President Faust, in
April 2005 general conference, delivered timely counsel that seems so applicable to our circumstances today. Those who seek comfort and shelter only need ask. There is refuge in the House of the Lord. President Faust:
We are bombarded on all sides by a vast number of messages we don’t want or need. More information is generated in a single day than we can absorb in a lifetime. To fully enjoy life, all of us must find our own breathing space and peace of mind. How can we do this? There is only one answer. We must rise above the evil that encroaches upon us. We must follow the counsel of the Lord, who said, “It is my will, that all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places.”
We unavoidably stand in so many unholy places and are subjected to so much that is vulgar, profane, and destructive of the Spirit of the Lord that I encourage our Saints all over the world, wherever possible, to strive to stand more often in holy places. Our most holy places are our sacred temples. Within them is a feeling of sacred comfort. We should seek to be worthy to take our families to the temple to be sealed together for eternity. We should also search for the records of our kindred dead so that they too can be sealed to us in one of the temples. We must strive for holiness by being “an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” In this way we can maintain and strengthen our own individual relationship with our God.
Holiness is the strength of the soul. It comes by faith and through obedience to God’s laws and ordinances. God then purifies the heart by faith, and the heart becomes purged from that which is profane and unworthy. When holiness is achieved by conforming to God’s will, one knows intuitively that which is wrong and that which is right before the Lord. Holiness speaks when there is silence, encouraging that which is good or reproving that which is wrong.
Holiness is also a standard of righteousness. In some remarks by President Brigham Young in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, February 16, 1862, he used the expression “Holiness to the Lord.” He then further explained what “Holiness to the Lord” meant to him. I quote: “Thirty years’ experience has taught me that every moment of my life must be holiness to the Lord, resulting from equity, justice, mercy and uprightness in all my actions, which is the only course by which I can preserve the Spirit of the Almighty to myself.”
President Faust, in April 2005 general conference, delivered timely counsel that seems so applicable to our circumstances today. Those who seek comfort and shelter only need ask. There is refuge in the House of the Lord. President Faust:
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"Holiness is the strength of the soul. It comes by faith and through obedience to God’s laws and ordinances. God then purifies the heart by faith, and the heart becomes purged from that which is profane and unworthy. When holiness is achieved by conforming to God’s will, one knows intuitively that which is wrong and that which is right before the Lord. Holiness speaks when there is silence, encouraging that which is good or reproving that which is wrong."
This is such good counsel, it makes me want to sing out loud with joyful excitement when I read it! On the temple it says, "Holiness to the Lord -- the House of the Lord". The intuitive feeling of Rightness in the temple is because of this principle in operation. In the silence, we hear the voice of God speaking -- this is one good explanation for solitary wilderness sojourns, so many of which lead to a cleansing experience, and subsequent holy communion with the Spirit.
Reading this talk excites me all over again each time I review it. I find it especially useful just before I pray at night. Try it -- and see if your home becomes more a holy place than before. Perhaps beyond what you ever imagined was even possible!
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