What Is My Potential?

You may be wondering what your potential is, or even what it’s for. Mormons believe that all of us have the potential to not only live with our Heavenly Father again, but also to become like Him. Now that’s potential for greatness! You came to this earth at a crucial time in its history; right now Satan is working harder than he’s ever worked before to destroy the work of God. We have the potential to fight him and successfully stand for good.

We also have the potential to create and raise families centered on Jesus Christ. Families are a critical component in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we have the power to make families a force for good in a world that is continually devaluing them.

But I Don’t Feel Like I Have Potential

The key to unlocking your potential lies in discovering who you really are: a child of a divine Father, of God. Once you come to understand this fundamental truth, you will feel your potential open up and enfold you. You will begin to see yourself as God sees you—and that’s a big deal.

Saying that you’re a child of God and really feeling it are two different things. If you are seeking for that knowledge and confirmation, you can do a few things to help along the process.

• Pray. And pray and pray and pray. Prayer is direct communication with God. Through prayer we can confess our doubts, insecurities, worries, and sins. We can ask Him questions about who we are and why we are here, and He will answer us. Our prayers are always answered.
• Read the word of God. God has given us scriptures to help bring us closer to Him. Through diligently reading scripture we come to know better the nature of Jesus Christ and better understand how He teaches. Often answers to prayers are found through scripture. Become familiar with the word of God, and work hard to understand and apply it. Mormons not only believe that the Bible is scripture, but they also believe that the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. Mormons also have other books of more modern scripture (like the Doctrine and Covenants) and even have a semiannual conference where prophets and apostles speak to us. All of those resources count as scripture and can help us better understand who we are.
• Talk to others. Find someone who is confident in who they are and who has a strong relationship with Heavenly Father. This could be a parent or close friend, or even the Mormon missionaries. Not everyone has people in their lives who can help them understand their potential, and if you need someone to talk to, find the missionaries. They will not only help you in your quest to understand who you are, but they will pray for you and teach you the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

Know Your Enemy: Satan

As you come to understand your worth as a child of God and your potential as His heir, Satan will work tirelessly against your efforts. He is the most miserable of any being and wants everyone to be like him. He doesn’t want anyone to feel loved or valued, and when he sees someone like you working to understand your divine nature and individual worth, he will try to derail your efforts.

Combating Satan’s attacks, though, is easier once you understand your potential. Elder Richard G. Scott, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, says, “When you really understand who you are, it is not difficult to resist Satan’s temptations. Then he can’t thwart the development of your true potential” (“Realize Your Full Potential”). Fighting against Satan takes hard work, but it’s made so much easier when you have Jesus Christ on your side. The good news is that Christ will always win in the end.

Continually Look Forward

Even after you’ve found that spiritual confirmation of your divine heritage, sometimes you slip up and make a mistake. Sometimes it’s a small mistake, and sometimes it’s a bigger one. Don’t let these derail your progression and potential. The beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that our potential isn’t diminished by our mistakes; when we take advantage of the Savior’s grace, we can always start over and move forward. Jesus Christ is always and forever cheering us on and picking us up. He sees our potential better than we ever will in this life. We need to trust Him and allow Him to make us glorious.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-07-12-going-the-extra-mile?category=news-and-events/inspirational&lang=eng

However, sometimes we pray and wait quietly for an answer but nothing happens. This happened to David O. McKay, who later became a Mormon prophet. He grew up on a farm and one day while he was herding cattle he decided to find out if the Mormon Church was true. Now, David was born into the Mormon Church and had been active in it all his life, but the Mormons teach their teenagers to prove the truthfulness of the church to themselves by praying just as if they weren’t Mormons. However, nothing happened. He got off his knees disappointed because he felt he was just the same person he had been when he knelt to pray.

Many years later, having stayed active in the Church in spite of not getting an answer, he set off to serve as a missionary for the church. While in Scotland on his mission, he again prayed for a testimony and this time he got an answer that was very clear and left him with no doubts at all. He said he learned that prayers are answered—in God’s time, not ours.

While we all hope for an instant answer, the truth is we don’t always get one. In fact, it’s pretty uncommon to get a full answer all at once. Usually, we just get small pieces of our answer at a time. Then we take that small piece, work with it, and grow from it. When we’re ready, God gives us more. It can be pretty overwhelming to get a big gigantic answer all at once and answers come with responsibility. When God tells us a truth, we’re accountable for what we know. By getting just one part of our answer first and learning to use that part responsibly before getting another part, God lets us grow in the gospel the same way we grow in real life, with gradually increasing responsibility. Remember, God is our Father, and being a perfect Father, He understands how to help His children be successful.

So, Mormons talk about learning “line upon line,” which means a little at a time. When I prayed to find out if the church was true before deciding to convert, I didn’t get an answer at all. I was like David O. McKay, feeling nothing had happened. After a few weeks, I decided to just ask God if He wanted me to join the Church. That time I did get an answer, so I joined. I kind of assumed God wouldn’t want me to join a false church, but I didn’t have a clear answer on that, so I was joining because I trusted God, not because of the Church itself.

At that point, if anyone had asked me if the Mormon Church was true, my honest answer would have been, “I hope it is.” I might even have been able to say I thought it was true, but that was about all. I got baptized, kept going to classes, studying, and praying. Pretty soon I got better at praying and recognizing answers. Like any other skill, it takes practice. Soon I was able to say I believed it was true. After about a year, I finally got the answer I had been waiting for and knew it was true.

During that year of waiting, I learned and grew a lot. I took on church service opportunities that helped me learn more about God and the Church. I prayed several times a day and became better at knowing how to tell when God was talking to me and when I was just talking to myself. I read more of the Bible and Book of Mormon so I knew more. I practiced living my new religion and was able to put it to a test. When I did things the church said to do I felt the peacefulness that only God can bring. When I disobeyed commandments, I felt sad and uncomfortable in my heart, a clear warning that God was disappointed. It became clear to me that true joy and peace came when I kept the commandments I was being taught.

All of these experiences helped prepare me to receive a full testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My prayers improved with practice and when I received my answer, there was no doubt as to where the answer was coming from. I had learned that only God’s answers being a feeling of complete peace to my heart. Satan is not capable of bringing peace and joy.

So, if you’re praying for a testimony, don’t expect it to come instantly. It might, but it usually won’t. You’ll need to stay on your knees for a while after each prayer, waiting for an answer. If you finally arise feeling no different, you’ll need to trust God to give you an answer in His own time, when He knows you are ready for the responsibility. In the meantime, continue learning about the Mormons, practicing the religion you are learning, and read your scriptures. Continue to pray every day and to improve your relationship with God. Remember, if you were in danger, God would tell you so right away, so no answer at all just means you’re not ready. Keep working at it and one day God will give you a wonderful answer that is just right for you and in just the right time for you.

The Bible promises us that if we ask God for wisdom, God will tell us what we want to know. That scripture, found in James 1:5, is the one that prompted Joseph Smith to pray for an answer, but the promise is for all of us. Anyone can go to God and ask which church to join and to find out what is true. However, we probably won’t get a personal visit from God or Jesus Christ. So how do we pray and what will probably happen when we do?

When I was young, I was taught to recite prayers that were written by someone else. When I started looking into Mormonism, the teachers, my new friends, and the missionaries taught me that prayer should be a conversation from my heart. They suggested I just talk to God. They did offer a pattern for prayer that I should follow, but the exact words of the body of my prayer were to be what was in my heart.

The basic pattern is very simple. You begin as you would begin any conversation—greet God by name and title. “Dear Heavenly Father” or “My beloved Father in Heaven” or some other respectful greeting will do just fine.

Next, take some time to think about all the blessings God has given you. Thank him for those things, naming them specifically. This is not only courteous and thoughtful but it helps us realize God is really in our lives, involved and paying attention to our needs.

Now it’s time to ask your questions or to request help, if you have any questions or requests. (If not, just skip this step.) It’s here that you will ask God about which church to join. There are some things you need to do first though. God likes us to take some responsibility for the things we need. So in your first prayer, you might want to instead ask God to help you find resources for the information you need or to be led to the right churches to research. Then, after you’ve researched some churches, regularly praying to be alert to truth, choose one you think might be right. Explain to God why you’ve chosen that church and ask Him to confirm or correct your choice.

When you close your prayer, end by saying, “I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.” Prayers come to God through Jesus.

Okay, now is the hard part. Most people finish up their prayer and then jump up and go to bed or run off to do something else. What’s wrong with that? When you talk to someone, how do you feel if they talk and talk and then run off without letting you say a single word? You get pretty mad, right? It’s rude and, if they were asking you a question, it is pretty silly not to stop and listen for your answer.

You don’t want to be rude to God and if you want Him to answer your prayer, you have to wait for His answer. You have to act like a person who has faith, who trusts God to answer. Not waiting for an answer suggests you didn’t really expect one. Some people think they can ask that question and then a member of the true church will immediately walk up to them and start telling them about their church and they can accept that as their answer.

That does happen sometimes, but usually it doesn’t. Instead, you have to stay on your knees and wait for an answer.

What will the answer look like? There are several ways an answer might come to you. Most of the time, if you offered God the correct choice, you’ll feel peace and security, perhaps a warmth in your heart, a feeling of rightness. Some people will try to tell you that you can’t pray to know what is true because you won’t know who answered you—God or Satan. But remember, God promised He would answer our prayers. I trust God to keep His promises. I also believe God can do anything at all, so I believe He can answer my prayers in a way I can recognize.

Satan cannot bring true peace or joy, so if you’re feeling those things, you know they are from God. If you pray and you feel confused or uneasy, it is likely you are on the wrong track and should keep looking for the true church.

Another way you might get an answer is to feel an answer in your mind. Thoughts will come clearly in your mind and you will understand they are from the Holy Ghost and not from yourself. This can be harder to recognize and it can take time and practice to know the difference between your own thoughts and the teachings of the Holy Ghost. The more often you pray and the more often you try to listen for promptings from the Holy Ghost, the better you will get at recognizing the Holy Ghost’s “voice.” (Remember, this is not an actual voice, just an impression in your mind.)

Finally, once in a great while, you’ll hear an actual voice. Usually this is because it’s an emergency. For instance, once I was driving my children to a class when a voice said, “Pull off the road right now.” I immediately pulled over and at that moment a semi truck swerved into my lane without warning, right where I would have been. A voice was needed then to make sure I paid attention, since there was no time for me to decide it was the Holy Ghost. Normally, however, it is the feeling or the thought that gives us our answer.

Why doesn’t God just use a regular voice so we’d be sure of the answer? The Old Testament shows us it isn’t how God does it. He wants us to be quiet and listen. Read the story of Elijah, who needed to listen to God:

“11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” (See 1 Kings 19.)

So what you’re listening for is that still, small voice, because that’s where Elijah found God.

God loves you with all His heart. He wants you to find the truth—it is part of the quest He sent you on when He sent you to earth. While you have to do the legwork yourself, He is standing by waiting for you to come to Him with your decision and to tell you if you’re on the right track or if you need to switch to a new path. He is ready to guide you during the search.

So, as you start your quest, take some time to explain to God what you’re doing and why. Ask Him to help you out so the true church comes into your path during the quest. While you’re searching, ask Him to keep the Holy Spirit with you so you’ll know whether or not you’re hearing truth.

To have the Holy Spirit with you, you must be living a moral life. He can’t be where sin is. It’s true, of course, that you may not entirely know what is moral and what isn’t yet, but the Holy Spirit can even help you with that. When you do something, take a moment to see how things feel. If you feel a sense of evil or immorality around you, stop or leave. If you feel peaceful and spiritual, even in a fun secular setting, you’re on the right track.

Listen to good music. Wear modest clothing. Don’t get into immoral situations with your dates. Obey your parents. Be kind and don’t listen to hate-filled speech from others. All these things can help you to keep the spirit around you.

Next, we’ll find out how to investigate a religion you’re interested in. Then we’ll talk about what to do if you pray and don’t get an answer right away. In the meantime, start talking to God and getting to know Him better.

Finding a church to join is like a quest. You can just guess which church is true, but that’s pretty dangerous. If you’re going to commit to a religion, you want to be sure it’s the right one. The only way to know for sure which church is the true church is to ask God.

Today, we’re going to learn about a  teenager who did just that. We’ve talked about him before, but we’re talking about him today as an ordinary teenager who wanted some answers. He was fourteen when he started to worry about which church to join. He wasn’t alone in this, though. All around him, people were worrying about which church they ought to join. His area was suddenly filled with ministers and pastors holding revivals and competing for new converts. Everyone was talking about religion, arguing about it, worrying about it. People went from one revival to another, trying to figure out which church they liked best.

Joseph Smith, the teenager in our story, was just like the others. His mother and siblings were all attending these revivals and he went with them. His father didn’t attend, not believing that was the best way to choose a church. He preferred to study quietly at home for now.

Joseph went and his family seemed to be deciding on one particular religion, but Joseph just couldn’t be sure. He thought that religion sounded pretty good, but he felt like it was such an important decision and he didn’t want to make the wrong choice.

The problem was that every minister said he was teaching God’s truth and yet, each minister taught something different. Sometimes it was just little differences, but sometimes they were big differences. Joseph Smith felt that God would have one set of truths, not lots of conflicting ones. After all, the Bible says, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33, King James translation of the Holy Bible.) Conflicting information was confusing.

But how was a person, especially a teenager, supposed to figure out who was right? While he was trying to decide, he started reading the Bible. One day he found a verse that caused him to stop what he was doing and to think about the problem in a whole new way. This verse was in the New Testament and was written by James, whom some people think is Jesus’ half-brother. The verse says:

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed (James 1:5-6.)

This made complete sense to Joseph Smith. People might lie to him or they might be mistaken, but God knew what was true and he wouldn’t lie. Joseph Smith had been raised to trust God, so he felt this was the solution to his problem.

He decided to go into the woods near his home and put this promise to the test. He wanted to be alone and he lived in a typical small home filled with parents and siblings. He also wanted to pray aloud, something he’d never done before. He went into the woods and knelt down and prayed.

Now, if you decide to put this to the test yourself, you probably aren’t going to get the results he did, but this was a special situation because God had plans for Joseph, so His answer had to be bigger than usual. First I’ll tell you what happened to Joseph. Then I’ll tell you what you will probably experience when you give your own prayer.

When Joseph prayed, Satan tried to stop him from continuing. Satan, like God, knew the plan and didn’t want it to happen. Once that ended, a light appeared in the air above Joseph. He saw two personages in the light. One was God and one was Jesus. He knew this only because God pointed to the other personage and said it was His Son, Jesus Christ, and that Joseph must listen to Him.

Jesus explained that Joseph Smith must not join any of the churches then in existence because none of them completely taught the truth. They had pieces of the truth, but none of them had the entire truth or the authority to carry out the complete program.

Why not? After Jesus died, His apostles ran the Church, but they eventually died or were killed. Because most of the people were more anxious to kill Jesus’ leaders than to listen to them, God withdrew His authority from the earth for a time. The small number of Christians remaining were very brave and did their best to keep things going but it’s hard to keep things going in a straight line without a prophet.

Even before the apostles died, various church groups were falling into apostasy. The apostles wrote many letters trying to straighten out false doctrine that developed. When they were gone, there was no one with that authority. And to make it worse, sometimes new issues came up and there was no way to find out what God wanted them to do about those things, so they had to guess. Over time, people didn’t agree on those guesses and they’d break away and start a new Christian church. Eventually there were a lot of churches all teaching different things and none of them held the whole truth because they’d all pieced together doctrine from other religions or what they thought the Bible meant.

God told Joseph to wait, so he did. Eventually, an angel named Moroni was sent to help prepare Joseph to restore the Church to what Jesus had established.

In the meantime, though, Joseph was a teenager trying to decide what church to join. The solution he chose is the same one you can choose, because that promise from James wasn’t just for Joseph. It was also for you.

Next post, I’ll tell you how to pray, in case you don’t yet know how, and what to expect from your prayer, since God and Jesus probably won’t come visit you in person.

Prayer: How

I’m pretty sure you’d choose the instructions so you’d be more likely to win the game. After all, the world is a huge place and there are all kinds of things to learn and do. How could you ever manage to guess which ones were necessary for the game, especially if there was a time limit?

Life is pretty much like that game show. You can wander aimlessly through your life, hoping you do and learn the right things, or you can follow instructions. Of course, there is a catch to following the instructions. You have to know where to get the right instructions.

Suppose, in our imaginary game show, you were told there were five hundred people with instructions and only one set was completely accurate. One person knew the exact instructions and the others only knew some of the instructions. Who would you ask? You’d ask the person who knew the complete instructions.

Can you guess where you need to go in the game of life to find the right instructions? There are a lot of people anxious to tell you what to do. Your friends will gladly tell you. So will television, movies, books, and music. Your school has some ideas on how you should live your life. Your parents have ideas. Complete strangers want you to do things their way, even. How are you ever supposed to find the one person who has all the answers?

You might have already guessed that God is the only source of complete truth. Others can tell you what they think or believe or even know, but you can’t be sure, by yourself, if they are right. No matter how much they love you or how sincere they are, spiritual truths can only be learned at a personal level. No one else can give you a testimony. The Holy Ghost is the only way for you to find out what God wants you to know. You have to find out for yourself.

God sent you here on a journey. Mormon beliefs teach that we lived with God before we were born and learned all about God’s plan for us. We even chose to accept it. We don’t remember that now because God wants us to have faith, and if we started out already knowing, we wouldn’t have to search for truth or have enough faith to accept it.

There are an awful lot of churches out there and they’re all going to tell you they have the truth. Most of them aren’t lying—they really think they do. So how are you going to figure it all out for yourself?

If you already believe in God, Jesus, and the Bible, you have a head start. Open up your Bible and start reading. Pay attention to the things God and Jesus taught and to how they ran the Church in Biblical times. They had prophet and apostles, for instance. When Jesus set up His church, He was the prophet. He was more than just a prophet, of course, but He was also the prophet at that time. There had been other prophets before Him but while He was on His mission on earth, we didn’t need someone to tell us what He said. He could do it Himself.

Now, what happened when Jesus died? His apostles ran the Church and one of them was the prophet, telling the people what Jesus wanted them to know, since Jesus wasn’t there to tell them Himself. Did He say there would never be another prophet? No, He didn’t. In fact, he said God would never reveal anything except through His prophets.

Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7 in the King James Bible.)

So one thing you’ll want to look for is prophets and apostles. But just having those isn’t enough. There is more to look for. The first step to finding truth is the same as the first steps in writing a term paper. First you figure out what question to ask. On a term paper, it might be, “What are the causes of the Civil War?” After formulating your question, you’d start researching. You’d find there are a lot of different opinions on that subject, so you’d have to evaluate the evidence to help you make your decision. You might also contact some experts.

When you’re trying to complete the treasure hunt for truth that God sent you on, you’ll start with a question, too. Your question will be, “Which church is true?”

Next article, I’ll tell you about another teenager who asked that question and what happened. Then, over the next couple of articles, we’ll talk about how you can win a prize better than the one you imagined for your pretend game show—the prize of eternal life.