“Aligned with the Will of the Lord,” Liahona, Feb. 2023.
Come, Follow Me
Aligned with the Will of the Lord
We become more Christlike when we follow His example of doing the will of His Father.
Some of the most important decisions we make in life are decisions that affect others. This is often the case when we decide to accept callings to serve in the Church.
For example, when I was called to be a mission president, my wife, Lucie, was called as my companion. We wanted to be united as we served. We knew that meant it was important for us as a couple to be aligned with the will of the Lord. What’s more, our children would also be affected by our calling since they would accompany us. They were young, ages 14, 11, and 7. Leaving home for three years would be a big adjustment in their lives, so being aligned with the will of the Lord would be important for them too.
We decided as a family that we wanted to serve the Lord together. As my wife says, “We all wanted to be pointed in the same direction.” And as a family we were blessed as we served together in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mbuji-Mayi Mission.
Serving together strengthened our unity and capacity to face challenges related to a new culture, in a new city, with a new local language. It helped us to be more resilient as we responded to the need to attend leadership seminars and zone conferences and still meet the needs of our children. Our family prayers and scripture study became more meaningful, and our testimonies grew stronger as we watched converts, members, and missionaries love and embrace the gospel.
Doing the Will of the Father
Why is it so important for us to seek to know and do the will of our Heavenly Father?
In this, as in all things, the Lord Jesus Christ sets an example. He said:
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“For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6:38).
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“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
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“If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17).
In other words:
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We become more Christlike as we follow His example of doing the will of the Father.
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We must be obedient to be worthy.
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As we follow Christ’s example of seeking to do the will of God, we learn by our obedience that the principles of the gospel are true.
By following the Savior, we become more like Him. And as we become more like Him, we become more like the Father. So we can learn to do the will of the Father by being obedient to the teachings of the Son.
Building upon a Rock
Jesus Christ also said that those who hear and do His sayings are like a “wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
“And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock” (Matthew 7:24–25).
Similarly, Helaman taught his sons: “Remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall” (Helaman 5:12).
This means that when we align our will with the will of God and obey His will, we will be given the strength we need to weather the storms of life. Our faith will endure.
Photograph courtesy of the author
As a family serving together in the mission field, we witnessed the truth—for ourselves and for others—that we come to know Jesus Christ by doing His will. We saw what happens in the lives of those who hear His voice, obey His commandments, and accept His will in their lives. We received blessings as we fulfilled our own callings, and we watched the spiritual growth of missionaries and local Church members, including recent converts, who accepted callings, shared His gospel, and ministered to one another. We learned that doing His will is simple. It means doing what we are supposed to do to help God fulfill His work and His glory “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
We saw that, like the people of King Benjamin, those who align themselves with the will of the Lord are “willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us” (Mosiah 5:5).
Sharing His Promise
When we accepted the call extended by President Russell M. Nelson to serve as mission leaders, my wife and I knew we were doing what the Lord wanted us to do. And we were delighted when our children joined us in that service. We left everything behind, but we knew that wonderful blessings were ahead. We were eager to share the Savior’s promise: “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40).