In Saturday afternoon conference October 6, 2018, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said:…”President Russell M. Nelson declared: You don’t have to wonder what is true [see Moroni 10:5]. You do not have to wonder whom you can safely trust. Through personal revelation, you can receive your own witness that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that this is the Lord’s Church. Regardless of what others may say or do, no one can ever take away a witness borne to your heart and mind about what is true.”(8 see below)
When James promised that God “giveth to all man liberally” who seek His wisdom, 9 he also cautioned: “but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. 10
Our Savior, on the other hand, was the perfect example of stability. He said, “The Father hath not left me alone for I do always those things that please him.”11 Consider these descriptions from the scriptures of men and women who, like the Savior, were firm and steadfast: They “were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for they were firm and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord.”12 “Their minds were firm and they do put their trust in God continually.”13
….To persevere firm and steadfast in the faith of Christ requires that the gospel of Jesus Christ penetrate one’s heart and soul, meaning that the gospel becomes not just one of many influences in a persons life but the defining focus of his or her life and character.
The Lord says: “A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. “And ye shall be my people and I will be your God.”16
But some have not yet fully received the Gospel of Jesus Christ into their lives. Although, as Paul says, they were “buried with Christ by baptism,” they are still missing the part that “like as Christ was raised up from the dead . . , even so we should walk in [a] newness of life.”17 The gospel does not yet define them. They are not yet centered in Christ. They are selective about the doctrines and commandments they will follow and where and when they will serve in the Church. By contrast, it is in keeping their covenants with exactness that those “who are the elect according to the covenant”18 avoid deception and remain firm in the faith of Christ.”
For Elder Christofferson’s complete talk click: “Firm and Steadfast in the Faith”
8. From our Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, see “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2018, 95.
