Where Two or Three Are Gathered

Where and if we feel the Spirit depends upon us.

Two different converts wrote to President Eyring worried that if their faith wasn’t shored up they might succumb to their challenges and lose their faith.

Those who recognize the withering of their faith are the blessed ones because they recognize their loss which is better than being unaware of those losses of faith.

If you listen with the Spirit you will find your heart softened.

Only the Holy Ghost can bring the blessings that the Lord desires for us.

If we receive the message by something other than the Spirit of God we will miss the message that the Spirit would bring us.

The promise that the Lord will give us the words in the very moment applies especially to the words of testimony.

In some ways the talk prior to the testimony is meant to set the stage for the testimony (I don’t think that really applies to lessons, just talks).

Gathered in this meeting, which stretches across the world, are millions of disciples of Jesus Christ who are under covenant to always remember Him and serve Him. By the miracle of modern technology, the separation of time and of vast distances vanishes. We meet as if we are all together in one great hall.

But even more important than our gathering together is in whose name we do so. The Lord promised that even with the great number of His disciples on the earth today, He would be close to each of us. He said to His little band of disciples in 1829, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, … where two or three are gathered together in my name, … behold, there will I be in the midst of them—even so am I in the midst of you.”

… Where and when we feel the closeness of the Savior depend on each of us.

The exercise of our agency is always crucial in receiving the most fundamental blessings of the gospel.

During His mortal ministry, the Savior gave us the parable of the seed and the sower. The seed was the word of God. The sower was the Lord. The survival of the seed and its growth depended on the condition of the soil. You remember His words:

“And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

“Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

“And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

“And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

“But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

“Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Again, the seed is the word of God. The soil is the heart of the person who receives the seed.

All of us have had our faith tested by precious blessings delayed, vicious attacks of those who wanted to destroy our faith, temptations to sin, and selfish interests that reduced our efforts to cultivate and soften the spiritual depths of our hearts.

Those who are saddened by the loss of the joy they once had are the blessed ones. Some do not see the withering of faith within themselves. Satan is clever. He tells those he wishes to be miserable that the joy they once felt was childish self-delusion.

Today my message to us all is that there will be a precious opportunity in the next few days to choose to have our hearts softened and to receive and nourish the seed. The seed is the word of God, and it will be poured out on all of us who listen, watch, and read the proceedings of this conference.

Your choice to pray with full purpose of heart will transform your experience in the conference sessions and in the days and months that follow.

Many of you have already begun. At the start of this session, you more than listened to the prayer; you added your faith to the petition that we will enjoy the blessing of having the Holy Ghost poured out upon us. As you added your silent pleading in the name of Jesus Christ, you drew closer to Him. …

You can pray and add your faith each time a servant of God approaches the pulpit that the promise of the Lord in Doctrine and Covenants section 50 will be fulfilled: …

You can pray as the choir is about to sing. The choir director, the organists, and the choir members have prayed and practiced with a prayer in their hearts and with faith that the music and the words will soften hearts and magnify their power to build others’ faith. …

If you not only listen but also pray as they sing, your prayer and their prayers will be answered with a blessing upon your head as well as theirs. …

You might choose to pray as a speaker seems to be coming to an end of his or her message. He or she will be praying inwardly to the Father that the Holy Ghost will give him or her the words of testimony that will lift the listeners’ hearts, hopes, and determination to always remember the Savior and keep the commandments that He has given us. …

Listen carefully to the testimonies borne in this conference—you will feel closer to the Lord.
You can sense that I am coming to the moment when I will cap the message I have tried to convey with a testimony of truth. Your prayers will help me to be given words of testimony that may help someone longing for an answer to his or her questions.

I leave you my sure witness that our Heavenly Father, the great Elohim, loves and knows us, every one. Under His direction, His Son, Jehovah, was the Creator. I testify that Jesus of Nazareth was born the Son of God. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and raised the dead. He paid the price of all the sins of each of Heavenly Father’s children born into mortality. He broke the bands of death for all as He rose from the tomb that first Easter Sunday. He lives today, a God—resurrected and glorious.

This is the only true Church, and He is its chief cornerstone. Thomas S. Monson is His prophet to all the world. The prophets and apostles you will hear in this conference speak for the Lord. They are His servants, authorized to act for Him. He goes before His servants in the world. This I know. And I so witness in His name, even the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.