119 6/16/25

 Hello Family,

Thank you all for making Father’s Day so special. The happiness you each bring me and mama is indescribable, and you really are the joy of our lives.

I thought this week I would share as my invitation to all of us the invitation given by President Oaks from this past conference. He taught about divine helps that we have been given to help guide our journey in mortality, and he asked us each to “teach and live” by these “divine helps.”

I would encourage each of us to read and study his talk “Divine Helps for Mortality”. This week I thought I would emphasize three of these divine helps President Oaks taught us, so we better understand how they help us and help  those we have the opportunity to share the Gospel with along the way. He uses the scriptures and words of the prophets to teach us the difference between:

1. The Light of Christ
2. Spiritual manifestations of the Holy Ghost
3. The constant companionship of the Holy Ghost

1.) President Oaks, quoting Moroni, teaches us that “the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil” (Moroni 7:16). President Joseph Fielding Smith explained this scripture: “The Lord has not left men (when they are born into this world) helpless, groping to find the light and truth, but every man … is born with the right to receive the guidance, the instruction, the counsel of the Spirit of Christ, or Light of Truth.” This encourages us because we know all people can be guided into additional light and truth, causing them to seek to live good lives. 

2.) President Oaks further teaches us, “Other God-given helps for making right choices are the manifestations of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead. His function, defined in scripture, is to testify of the Father and the Son, to teach us, to bring all things to our remembrance, and to guide us into all truth. The scriptures include many descriptions of the manifestations of the Holy Ghost, such as a spiritual witness in response to an inquiry about the truth of the Book of Mormon. A manifestation is not to be confused with the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is conferred following baptism.” 

When we share our testimonies with others, or invite a friend to read or listen to greater truth, the Holy Ghost can witness to them of these truths shared, guiding these individuals closer to their Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. We would be completely helpless in our missionary efforts without these divine manifestations of the Holy Ghost that others are entitled to receive through earnest seeking for further light and truth.

3.) “One of the most significant of God’s helps for His faithful children is the gift of the Holy Ghost. The importance of this gift is evident in the fact that it is formally conferred after repentance and baptism by water, “and then [the scriptures explain] cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost” (2 Nephi 31:17). Persons who have this remission of sins—and then regularly renew their cleansing by daily repentance and living according to the covenants they make through the ordinance of the sacrament—qualify for the promise that the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Lord, “may always … be with them”(Doctrine and Covenants 20:77).

“Thus, President Joseph F. Smith taught that the Holy Ghost will “enlighten the minds of the people with regard to the things of God, to convince them at the time of their conversion of their having done the will of the Father, and to be in them an abiding testimony as a companion through life, acting as the sure and safe guide into all truth and filling them day by day with joy and gladness, with a disposition to do good to all men, to suffer wrong rather than to do wrong, to be kind and merciful, long suffering and charitable. All who possess this inestimable gift, this pearl of great price, have a continual thirst after righteousness. Without the aid of the Holy Spirit,” President Smith concluded, “no mortal can walk in the straight and narrow way.”

President Oaks really helps us understand the help Heavenly Father has designed into His plan for our happiness. That all have been given the Light of Christ. That through sharing and teaching truth, the Holy Ghost can witness to every earnest seeker that what they are hearing or feeling is from God and thus gain greater light and understanding in how to conduct their lives. And then ultimately, the ability to receive that priceless gift of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, “filling us day by day with joy and gladness”, with direction and comfort, and with a burning testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Truly God does want us back home. This is evident by all the “divine” helps created by our Heavenly Father from the very beginning. As we study President Oaks talk, we will learn the Jesus Christ himself is the greatest of all these divine helps, and as we seek to draw closer to Him, the Holy Ghost will guide us along the covenant path that leads us to Him. I’m grateful for living prophets and apostles who teach and testify of these truths.

I hope you each have a wonderful week! Love,

Dad