Nelson - Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives - April 2017

President Nelson shares with us the purpose of this talk that he has prepared.

• I would like to speak about how we can draw into our lives the power of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.
  

He highlights three areas that will help us find more power to live the way we should.

We begin by learning about Him.

• The more we know about the Savior’s ministry and mission—the more we understand His doctrine and what He did for us—the more we know that He can provide the power that we need for our lives.

He speaks about the phrase "the Atonement" and how using that abbreviated term is incomplete.

• It is doctrinally incomplete to speak of the Lord’s atoning sacrifice by shortcut phrases, such as “the Atonement” or “the enabling power of the Atonement” or “applying the Atonement” or “being strengthened by the Atonement.” These expressions present a real risk of misdirecting faith by treating the event as if it had living existence and capabilities independent of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

One thing that stood out to me in President Nelson's talk was his discussion about the document "The Living Christ."  He urged us to study it. 

• As you seek to learn more about Jesus Christ, I urge you to study “The Living Christ.”

This instruction stuck out to me so much that my blog post on November 1st was dedicated to this document.  I took President Nelson's advice and studied it as part of my daily study time.  You have find this post by clicking here.

We choose to have faith in Him and follow Him.

• True disciples of Jesus Christ are willing to stand out, speak up, and be different from the people of the world. They are undaunted, devoted, and courageous.

President Nelson talks about faith and that faith motivates us to action.

• Faith in Jesus Christ propels us to do things we otherwise would not do. Faith that motivates us to action gives us more access to His power.

We also gain spiritual strength when we make and keep sacred covenants.  President Nelson says our covenants give us godly power.

• We also increase the Savior’s power in our lives when we make sacred covenants and keep those covenants with precision. Our covenants bind us to Him and give us godly power. As faithful disciples, we repent and follow Him into the waters of baptism. We walk along the covenant path to receive other essential ordinances. And gratefully, God’s plan provides for those blessings to be extended to ancestors who died without an opportunity to obtain them during their mortal lives.

He shares an attribute of covenant-keeping people.  Ask yourself if the reason you keep your covenants is because you want nothing blocking your access to the Savior's power.

• Covenant-keeping men and women seek for ways to keep themselves unspotted from the world so there will be nothing blocking their access to the Savior’s power.

Reach up to Him in faith.

• 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 the Savior knows you truly want to reach up to Him—when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life—you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do.
• When you spiritually stretch beyond anything you have ever done before, then His power will flow into you.

The purpose of starting this blog was to help me find ways to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ.  I am grateful for wise men such as President Nelson who teach us some of the basic things we can do to find lasting people and happiness in life.