"On My Right and My Left"

“On My Right and My Left”
Samuel Bradshaw, 28 June 2009
Pace Ward Sacrament Meeting

My name’s Samuel Bradshaw. I would like to speak about divine assistance as we go through our lives. As children of God, we are not left alone. We are provided with many sources of strength and help that are available to us as we trust in Him.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “I’ve lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing Proofs I see of this Truth – That God governs in the Affairs of Men.”

Divine assistance comes from several sources – first, from God’s direct blessings and through the Holy Ghost; second, from the scriptures and words of the prophets; third, from messengers both seen and unseen; and last but not least, from the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

1. Divine assistance from God’s direct blessings and from the Holy Ghost.

God is our Father. He cares for each one of us, because we our His children. Doctrine and Covenants 76:5 says that the Lord “delight[s] to honor those who serve [him] in righteousness and in truth.”

In Isaiah 41:10, the Lord says, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

Sometimes we have a goal or a job to do, but we can’t quite do it well enough on our own. In 3 Nephi 18:20, Jesus Christ promises, “whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.”

Doctrine and Covenants 82:10 further emphasizes, “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say.” Blessings from the Lord are often conditioned upon our faithfulness.

Soon after baptism, we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost, or the promise that the Holy Spirit will always remain with us as we remember and take upon us the name of Jesus Christ (meaning to represent Him in all that we do), and keep His commandments. The Holy Ghost bears witness of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and reveals all truth. When the Holy Ghost remains with us, we become sanctified.

Many blessings from God come through the Holy Ghost. Having the Holy Ghost means we can receive comfort when we are down, guidance when we are unsure, and inspiration and revelation when we are in need of it, for ourselves, or for others we are responsible for or assigned to teach. Having the Holy Ghost with us is among the greatest blessings in one’s life.

As Elder Bednar said at our recent Stake Conference, as we stay on the path by keeping the commandments, the Holy Ghost will guide us to the proper lane. As long as we keep the commandments of God with exactness, we need not worry about exactly where we should go; we need to trust and we will be led where we need to go. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

2. Divine assistance through the scriptures and the words of the prophets.

We are blessed to live in this “dispensation of the fulness of times.” It is the era of technology and communication. Joseph Fielding Smith spoke the following in 1926, as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve:

“I maintain that had there been no restoration of the gospel, and no organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there would have been no radio; there would have been no airplane, and there would not have been the wonderful discoveries in medicine, chemistry, electricity, and the many other things wherein the world has been benefited by such discoveries. Under such conditions these blessings would have been withheld, for they belong to the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times of which the restoration of the gospel and the organization of the Church constitute the central point, from which radiates the Spirit of the Lord throughout the world. The inspiration of the Lord has gone out and takes hold of the minds of men, though they know it not, and they are directed by the Lord. In this manner he brings them into his service that his purposes and his righteousness, in due time, may be supreme on the earth. …

“I do not believe for one moment that these discoveries have come by chance, or that they have come because of superior intelligence possessed by men today over those who lived in ages that are past. They have come and are coming because the time is ripe, because the Lord has willed it, and because he has poured out his Spirit on all flesh” (end-quote). [source]

The technologies that Joseph Fielding Smith was talking about and many that have been developed since allow us to have more inspired guidance than ever before!

Appropriately, the Bible was the one of the first books to be printed on Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press in the early 1450s. Gutenberg’s movable type system caused the production of books to skyrocket. The Bible and other books could be mass-produced efficiently, and they were available to people all over Europe. Then the protestant reformation took off, paving the way for Biblical literacy and religious freedom. Finally, by the 1800s, the way was prepared for God to work His latter-day “marvelous work and a wonder,” as described in Isaiah 29:14.

In 1820, God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to the boy Joseph Smith in upstate New York, beginning the restoration of the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith, in time given the true authority of the Priesthood and the keys and calling as Prophet, spent the rest of his life bringing forth scripture, doctrines, and revelations.

Today, not only do we have the Bible, but we also have the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the words of the prophets from Joseph Smith and the early leaders of the Church, all the way down to our current prophet and Church leaders.

Because of today’s technology, we can access these inspired words with very little effort from books, magazines, the radio, TV, and the internet. We don’t have to worry about missing anything our leaders say; everything is published for us to re-read and study.

President Daniels [local Stake President] emphasized prayer and scripture study when he spoke to us at Stake Conference. Personally, studying the scriptures is not easy for me and I get sidetracked quickly. But I know that the scriptures and the words of the prophets can be a source of divine assistance. They contain the words of called men, written as “moved upon by the Holy Ghost,” as it says in Doctrine and Covenants 68:4.

Nephi tells us when something is written “by the power of the Holy Ghost,” the Holy Ghost has the power to “carry it unto the hearts of the children of men” (2 Nephi 33:1). The Holy Ghost can teach us through the scriptures. As we study the scriptures with a prayer in our heart, sometimes a verse can stand out or answer a question that we might have. Nephi also wrote that the scriptures are for “our profit and learning” (1 Nephi 19:23) and if we “feast upon the words of Christ,” they “will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:3).

3. Divine assistance through messengers seen and unseen.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland spoke in the October 2008 General Conference about divine assistance through God’s messengers. He said:

“From the beginning down through the dispensations, God has used angels as His emissaries in conveying love and concern for His children. … Usually such beings are not seen. Sometimes they are. But seen or unseen they are always near. … Occasionally the angelic purpose is to warn. But most often it is to comfort, to provide some form of merciful attention, guidance in difficult times.”

Elder Holland continues, “Not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with – here, now, every day. Some of them reside in our own neighborhoods” (end-quote). [source]

The word “angel” actually comes from a Greek word meaning “messenger.” God blesses us through those we associate with; our friends and family. He puts us in the path of good people who will comfort us or lift our spirits, as long as we let him lead us.

4. Divine assistance through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the central point in the plan of mercy. Through it, every person who ever lived will inherit a kingdom of glory after this life, with the exception of the few who will be sent to outer darkness. Those who accept and follow the path set forth by Jesus Christ will be able to inherit the highest degree of the celestial kingdom and receive eternal life. The plan is a plan of mercy because, according to Romans 3:23, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

“No unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven” (Alma 11:37), so if the plan were one of justice alone, all would be consigned to spiritual death. But instead, we inherit glory. This is through the infinite and eternal Atonement of Jesus Christ, who suffered in our place as a sacrifice for our sins and imperfections.

As long as we are humble and sincere in our hearts, and exercise faith in the Lord unto true repentance, our sins will be swept completely away; and through our continual effort, our weaknesses and imperfections will become strengths.

God never gives up on us. Isaiah repeats that “his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still” (Isaiah 9:12, 17, 21; Isaiah 5:25). Even though He is saddened when people drift away, His hands are stretched out still, to receive those who will return to Him. In Mosiah 26:30 the Lord said, “As often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.”

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, “Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us – even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will. We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, Heavenly Father won’t, for He sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming.” [source]

Those who follow Christ are given this promise in Matthew 11:28-30:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

We are not alone.

This life isn’t easy, and it wasn’t meant to be. But God has given us so many sources of divine assistance. All we have to do is stay true to the teachings of the Gospel. The yoke becomes easy and our burdens become light when we follow the Gospel path.

And as we follow the path, we can remember the words of the Lord in Doctrine and Covenants 84:88: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”

Then, with God on our side, we can repeat the words of Elisha in 2 Kings 6:16: “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.”

I would like to bear my testimony, that I know this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith was a prophet. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet today and leads and guides this church through direct revelation. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.