Visiting Teaching Message:

Become an Instrument in the Hands of God by Preparing for and Participating in Temple Worship

Prayerfully select and read from this message the scriptures and teachings that meet the needs of the sisters you visit. Share your experiences and testimony. Invite those you teach to do the same.

How Can Preparing for Temple Worship Help Me Be an Instrument in the Hands of God?

D&C 95:8: “I gave unto you a commandment that you should build a house, in the which house I design to endow those whom I have chosen with power from on high.”

Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “Divine covenants help us to filter out of our minds impurities that could harm us. When we choose to deny ourselves of all ungodliness, we lose nothing of value and gain the glory of eternal life. Covenants do not hold us down; they elevate us beyond the limits of our own power and perspective. … Ordinances of the temple relate to personal progress and to the redemption of departed ancestors as well. … Service in their behalf provides repeated opportunities for temple worship. … In this world smitten with spiritual decay, can individuals prepared for temple blessings make a difference? Yes! Those Saints are ‘the covenant people of the Lord, … armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory’ [1 Nephi 14:14]. Their example can lift the lives of all humankind” (“Personal Preparation for Temple Blessings,” Liahona, July 2001, 38–39; Ensign, May 2001, 34).

How Can Participating in Temple Worship Help Me Be an Instrument in the Hands of God?

Elaine S. Dalton, first counselor in the Young Women general presidency: “Personal worthiness is essential to enter His holy temples and to ultimately become heirs to ‘all [the] Father hath’ [D&C 84:38]. The Lord has said, ‘Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God’ [D&C 121:45]. When we do this, we can confidently enter the holy temples of God with a knowledge that we are worthy to go where the Lord Himself goes. When we are worthy, we can not only enter the temple, the temple can enter us. The Lord’s promises of salvation and happiness become ours—and our earthly mission becomes His” (“Look toward Eternity!” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2006, 32).

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “Receiving our own endowment in a temple and returning frequently to perform sacred ordinances for our kindred dead increases our faith, strengthens our hope, and deepens our charity. We receive our own endowment with faith and hope that we will understand the Lord’s plan for His children, will recognize the divine potential within each of us as children of our Heavenly Father, and will be faithful to the end in keeping the covenants we make. Performing temple ordinances for the dead is a manifestation of charity, offering essential blessings to those who have preceded us, blessings that were not available to them during their mortal lives. We have the privilege of doing for them what they are unable to do for themselves” (“Cultivating Divine Attributes,” Liahona, Jan. 1999, 31; Ensign, Nov. 1998, 27).

Photographs by Craig Dimond, except as noted; inset: photograph by Athley Glori, posed by models

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