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If you and I would learn to discern the difference between our own emotions and the promptings of the Holy Ghost, then we must come to recognize the Lord’s pattern and process for giving us spiritual knowledge. And the phrase “line upon line, precept upon precept” describes a central feature of the Lord’s pattern.Read original textRead New Era articleListen to mp3 audio

...Many of the things we value in our religion will not be enough to save us.  Personal testimony, for example, is not enough, a temple recommend won’t do it, visions and ministering of angels, personal healings, a brilliant grasp of the gospel, a righteous lineage; all of the ordinances put together will not do it; the celebrity and universal good opinion of your friends and colleagues in the Church will not do it.  Each of these is necessary, but without reaching out to the "least of these, my brethren" they don’t qualify us.Listen or Read at BYUI devotional site.

You need not be either rich or hold high position to be completely successful and truly happy.In fact, if these things come to you, and they may, true success must be achieved in spite of them, not because of them.It is remarkably difficult to teach this truth.Original talk at lds.org

My focus this morning will be on the divine nature and destiny of women and the sacred role they play in the sanctification and purification of men. In pondering the effect women have had on my life, I have concluded that there has been a metamorphosis of my spirit that could not have taken place without these relationships.Complete text of this talk and other formats are available at speeches.byu.edu.

From http://www.analysisgroup.com/experts-and-staff/affiliated-experts/w--steve-albrecht/With your knowledge of who you are and what is important in life and by maximizing options, adding value each day, and avoiding inhibitors of success, the changing world you face presents great opportunities, not threats, for you. With your background, training, knowledge, beliefs, and standards, you are much better poised to take advantage of future opportunities than are most others.Read, view or listen to this message at speeches.byu.edu

Much of the confusion we experience in this life comes from simply not understanding who we are. Too many go about their lives thinking they are of little worth when, in reality, they are elegant and eternal creatures of infinite value with potential beyond imagination.Discovering who we really are is part of this great adventure called life.Read or watch this message at lds.org

By World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland - Leading Through Adversity: Clayton ChristensenUploaded by January, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24692519I wanted to just recount for you five decisions that I made when I was a young adult that in retrospect have had a profound influence on my life, because these are decisions that I think many of you will find yourself needing to make, and maybe, if I can talk through with you how I wrestled with and made those decisions, it might help you think through a similar problem if it arises in your life.From a devotional talk given at BYU-Idaho on June 8, 2004.Read, Listen, or Watch

In order for us to be examples of the believers, we ourselves must believe. I would think that each of us within the sound of my voice has a testimony, although our testimonies are no doubt of varying degrees. It is up to each of us to develop the faith necessary to survive spiritually and to project a light for others to see. Amidst the confusion of our age, the conflicts of conscience, and the turmoil of daily living, an abiding faith becomes an anchor to our lives. Remember that faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other. Among the most effective ways to gain and keep the faith we need would be to read and study the scriptures and to pray frequently and consistently.From a devotional address given at BYU on November 1, 2011.Read, Watch, or Listen at speeches.byu.edu

The expanding access we enjoy to the Prophet’s work and teachings fills previous voids in our knowledge, confirms some things we already knew or thought, and supplies answers to questions we might have had. The information also raises new questions and highlights new areas of inquiry to pursue. Realistically, however, we ought not to expect in this life to know all the answers (or for that matter, all the questions). The Prophet himself declared:You don’t know me; you never knew my heart. No man knows my history. I cannot tell it: I shall never undertake it. I don’t blame any one for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I would not have believed it myself. . . . When I am called by the trump of the archangel and weighed in the balance, you will know me then.7You know, of course, that as prophesied by Moroni, there are those whose research relating to Joseph Smith is not for the purpose of gaining added light and knowledge but to undermine his character, magnify his flaws, and if possible destroy his influence. Their work product can sometimes be jarring, and so can issues raised at times by honest historians and researchers with no “axe to grind.” But I would offer you this advice in your own study: Be patient, don’t be superficial, and don’t ignore the Spirit.From a devotional address given at BYU-Idaho on September 24, 2013.Read, Listen, or Watch at http://web.byui.edu/DevotionalsandSpeeches

In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited. In the growth we all have to experience in mortality, the spiritual equivalent of this boy’s affliction or this parent’s desperation is going to come to all of us. When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes.From a general conference address given in April, 2013.Read, watch, or listen at lds.org

If life hasn’t yet taught you the wisdom of the proverb I am about to share, it would be my prayer that by the end of my remarks it will have enlightened your understanding and touched your hearts sufficiently to motivate you to make some helpful and wise changes in your life. Here is the proverb: “Enter not into the path of the wicked. . . . Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” 2The wisdom of Solomon in this passage is to be discovered in the word avoid. Solomon had discovered, as all wise people do, one of life’s most helpful guiding principles: It is easier to avoid temptation than it is to resist temptation.From a devotional address given at BYU on September 13, 2013.Read, watch, or listen at speeches.byu.edu

The pavilion that seems to intercept divine aid does not cover God but occasionally covers us. God is never hidden, yet sometimes we are.From a conference talk given in October, 2012.Read, watch, or listen at lds.org

Face the future with optimism. I believe we are standing on the threshold of a new era of growth, prosperity, and abundance. Barring a calamity or unexpected international crisis, I think the next few years will bring a resurgence in the world economy as new discoveries are made in communication, medicine, energy, transportation, physics, computer technology, and other fields of endeavor.I believe many of today’s young adults will be active participants in temporal blessings if they keep the commandments of the Lord. With prosperity will come a unique challenge—a test that will try many to their spiritual core. As you step into this new world of prosperity and engage in converting your education and skills into financial success, you will always have to distinguish between wants and needs.From a commencement address given at BYU-Idaho on April 6, 2012.Read, listen, or watch at byui.edu.

My hope today is to encourage you that healing is possible if you apply the principles that lead to healing. I will try to explain clearly three principles that can lead to healing and to knowing that all healing is a gift from Jesus Christ, for, as Isaiah said, “with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).Healing is much more than “getting better” or “having our problems go away.” Healing is growth, development, and maturation. In a word, healing is change. It takes time and energy and struggle, but healing teaches us. Read, listen or watch this devotional address at speeches.byu.edu

You young adults are now living in “the decade of decision.” Many of the most important choices of your life will be made in your late teens and twenties, such as “going to the temple, serving a mission, getting an education, selecting an occupation, and choosing a companion and being sealed for time and for all eternity in the holy temple.”Today I speak particularly to those persons who are struggling with one of these important decisions—some perhaps almost paralyzed from fear of making the wrong decision and some maybe needing only a little reinforcement to remain confident in a decision made previously.Four lessons of inspired decision making by Nephi in the well-known opening chapters of the Book of Mormon, if applied, can reduce your fears and increase your confidence to go forward.Read, watch, or listen to this devotional address at speeches.byu.edu

This life is a test of faith. Keep your faith strong. Don't give in to doubt.Read, watch, or listen to this devotional address at speeches.byu.edu

Take it one day at a time. … Don’t look ahead to the pain. Just get through the day.” To worry about what is or may be coming can be debilitating. It can paralyze us and make us quit.Read, watch or listen to the complete talk

Being 100 percent responsible is accepting yourself as the person in control of your life. If others are at fault and need to change before further progress is made, then you are at their mercy and they are in control over the positive outcomes or desired results in your life. Agency and responsibility are inseparably connected. You cannot avoid responsibility without also diminishing agency. Mercy and justice are also inseparable. You cannot deny the Lord’s justice without also impeding His mercy. Oh, how Satan loves to divide complementary principles and laugh at the resulting devastation!I invite each one of you to eliminate the anti-responsibility or anti-faith list from your life, even when you are right! It is an anti-happy and an anti-success list even when you are right. It is not a list for the valiant sons and daughters of God who are seeking to become more like Him. It is one of Satan’s foremost tools in controlling and destroying lives. The day a person eliminates the list from their life is the day they regain control over positive outcomes from that point on, and they begin moving forward in the light at an accelerated pace (see D&C 50:24).Read, watch or listen to the complete talk

None of us are entitled to revelation without effort on our part. Answers from God don't just magically appear. If we want to grow spiritually, the Lord expects us to ask questions and seek answers. "If thou shalt ask," He promised, "thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge...."[x] How much clearer can it be? The Lord loves inspired questions asked in faith because they lead to knowledge, to revelation, and to greater faith. Are you willing to engage in the wrestle? In an ongoing spiritual wrestle?Read, view, or listen to the full talk

Winner-take-all scenarios are regularly pursued in the culture wars across the country by both sides. That is unfortunate. Some state legislatures seem intent on making religious freedom so broad that it simply sounds like a license to discriminate on any grounds. Some LGBT advocates take an equally uncompromising position on the other side. We believe there is a better way. I have described what the Church has been advocating for years—urging mutual respect, balancing the competing rights of people within a pluralistic society.I have spent a lot of time on this last subject because of its topicality and because it provides one of the best examples of the challenges in navigating boundaries while the public and our members are caught in a tsunami of changing social values. This is made more complex when those values are not shared in every country across the world, and so the Church looks for principles anchored to scripture and doctrine.VideoAudio Download audioTextComplete text transcript

 How can a father raise a happy, well-adjusted daughter in today’s increasingly toxic world? The answer has been taught by the Lord’s prophets. It is a simple answer, and it is true—“The most important thing a father can do for his [daughter] is to love [her] mother.”1 By the way you love her mother, you will teach your daughter about tenderness, loyalty, respect, compassion, and devotion. She will learn from your example what to expect from young men and what qualities to seek in a future spouse. You can show your daughter by the way you love and honor your wife that she should never settle for less. Your example will teach your daughter to value womanhood. You are showing her that she is a daughter of our Heavenly Father, who loves her.Read, listen, or watch at lds.org

The priesthood does not have the strength that it should have and will not have until the power of the priesthood is firmly fixed in the families.We need everyone. The tired or worn out or lazy and even those who are bound down with guilt must be restored through repentance and forgiveness. Too many of our priesthood brethren are living below their privileges and the Lord’s expectations.Read, watch, or listen at lds.org

The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—miraculously—we can feel at home there. If Christ did not require faith and repentance, then there would be no desire to change. Think of your friends and family members who have chosen to live without faith and without repentance. They don’t want to change. They are not trying to abandon sin and become comfortable with God. Rather, they are trying to abandon God and become comfortable with sin. If Jesus did not require covenants and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost, then there would be no way to change. We would be left forever with only willpower, with no access to His power. If Jesus did not require endurance to the end, then there would be no internalization of those changes over time. They would forever be surface and cosmetic rather than sinking inside us and becoming part of us—part of who we are. Put simply, if Jesus didn’t require practice, then we would never become pianists.Read or listen at speeches.byu.edu

May I suggest that you set aside time every day to find out for yourself if the Book of Mormon is a true book.  For it will change your heart and change your life. If you seek this knowledge with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, I promise you will receive an answer.Such a personal testimony is essential if we are to safely navigate the sometimes treacherous paths of life, with the adversary attempting to deceive us at every turn.Read or listen at speeches.byu.edu

How can we be more cheerful and enthusiastic? How can we be more polite, kind, and sincere and show genuine concern for other people and be patient, especially with family and friends? How can we increase our temperance and be more humble and submissive to the Lord? How can we have increased godly love and be more positive and bring more energy into our lives? How can we increase our self-mastery, self-discipline, and self-control? How can we better govern ourselves and be more honest and true to the teachings of Heavenly Father? How can we exercise our God-given moral agency in inspiring ways?Let me suggest three basic, simple principles you can follow daily to cultivate, increase, and deepen your spirituality.Listen or read at speeches.byu.edu