Area Presidency Message
Self-Reliance: A Measure of True Discipleship
“The Lord enables His true disciples to experience His power acting through them, so they are able to bring forth much fruit. They accomplish all things which are expedient in Him and grow into a fulness of joy.”
In his first general conference address as the newly sustained prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson exhorted, even pleaded:
“Brothers and sisters, how can we become the men and women—the Christlike servants—the Lord needs us to be? How can we find answers to questions that perplex us? . . .
“What wisdom do you lack? What do you feel an urgent need to know or understand? … Find a quiet place where you can regularly go. Humble yourself before God. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father…
“Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. …
“I promise that as you continue to be obedient, expressing gratitude for every blessing the Lord gives you, and as you patiently honor the Lord’s timetable, you will be given the knowledge and understanding you seek. Every blessing the Lord has for you—even miracles—will follow. …
“Choose to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the Spirit more frequently and more clearly”1.
In that passionate appeal to all the members of the Church, President Nelson reminded us about the key to personal growth. He testified of and echoed the personal invitation of the Savior, Jesus Christ:
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. …
“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples”2.
The path to enduring spiritual and temporal self-reliance is paved by each disciple acting in faith in the Savior Jesus Christ. Faith leads true disciples of Christ to develop the desire to follow the Savior’s invitation to abide in Him by taking His yoke upon them and learning of Him3. Taking His yoke upon us is using His ways to solve our problems and to deal with our challenges.
Metaphorically speaking, we become yoked with him as His ways become our ways of carrying our burdens in life. As we become familiar with His humility and patience in the face of difficult challenges, our hope is rejuvenated, and we grow into His character, being “meek and lowly in heart,” giving us “rest unto [our] souls”4 as the Holy Ghost comes upon us providing us new direction and fresh courage, enabling us to do things we never previously thought ourselves able to do. We start to discover through this journey of faith, much deeply felt joy.
As a new General Authority Seventy of the Church eleven years ago, whenever I received my stake conference assignments to stakes in North America, all my inadequacies and fears came flooding into my mind. How could I teach people who were born in the Church, who had grown up with the gospel, and knew of Church government through a lifetime of observing their leaders, many of whom were their own parents? What could I possibly say that could make it worth their while to spend their time listening to me? Had they not heard it all before? Where was I to begin?
The preparation for each assignment became marked by one struggle after another, and one abandoned talk outline after another. I remember several times staying up the whole night trying to find a message that the saints would find meaningful during the Sunday general session of stake conference.
During this time of struggle, in a tender mercy that the Lord extended to me, one day I found myself alone with an Apostle. After some hesitation, I gathered the courage to seek his counsel. I was a great admirer of his talks, in which every sentence was to me like scripture. I asked him his secret for composing such compelling messages.
In my situation at the time, his response almost stunned me. He paused for some time and then said that he always felt the weight of the responsibility of his calling towards the Saints, and so he diligently sought the Lord’s help with each message that he prepared. If he felt that the message had been well received, he would go to the Lord with a prayer of thanksgiving. If he felt it had not, he would go to the Lord with a pleading to help him do better next time. He added that this was his experience during the period of over twenty years that he had served as an Apostle of the Lord.
His example and testimony reminded me of the sacred record about prophets such as Alma who “labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer”5, and Enos who wrote about the “wrestle which [he] had before God”6. The lesson was taught to me again powerfully that striving to connect with the Spirit of God is the measure of true discipleship.
The Lord enables His true disciples to experience His power acting through them, so they are able to “bring forth [much] fruit”7. They accomplish all things which are expedient in Him8 and grow into a fulness of joy9. Abiding in Christ, they become self-reliant in every way.
Joseph W. Sitati was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April 2009. He is married to Gladys Nangoni; they are the parents of five children.