As the world darkens and even partial conversions of young people seem remarkable compared to the world, Church members might be tempted to expect less of today's youth.

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Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve asked teachers and parents to strengthen the faith of teens.

But the Lord has given another signal, clear and powerful, said Elder Henry B. Eyring. "It is that we can expect more, not less of youth."

In an address transmitted worldwide to Church Educational System employees and volunteers Aug. 4, Elder Eyring asked the vast congregation to raise expectations of today's youth.

"We share a consuming concern," said Elder Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve and commissioner of Church Education. "Night and day we ask ourselves: What can I do better to strengthen the faith of young people?"

Terrible evil that older generations never faced as youth is being presented every day on screens in almost every home, he said. "And because of the marvelous spread of technology, even those of us who live in places once largely shielded from the messages and images of evil now face what parents fought against in Sodom and Gomorrah."

Now, said Elder Eyring, "there seems to be no safe place and no safe time."

The concern for the youth is deepened by what adults know it will take to be a missionary and a parent in the days ahead. "It will take deep conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It will take the companionship of the Holy Ghost. And wickedness is the tool of the enemy against that conversion and that companionship."

The prophets saw this part of our day, too — giving members hope and direction, added Elder Eyring.

Elder Eyring quoted Joel 2:27-32: "And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions . . . and It shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. . . ."

Then Elder Eyring explained, "The scripture does not say that your sons and your daughters may claim the gift of prophecy by the Spirit. It says that they will. It doesn't say that your young men may see visions. It says that they will. And it will come because the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. Not only will the youth you love and serve have the Spirit poured out on them, but so will the people around them and those who lead them."

But, he added, the Spirit will also wash over some and fail to make a difference. Choices, he explained, must be made in faith to receive spiritual power.

"That is how we can and must make a difference," Elder Eyring said. "You know the choices they must make that matter most. So you can make it far more likely that they will choose what will let them claim a constant companionship of the Spirit. That is what they can have. That is what they must have."

It all begins with expectations, he said. "If you expect little, they will feel your lack of faith in them and in the Lord's promised outpouring of the Spirit. . . . Your choices of what you expect will have powerful effect on their choices of what to expect of themselves."

Elder Eyring listed four choices Latter-day Saint young people will make that "you can make a difference by the expectations you raise in them."

• The first choice they must make is to pray with faith that the gift of the Spirit will come beyond their human capacities. "You will have opportunities, many opportunities, to show them you have not just the hope but the expectation that they can and will pray with that faith and that revelation will come. You will give a child or a student the chance to choose to pray in faith for that inspiration."

• The second choice, Elder Eyring said, will move teens along the path to the companionship of the Spirit. "It is to choose to trust the scriptures which speak of spiritual gifts with the simple faith of a child."

  When parents and teachers do that, "it will set an unspoken expectation that they will read scriptures that way too. If we, on the other hand, qualify and shade the meaning of the words, we will miss the chance to help them."

  Spiritual gifts in the scriptures are almost endless, he said. "We can choose to speak of them and teach about them as simple facts, always expressing gratitude, never surprise, and never the need to qualify them. That will communicate to them your expectation that such spiritual experiences are expected when we qualify for them. And that will lift their expectations for themselves."

• The third choice parents and teachers can help young people make is to be obedient to the impressions of the Spirit when they come, said Elder Eyring.

  "When the Spirit confirms eternal truth, there is always something to be done about it. We can show that we always act upon revelation. And they will see that when we go and do, the revelation comes more often and more clearly. And when they see that in us, they will be more likely to be obedient to the inspiration when it comes to them."

• Elder Eyring said the fourth and perhaps most important choice anyone can make to invite the Spirit is to testify of the Savior and His Restoration of His true Church through His prophet Joseph Smith.

  "This is how it works," he explained. "One of the offices of the Holy Ghost is to testify of the Savior and His work. There are many true things you can choose to say to your child or to your student. The Spirit testifies of all truth. And yet the surest way I know to have the Spirit come to verify what you say is to testify of the Savior. So, when the person you love and serve feels the Spirit as you testify of the Savior, it strengthens their faith."

Elder Eyring concluded by telling the worldwide congregation that in the days ahead the Lord will raise the spiritual bar again and again.

"And our youth will rise higher and higher to more than clear that rising expectation. . . .

"The questions for us are these: Will those young people feel by what we have said and done that we expected it? And will the Lord say that we rose to the best we could be and that we showed them how? I have an assurance that we will rise to that expectation."

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