Day 259

  • Principle: A testimony of Jesus Christ is aided by study, prayer, and fasting. 
  • Book of Mormon Reading: Helaman 5:46-6:14
    • As the Nephites became more wicked what did the Lamanites do that allowed them to prosper?  How did the Nephites and the Lamanites treat the Gadianton robbers?  What was the result?  Whoa re the Gadianton robbers in your life?  
  • Boyd K. Packer shed some light as to why many use the same language when testifying of Jesus Christ.  He then continues on to how a testimony is gained.  

    • There are those who hear testimonies borne in the Church, by those in high station and by members in the wards and branches, all using the same words—“I know that God lives; I know that Jesus is the Christ,” and come to question, “Why cannot it be said in plainer words? Why aren’t they more explicit and more descriptive? Cannot the apostles say more?”
       

      How like the sacred experience in the temple becomes our personal testimony. It is sacred, and when we are wont to put it into words, we say it in the same way—all using the same words. The apostles declare it in the same phrases with the little Primary or Sunday School youngster. “I know that God lives and I know that Jesus is the Christ.”

      We would do well not to disregard the testimonies of the prophets or of the children, for “he imparteth his words by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times which confound the wise and the learned.” (Alma 32:23.)

      Some seek for a witness to be given in some new and dramatic and different way.

      The bearing of a testimony is akin to a declaration of love. The romantics and poets and couples in love, from the beginning of time, have sought more impressive ways of saying it, or singing it, or writing it. They have used all of the adjectives, all of the superlatives, all manner of poetic expression. And when all is said and done, the declaration which is most powerful is the simple, three-word variety.

      To one who is honestly seeking, the testimony borne in these simple phrases is enough, for it is the spirit that beareth record, not the words.

      There is a power of communication as real and tangible as electricity. Man has devised the means to send images and sound through the air to be caught on an antenna and reproduced and heard and seen. This other communication may be likened to that, save it be a million times more powerful, and the witness it brings is always the truth.

      There is a process by which pure intelligence can flow, by which we can come to know of a surety, nothing doubting.

      I said there was a question that could not be taken lightly nor answered at all without the prompting of the Spirit. I have not asked that question of others, but I have heard them answer it—but not when they were asked. They have answered it under the prompting of the Spirit, on sacred occasions, when “the Spirit beareth record.” (D&C 1:39.)

      I have heard one of my brethren declare: “I know from experiences, too sacred to relate, that Jesus is the Christ.”

      I have heard another testify: “I know that God lives; I know that the Lord lives. And more than that, I know the Lord.”

      It was not their words that held the meaning or the power. It was the Spirit. “… for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.” (2 Ne. 33:1.)

      I speak upon this subject in humility, with the constant feeling that I am the least in every way of those who are called to this holy office.

      I have come to know that the witness does not come by seeking after signs. It comes through fasting and prayer, through activity and testing and obedience. It comes through sustaining the servants of the Lord and following them.

      Karl G. Maeser was taking a group of missionaries across the Alps. As they reached a summit, he stopped. Gesturing back down the trail to some poles set in the snow to mark the way across the glacier, he said, “Brethren, there stands the Priesthood. They are just common sticks like the rest of us … but the position they hold makes them what they are to us. If we step aside from the path they mark, we are lost.”1

      The witness depends upon sustaining his servants as we have done here in sign and as we should do in action.

      Now, I wonder with you why one such as I should be called to the holy apostleship. There are so many qualifications that I lack. There is so much in my effort to serve that is wanting. As I have pondered on it, I have come to only one single thing, one qualification in which there may be cause, and that is, I have that witness.
       

      I declare to you that I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that he lives. He was born in the meridian of time. He taught his gospel, was tried, was crucified. He rose on the third day. He was the first fruits of the resurrection. He has a body of flesh and bone. Of this I bear testimony. Of him I am a witness. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. (Boyd K. Packer, “The Spirit Beareth Record”, April 1971) 

  • For the last week you have been studying the testimonies of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Take the remainder of the time you have and ponder and write your testimony of Jesus Christ and his resurrection.  
  • Additional Study:
    • Joseph Anderson, “The Living Christ”, October 1971
    • Lo, the Mighty God Appearing!, Hymns No. 55
    • Easter Hosanna, Children's Songbook No. 68