The priesthood is placed in the church for this purpose, to dig, to plant, to nourish, to teach correct principles, and to develop the order of the kingdom of God, to fight the devils, and maintain and support the authorities of the church of Christ upon the earth

The priesthood is placed in the church for this purpose, to dig, to plant, to nourish, to teach correct principles, and to develop the order of the kingdom of God, to fight the devils, and maintain and support the authorities of the church of Christ upon the earth. It is our duty all to act together to form one great unit—one great united phalanx [or organized body], having sworn allegiance to the kingdom of God; then everything will move on quietly, peaceably, and easily, and then there will be very little trouble.

Chapter 13: Priesthood, the Government and Power of God

John Taylor

Teachings of Presidents

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-john-taylor/chapter-13?lang=eng&verse=#p

What is Priesthood

 What is priesthood? … I shall briefly answer that it is the government of God, whether on the earth or in the heavens, for it is by that power, agency, or principle that all things are governed on the earth and in the heavens, and by that power that all things are upheld and sustained. It governs all things—it directs all things—it sustains all things—and has to do with all things that God and truth are associated with. It is the power of God delegated to intelligences in the heavens and to men on the earth; and when we arrive in the celestial kingdom of God, we shall find the most perfect order and harmony existing, because there is the perfect pattern, the most perfect order of government carried out, and when or wherever those principles have been developed in the earth, in proportion as they have spread and been acted upon, just in that proportion have they produced blessings and salvation to the human family. And when the government of God shall be more extensively adopted, and when Jesus’ prayer, that he taught his disciples, is answered, and God’s kingdom comes on the earth, and his will is done here as in heaven [see Matthew 6:10], then, and not till then, will universal love, peace, harmony, and union prevail.

Chapter 13: Priesthood, the Government and Power of God

John Taylor

Teachings of Presidents

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-john-taylor/chapter-13?lang=eng&verse=#p

God has committed to us the gospel and the high priesthood, which is not intended, as some suppose, to bring men into bondage or to tyrannize over the consciences of men, but to make all men free as God is free

 God has committed to us the gospel and the high priesthood, which is not intended, as some suppose, to bring men into bondage or to tyrannize over the consciences of men, but to make all men free as God is free; that they may drink of the streams “whereof shall make glad the city of God;” [Psalm 46:4] that they may be elevated and not debased; that they may be purified and not corrupted; that they may learn the laws of life and walk in them, and not walk in the ways of corruption and go down to death.

Chapter 2: The Everlasting Gospel

John Taylor

Teachings of Presidents

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-john-taylor/chapter-2?lang=eng&verse=#p

Christ’s atoning power needs to be made available to God’s children. The priesthood delivers these opportunities.

F or Heavenly Father’s purposes to be accomplished, Christ’s atoning power needs to be made available to God’s children. The priesthood delivers these opportunities.

The Priesthood and the Savior’s Atoning Power

October 2017

2010–2019

Dale G. Renlund

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2017/10/the-priesthood-and-the-saviors-atoning-power?lang=eng&verse=#p

Share In the Priesthood

An individual who holds a share in the Priesthood, and continues faithful to his calling, who delights himself continually in doing the things God requires at his hands, and continues through life in the performance of every duty will secure to himself not only the privilege of receiving, but the knowledge [of] how to receive the things of God, that he may know the mind of God continually.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-brigham-young/chapter-18?id=p17&lang=eng#p17

We should refer to “the holders of the priesthood and the women.”

The Melchizedek Priesthood is not a status or a label. It is a divine power held in trust to use for the benefit of God’s work for His children. We should always remember that men who hold the priesthood are not “the priesthood.” It is not appropriate to refer to “the priesthood and the women.” We should refer to “the holders of the priesthood and the women.”

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

Faith and priesthood go hand in hand. Faith is power and power is priesthood.

God is God because He is the embodiment of all faith and all power and all priesthood. The life He lives is named eternal life.

And the extent to which we become like Him is the extent to which we gain His faith, acquire His power, and exercise His priesthood. And when we have become like Him in the full and true sense, then we also shall have eternal life.

Faith and priesthood go hand in hand. Faith is power and power is priesthood. After we gain faith, we receive the priesthood. Then, through the priesthood, we grow in faith until, having all power, we become like our Lord.
Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign April 2017, The Power of God

Satan's Counterfeits

The devil has been called “the great deceiver.”5 He attempts to counterfeit every true principle the Lord presents.

Remember, counterfeits are not the same as opposites. The opposite of white is black, but a counterfeit for white might be off-white or gray. Counterfeits bear a resemblance to the real thing in order to deceive unsuspecting people. They are a twisted version of something good, and just like counterfeit money, they are worthless. Let me illustrate.

One of Satan’s counterfeits for faith is superstition. His counterfeit for love is lust. He counterfeits the priesthood by introducing priestcraft, and he imitates God’s miracles by means of sorcery.

Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, but same-sex marriage is only a counterfeit. It brings neither posterity nor exaltation. Although his imitations deceive many people, they are not the real thing. They cannot bring lasting happiness.

God warned us about counterfeits in the Doctrine and Covenants. He said, “That which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness” (D&C 50:23).

Ensign April 2017,  The War Goes On, Larry R. Lawrence

To Break This Covenant One Needs Only to Do Nothing

Melchizedek Priesthood holders and those who have received their temple endowments have made further and specific pledges to do, to work righteousness. The Lord has expressed the mutual pledges between our Heavenly Father and the priesthood holders as an “oath and covenant.” [D&C 84:39.] … One breaks the priesthood covenant by transgressing commandments—but also by leaving undone his duties. Accordingly, to break this covenant one needs only to do nothing. 

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball, (2006), 124–34

Brethren, for a boy or a man to receive priesthood authority but neglect to do what is necessary to qualify for priesthood power is unacceptable to the Lord.

Brethren, for a boy or a man to receive priesthood authority but neglect to do what is necessary to qualify for priesthood power is unacceptable to the Lord. Priesthood holders young and old need both authority and power—the necessary permission and the spiritual capacity to represent God in the work of salvation.
April 2012 General Conference -  The Powers Of Heaven   -  Elder David A. Bednar

Priesthood Power Requires Diligence

As we do our best to fulfill our priesthood responsibilities, we can be blessed with priesthood power. The power of the priesthood is God’s power operating through men and boys like us and requires personal righteousness, faithfulness, obedience, and diligence. A boy or a man may receive priesthood authority by the laying on of hands but will have no priesthood power if he is disobedient, unworthy, or unwilling to serve.
April 2012 General Conference -  The Powers Of Heaven   -  Elder David A. Bednar

The Priesthood Is Inherently Active Rather Than Passive

The higher priesthood is received by a solemn covenant that includes the obligation to act in the authority (see D&C 68:8) and the office (see D&C 107:99) that have been received. As bearers of God’s holy authority, we are agents to act and not objects to be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:26). The priesthood is inherently active rather than passive.
April 2012 General Conference -  The Powers Of Heaven   -  Elder David A. Bednar

Women Posses the Complement of the Priesthood Powers

The Lord has directed that only men will be ordained to offices in the priesthood. But, as various Church leaders have emphasized, men are not “the priesthood.”11 Men hold the priesthood, with a sacred duty to use it for the blessing of all of the children of God.

The greatest power God has given to His sons cannot be exercised without the companionship of one of His daughters, because only to His daughters has God given the power “to be a creator of bodies … so that God’s design and the Great Plan might meet fruition.”12Those are the words of President J. Reuben Clark.

He continued: “This is the place of our wives and of our mothers in the Eternal Plan. They are not bearers of the Priesthood; they are not charged with carrying out the duties and functions of the Priesthood; nor are they laden with its responsibilities; they are builders and organizers under its power, and partakers of its blessings, possessing the complement of the Priesthood powers and possessing a function as divinely called, as eternally important in its place as the Priesthood itself.”13

THE KEYS AND AUTHORITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD By Elder Dallin H. Oaks - April 2014 GENERAL CONFERENCE  

If We Have Lost the Power of the Priesthood; We Have Lost the Essence of Exaltation

Let us have ready hands, clean hands, and willing hands, that we may participate in providing what our Heavenly Father would have others receive from Him. If we are not worthy, it is possible to lose the power of the priesthood; and if we lose it, we have lost the essence of exaltation. Let us be worthy to serve.

President Harold B. Lee, one of the great teachers in the Church, said: “When one becomes a holder of the priesthood, he becomes an agent of the Lord. He should think of his calling as though he were on the Lord’s errand."

Thomas S. Monson, Willing and Worthy to Serve, April 2012 General Conference

A Prophet's Voice--Messages from Thomas S. Monson p. 144

Women Are Equal To And Yet Different from Men

In his insightful talk at BYU Education Week last summer, Elder M. Russell Ballard gave these teachings:

“Our Church doctrine places women equal to and yet different from men. God does not regard either gender as better or more important than the other. …

“When men and women go to the temple, they are both endowed with the same power, which is priesthood power. … Access to the power and the blessings of the priesthood is available to all of God’s children.”16

THE KEYS AND AUTHORITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD By Elder Dallin H. Oaks - April 2014 GENERAL CONFERENCE  

Women and Men Act Under Priesthood Authority

I come now to the subject of priesthood authority. I begin with the three principles just discussed: (1) priesthood is the power of God delegated to man to act for the salvation of the human family, (2) priesthood authority is governed by priesthood holders who hold priesthood keys, and (3) since the scriptures state that “all other authorities [and] offices in the church are appendages to this [Melchizedek] priesthood” (D&C 107:5), all that is done under the direction of those priesthood keys is done with priesthood authority.

How does this apply to women? In an address to the Relief Society, President Joseph Fielding Smith, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said this: “While the sisters have not been given the Priesthood, it has not been conferred upon them, that does not mean that the Lord has not given unto them authority. … A person may have authority given to him, or a sister to her, to do certain things in the Church that are binding and absolutely necessary for our salvation, such as the work that our sisters do in the House of the Lord. They have authority given unto them to do some great and wonderful things, sacred unto the Lord, and binding just as thoroughly as are the blessings that are given by the men who hold the Priesthood.”7

In that notable address, President Smith said again and again that women have been given authority. To the women he said, “You can speak with authority, because the Lord has placed authority upon you.” He also said that the Relief Society “[has] been given power and authority to do a great many things. The work which they do is done by divine authority.” And, of course, the Church work done by women or men, whether in the temple or in the wards or branches, is done under the direction of those who hold priesthood keys. Thus, speaking of the Relief Society, President Smith explained, “[The Lord] has given to them this great organization where they have authority to serve under the directions of the bishops of the wards … , looking after the interest of our people both spiritually and temporally.”8

Thus, it is truly said that Relief Society is not just a class for women but something they belong to—a divinely established appendage to the priesthood.9

We are not accustomed to speaking of women having the authority of the priesthood in their Church callings, but what other authority can it be? When a woman—young or old—is set apart to preach the gospel as a full-time missionary, she is given priesthood authority to perform a priesthood function. The same is true when a woman is set apart to function as an officer or teacher in a Church organization under the direction of one who holds the keys of the priesthood. Whoever functions in an office or calling received from one who holds priesthood keys exercises priesthood authority in performing her or his assigned duties.

THE KEYS AND AUTHORITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD By Elder Dallin H. Oaks - April 2014 GENERAL CONFERENCE  

How to Release Those Spiritually Dead

There is a way to release the spirits of the dead; that is by the power and authority of the Priesthood—by binding and loosing on earth.

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, (2011), 468–478

The Priesthood is the Authority to Minister

President James E. Faust taught, “Priesthood is the authority delegated to man to minister in the name of God.”⁴ The Aaronic Priesthood holds the keys of the ministering of angels.⁵.....Jesus Christ is your example. He “came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.”⁷ To minister means to love and care for others. It means to attend to their physical and spiritual needs. Put simply, it means to do what the Savior would do if He were here.

 APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - YOUR SACRED DUTY TO MINISTER - DAVID L. BECK

The Priesthood in the Boy Is Just as Powerful as the Priesthood in the Man

The priesthood in the boy is just as powerful as the priesthood in the man when exercised in righteousness.

APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - THE POWER OF THE PRIESTHOOD IN THE BOY - ELDER TAD R. CALLISTER

Men and Women Have Different But Equally Valued Roles

In our Heavenly Father’s great priesthood-endowed plan, men have the unique responsibility to administer the priesthood, but they are not the priesthood. Men and women have different but equally valued roles. Just as a woman cannot conceive a child without a man, so a man cannot fully exercise the power of the priesthood to establish an eternal family without a woman. In other words, in the eternal perspective, both the procreative power and the priesthood power are shared by husband and wife.

 APRIL 2013 GENERAL CONFERENCE - “THIS IS MY WORK AND GLORY” - ELDER M. RUSSELL BALLARD