Developing Spiritual Power

A few months ago a good friend of mine suggested to me to listen to all of President 

Nelson’s conference talks, from 1984 to the present day.  I thought about it but didn’t do it at the time.  Then in general conference Elder Anderson said this, “While my wife, Kathy, has known President Nelson personally for nearly three decades and has no question about his divine mantle, upon his setting apart, she began reading all his general conference talks of the past 34 years, praying for an even deeper assurance of his prophetic role.”  I thought about doing this again at the time, and finally recently I decided to take this challenge.  In the past few weeks I have been listening to his general conference talks, starting in the April 1984 general conference and working up until this most recent conference.  The library gospel app makes it very easy to download and listen to any conference talk, and so I took advantage of that to do this challenge.  If finished today with the April 2018 conference, and I my wife asked me what I learned.  As I thought about how I would describe his teachings in one word it would be this: power.  Not power of course as the word defines it, but spiritual power to accomplish what God wants us to accomplish.  President Nelson wants us to develop the spiritual power that will enable us to move mountains and perform miracles.

                Here are a just a few snippets from some of these conference talks through the year in which he has encouraged us to develop spiritual power:

·         October 1984, Protect the Spiritual Power Line: “His example of worship, sacrifice, and commitment to cause becomes ours! His is the ultimate source of all our power to do good. As we carefully and prayerfully protect the spiritual power line that links us to the Savior, we become more like him!”

·         April 1988, With God Nothing Shall Be Impossible: “You may take upon you the holy name of the Lord. You can qualify to speak in the sacred name of God (see D&C 1:20). It matters not that giants of tribulation torment you. Your prayerful access to help is just as real as when David battled his Goliath (see 1 Sam. 17). Foster your faith. Fuse your focus with an eye single to the glory of God. “Be strong and courageous” (2 Chr. 32:7), and you will be given power and protection from on high.

·         April 1997, Endure and Be Lifted Up: “Your responsibility to endure is uniquely yours. But you are never alone. I testify that the lifting power of the Lord can be yours if you will “come unto Christ” and “be perfected in him.”

·         October 1999, A Testimony of the Book of Mormon: “Do you want to get rid of a bad habit? Do you want to improve relationships in your family? Do you want to increase your spiritual capacity? Read the Book of Mormon! It will bring you closer to the Lord and His loving power.”

·         October 2005, Jesus Christ the Master Healer: “We can also access His healing power through prayer…. Faith, repentance, baptism, a testimony, and enduring conversion lead to the healing power of the Lord.”

·         April 2010, Generations Linked in Love: “While temple and family history work has the power to bless those beyond the veil, it has an equal power to bless the living. It has a refining influence on those who are engaged in it. They are literally helping to exalt their families.”

·         April 2016, The Price of Priesthood Power: “Priesthood power can calm the seas and heal fractures in the earth. Priesthood power can also calm the minds and heal fractures in the hearts of those we love. Are we willing to pray, fast, study, seek, worship, and serve as men of God so we can have that kind of priesthood power?”

·         April 2017, Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ Into Our Lives: “When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours…. When you spiritually stretch beyond anything you have ever done before, then His power will flow into you.”

·         October 2017, The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like without It?: “When I think of the Book of Mormon, I think of the word power. The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console, and cheer our souls. My dear brothers and sisters, I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day.”

·         April 2018, Ministering with the Power and Authority of God: “We see faithful women who understand the power inherent in their callings and in their endowment and other temple ordinances. These women know how to call upon the powers of heaven to protect and strengthen their husbands, their children, and others they love.

There are surely many other references I could cite.  To me one of the messages that I took away from listening to his 73 conference talks was that we can develop strength and power to overcome all our challenges with the Lord’s help.  This is the message Nephi gives us in the first chapter of the Book of Mormon: “But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance” (1 Nephi 1:20).  The Lord will give us the power of deliverance through our faith and obedience.  Moroni’s invitation at the end of the Book of Mormon could be President Nelsons, “Wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever” (Moroni 10:7).