Chapter Four- Spiritually Powerful Individuals are Ready to Do God’s Work

According to God the Father’s Plan and His power (1), Jesus Christ was sent to earth and atoned for our sins. The Atonement of Christ cleanses us through repentance and enables righteousness in us through ordinances. A person who has made covenants and keeps them, is worthy of the gift and companionship of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the powerline through which God the Father gives mortals access to His Supreme attributes and total priesthood power. This power magnifies our mortal abilities.           

The result of mankind magnified is that there is an army of powerful individuals, ready to assist God with His work. Powerful individuals are men and women who are covenant-makers and covenant-keepers. The Doctrine and Covenants describe powerful individuals as those who have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost because they hold the “scepter of righteousness and truth.” They interact with others with kindness, purity, and patience. They are kind, smart, gentle, meek, and loving. They are full of charity and belong to “the household of faith”. Their confidence is strong in the presence of God because they are virtuous and clean through the Atonement of Christ. (2) They do miracles in their stewardships by the power of God through the Holy Ghost. This ability is based on principles of personal righteousness.

The scriptures show us what powerful individuals looks like and what the spiritually mighty can do. The Romans became “servants of righteousness” because they were free from sin. (3) Gidgiddoni was a great prophet to his people because he had the spirit of revelation and prophecy. (4) Tabitha was a woman “full of good works and almsdeeds” who served the most vulnerable. (5) Barnabus was a compelling missionary and disciple of Christ because he was “a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” (6) The widow from Zarephath listened to the Spirit, fed a prophet, and saved herself and her starving son. (7) Nephi, the son of Helaman had great power and authority given to him because he was a proven “man of God”. And his brother, Lehi, was “not one whit behind as to things pertaining to righteousness.” (8) Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a meek, humble, submissive woman who feared God and was called a “precious and chosen vessel”. (9) Shiblon was “a just man, and he did walk uprightly before God” by doing good and keeping commandments. (10)

 Marion D Hanks described “powerful individuals” when he said that “(The Gospel) provides the objective, the plan, the motivation, and the power to produce persons who make a difference.” (11) Baptized and confirmed members of The Church of Jesus Christ who have received the Holy Ghost can, indeed, make a difference.

But what of the fact that we are fallible and insufficient? Well, that is exactly why we are dependent on God the Father’s power in order to be effective in doing His work. When we have pure, righteous intentions and look beyond ourselves and bless others, He gives us permissions and increased ability through the Holy Ghost. God the Father gives us access to His capacity so that we can be successful in our personal earthy sojourn, and so that we can help others with theirs.           

The Family and The Church are Tools

God the Father’s saving, perfecting plan included coming to earth, being gifted a physical body, and then traveling a lifetime along a path of ordinances and covenants that prepare us to return to Him. While on that path through mortality and in this probationary state, God the Father has provided at least two supportive ways that He can accomplish His purposes of exalting His children. The first is the family. The second is Christ’s Church because it houses and protects proper Melchizedek Priesthood authority so that that saving ordinances can be performed. Both exist to assist God in His eternal, one-by-one work-- to bring people to Christ so that the eternal life of mankind is possible. (24) Both are successful when there are powerful individuals serving within the ranks: mothers and fathers, and willing workers in the engine of the Church. We are effective and inspired when we access God the Father’s total priesthood power and authority through the Holy Ghost. This is how we are equal to the enormous responsibility that we have to one another. 

The next chapters discuss in depth God’s tools for helping His children return to Him-- the family, marriage, fathers, mothers, the Church, ordinances, Melchizedek Priesthood, and God’s service organizations-- the priesthood quorum and the Relief Society. He has prepared every detail. If we are to help God, we must become a more and more spiritually powerful individual. Then we will be magnified to fulfill, inspired, and effectively, our roles in the family and the Church. In every one of these efforts, we need the guidance and enhancement of the Holy Ghost. 

Let’s get busy doing His work.