If I'm going to mention President Monson's most recent General Conference talk in my Primary lesson tomorrow, I should probably familiarize myself with it. Fortunately, it is (as noted previously) rather short, and it also happens to be the next General Conference talk I am to blog about.
President Monson started his talk The Power of the Book of Mormon by announcing a few new temples and then testifying of the importance of studying, pondering, applying the teachings of, and having a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He said "The importance of having a firm and sure testimony of the Book of Mormon cannot be overstated."
He touched on the evils of the world today and said that a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and His Gospel would help see us though to safety. He reminded us of the last few paragraphs of the Introduction of the Book of Mormon by telling us that, if we read the Book of Mormon with a desire to know whether or not it's true, we can receive a witness that it is true, and through that witness, we can come to know the truthfulness of the church.
He also warned us that it would be necessary for each of us to obtain such a witness for ourselves because, as he put it "the testimonies of others will carry you only so far," and he reminded us that, even once obtained, a testimony needs to regularly strengthened "through continued obedience to the commandments of God and through daily prayer and scripture study."
This is a lot of work, but he promised that great blessings would follow daily and prayerful pondering of the Book of Mormon. Specifically, he promised that "as we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit,
to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive
heaven’s help in our lives."
Life has always been hard, especially for true believers in Jesus Christ, and it has been getting harder. The only way to make it through these treacherous times with our spiritual safety intact is by maintaining a strong personal testimony through daily, prayerful scripture study. If we study the Book of Mormon daily, we will receive the help we need to get through life's ever-increasing challenges. That is an important message for all of us, important enough for the Prophet to spend his limited strength to spend his limited time to tell us. President Monson built his most recent General Conference talk around a plea to read the Book of Mormon daily. If that commandment was important enough for the Prophet to put that strong of a focus on it, then maybe we all had better keep it.
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