Eyring - The Holy Ghost as Your Companion - October 2015

President Eyring speaks about having the companionship of the Holy Ghost with us always.

• We can, if we live worthy of it, have the blessing of the Spirit to be with us, not only now and then, but always.
  

He speaks of what it means to have the spirit with us always and how we qualify for that.

• To always have the Spirit with us is to have the guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost in our daily lives. We can, for instance, be warned by the Spirit to resist the temptation to do evil. For that reason alone, it is easy to see why the Lord’s servants have tried to increase our desire to worship God in our sacrament meetings. If we partake of the sacrament in faith, the Holy Ghost will then be able to protect us and those we love from the temptations that come with increasing intensity and frequency.
  

He speaks of the ability for the Spirit to help us overcome temptation, strengthen us against evil. and to speck truth when doubts come.  These are all necessary in the world we live in today.

• The companionship of the Holy Ghost makes what is good more attractive and temptation less compelling. That alone should be enough to make us determined to qualify for the Spirit to be with us always.
  
• Just as the Holy Ghost strengthens us against evil, He also gives us the power to discern truth from falsehood. The truth that matters most is verified only by revelation from God. Our human reason and the use of our physical senses will not be enough. We live in a time when even the wisest will be hard-pressed to distinguish truth from clever deception.
  
• Since falsehoods and lies may be presented to us at any time, we need a constant influence of the Spirit of Truth to spare us moments of doubt.
  

Many feel they are not qualified to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost.  He speaks to those people and offers encouragement on how we can qualify.

• For those who are struggling with the high standard needed to qualify for the gift of the Spirit’s companionship, I offer this encouragement. You have had times when you have felt the influence of the Holy Ghost. It may have happened for you today. You can treat those moments of inspiration like the seed of faith that Alma described. Plant each one. You can do that by acting on the prompting you felt. The most valuable inspiration will be for you to know what God would have you do. If it is to pay tithing or to visit a grieving friend, you should do it. Whatever it is, do it. When you demonstrate your willingness to obey, the Spirit will send you more impressions of what God would have you do for Him. As you obey, the impressions from the Spirit will come more frequently, becoming closer and closer to constant companionship. Your power to choose the right will increase.

The companionship of the Holy Ghost will enable us to understand what God wants us to do.  One of those ways is that we will see people and events the way God sees them.

• Only through the Holy Ghost can we see people and events as God sees them.

As we have the Spirit with us as our companion, the tendency to do evil, to be tempted to do the wrong things, and our personal natural man tendencies will be reduced.  We will have a desire to do good, to act on the promptings of the spirit, and help our fellow man along the journey of life.  All this will assure we are on the path to eternal life.

• When we accept that promise of having the Spirit with us always, the Savior can grant us the purification required for eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God.
  

We listen to the sacrament prayers every week and hear the words that we can always have his spirit to be with us.  I know that the world events get in the way of having those spiritual feelings all the time.  But we can do things in our lives that make it easier for the spirit to be with us.  I like to listen to church related materials on my ipod when drive to work and home.  I like to gather my family around at the end of the day for family prayer.  I like to ask each day if I can help the Savior make someone else's life easier.  Sometimes those things help me throughout the day be a little more patient, a little more compassionate, and a little more understanding, to those that need a little more love.  I don't always have the spirit with me, but I am striving to have it more and more and eventually, maybe I will learn from the Spirit, how to qualify a little more and more each day until I get there.