners cannot bend His will to theirs and require Him to bless them in sin [see Alma 11:37]. If they desire to enjoy every bloom in His beautiful bouquet, they must repent.”17

"Abide in My Love", D. Todd Christofferson, General Conference October 2016

If We Keep the Commandments We Abide In the Savior's Love

“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”7

To “continue in” or “abide in” the Savior’s love means to receive His grace and be perfected by it.8 To receive His grace, we must have faith in Jesus Christ and keep His commandments, including repenting of our sins, being baptized for the remission of sins, receiving the Holy Ghost, and continuing in the path of obedience.9

"Abide in My Love", D. Todd Christofferson, General Conference October 2016

My thoughts:  So if you're not keeping the commandments you are not in His love.

God’s love is infinite and it will endure forever, but what it means for each of us depends on how we respond to His love.

There are many ways to describe and speak of divine love. One of the terms we hear often today is that God’s love is “unconditional.” While in one sense that is true, the descriptor unconditional appears nowhere in scripture. Rather, His love is described in scripture as “great and wonderful love,”3 “perfect love,”4 “redeeming love,”5 and “everlasting love.”6 These are better terms because the word unconditional can convey mistaken impressions about divine love, such as, God tolerates and excuses anything we do because His love is unconditional, or God makes no demands upon us because His love is unconditional, or all are saved in the heavenly kingdom of God because His love is unconditional. God’s love is infinite and it will endure forever, but what it means for each of us depends on how we respond to His love.

"Abide in My Love", D. Todd Christofferson, General Conference October 2016

That is where Church leaders stand today – holding firm to the doctrinal position of right and wrong, while extending love to all people.

The vast majority of Church members understand that there has been no doctrinal change with regard to LGBT issues.  Church doctrine is consistent with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. There is a strong tendency today for many to talk of Jesus Christ as if His teachings on love were somehow inconsistent with his teachings on divine commandments. Of course the Savior’s love was never withheld from anyone and His words on the cross exemplify that. But, He also expressed love by teaching clear doctrine and standing firmly against sin with sometimes-tough lessons for which people rejected Him. That is where Church leaders stand today – holding firm to the doctrinal position of right and wrong, while extending love to all people. Church members who believe in modern prophets and apostles understand and appreciate the intent of their leaders to guide the Church through the complexities of diverse societies and rapidly changing social circumstances.

newsroom.lds.org, Commentary, Understanding the Handbook November 13, 2015

The Love of God Does Not Supersede His Laws and His Commandments

I begin with four examples which illustrate some mortal confusion between love and law.

• A young adult in a cohabitation relationship tells grieving parents, “If you really loved me, you would accept me and my partner just like you accept your married children.”
• A youth reacts to parental commands or pressure by declaring, “If you really loved me, you wouldn’t force me.”

In these examples a person violating commandments asserts that parental love should override the commandments of divine law and the teachings of parents.

The next two examples show mortal confusion about the effect of God’s love.

• A person rejects the doctrine that a couple must be married for eternity to enjoy family relationships in the next life, declaring, “If God really loved us, I can’t believe He would separate husbands and wives in this way.”
• Another person says his faith has been destroyed by the suffering God allows to be inflicted on a person or a race, concluding, “If there was a God who loved us, He wouldn’t let this happen.”

These persons disbelieve eternal laws which they consider contrary to their concept of the effect of God’s love. Persons who take this position do not understand the nature of God’s love or the purpose of His laws and commandments. The love of God does not supersede His laws and His commandments, and the effect of God’s laws and commandments does not diminish the purpose and effect of His love. The same should be true of parental love and rules.

Dallin H. Oaks, "Love and Law", Ensign, Nov. 2009, 26–29

The Love of God Does Not Supersede His Laws and His Commandments.

The love of God does not supersede His laws and His commandments, and the effect of God’s laws and commandments does not diminish the purpose and effect of His love. The same should be true of parental love and rules.

Author: Dallin H. Oaks

Title: Love and Law

Where: Ensign, Nov 2009, 26–29

His Love Is Such That Even Should We Give Up On Ourselves, He Never Will

His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will.

Author: Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Title: The Way of the Disciple
Where: Ensign, May 2009, 75–78