To develop our spiritual survival skills, we should seek the Lord's will, treasure the revelation we have received, go and do what we have been commanded, and sanctify ourselves.

Principles of Revelation and Sanctification

Like many of you, I like to watch survival shows and videos. I'm fascinated by the knowledge, skill, and techniques applied to help people survive in all kinds of different conditions. In addition to watching shows, I've bought books and all sorts of gear that I think would be helpful to me if I ever get caught in a dangerous situation. But, if I'm being honest, watching and at best, half-hearted reading, about others demonstrating these skills without any personal practice doesn't give me much confidence. I'm afraid that if it really came down to it, my ability to apply these survival skills would result in my having to tap out of any competition after less than a day, or if in a real survival situation, it would result in my embarrassing demise.

Sadly, we forget that we are in a real survival situation right now, a battle over the state of our souls. The perilous times have never ended since the Fall; our spiritual survival is anything but certain. Too often we become indifferent to this fact, much like Moroni's complaint about the government while they were at war (Alma 59:13). For some, we have knowledge but lack the skills, much like my physical survival circumstances. And some, such as our youth, are developing the skills they need, but require capable mentors to help them. Whatever the case, our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, gave us a warning, a challenge, and a firm hope regarding the spiritual war we wage in General Conference of April 2018:

If we are to have any hope of sifting through the myriad of voices and the philosophies of men that attack truth, we must learn to receive revelation.

Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory. But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.

I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that “if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.”

My beloved brothers and sisters, I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation. … Choose to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the Spirit more frequently and more clearly. (President Russell M. Nelson, Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives, April 2018 General Conference)

So then how can we do this spiritual work? What is it that we must go and do in order to have the Holy Ghost's influence in our lives sufficient to increase our spiritual ability to receive personal revelation and ensure our spiritual survival? President Nelson said:

Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work. (“Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives”)

I want to discuss these methods of increasing revelation in your lives, in a slightly different form and order than President Nelson presented, but with the same hope of increasing your spiritual capacity to receive revelation.

What Jesus Christ Taught about the Holy Ghost

As I thought about this question, I considered how important the gift of the Holy Ghost is to us. I had a particular prompting to go and read everything the Savior personally said during His mortal ministry about the Spirit. In doing so, I learned that the Lord taught us the most important things about the role of the Holy Ghost. From Him we learn that:

The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26). When “the Comforter is come, … even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me” (John 15:26)

This Spirit of truth, sent from the Father, is what led Peter to declare:

Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 16:16-17)

He taught that “blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost” (3-Nephi 12:6).

The gift of the Holy Ghost is most precious, given to those who seek, ask, and knock:

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:9-13)

This gift is so important that:

… whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. (Luke 12:10)

And the Savior even taught that it was necessary for Him to leave so that the gift of the Holy Ghost could be given to them:

I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment … (John 16:7-11)

The value of this gift is why, perhaps, the people in the Americas who were witnesses of the resurrected Savior prayed “for that which they most desired; and they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them” (3 Nephi 19:8-9)

He gave his disciples this gift and the power to bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost to all of His sheep on both sides of the world after His resurrection. As recorded in John: “He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22).

Why are Some Things Still Veiled from Our View?

Most of us here have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost, and yet we may feel that even though we are doing everything we possibly can, the heavens are still closed to us. We desire further light and knowledge but the Holy Ghost seems to stay silent and the mysteries of God are left veiled to our minds.

To this I would say, first, we shouldn't think that all revelation will come easily. The truth is we should acknowledge the wonderous gap between our mortal perspective and God's as described in the Doctrine and Covenants:

Thus saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, the Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the same which looked upon the wide expanse of eternity, and all the seraphic hosts of heaven, before the world was made;

The same which knoweth all things, for all things are present before mine eyes;

I am the same which spake, and the world was made, and all things came by me. (D&C 38:1-3)

And in Jacob 4:8, we read:

8 Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, … despise not the revelations of God (Jacob 4:8).

And yet, we are promised that if we repent, come unto Christ, and diligently seek out the "unsearchable", then “the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto [us], by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in … time to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round” (1 Nephi 10:18-19)

This certainly means that our seeking must be earnest and sincere in order to receive more. It also means that what we have received is precious and should be treasured. Such valuables are not cast before swine (Matthew 7:6), but rather carefully guarded and preserved, sometimes even hid away from the sight of those who do not appreciate it or are not prepared to truly see or hear. When the seventy returned with reports of being able to cast out devils in the name of Christ, their master, “Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Luke 10:21).

There are other reasons as to why personal revelation may be difficult to master. We know we are taught line upon line (2 Nephi 28:30), but the Savior explained why that is so when He said:

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (John 16:12)

There is a great responsibility when we are blessed with greater light and knowledge. God may be waiting for us to be able to bear the next precept, and develop the attributes related to it, before He reveals the next, though He certainly desires to unveil the next line to us.

In fact, revelation is a manifestation of the love of God (Alma 24:14), but it means that we must covenant and witness unto Him that we have hearts that love Him. And how do we show our love? “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).

Principles for Opening the Windows of Heaven to Receive Revelation

The Lord desires nothing more than to open the windows of heaven to us and pour out His Holy Spirit, showering us with spiritual blessings and equipping us with the armor of God. But we cannot receive these things with half-hearted interest or the occasional watching and appreciation of someone else's spiritual survival skills. Our spiritual oil cannot be filled that way. So let's examine the actions that President Nelson gave us, if you will forgive me using my own words and framework to do so.

1. Earnestly Seek God's Will

I previously spoke about the need to sincerely seek God's will and so will mention this principle just briefly. I repeat the scripture:

Seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works (Jacob 4:10).

Those that seek their own will or trust in their own selves often find that somehow their Father in Heaven agrees and approves of everything they believe. Their ability to discern truth from error, or even true revelation from God, is jeopardized. In spiritual battle, we must guard against this.

You cannot serve God by serving yourself, but you can secure all of His blessings for yourself, including the right to receive personal revelation, by serving Him. Surrender yourself to His will, and you will never have to surrender to the enemy of your soul. With an eye single to the glorious light of God, your whole body will be full of light. But if you are focused on your own will and desires, you will one day find yourself consumed by spiritual darkness (3 Nephi 13:22-24).

Let your soul hunger for God like Enos (Enos 1:4-5). Seek for the Lord to “pour out [His] Spirit upon [you], that [you] may do [His] work with holiness of heart” (Mosiah 18:12)

2. Treasure What You Have Received

When I was in my teens, my younger brother and I liked to go to the arcade together. We would save up $5 or $10 dollars at the most, exchange them for quarters and then see how long we could last playing the video games we liked the most. One day, on his own, my brother took a much larger amount, ten times what we normally spent. I can't remember if he had just been paid from working or he took his savings, but the result was he came home having spent it all on video games. My mother, upon hearing the story and seeing him so dejected, realized that he had already learned his lesson. His money was wasted on something that had no value in the end.

One of my favorite scriptures in the Sermon on the Mount comes right before the command to have your eye singly focused on God's light and illustrates well what my brother learned the hard way.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal;

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal[, nor is wasted in a video arcade].

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (3 Nephi 13:19-21)

What do you treasure? Where is your heart? Do you treasure the revelation that has been received already, whether personally or through the Lord's servants, the prophets? I would suggest that if you do not treasure or value what has been given to you already, it may be difficult to develop the skills you need to spiritually survive.

Consequences of Not Treasuring

The scriptures teach us all about the consequences of not having hearts turned to the Lord, hearts that do not treasure His words. Of course, not valuing what we have been given is one reason that it may feel like our personal revelation has been obstructed.

The Spirit stopped Nephi from speaking more because of the unbelief, wickedness, ignorance and hard-heartedness of his people. They would not “search knowledge” even when it was given plainly to them (2 Nephi 32:7)

In 3 Nephi 26, Mormon was about to write more of what the Savior taught the people on the American continent, but he was stopped by the Lord with this explanation:

And when they shall have received this [the lesser portion], which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them.

And if it so be that they will not believe these things, then shall the greater things be withheld from them, unto their condemnation.

> Behold, I was about to write them, all which were engraven upon the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbade it, saying: I will try the faith of my people. (3 Nephi 26:9-11)

Why would the Lord try the faith of his people this way? It was not to protect us from the knowledge of greater things that would obligate us to act; in fact, if it is withheld, it is to our condemnation. The test is a trial of our hearts to see if we will treasure His words that have been given. Alma explained this way:

It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.

And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.

And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell. (Alma 12:9-11)

It is not as easy to obtain forgiveness when we sin against what we have been taught (Alma 39:6). In fact one of the great lessons of the Book of Mormon is that “after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things” (Alma 24:30).

How to Treasure Revelation

With such dire consequences in the battle for our souls, we cannot desert to the foe by treating that which we have received as having no value. So then what shall we do?

First, search the scriptures and words of the living prophets.

Talking about the scriptures and the words of the living prophets, we are taught to “Treasure these things up in your hearts, and let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds” (D&C 43:34-35).

Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.

For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do. (2 Nephi 32:3-5)

We are taught to feast upon the words of Christ, not to check off a box for having done so, but because we are seeking to be brought into the light, to have God's mind and will revealed to us. When we do so, we develop the searching and orienting skills we need to find the direction God wants us to go.

One additional note: I often talk with youth about how the scriptures can be hard to understand. I tell them that they can be hard for adults as well, including myself. The struggle to understand is an opportunity to ask for power to comprehend, to be taught what is important. You may not always understand every word, but you will learn that the Holy Ghost communicates what you need when you treasure the scriptures and seek God through them.

Next, record the impressions you receive from the Holy Ghost

President Nelson taught:

Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will “grow into the principle of revelation.” (“Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives”)

Writing down the things we receive, with our accompanying thoughts and feelings, is an important way to show that we treasure the words of the Lord as given through the Holy Ghost. In fact, the resurrected Savior commanded that His words be written after he taught the people in the Americas (3 Nephi 23:13-14)

One of the challenges I issued to you this year is related to this method of treasuring the word of the Lord so that your spiritual capacity to receive revelation will grow. The challenge is to:

Keep a journal or notes as you search the scriptures and the words of living prophets. Frequently review it. Make special note of:

Principles of revelation and sanctification
What you are learning from the Holy Ghost
What is God’s will for you
How you will act on what you have received

It is not too late to start keeping a journal of revelation, spiritual thoughts and impressions you have as you search the scriptures and accounts of what happened when you followed the Spirit.

In addition, receive and study your patriarchal blessing

It's not every conference you hear talks about patriarchal blessings, so it definitely made me take notice this last General Conference because there were two! Traditionally we've waited until youth are a bit older to recommend a patriarchal blessing, but these talks made me think more about how they could be given to any baptized member, so long as they are mature enough to understand its significance. Having just recently taught the soon-to-be eight-year-olds about baptism, I can honestly say, more of your children may be ready to receive their patriarchal blessings younger than we may think.

However, patriarchal blessings are only useful if we treasure them. Whenever you received one, it is wise to frequently study it, especially when you are going to making important decisions in your life. If you have lost your copy, you can request it any time from the Church in your Tools account.

3. Go and Do

Everyone knows the scripture of 1 Nephi 3:7: “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.” Jesus Christ also used this phrase “go and do” after he recounted the parable of the Good Samaritan when he commanded, “Go, and do thou likewise” Luke 10:37.

This phrase, “go and do” is actually another way that we can show that we treasure revelation, but it is a critical spiritual survival skill all on its own, so much that I want to talk about it as the third principle. We can learn so much from individuals in the scriptures about what it means to “go and do.” Of course, it would be very difficult to discuss this principle without first considering just how Nephi “went and did” the things the Lord commanded.

Example of Nephi

Nephi did not need to have the full picture. The Spirit led Him, even though he did not know “beforehand the things which [he] should do. Nevertheless, [he] went forth …” (1 Nephi 4:6-7).

When following the Liahona, it merely pointed in the direction that Nephi's family needed to go. Yet he learned that the “pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them. (1 Nephi 16:28).

When building the boat to go to the promised land, the Lord's methods and blueprint were unlike anything Nephi understood. But it wasn't revealed all at once. Nephi said that “We did work timbers of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship” (1 Nephi 18:1-2)

Likewise, we will sometimes need to “go and do” without fully knowing the Lord's purposes. The lesson is clear: If we “go and do” the things the Lord commands, then we will have more revealed to us as we are “going and doing.”

When we take actions that are in a different direction that the Lord would have us go and do, we will get prompted to go His way, just like Samuel the Lamanite who was headed away from Zarahemla after failing to convince the people of the coming of the Savior:

3 But behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, that he should return again, and prophesy unto the people whatsoever things should come into his heart (Helaman 13:3).

Revelation will flow as we go and do the things that the Lord commands or assigns. Following a prompting is going and doing. Attending the temple is going and doing. Ministering to your assigned families and individuals is going and doing. Living righteously, teaching your children the gospel, all of these things are “going and doing.” When you “go and do” your faith in the Lord and your trust in the Holy Ghost will increase, as well as your spiritual capacity to receive and follow personal revelation. Take a figurative step into the River Jordan of your ministering assignments and your callings and see if the Lord will create the path for you to accomplish crossing over on dry ground (Joshua 3:14-17). Your spiritual capacities to receive revelation will grow beyond your level now as the Holy Ghost speaks to you in the very moment, in the very hour you “go and do.”

4. Sanctify Yourselves

In my last talk I also spoke about sanctification; I'm quite sure you have been keeping careful track of this. But it raised a question in my mind that always made me curious yet I never took the time to really ponder and study. The question was this:

The word sanctify is used in many ways in the scripture, but there are three main agents of sanctification.

The Lord Himself discussed how we can be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost:

Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day. (3 Nephi 27:20)

But we also are taught to sanctify ourselves throughout the scriptures:

And ye are to be taught from on high. Sanctify yourselves and ye shall be endowed with power, that ye may give even as I have spoken. (D&C 43:16)

And then, as was taught Adam in the book of Moses, it is the blood of Christ by which we are sanctified:

For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified (Moses 6:59-60).

Moroni also wrote:

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot. (Moroni 10:33)

How is it all three? Is there a contradiction here?

I wanted to understand, so I looked at what the word meant. To sanctify means to make holy, to be hallowed, to set apart, to separate, or to consecrate. As I thought of what seemed very different meanings, I realized they made sense together. And I started to see that perhaps there was no contradiction after all, but that our efforts, the Holy Ghost, and the atoning blood of the Savior Jesus Christ were more like critical ingredients in the recipe of sanctification with no substitutions possible.

Yielding our hearts to the will of God (Helaman 3:35), to do His work to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39), means that we dedicate ourselves, consecrate ourselves to go and do what He has commanded (Exodus 32:29). The Holy Ghost sanctifies because He leads us to the truth, witnesses of the Father and the Son, and reveals to us the will of the Lord. As our minds become single to God's purposes and we are led by the power of the Holy Ghost, we are sanctified, or made holy, by the blood of Christ, by His atoning power that makes us His.

This is what it means to be a saint, the latter-day variety or one who lived before. We choose and continually work to be set apart, or sanctified, and consecrated, or sanctified, by the power of the Holy Ghost to be made holy, or sanctified, through the blood of Jesus Christ (Mosiah 3:19). All three work together in order to achieve the outcome, increasing our spiritual capacity to accomplish the purpose for which we are here on the earth to become like our Father in Heaven.

Our opportunity and knowledge of sanctification does not mean that we can think of ourselves as more valuable than those of God's children who have lived or are living without having made the covenant bond to be sanctified. It means we are now responsible for their welfare. Our sanctification process is at risk when we do not desire the same for others and refuse to go and do what the Lord has commanded us to go and do in their behalf (D&C 2:2-3).

Elder Andersen beautifully taught:

We [must] treasure, protect, defend, and safeguard the gift of the Holy Ghost. … It is a gift beyond price. We do our very best to protect our daily experiences so the influence of the Holy Ghost remains with us. We are a light to the world, and when necessary, we willingly choose to be different from others. (Elder Andersen).

Being a light to the world both requires us to be separate, or sanctified, from the darkness and yet be a beacon who desires to gather all (Matthew 5:14-16).

With the understanding of sanctification unveiled to me, I began to see this concept in so many scriptures I had once read and did not fully comprehend, even those that did not mention sanctification. Time is too short to list them all, but I'll add them in the notes. One verse from Ezekiel will suffice:

And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. (Ezekiel 37:28)

Beyond the alliteration, this phrase came to my mind:

Sanctify yourselves in the sanctuary of the House of the Lord.

And verily I say unto you, let this house be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people;

For I deign to reveal unto my church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times. (D&C 124:40-41)

The temple is a fortress for our soul where we go to obtain the armor of God and the sword of the Spirit. Revelation will flow not just while we are in the temple, but while we are in the world because we have consecrated ourselves to the work of the Lord in its walls and we are endowed with His power. Spiritual capacities to receive revelation every day will grow and our spiritual survival will be ensured as we endure to the end. We must treasure the temple, attending frequently, more than we have before, and then go and do according to the will of the Lord as revealed by the Holy Ghost in our lives. Then WE will become sanctuaries for the gathering of Israel, who are dedicated for performing this work (1 Cor. 16:19-20).

Testimony

Notes

And it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had been in the land of Bountiful for the space of many days, the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying: Arise, and get thee into the mountain. And it came to pass that I arose and went up into the mountain, and cried unto the Lord. (1 Nephi 17:7)
And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things. (1 Nephi 18:3)
And now, behold, I give unto you a commandment, that when ye are assembled together ye shall instruct and edify each other, that ye may know how to act and direct my church, how to act upon the points of my law and commandments, which I have given. And thus ye shall become instructed in the law of my church, and be sanctified by that which ye have received, and ye shall bind yourselves to act in all holiness before me— That inasmuch as ye do this, glory shall be added to the kingdom which ye have received. Inasmuch as ye do it not, it shall be taken, even that which ye have received. Purge ye out the iniquity which is among you; sanctify yourselves before me; (D&C 43:8-11)
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be. (1 Nephi 13:37)
Behold, my son, this thing ought not to be; for repentance is unto them that are under condemnation and under the curse of a broken law. And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins; And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God. (Moroni 8:24-26)
And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. (Mosiah 5:2)
I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones, for mine anger is not upon them that rejoice in my highness. (2 Nephi 23:3)
For the Lord said unto me: They shall not go forth unto the Gentiles until the day that they shall repent of their iniquity, and become clean before the Lord. And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are. And he that will contend against the word of the Lord, let him be accursed; and he that shall deny these things, let him be accursed; for unto them will I show no greater things, saith Jesus Christ; for I am he who speaketh. (Ether 4:6-8)