Priesthood keys — which distinguish The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from any other organization on earth — “make it possible for every covenant-keeping man and woman to enjoy incredible personal spiritual privileges,” President Russell M. Nelson said at the conclusion of April 2024 general conference.
He encouraged Church members across the globe to study the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple in Doctrine and Covenants 109, which contains a promise about what can happen to those who serve and worship in the house of the Lord.
“They can expect to receive answers to prayer, personal revelation, greater faith, strength, comfort, increased knowledge and increased power,” President Nelson said.
Regular temple worship will help individuals “think celestial” and enhance the way they see themselves and how they fit into God’s plan, he said. In the temple, individuals are promised they may “receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost” and leave with the power of God and angels having “charge over them.”
“How much does it increase your confidence to know, that as an endowed woman or man armed with the power of God, you do not have to face life alone? What courage does it give you to know that angels really will help you?” the Prophet asked.
“My dear brothers and sisters, here is my promise: Nothing will help you more to hold fast to the iron rod than worshipping in the temple as regularly as your circumstances permit. … The temple is the gateway to the greatest blessings God has in store for each of us.”
President Nelson was one of several Church leaders who taught about temples and covenants during April 2024 general conference. They explained why covenants matter and how these covenants can bring peace, confidence, security, comfort and exaltation through Jesus Christ.
Covenants are the Church’s focus
President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, declared during the Sunday morning session: “The Church of Jesus Christ is known as a church that emphasizes making covenants with God.”
In his message about temples and the history and role of covenants, President Oaks explained that the Church’s growth and its purpose in building temples worldwide is to bless the children of God through temple worship and unique blessings associated with being bound to the Savior through covenants.
“Covenants are inherent in each of the ordinances of salvation and exaltation this restored Church administers,” he said. “The ordinance of baptism and its associated covenants are requirements for entrance into the celestial kingdom. The ordinances and associated covenants of the temple are requirements for exaltation in the celestial kingdom, which is eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God.
“That is the focus of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
‘All will be well’ because of temple covenants
When President Henry B. Eyring and Sister Kathy Eyring were away from their children at the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple as the Teton Dam collapsed in 1976, President Eyring assured his wife all would be well with their family because of temple covenants.
“I can assure you of the same truth,” President Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, told Latter-day Saints worldwide during the Saturday morning session.
“My dear brothers and sisters, I bear witness that there is nothing more important than honoring the covenants you make, or may make, in the temple. No matter where you are on the covenant path, I urge you to qualify and become eligible to attend the temple. Visit as frequently as circumstances will allow. Make and keep sacred covenants with God.”
President Eyring taught that frequent participation in temple ordinances can create a pattern of devotion to the Lord.
“When you keep your temple covenants and remember them, you invite the companionship of the Holy Ghost to both strengthen and purify you,” he explained.
“You may then experience a feeling of light and hope testifying that the promises are true. You will come to know that every covenant with God is an opportunity to draw closer to Him, which will then create a desire in your heart to keep temple covenants.”
Choose a deeper relationship with God through covenants
Choosing to be part of a covenant enhances and deepens one’s relationship with God, said Sister J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency.
“Our Father wants a deeper relationship with all His sons and daughters, but it is our choice,” she taught during the Saturday morning session. “As we choose to draw nearer to Him through a covenant relationship, it allows Him to draw nearer to us and more fully bless us.”
One’s relationship with God is further deepened as they make covenants with Him in the house of the Lord. Everything in the house of the Lord points to the Savior and His atoning sacrifice.
“Our temple garment reminds us that the Savior and the blessings of His Atonement cover us throughout our lives. As we put on the garment of the holy priesthood each day, that beautiful symbol becomes a part of us,” Sister Dennis said, referencing Romans 13:14: “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
She testified: “Through a covenant relationship with God, our own lives can become a living symbol of our commitment and deep love for our Father in Heaven.”
Covenants secure us to the rock of Christ
In his message about spiritual stillness Saturday afternoon, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that Jesus Christ is the “rock upon which we should build the spiritual foundations of our lives.”
Elder Bednar explained that the foundation of a building connects it to the ground, and a strong and reliable connection between the ground and a foundation is essential to remain sturdy. Similarly, “the foundation of our lives must be connected to the rock of Christ if we are to remain firm and steadfast.”
He compared sacred covenants and ordinances to anchor pins and steel rods used to connect a building to bedrock. “Every time we faithfully receive, review, remember and renew sacred covenants, our spiritual anchors are secured ever more firmly and steadfastly to the ‘rock’ of Jesus Christ,” he said. Over time, one becomes more grounded, rooted, established and settled.
“As the foundation of our lives is built upon the Savior, we are blessed to ‘be still’ — to have a spiritual assurance that God is our Heavenly Father, we are His children, and Jesus Christ is our Savior,” Elder Bednar said.
Temples ‘preserve us, protect us and prepare us’
Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said in the Sunday afternoon session that one reason the Lord is “dotting the earth” with His temples is because He has promised to strengthen and bless His covenant Saints amid the turmoil of the world.
“In His house, we are literally endowed with heavenly power. … In the temple, we sacredly promise through our covenants to follow Him forever,” he said.
Elder Andersen promised that those who come worthily and prayerfully to the house of the Lord “will be armed with His power, His name will be upon you, His angels will have charge over you, and you will grow up in the blessing of the Holy Ghost. …
“In this day of confusion and commotion, I testify that the temple is His holy house and will help preserve us, protect us and prepare us for the glorious day when, with all His holy angels, our Savior returns in majesty, power and great glory.”
Covenant belonging ‘comforts, connects, consecrates’
Speaking in the Saturday afternoon session, Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles also referenced spiritual stillness and covenants.
“When we are still, open and reverent, we may feel the beauty, purpose and serenity of the covenant belonging the Lord offers,” he said. “In sacred moments, He may let us glimpse the larger eternal reality of which our daily lives are part, where small and simple things work together for the good of givers and receivers.”
Elder Gong shared the experience of a woman whose prayer for comfort was answered by the Lord with an unexpected opportunity to answer someone else’s prayer at a gas station.
He also shared an observation from a father assigned with his teenage son as ministering companions: “Ministering is when we go from being neighbors who bring cookies to trusted friends, spiritual first-responders.”
Elder Gong assured: “Things work together for good when we minister as Jesus Christ would. … Covenant belonging in Jesus Christ comforts, connects, consecrates.”
‘Covenant confidence through Jesus Christ’
Speaking in the Saturday morning session, Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that those who enter the house of the Lord embark on a journey of learning to become higher and holier disciples of Christ.
“The result of this sacred journey is that we obtain a holier and higher confidence for our day to day lives within our covenants made through Jesus Christ,” he said.
This “covenant confidence through Jesus Christ” — trusting in the quiet, yet certain, assurance of receiving the blessings that God promises for those who keep their covenants — fortifies, strengthens and empowers one to overcome doubt, despair, hopelessness and trials.
“Those who gain genuine confidence in the covenants made in the house of the Lord through Jesus Christ possess one of the most powerful forces that we can access in this life,” Elder Soares said.
The acceleration of temple-building will continue to excite, inspire and bless individuals. “Yet more important, as we change our preparation to enter the temple, we will change our experience in the temple, which will transform our lives outside of the temple,” he said.
Eternal blessings of covenants: ‘Fruit that remains’
Elder Matthew L. Carpenter, General Authority Seventy, used an analogy of preserving peaches to teach about the eternal blessings of being true to the covenants made in marriage — a requirement for exaltation in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom.
“Our loving Heavenly Father has given us covenants so that we may have access to all that He has in store for us,” Elder Carpenter said during the Saturday evening session. “These sacred blessings from God are more delicious than any earthly fruit. They can be preserved for us forever, becoming fruit that remains, as we are faithful to our covenants. …
“Those who enter into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage and keep that covenant can become perfected and eventually receive the fulness of the glory of the Father, regardless of circumstances beyond their control.”
