Accessing God’s Power
Worldwide Relief Society Devotional and Testimony Meeting
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Dear sisters, we are assembled in meetinghouses around the world to celebrate Relief Society. We have been blessed to hear from our marvelous Relief Society General Presidency. They never fail to inspire me. They exert a Christlike influence that motivates me to do better and to be better. They spoke to us from the Red Brick Store in Nauvoo, Illinois, in the United States, the site of the organization of the Relief Society. I add my witness to theirs, sisters. God loves you. God knows you. And you are precious to Him.
The history of Relief Society is inspiring. As Emma Smith, the first Relief Society president, said, “We are going to do something extraordinary.” As President Johnson, Sister Dennis, and Sister Yee just taught us, this organization was not intended to be merely a social club or charitable group. Its purpose was and still is divine. It is to help God’s children return to His presence.
Following my remarks, you will be able to share your testimonies with each other of the blessings that emanate from Jesus Christ, His Church, and this divine women’s organization. I know that Jesus Christ is aware of your circumstances and desires to bless you. He also needs your influence in His Church. Your efforts to serve God’s children through Relief Society are vital.
Joseph Smith taught that the latter-day work of salvation and exaltation is a cause that “is destined to bring about the destruction of the powers of darkness … and the salvation of the human family.” Relief Society and you are crucial to this work. As President Russell M. Nelson taught, “The kingdom of God is not and cannot be complete without women who make sacred covenants and then keep them, women who can speak with the power and authority of God.”
Covenant-keeping women not only recognize the need for God’s power in their lives but have special access to that power through the covenants that they make. What a remarkable blessing it is to have “access to godly power—power sufficient to deal with the burdens, obstacles, and temptations of our day.” Of course, baptismal and temple covenants are not, in and of themselves, the source of power. The Lord Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father are the source of all covenantal power.
But make no mistake. God’s power is not an amorphous cosmic force that is independent of Him. The power He offers is not like a magic lamp that grants wishes or a saintly relic that purports to be a source of power. Even the garment of the holy priesthood is not itself powerful. No, God’s power is necessarily connected with Him and His purposes.
As always, Jesus Christ provides the ultimate example for us. All power “in heaven and in earth” was given by God to Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ allowed His will to be “swallowed up in the will of the Father.” In the premortal existence, the Savior said, “Father, thy will be done.” He reiterated this in Gethsemane and on the cross. After His resurrection, He repeated it to the Book of Mormon people and again early in this dispensation. He received power from God because He was foreordained to receive it, and He could be trusted to use that power as Heavenly Father Himself would.
Consider also the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi, the son of Helaman. When the sealing power was delegated to Nephi, Jesus Christ told him, “I will bless thee forever; … that all things shall be done … according to thy word.” The reason Christ entrusted Nephi with this all-encompassing power was because Nephi had been called as a prophet, and because he had unwearingly and fearlessly done the will of God. He sought God’s agenda, not His own. He did not and would not “ask for that which is contrary to [God’s] will.” He received access to the Savior’s power because He could be relied upon to use that power as Jesus Christ Himself would.
Even as we strive to increase God’s power in our lives, it remains His power. The covenantal power we access does not reside in us. In the same way that obtaining “any blessing from God is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated,” so, too, access to God’s power is dependent “upon the principles of righteousness.” God’s power cannot be used for selfish purposes or to exert control over anyone. Trying to exercise His power “in any degree of unrighteousness” causes His power to be “withdrawn,” and we are warned “it shall turn unto [our] condemnation.” Those who fail to put their trust in God, who are unsteady in their discipleship, or who harden their hearts, or trample under their feet the Holy One of Israel, cannot receive access to His power. To cultivate God’s power in our lives, then, we are obligated to try to be righteous, to try to do what is right, and to try to act according to His will.
Making and keeping multiple covenants with God draws you closer to Him, transforms you, and grants you greater access to His power. Covenant-keeping women are “scattered upon all the face of the earth” and are “armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.” Wherever you are, this power is for you. It helps you gain greater happiness, peace, and rest. It helps you possess greater knowledge, become a stronger follower of righteousness, and become a rightful heir in the kingdom of God. You receive power to resist temptation and to repent when you stumble. You also receive power that strengthens you to withstand trials and heartaches better.
I would like to share a personal example of how temple covenants led to increased peace and assurance for my wife, Ruth, and me. A few years after we were married, Ruth became severely ill with ovarian cancer. She required two operations and chemotherapy. Our only child, 16-month-old Ashley, had never really been separated from her mother and became uncharacteristically irritable and grumpy. She refused to eat the food I prepared, so we “negotiated,” and I finally fed her ice cream and soft drinks.
I was just 28 years old, and I didn’t know how Ashley and I would survive without Ruth. Dreams for a larger family ended, but that was the least of our concerns. During Ruth’s first hospitalization, I felt crushed and found it difficult to pray. It seemed as though my prayers weren’t reaching heaven.
The night that Ruth came home from her first operation, we prepared to pray, as we usually did, before going to bed. Like the coward I was, I called on Ruth to pray. I will never forget the first words of her prayer. She said, “Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for priesthood power that makes it possible that no matter what happens, we can be together forever.”
With her words, the barrier that I perceived between God and me opened widely. As Ruth’s prayer ascended to heaven, the doctrine of eternal families went from my head to my heart. Our concerns for our future decreased because we had made temple covenants and had been sealed in the house of the Lord. Power from God brought peace to our hearts. Thirty-six years later, President Nelson articulated words that resonate with me. He taught, “When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours.” That’s how Ruth prayed. And that power came.
In a similar way, God will help you understand the power and peace of the temple endowment.
The endowment of power will help you heal if you have been wounded, shattered, or crushed in any way. You can call on the powers of heaven to receive personal revelation and understand the doctrine of Christ. God’s power will help you to protect, defend, and strengthen others. With President Nelson, I testify that “[Jesus Christ] can provide the power that [you] need for [your] lives” and that “when [you] draw His power into [your] lives, both [the Savior] and [you] will rejoice.”
Yes, sisters, you are doing something extraordinary, and you can experience something extraordinary. Thank you for your faith, for your strength, for your capacity to lead, for your wisdom, for your willingness and ability to make and keep covenants with God. You bring blessings to yourselves, your families, the Church, your communities, and the world. You have God’s power in your lives to help you be good and do good. He is counting on you. His Church is counting on you. May God bless you in your continued discipleship.
God lives. Jesus is the Christ, your Savior, and mine. He is your kind, wise, heavenly friend. He has restored His Church to the earth. These things I know. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.