Conference talks are meant to inspire us and remind us.  We keep getting warned of the evils of the world encroaching upon us.  We keep getting encouragement to fight the good fight and stay strong.  And we keep feeling the Spirit as we listen to our prophets speak to us.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke on covenants.  Such a great subject.  It was a reminder of how precious our covenants are.  In fact, it makes me think of how great the gospel truly is.

When speaking with non-member friends this idea often comes up, “as long as we both believe in Jesus Christ, our churches are the same”.   There are many people on earth today who live by moral principles and believe in the Savior, and I’m grateful for their strength in our world.  But it isn’t enough to believe in Jesus Christ, and as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we understand this.

Elder Christofferson says, “A final aspect of strength through covenants…is the bestowal of divine power.  Our covenant commitment to Him permits our Heavenly Father to let His divine influence, ‘the power of godliness’, flow into our lives.”  We can make covenants with God, because He has given us the proper authority to do so.  And through the gift of the Holy Ghost and the laying on of hands with that proper authority, we have a great distinction from any other religion on this earth.  “Divine covenants make strong Christians…let your covenants be paramount and let your obedience be exact.”

Because of the covenants we’ve made we can “defend the truth of Jesus Christ against moral relativism and militant atheism”.  We have been taught the difference between right and wrong, but our covenants raise our level of commitment and purpose.

“It was [the knowledge that their course in life conformed to the will of God] that enabled the ancient saints to endure all their afflictions and persecutions, and to take…not only the spoiling of their goods, and the wasting of their substance, joyfully, but also to suffer death in its most horrid forms; knowing (not merely believing) that when this earthly house of their tabernacle was dissolved, they had a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”  This quote from Lectures on Faith, in Elder Christofferson’s talk, reminds us that covenants are what got people through their trials.

In the midst of our trials, if we are valiant and hang on to the covenants we’ve made, God will be with us every step of the way.  That is the promise He has made to us, and we have all experienced the truth of that reality.  God is with us.

If we ever wondered if God knew us in our need, let us remember how we received our covenants.  Whether we are living or dead, our names are spoken each time we receive a covenant, a personal blessing from the Lord.  Yes, He knows us.

Being believers of Jesus Christ is a wonderful thing, especially in this day and age, when there is such a distinction between right and wrong.  But “when we truly understand, we seek more commandments, not fewer”, and we understand that there are commandments that lead us to the temple where covenants are made which is “the promise which I give unto you of eternal life, even the glory of the celestial kingdom”.  (See footnotes in Elder Christofferson’s talk.)  These covenants are what will get us through our difficult times, our grateful times, our growing times, and our valiant times.

The Power of Covenant–April 2009