Visiting Teaching Message

The Divine Mission of Jesus Christ: Minister

Prayerfully study this material and seek to know what to share. How will understanding the life and mission of the Savior increase your faith in Him and bless those you watch over through visiting teaching? For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

Faith, Family, Relief

This is part of a series of Visiting Teaching Messages featuring aspects of the mission of the Savior.

As we minister to others, we become true followers of Jesus Christ, who set the example for us. President Thomas S. Monson said: “We are surrounded by those in need. … We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children.”¹

Linda K. Burton, Relief Society general president, taught: “With practice, each of us can become more like the Savior as we serve God’s children. To help us better [minister to] one another, I would like to suggest four words to remember: ‘First observe, then serve.’ … As we do so, we are keeping covenants, and our service, like President Monson’s, will be evidence of our discipleship.”²

We can pray each morning to recognize opportunities to serve others. “Heavenly Father will guide you, and angels will assist you,” said David L. Beck, Young Men general president. “You will be given power to bless lives and rescue souls.”³

From the Scriptures

Matthew 20:25–28; 1 Nephi 11:27–28; 3 Nephi 28:18

From Our History

At the October 1856 general conference, President Brigham Young (1801–77) announced that handcart pioneers were still crossing the plains and that everyone was to help gather supplies for them immediately. Lucy Meserve Smith wrote that women “stripped off their petticoats [large underskirts], stockings, and every thing they could spare, right there in the Tabernacle, and piled [them] into the wagons.”

As the rescued pioneers began to arrive in Salt Lake City, Lucy wrote, “I never took more … pleasure in any labor I ever performed in my life, such a unanimity of feeling prevailed. I only had to go into a store and make my wants known; if it was cloth, it was measured off without charge.”⁴

President George Albert Smith (1870–1951) said of ministering to others: “Our eternal happiness will be in proportion to the way that we devote ourselves to helping others.”⁵

Consider This

1. How can prayer lead us to be instruments in the Lord’s hands?

2. How can ministering to others help us keep our covenants?

Notes

1. Thomas S. Monson, “What Have I Done for Someone Today?” Liahona, Nov. 2009, 86.

2. Linda K. Burton, “First Observe, Then Serve,” Liahona, Nov. 2012, 78, 80.

3. David L. Beck, “Your Sacred Duty to Minister,” Liahona, May 2013, 56.

4. Lucy Meserve Smith, in Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society (2011), 36–37.

5. George Albert Smith, in Daughters in My Kingdom, 77.

Detail from Who Touched Me? by Gary L. Kapp