Archive of messages sent while serving as a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I loved attending our ward temple night in preparation for
Ward Conference last week. There’s a special spirit when we are able to attend
together and participate as a group. A special joy is felt when we all arrive
in the Celestial Room at the same time.
Being in the temple this last week, my thoughts began to
center on the blessings of temple attendance. I thought about my own wedding,
the sealings I’ve attended, when I went through for the first time, and the
different experiences I’ve had in the walls of that sacred building over the
years.
Time and time again, my personal testimony has grown that
the temple is not only a sacred place to make covenants with the Lord, but also
a place for us to center our lives and set appropriate priorities. Answers to
prayers and personal revelation are found in temple attendance.
President Hinckley taught, “Attend the temple. You will be
blessed for so doing. Every man or woman who goes into the house of the Lord
leaves there a better man or woman than he or she was when he or she entered
the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord will have a refining effect upon
you. It will cultivate unselfishness within your lives. It will build
righteousness. It will impress upon you the importance of doing what you ought
to do. Go to the house of the Lord."
I add my testimony to that of President Hinckley’s. Regular
temple attendance will bring a greater announce of peace and happiness to your
life. If you have recently attended, I invite you to go again. If you haven’t
been in some time, I invite you to go soon.
By preparing to go to the temple and returning often, we
will more fully accept Amaleki’s invitation to, “come unto
Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the
power of his redemption,” and together we will receive the promise found in
that same verse, “and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.” (Omni 1:26)
