Visiting Teaching Message April
2013
Temple Covenants
Prayerfully study this
material and, as appropriate, discuss it with the sisters you visit. Use the
questions to help you strengthen your sisters and to make Relief Society an
active part of your own life. For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.
Temple Covenants
“The saving ordinances received in the temple that
permit us to someday return to our Heavenly Father in an eternal family
relationship and to be endowed with blessings and power from on high are worth
every sacrifice and every effort,”1
said President Thomas S.
Monson. If you have not yet been to the temple, you can prepare to receive
sacred temple ordinances by:
Cultivating a testimony of the Atonement of
Jesus Christ and the restored gospel.
Sustaining and
following the living prophet.
Qualifying for a
temple recommend by paying tithing, being
morally clean, being honest, keeping the Word of Wisdom,
and living in harmony with the teachings of the Church.
Giving time, talents,
and means to help build the Lord’s kingdom.
Participating in
family history work.2
President Monson further taught, “As we remember the
covenants we make within [the temple], we will be more able to bear every trial
and to overcome each temptation.”3
From the Scriptures
From Our History
“More than 5,000 Saints thronged the Nauvoo Temple
after its dedication. …
“The strength, power, and blessings of temple covenants
[sustained] the Latter-day Saints during their journey [west], when they
[suffered] cold, heat, hunger, poverty, sickness, accidents, and death.”4
Like many Relief Society sisters, Sarah Rich served as
a temple worker. She spoke of her experience: “If it had not been for the faith
and knowledge that was bestowed upon us in that temple by … the Spirit of the
Lord, our journey would have been like one taking a leap in the dark. … But we
had faith in our Heavenly Father, … feeling that we were His chosen
people … , and instead of sorrow, we felt to rejoice that the day of
our deliverance had come.”5
The exodus was not a “leap in the dark” for faithful
Latter-day Saint women. They were sustained by their temple covenants.
What Can I Do?
Am
I worshipping in the temple regularly?
Am I encouraging my sisters to receive temple
blessings?
Notes
1. Thomas S. Monson, “The Holy Temple—a
Beacon to the World,” Ensign, May 2011, 92.
2. See Daughters in My Kingdom: The
History and Work of Relief Society (2011), 21.
3. Thomas S.
Monson, Ensign, May 2011, 93.
4.
Daughters in My Kingdom, 29–30.
5.
Sarah Rich, in Daughters in My Kingdom, 30.
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