"I want to tell you, each and every one of you, that you are well
acquainted
with God our Heavenly Father.....You are well acquainted with him, for
there
is not a soul of you but what has lived in his house and dwelt with him
year after year; and yet you are seeking to become
acquainted with him,
when the
fact is, you have merely forgotten what you did know."
(Brigham Young, Discourses of
Brigham Young, p. 50.)
Quoted in John Bytheway's
book:
What I Wish I'd Known in High School, p. 32
"I want you to know that I know that whenever one of Heavenly Father's
children kneels and talks to him, he listens. I know this as well
as I know anything in this world; that Heavenly Father listens to every
prayer from his children. I know our prayers ascend to
heaven.
No matter
what
we may have done wrong, he listens to us."
Bishop
H. Burke Peterson, "Prayer: Try Again," Ensign, June1981, p. 73
"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises
within
us, our life's Star, Hath elsewhere its setting, And cometh
from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter
nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come, From God, who is
our
home."
William Wordsworth
"Our Father in
heaven
is not an umpire who is trying to count us out. He is not a
competitor
who is trying to outsmart us. He is not a prosecutor who is
trying
to convict us. He is a Loving Father who wants our happiness and
eternal progress and everlasting opportunity and glorious
accomplishment,
and who will help us all He can if we will but give him, in our lives,
the opportunity to do so with obedience and humility and faith and
patience.
God help us to live
to
have his help, that these things which he has in store for his
children,
all of whom we are, may be ours."
(Richard L. Evans, General Conference, October
1956)
NELSON
MANDELA, 1994:
Our deepest fear, is not that we are inadequate. Our
deepest
fear, is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light,
not
our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, "who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented,
and fabulous"? Actually who are you NOT to be.
You are a child of GOD. Your playing small, does not
serve
the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that
other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born, to make manifest the glory of GOD that is within
us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone!
As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other
people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence
automatically
liberates others.
“If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would
literally astound ourselves.”
Thomas Edison
"God loves us.
He
is watching us. He wants us to succeed. We will know some
day
that He has not left one thing undone for the eternal welfare of each
of
us. If we only knew it, heavenly hosts are pulling for us --
friends
in heaven that we cannot now remember who yearn for our victory.
This is our day to show what we can do -- what life and
sacrifice we can daily, hourly,
instantly
make for God. If we give our all, we will get His all from the
greatest
of all."
"Give God your best,
and
His best will come back to you."
Ezra Taft Benson
"Jesus
Christ - Gifts and Expectations," Ensign, December 1988, pp. 2-6
Elder Boyd K. Packer:
"You are a child of
God.
He is the father of your spirit. Spiritually you are of noble
birth,
the offspring of the King of Heaven. Fix that truth in your mind
and hold to it. However many generations in your mortal ancestry,
no matter what race or people you represent, the pedigree of your
spirit
can be written on a single line. You are a child of God!"
"Now, this is the
truth.
We humble people, we who feel ourselves sometimes so worthless, so
good-for-nothing,
we are not so worthless as we think. There is not one of us but
what
God's love has been expended upon. There is not one of us that He
has not cared for and caressed. There is not one of us that He
has
not desired to save and that He has not devised means to save.
There
is not one of us that He has not given His angels charge
concerning.
We may be insignificant and contemptible in our own eyes and in the
eyes
of others, but the truth remains that we are the children of God and
that
He has actually given His angels...charge concerning us, and they watch
over us and have us in their keeping."
George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth,
1987, p.
4
"It is essential
that
you know and understand that our Heavenly Father loves you like a son,
because He is the Father of your spirit. That makes you His
literal
son, spiritually begotten of Him.
As such, you
have
inherited the potential to become like Him. His greatest desire is that
you grow in this life line upon line, becoming more like Him so that
one
day you can return to His presence. Remember, it is God's work
and
glory to bring to pass your immortality and eternal life.
God's love is
complete
and without limit for you and for all mankind. He is perfectly
just
and merciful. He is perfectly kind and understands your
circumstances
and condition. He knows you better than you know yourself."
Elder
Joseph B. Wirthlin , Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,
"Growing
into the Priesthood", Oct. Gen. Conf. 1999, Priesthood Session
President N. Eldon
Tanner:
"When I was taught
to
pray, I learned that I was actually talking to God, in the name of
Jesus
Christ, through the power of the Holy Ghost...I had been told that I
was
a son of God, a child of God, and that he was interested in me, that he
knew me and knew best what was right for me. We were taught to
pray
at meals; we were taught to pray in the morning; we were taught to pray
at night. And we were taught that our Father in Heaven was the
one
to whom we were talking.
"I wonder how many
of
us know that we are spirit children of God; and when we are praying,
whether
it's over a meal, beginning or closing of a meeting, or at a baptism or
confirmation, or the blessing of the bread and water in the sacrament,
that we are actually talking to God. He is there, he hears our
prayers,
and he blesses us."
("He
Is There," Gen. Conf. April 1981 - Ensign, May 1981,
p. 50)
Harold B. Lee, Oct. 1973 General
Conference:
It was George Bernard Shaw who said, "If we all
realized
that we were the children of one father, we would stop shouting at each
other as much as we do."
and also:
"...quoted from George Bernard Shaw: "If we all realized that
we
were the children of one father, we would stop shouting at each other
as
much as we do."
N. Eldon Tanner, "Christ's Worldwide
Church,"
Ensign, July 1974, 2
"Believe in
yourself,
my brothers and sisters. You are a child of God. You do
have
something of divinity within you. Believe in your capacity to do
great and good things."
President Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign,
July
1998, p. 4
“Brothers and
sisters,
tremendous is our responsibility and great and marvelous is our
opportunity
as sons and daughters of God. Every one of us is a child of
God.
We know that. Let us never forget that we are children of God at
all times and in all circumstances and in all conditions and in all
environments
in which we might find ourselves and that there is never a time or a
season
or a circumstance when we can let down on our standards.”
President Gordon B. Hinckley
(Smithfield-Logan,
Utah, regional conference, 21 Apr. 1996)
"All of us have made
wrong
turns along the way. I believe the kind and merciful God, whose
children
we are, will judge us as lightly as he can for the wrongs that we have
done and give us the maximum blessing for the good that we do."
James E. Faust
October 1996 Conference (November Ensign) pg. 53
"If we keep a
cheerful
countenance, with a smile for all, it helps to reflect our feeling of
love
toward all. Cultivate an attitude of optimism. A recognition and
appreciation of self is important to cultivate. Keeping in mind
that we are children of God should help us to feel that with
this royal heritage it is most important that we make of ourselves
optimistic,
happy, worthy individuals. The world is full of unhappy, lonely
individuals."
Camilla E. Kimball
"Responsibilities
to Ourselves,"
New
Era, July 1980, p. 8
"Consider the power
of
the idea taught in our beloved song “I Am a Child of God” (Hymns, 1985,
no. 301), sung so impressively by the choir at the beginning of this
session.
Here is the answer to one of life’s great questions, “Who am I?” I am a
child of God with a spirit lineage to heavenly parents. That parentage
defines our eternal potential. That powerful idea is a potent
antidepressant.
It can strengthen each of us to make righteous choices and to seek the
best that is within us. Establish in the mind of a young person the
powerful
idea that he or she is a child of God and you have given self-respect
and
motivation to move against the problems of life.
"When we understand our
relationship to God, we also understand our relationship to one
another.
All men and women on this earth are the offspring of God, spirit
brothers
and sisters. What a powerful idea! No wonder God’s Only
Begotten Son commanded us to love one another.
If only we could do so! What a different world it would be if brotherly
and sisterly love and unselfish assistance could transcend all
boundaries
of nation, creed, and color. Such love would not erase all differences
of opinion and action, but it would encourage each of us to focus our
opposition
on actions rather than actors."
Dallin
H. Oaks
"Powerful
Ideas,"
"Ensign,"
Nov. 1995, 25
"Be Loyal to the Royal within you."
President Harold B. Lee - BYU
Devotional
"...once we accept
the
truth of the doctrine that we are the children of God, that realization
changes us. Thereafter we cannot willingly injure another or transgress
against him. That simple, profound doctrine has a very practical
value. It brings a feeling of self-worth, of dignity, of
self-respect.
Then self-pity and depression fade away. We then can yield to
self-discipline
and to the discipline of a loving Father and accept even the very hard
lessons in life. "
(Boyd K. Packer, "Hope for Troubled Hearts,"
in
Let
Not Your Hearts Be Troubled, p. 1)
Said President Brigham Young:
"There is no spirit
but
what was pure and holy when it came here from the celestial world. . .
. He is the Father of our spirits; and if we could know, understand,
and
do His will, every soul would be prepared to return back into His
presence.
And when they get there, they would see that they had formerly lived
there
for ages, that they had previously been acquainted with every nook and
corner, with the palaces, walks, and gardens; and
they
would embrace their Father, and He would embrace them and say, 'My son,
my daughter, I have you again;' and the child would say, 'O my Father,
my Father, I am here
again'."
(in Journal of Discourses, 4:268)
"Welcome
Home " - Bishop Keith B. McMullin - April
1999 General Conference
"Within us is
something
of divinity. One who has this knowledge and permits it to influence his
life will not stoop to do a mean or cheap or tawdry thing."
(Gordon B. Hinckley, "God Hath Not Given Us
the
Spirit of Fear," Ensign, Oct. 1984, 2)
"With all my capacity I encourage you to discover who you really are. I
invite you to look beyond the daily routine of life. I urge you to
discern through the Spirit your divinely given capacities. I exhort you
to prayerfully make worthy choices that will lead you to realize your
full potential."
Richard
G. Scott, "Realize Your Full Potential," General Conference, 4 October 2003
"When
we remember that each of us is
literally a spirit son or daughter of God, we will not find it
difficult to approach our Heavenly Father in prayer."
President Thomas S. Monson
Ensign,
May 2000, 52
"God knows you and what you can become
because He has known you from the beginning when you were His spirit
sons and daughters."
"Who are we? We are children of God.
Our potential is unlimited. Our inheritance is sacred."
"I challenge every one of you . . . to rise to the
divinity within you. Do we
really realize what it
means to be a child of God, to have within us something of the divine
nature?"
Gordon B. Hinckley, "Each a Better Person,"
Ensign, Nov. 2002, 99
"The most important, life-changing
information that I know of is the knowledge that we are truly children
of God our Eternal Father."
Elder M. Russell Ballard
- Ensign,
May 1999, 86
"Though this world has a way of diminishing and
demeaning men and women, the reality is we are all of royal, divine
lineage. In that unprecedented appearance of the Father and the
Son in the Sacred Grove, the very first word spoken by the Father of us
all was the personal name of Joseph. Such is our Father's
personal relationship with each of us. He knows our names and
yearns for us to become worthy to return to live with Him."
"When we teach those we love that
we are spirit children temporarily away from a loving Heavenly Father, we open the
door of prayer to them."
Henry B.
Eyring, "Write upon My Heart," Ensign, Nov. 2000, 86
"Have faith in your Heavenly Father. He
knows who you are. He listens to you when you pray. He loves
you. He is
mindful of you. He wants the best for you."
"As with the bud, so with the blossom. A boy
is the only thing known from which a man can be made. I hope that
we as parents are teaching our children that they are the sons and
daughters of God, and that they have the capacity to become like
him. It was the old Edinburgh weaver who prayed, 'O God, help me
to hold a high opinion of myself.' Likewise I would counsel young
people to hold a high opinion of themselves, to remember who they
really are, and to put their faith in their Heavenly Father."
Paul H.
Dunn, "Young People-Learn
Wisdom in Thy Youth," Ensign, June
1971, p. 103
"To think that the great God of all is interested in
me and you and is
concerned with our welfare and our well-being and bringing to pass His
eternal purposes in our behalf. What a marvelous and wonderful thing it
is that we can approach Him in prayer, that you and I are His sons and
daughters in whom He has a unique and marvelous interest, and that
somehow, which I can't understand or fully appreciate, He will listen
and hear and answer our prayers. . . . Be not faithless, but believing
in the availability of your Father in Heaven to listen to your prayers
and answer them and guide you, and direct and bless and help you."
From regional
conference, 14 Salt Lake City area stakes, May 4, 2003
"Though this world has a way of diminishing and demeaning men and
women, the reality is we are all of royal, divine lineage."
"If you seek His help, be sure your life is clean,
your motives are
worthy, and you're willing to do what He asks--for He will answer your
prayers. He is your loving Father; you are His beloved child. He loves
you
perfectly and wants to help you."
Richard G.
Scott (Ensign, November 1989,
p. 32)