Prophets

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be with you today and feel of your loving spirits.  I would like to invite the Holy Ghost to be with us.

This month I have thought a lot about what the prophets mean to me.  I’ve reminisced about the different counsel and guidance that has touched my heart and changed my life.

We have lost several of my favorite Apostles in the last few years.  I am so grateful for them and their words of encouragement and care for us.

I deeply love and admire our living Prophet Thomas S. Monson.  He has brought light, truth and joy into our lives.  He has taught us to love our families and to study our scriptures.  He has shown us the way to live our lives so that we can draw closer to God.  He has taught us the importance of being kind to one another and in keeping the commandments.  He has pleaded with us to emulate the savior in all that we do, to qualify ourselves to be worthy of the saving and exalting blessings we can only find in the Temple.  I love him for his obedience and for his concern for us.

In D&C 1:38 we learn:

38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

Our loving Heavenly Father has brought forth prophets from the time of Adam.  These prophets have been foreordained before the foundation of the world.

In 2 Chronicles 20 we read a story about King Jehosaphate and his desire to obey the Prophet Jahazriel’s words.

King Jehoshaphat had several great armies coming to battle against him in an attempt to possess his land. Understandably, he was seized with dreadful fear, so he proclaimed a fast throughout all his kingdom and gathered the people of Judah together to plead for guidance from the Lord. Jehoshaphat humbly and earnestly prayed: “O our God, … we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee” (2 Chr. 20:12).

Then came the answer of the Lord through the prophet Jahaziel : “Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. …

“Fear not, nor be dismayed; … for the Lord will be with you” (2 Chr. 20:15, 17; emphasis added).

Jehoshaphat and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell in thankful prayer before the Lord.

Jehoshaphat then gave very important counsel that we today would do well to obey. “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper” (2 Chr. 20:20; emphasis added).

As promised, the Lord protected the good people of Judah. As Jehoshaphat’s forces looked on, those armies which came to battle against them, they fought so fiercely among themselves that they completely destroyed one another before they ever reached the people of Judah. Listen to a prophet’s voice and obey. There is safety in following the living prophet.

King Jehosaphate had to exercise Faith and Trust in the lord and in His chosen Prophet.

Another account of Jehoshaphat illustrates how prophets speak directly and plainly the word of God and let the consequence follow. Ahab, the king of Israel, invited Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, to join with him in battle against Syria. Jehoshaphat asked Ahab to inquire of the Lord to see if it would be wise to go against the Syrians.

After four hundred of Ahab’s so-called prophets told Ahab only what he wanted to hear—that he would be victorious over Syria—Jehoshaphat asked if he didn’t have any other prophets. Ahab replied, “There is yet one man, Micaiah … : but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil” (1 Kgs. 22:8; emphasis added).

Jehoshaphat convinced Ahab to seek the word of the prophet Micaiah. The messenger who was sent to bring Micaiah before the kings cautioned Micaiah to tell Ahab only what he wanted to hear. “And Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak” (1 Kgs. 22:14; emphasis added). Micaiah told Ahab that Israel would not return victorious and that Ahab would be killed.

Against the counsel of the prophet, Ahab went to battle, and lost his life, and Israel was defeated.

Micaiah, as all prophets before him and all who have followed, spoke the word of God with plainness and truth and let the consequence follow.

The desire of the prophets is to assist our Father in Heaven and his Son Jesus Christ in bringing about the great objectives of the plan of salvation, or, as one ancient prophet called it, “the great plan of happiness” (Alma 42:8).

Each of these prophets has humbly and prayerfully sought to know and follow God’s will in his personal ministry. Each has been determined to declare to Heavenly Father, as did an obedient Jesus Christ before him, “not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Because of the nature of this life, challenges will arise in each of our homes.  We may be filled with sorrow and grieve and will undoubtedly have questions.  As we try to find our way through the pit falls of mortality we will need our Living Prophet’s counsel.

Many years ago I had to make some tough decisions and I felt fear and confusion.  Like Jehoshaphat I was compelled to fast and pray for guidance.  I woke one evening in the middle of the night with a prompting in my mind.  The spirit encouraged me to write it down.  I wasn’t sure what it meant but I wrote it down. 

The following week was General Conference and President Monson gave a talk called “The Race of Life”.  He shared many eternal truths with us.  He spoke of the everyday decisions we make and how we often rush from thing to thing.

He spoke of death and times of crises and how these times can make us think more clearly and more deeply.

Our Prophet explained:

Such moments of clarity come to all of us at one time or another although not always through so dramatic a circumstance as death or sickness.  We see clearly what it is that really matters in our lives and how we should be living.

In our times of deepest reflection or greatest need, the soul of man reaches heavenward, seeking a divine response to life’s greatest questions:  Where did we come from?  Why are we here? Where do we go after we leave this life?

Answers to these questions are not discovered within the covers of academia’s textbooks or by checking the internet.  These questions transcend mortality.  They embrace eternity.

Where did we come from? This query is inevitably thought, if not spoken, by every human being.

The Apostle Paul told the Athenians on Mars’ Hill that “we are the offspring of God.”² Since we know that our physical bodies are the offspring of our mortal parents, we must probe for the meaning of Paul’s statement. The Lord has declared that “the spirit and the body are the soul of man.”³ Thus it is the spirit which is the offspring of God. The writer of Hebrews refers to Him as “the Father of spirits.”⁴ The spirits of all men are literally His “begotten sons and daughters.”⁵

How grateful we should be that a wise Creator fashioned an earth and placed us here, with a veil of forgetfulness of our previous existence so that we might experience a time of testing, an opportunity to prove ourselves in order to qualify for all that God has prepared for us to receive.

Clearly, one primary purpose of our existence upon the earth is to obtain a body of flesh and bones. We have also been given the gift of agency. In a thousand ways we are privileged to choose for ourselves. Here we learn from the hard taskmaster of experience. We discern between good and evil. We differentiate as to the bitter and the sweet. We discover that there are consequences attached to our actions.

By obedience to God’s commandments, we can qualify for that “house” spoken of by Jesus when He declared: “In my Father’s house are many mansions. … I go to prepare a place for you … that where I am, there ye may be also.”⁷

His counsel touched the deepest part of my soul and I wanted to repent and change.

I began to take inventory of my life and the things I felt were truly important, and the heavens poor out blessings on my family and me.  One of the greatest gifts I received was the gift of “Time”.

Time to meditate, time to study, time for the temple, time for my family, time for my friends, and I have felt an abundance of the Saviors love in my home.

As I have strived to make time for these things many other blessings have followed and some of which I am unaware of and they present themselves as the years pass.

Had I not followed the Prophets counsel who knows how many special memories and blessings I would have missed out on.

One of the blessings that has enriched my life greatly is the Quality of Time I have been able to spend with my family.  My husband is very quiet and I on the other hand love to talk….Over the years we have gone on several long walks together.  When we first started our walks we were studying the Old Testament, and I found it hard to understand many of the things being taught. I noticed that if I stopped talking and just listened, he would bear his testimony of what he learned. He would tell the stories of the scriptures in such a way that he likened them to our lives.  This has become something that I look forward to with great anticipation….Oh how I have cherished those times we have spent together.  He has been an incredible Companion to me.

President Monson said:

It is the celestial glory which we seek. It is in the presence of God we desire to dwell. It is a forever family in which we want membership. Such blessings are earned through a lifetime of striving, seeking, repenting, and finally succeeding.

It has been several years since that General Conference and I wouldn’t ever take back the choice I made to follow the prophet’s counsel no matter the sacrifice.

I am so grateful to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for all that they have done for me.  I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he loves us.  He truly wants us to be happy.  I am grateful for a living prophet that leads and guides us to safety.