Elder Allan F. Packer: A wonderful time
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
Despite the many challenges facing members worldwide, it's a wonderful time to be alive, said Elder Allan F. Packer of the Seventy in his Saturday morning conference address.
"These are the days when prophecies are being fulfilled," he said. "We live in the dispensation of the fullness of times, which is the time to prepare for the Savior's return. It is also the time to work out our own salvation."
The gospel of Christ offers a bedrock foundation, allowing the faithful to survive life's storms.
"We must stand spiritually and temporally independent of all worldly creatures. This begins by understanding that God the Father is the Father of our spirits and that He loves us, that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and Savior, and that the Holy Ghost can communicate with our minds and our hearts."
Members, he added, need to be acquainted with the promptings of the Holy Ghost and practice and apply gospel teachings until they become natural and automatic. "These promptings become the foundation of our testimonies. Then our testimonies will keep us happy and safe in troubled times."
Elder Packer said there are several things that can be done to develop a deep conversion and learn how to receive divine inspiration. First is desire. Study and learning come next.
"This includes pondering, which broadens and deepens our testimonies."
Answers come as inspiration. They come as thoughts and feelings to the heart and mind.
"While testimonies can come as dramatic manifestations, they usually do not," he said. "Sometimes people think they need to have an experience like Joseph Smith's vision before they gain testimonies. If we have unrealistic expectations of how, when or where God's answers come, we risk missing the answers which come as quiet, reassuring feelings and thoughts which most often come after our prayers, while we are doing something else."
Asking for a testimony of truth opens the windows of inspiration. "Having the capacity to receive personal inspiration will be necessary in the coming days."
