My Brothers and Sisters, Aloha!
One of the treats of having this calling is to get to know the beautiful people at the universities and to hear wonderful musical numbers. Thank you Sister, that was wonderful [as well as getting] to know you, the university, and the staff. What a treat for my husband and I. It was wonderful! This year, you are celebrating 70 years of the university. That is wonderful! 70 years of learning.
I'm a witness of the immense love that President Kauwe and Sister Kauwe have for you all. This amazing!
Well, yesterday, you invited me to travel to the islands of Polynesia at the amazing Polynesian Cultural Center and today, I will invite you to travel with me to the land of Egypt, and imagine something that happened thousands of years ago…
Picture a tall mountain, and on the top of this tall mountain, imagine a man, Moses, having a conversation with the Omnipotent God. Now, picture in your mind the sacred moment when Moses hears these four words from the very mouth of God: “Thou art my son.” [1]
Can you see this majestic scene in your mind? What an empowering encounter, an unforgettable one! A holy moment in the life of Moses!
Besides teaching him this eternal truth regarding his identity, the Lord teaches Moses about the character of God. He said:
- I am the Lord God Almighty
- Endless is my name
- My works are without end
- My words are without end
- All things are present with me, I know them all
- Thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten
- My Only Begotten is the Savior
- The Savior is full of grace
- The Savior is full of truth
- There is no God beside Me [2]
We could have a devotional from each one of these truths! But today, I will focus on the powerful identity one, “Thou art my son.” [3]
The name Moses comes from the Hebrew word MOSHE, which some scholars suggest is likely derived from the Egyptian MES meaning “son.” Therefore, one meaning of Moses is “son!” [4]
To put this experience in a timeline, Moses indicated that this encounter happened after the burning bush and before taking the Israelites from Egypt.
Let’s go back to the conversation. In Moses 1:6 the Lord says: “I have a work for thee, Moses, my son.” In this encounter, God refers to Moses three times as “my son.” [5]
And we read that at the end of the encounter, “… The presence of God withdrew from Moses, that his glory was not upon Moses; and Moses was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he fell unto the earth.” [6]
Let’s make a list of some other vital truths Moses learned firsthand:
- First, God’s power and glory are so magnificent that it is necessary to be transfigured to be in His presence.
- Moses had a divine identity as a son of the God of the universe!
- He was personally known by his Creator, and was assigned a special work. [7]
But look at what happened next: After witnessing the majestic power, Moses had another encounter—this time with the opposing force. Notice the different salutation from Satan, who said: “Moses, son of man, worship me.” [8]
But Moses knew who he was: “I am a son of God,” he replied, “in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee?” [9]
In this dialog, we can observe how the powerful conversation with God empowered Moses with mental clarity, truth, and of course, the Spirit. Moses was able to command Satan: “Get thee hence, deceive me not.” [10] “I can judge between thee and God…depart from me.” And then, one of my favorite phrases: “I will not cease to call upon God.” [11]
During the conversation, Satan became angry, and Moses began to fear, but by crying out to God, he received strength and commanded Satan to withdraw from his presence one more time. And we read: “And it came to pass that Satan cried with a loud voice, with weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; and he departed hence, even from the presence of Moses, that he beheld him not.” [12]
After this exhausting encounter, I can imagine Moses still trembling, trying to understand what just happened. With a loyal faithfulness to his Father, perhaps looking for comfort, he lifts his eyes to heaven and calls upon God! And he heard His voice answer: “Blessed art thou, Moses, for I, the Almighty, have chosen thee… I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days.” [13]
What an assurance of love and peace Moses must have felt from hearing the voice of the Lord once more with that message: I have chosen thee… I am with thee.
My dear friends, there is a war between good and evil. A war that started a long time ago, even before we came to Earth. Have you asked yourselves how can we go forward? How can we also feel empowered by the truth of our divine identity?
There is only one answer to these questions: with the help of our Savior Jesus Christ and only with His help. We can't do this by ourselves! That was never part of the plan! We are not alone.
Before we came to earth, we overcame that first battle of the war. Do you want to know how we won? In the Joseph Smith Translation of Revelation 12 we read: “And there was war in heaven; Michael (Adam) and his angels fought against the dragon (Lucifer)…And the dragon prevailed not against Michael…(Satan) was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. For they (us) have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their (our) testimony.” [14]
It was by putting our faith in Jesus Christ, the Lamb, and by the power of our testimonies, that we won!
President Eyring said: “It took faith in Jesus Christ to sustain the plan of happiness and Jesus Christ's place in it when you knew so little of the challenges that you would face in mortality.” [15]
But, my dear friends, we had that faith before we came to Earth! And we can do the same now!
Before, we were saying that we are not in the fight alone, and this is why: First, we have been given the Light of Christ. Every baby who is born on the earth receives this gift; with it, we can have a sense of what is right, true, and just, and a desire to love and to be loved.
After making our baptismal covenant with God, we can be blessed with manifestations of God’s power as we keep our covenant. The blessings of God’s power include the gift of the Holy Ghost which brings blessings of increased knowledge, strength, and revelation into our lives.
We make additional sacred covenants with God in the temple, and as we keep those covenants our access to God’s power increases. We receive an endowment of power and knowledge. The endowment offers us the possibility of opening the veil between heaven and earth, communing with God, and to have the promised ministering of angels to help us.
Our dear prophet, Russell M. Nelson, said: “The temple spiritually empowers you and me to meet the challenges of life.” [16]
At the temple, we expect to receive: Answers to prayers, revelation, greater faith, strength, comfort, increased knowledge, increased power.
The messenger of that power is the Holy Ghost, the gift we receive after we make our first covenant with God. And then, on Sundays, as we partake of the sacrament, we renew our covenants. And as we keep the covenants we have made with God, the Holy Ghost will be our constant companion to testify of the Father, the Son and every truth; to guide us, comfort us, teach us, and help us gradually overcome our sins and purify us.
Our Heavenly Father has given us so much to succeed! The Light of Christ, access to God’s priesthood power and the Holy Ghost. As we read in the war in heaven scripture, what helped us overcome evil before coming to earth was our strong faith and trust in Jesus Christ—trust in His ability to come to earth to atone for our sins and do the will of our Father.
Now, I have been thinking lately about specific things I can do to help me stay strong. Here are three thoughts that I feel impressed to share.
Number one: It helps me to pay attention to what distracts me from the daily time I need to have with the Lord.
A few months ago, I had to write several talks for different assignments, but every time I sat down to think, I didn't get inspired. I felt stuck. When no ideas came to me, I looked at the phone to answer a message, then I kept thinking, then I checked my email, and went back to my talk again, then scheduled a meeting in my calendar... you can picture that, right?
Then one night, I had a dream. In my dream, I was in a restaurant eating with my husband; the waiter came and offered us a tray full of portions of juicy meat that looked delicious, just the way I liked it. Similar [to] the Polynesian Cultural Center feast, last night. With much enthusiasm, I served myself a portion and then turned around to chat with the people at the back table. After a few minutes of a lovely conversation, when I turned around to eat, my meat was no longer there, and the waiter was gone. So frustrating! I was hungry, and that meat looked delicious!
Then the waiter came again, this time with another dish. I served myself and, again, turned around to talk, this time, with the people at another table. We laughed and had a nice visit, and when I turned back to eat, my plate was empty again, and the waiter was no longer there.
When I woke up, I tried to interpret the meaning of the dream and realized that I wasn't getting inspiration to write the talks because instead of eating the delicious meat in front of me, I was allowing myself to get distracted by other things.
What is distracting you? Is it your phone? Is it a bunch of TV series you can’t stop watching? Sports? One more video game? What is robbing your precious time with the Lord?
The second thing that helps me stay strong is not falling into the trap of contention. President Nelson taught us: “Contention is a choice. Peacemaking is a choice. You have your agency to choose contention or reconciliation. I urge you to choose to be a peacemaker, now and always.” [17] What is causing contention in your daily life?
And the third thing that helps me stay strong is to analyze how I am feeding my testimony of the gospel.
Elder Renlund told BYU students in Provo to imagine they were driving a powerful sportscar with no brakes up a mountain road. What if you shifted into neutral? Now the engine is disengaged. You will slow down and then eventually start to go backward. Revving the engine will do nothing to halt the decline. This is terrifying! We need to keep moving forward—or we will start going backward. [18]
To me, staying engaged and keeping my forward momentum means I must pray daily, opening my heart and thoughts to our Father. As Moses declared: “I will not cease to call upon God.” [19]
It means to study the scriptures until I feel the Holy Ghost is teaching me. It means to partake of the sacrament, asking my Father to help me be faithful to my covenants and to use the guidance of the Spirit to learn the best way to confront my challenges and learn from them. It means to go to the temple to be at peace, to put my thoughts and feelings in order, to receive strength, answers, knowledge, light, and truth.
We can make much progress in every aspect of our earthly experience if we, like Moses, know who we really are. I invite you to engage your life more fully, more intentionally, with your Savior. Looking unto Him in every thought. I promise that by doing so, you will make a big difference in your everyday life.
Isn’t it wonderful knowing we are on the Lord’s side in this battle? Listen to the words of Nephi: “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.” [20]
Nephi is talking about us!
Our righteousness is a shield in this wicked world. The more righteous we are, the less powerful the enemy is.
May the Lord bless you with the strength and power that comes from truly knowing who you are, and by reminding you that as His covenant daughter or son, you can call upon Him and be blessed through His power at any time and any place, in any circumstance. May He bless you to remember that fear comes from the enemy, and sometimes logical thinking leaves no room for miracles.
May He bless you with the ability to identify your distractions and also to avoid conflict. May He bless you with a deeper desire to hold on to your sacred covenants and to use God’s power to overcome the world and find joy. And finally, may the Lord bless you to feel that you are not alone, and you never will be.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes:
[1] Moses 1:4
[2] Moses 1:3-4,6
[3] Moses 1:4
[4] “Moses”, Behind the Name, December 1, 2024
[5] Moses 1:6
[6] Moses 1:9
[7] Moses 1:4-6,11
[8] Moses 1:12
[9] Moses 1:13
[10] Moses 1:16
[11] Moses 1:18
[12] Moses 1:22
[13] Moses 1:25-26, emphasis added
[14] Joseph Smith Translation, Revelation 12:6-8, 11
[15] Henry B. Eyring, “The Power of Sustaining Faith,” Ensign or Liahona, April 2019, 58
[16] Russell M. Nelson, “Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys,” Ensign or Liahona, April 2024, 121
[17] Russell M. Nelson, “Peacemakers Needed,” Ensign or Liahona, April 2023, 100
[18] Dale G. Renlund, “Lifelong Conversion,” [Brigham Young University devotional, September 14, 2021], speeches.byu.edu
[19] Moses 1:18
[20] 1 Nephi 14:14