A TOKEN OF LOVE

"I spoke at my granddaughter's baptism in July. My assigned topic was the Holy Ghost. I told her that I have a picture of her with her sister on my computer wallpaper. 'Every time I turn on the computer, she is there with you', I said. 'If she could be with you all the time in your life, would she help you choose the right?' This 8 year old was pretty sure she would. I asked the same questions about her mom and dad. She thought that if one or both of them could be with her all the time, she would be able to make pretty good decisions because someone would always be there who knew more than she did to help her. I even asked about President Hinckley. This little girl thought that he would help her with her decisions too. But she agreed with me that he might be too busy to follow her around 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 'But if he could, you would always know the best thing to do, wouldn't you?', I asked. She was pretty sure that was true. Then I asked her what it would be like to have a member of the Godhead with her all the time. We then read 2 Nephi 32:5: 

'For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do' (2 Nephi 32:5)

I am amazed at this - that God would give all of his covenanting children continuous access to a being who knows everything..........."         (Ted L. Gibbons, NT Lesson 32, "Live in the Spirit")


The gift of the Holy Ghost is second to the Atonement as a token of God's great love for us. It is also one of the blessings most often taken for granted. Very few of us reflect daily or even occasionally on the gift of love that this third member of the Godhead is. When the Father sent us out into the world to find ourselves, He did so making sure we didn't go without a connection to home. There are several things that make Christ's Church stand apart from other religions but none as powerful and useful to us in our daily lives as the gift of the Holy Ghost. Having this gift can be akin to walking with and talking to God face to face on daily basis. There are three major benefits of having the gift of the Holy Ghost that are worthy of mention:

1. At the time of baptism, the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost makes us clean from any sin that we had up to then committed. This sanctifying power can be renewed every time we partake of the sacrament with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. If we live worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost on a continual basis and 'walk in the spirit' as Apostle Paul taught, we will have the power to subdue 'the natural man' (Galatians 5:16). Not subduing the natural man means living after the manner of the flesh, the fruits of which are 'adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like' (Galatians 5:19-21). However, the fruits of living after the manner of the Spirit are 'love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance' (Galatians 5:22-25). We need the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost if we are to ultimately qualify for God's presence for 'no unclean thing can enter into His kingdom' (3 Nephi 27:19). This sanctification is available to all who accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour and make covenants to live His Gospel. Where His Atonement absolves us from sin, the Holy Ghost purifies us from it.

2. One of the main roles of the Holy Ghost is to endow members of the Church with spiritual gifts. Every member of the Church receives them following baptism. In the early Church they were immediately manifest mainly through speaking in tongues and prophesying (Acts 19:5,6). Spiritual gifts are often called 'fruits of the Spirit' and they are one of the greatest tools we have for developing traits we lack and need to have, not only for our benefit but most importantly for the benefit of the Church for it is for this purpose they are given. Joseph Smith said on one occasion that the Church would be dead without the gifts of the spirit. He compared it to being invited to a feast [Church] and sitting at the table not partaking of the foods laden before you. The gifts of the spirit are many and varied. It is our responsibility to seek them and develop them. They are, however, not only to be used for the building of the Kingdom but for our individual journey to perfection. It is through possession of these gifts that we can overcome weaknesses and imperfections and thus progress to a more Christlike character (on more information regarding this please refer to my blog post entitled "On Spiritual Gifts and Weaknesses", October 2013).

3. Paul taught the Galatian saints to 'stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage' (Galatians 5:1). The yoke of bondage that Paul referred to was the ritualism inherent in the law of Moses which had become a way of life for the Jews and which caused 'spirituality to wither almost to death in the hearts of the people. When a member of the Church is given to ritualism, or even living the gospel by habit or tradition, the purity of intent that is required to live the gospel at its highest is most often lost. Such ceremonialism had become a yoke of bondage for the Jews'.........When habit or tradition governs the behaviour of a member of the Church, he or she has lost the liberty of living the gospel with pure intent. The gospel becomes a burden to be carried rather than a means of liberating the soul. In such a person, the fire of the Holy Ghost has little place. Without that fire, the natural man begins to take over what it has lost when the recipient was first converted to the gospel' (Bruce Satterfield, NT Lesson 32 'Live In the Spirit', Meridian Magazine). Living by the Spirit ensures that our motives for Church activity and Gospel living are strong and pure and not habitual and bereft of real intent.

With so much unrest, fear, doubt and insecurity in our world today, we cannot afford to live without the guidance and influence of the Holy Ghost. It is the daily connection we have with the powers of heaven, a connection we sorely need. Several years after the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred, he appeared to President Brigham Young and shared this timeless counsel: "Tell the people to be humble and faithful and [be] sure to keep the spirit of the Lord and it will lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the small, still voice; it will teach [you what] to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them; their hearts will be ready to receive it. They can tell the spirit of the Lord from all other spirits. It will whisper peace and joy to their souls, and it will take malice, hatred, envying, strife, and all evil from their hearts; and their whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness, and build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren if they will follow the Spirit of the Lord they will go right" (Joseph Smith, Teachings:Joseph Smith, p 98)

We not only need the Holy Ghost for guidance but also for personal edification of our body, spirit and intellect: "The Holy Ghost.....quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections, and adepts them by the gift of wisdom to their lawful use. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling. It develops and invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual mind. It strengthens, invigorates and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being" (Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology, 9th ed. [1965] p. 101). Indeed we can say that the Holy Ghost is a life force we cannot live without. It therefore behooves us to live so that we would be worthy of its' companionship constantly. Keeping ourselves unspotted from the world and hungering after righteousness ensures that we form a partnership with this member of the Godhead who has been relegated to be our lifeline in mortality. 

When Jesus told His apostles that He would shortly be crucified for the sins of the world, they sorrowed because He would no longer be with them but He in return offered immense hope: "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you" (John 16:7). With this statement, the Saviour was saying "you will have me with you always". For us, nearly 2,000 years after the fact, this should have more meaning than to the apostles of old. They had known Him personally, walked and talked with Him every day, heard His words, felt His touch, were no doubt embraced by His arms and kissed with a holy kiss. We of the 21st century, have experienced none of these personal moments with the Savior in our mortality. There is one, however, whom the Saviour has sent in His stead so that we too can feel His personal love, feel the power of His spirit and be convinced of the reality of His existence; the one who has the power to remind us of our heavenly home, to keep us on the strait and narrow, to let us know that we are not forgotten. He will comfort us in times of sorrow, teach us what we need to know and strengthen us with Atonement's power. He is the conduit through which all heavenly connection comes. All this so we can return to inherit eternal life in the realms above. Such is the power and might of the member of the Godhood we call The Holy Ghost, The Comforter, The Spirit of Truth, the token of our Father's love.