Area Presidency Message
Are You Ready to Fulfill the Mission God Has in Store for You?
“To better fulfill the mission that God is calling us to fulfill, we need to make spiritual and temporal self-reliance a priority.”
If the Lord Jesus Christ were to ask you today to help Him in some particular way, would you do it? Is there anything spiritually or temporally preventing you from answering a request from Him?
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was told by the angel Gabriel: “Thou hast found favour with God.
“And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. . . .
“That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”1
When Mary heard the call from one of God’s messengers, she answered, “Be it unto me according to thy word.”2 She heard the call of God and responded in faith.
Joseph of Egypt, son of Israel, was persecuted by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused and imprisoned, and remained in prison for fourteen years. However, through it all he remained true to his covenants and became a powerful tool in God’s hands to preserve his family and the people of Egypt.
How do these real-life examples apply to you? One common theme is that both Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph of Egypt remained true to their covenants and were spiritually prepared to answer God’s invitation to complete the mission He sent them to fulfill. Are we keeping our covenants to likewise be spiritually prepared?
President Russell M. Nelson stated:
“The Lord Jesus Christ directs the affairs of His Church, and it will achieve its divine objectives.
“The challenge for you and me is to make certain that each of us will achieve his or her divine potential.”3
To be prepared to fulfill the mission God has sent us to fulfill, we need to be spiritually self-reliant.
Self-reliance is “the ability, commitment, and effort to provide for the spiritual and temporal necessities of life for self and family. As members become more self-reliant, they are also better able to serve and care for others.”4 Work is enthroned as a ruling principle in their lives.
We will be in an even better position to be an effective instrument in God’s hands if we are physically and financially self-reliant as well.
Selling Bananas
An example of someone who took personal responsibility to become self-reliant is Cedrick Tshiambwe. Cedrick joined the Church in Luputa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, when he was 12 years old after reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. He wanted to serve a mission, so he developed a plan to save money to cover some of the costs of his mission. To earn the money, he purchased bananas from neighboring towns to take back to Luputa to sell. Using his bicycle, he found he could transport about four to six bunches at a time. Depending on the day, he rode as far as the neighboring town of Lusuku, some 29 kilometres away, to purchase the bananas. It took Cedrick four years, but he saved enough money to pay for his passport, buy clothes and scriptures and to be able to contribute to his mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo Kinshasa Mission.5
Elder Joseph Sitati, President of the Africa Central Area, encourages members of the Church to prepare temporally and spiritually to the degree they are able. In short, the Lord does not expect us to have temporal reserves above our capacity, but He does expect us to do our best.
Are you spiritually and temporally self-reliant now? If God asked you today to fulfill a mission He has for you, are you ready? In fact, He is calling you now to prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and to gather scattered Israel. To better fulfill the mission God is calling us to fulfill, we need to be working at becoming spiritually and temporally self-reliant now.
President Marion G. Romney stated, “How can we give if there is nothing there? Food for the hungry cannot come from empty shelves. Money to assist the needy cannot come from an empty purse.”6
Where to from Here?
So, if we are not yet self-reliant, or we have stewardship over someone who is not self-reliant, what do we do?
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught the following:
“There is no one-size-fits-all answer in Church welfare. It is a self-help program where individuals are responsible for personal self-reliance. Our resources include personal prayer, our own God-given talents and abilities, the assets available to us through our own families and extended family members, various community resources, and of course the caring support of priesthood quorums and the Relief Society. This will lead us through the inspired pattern of self-reliance.”7
There are many good people and organizations in the world that are trying to meet the pressing needs of the poor and needy. We are grateful for this, but the Lord’s way of caring for the needy is different from the world’s way. The Lord has said, “But it must needs be done in mine own way”.8 He is not only interested in our immediate needs, but He is also concerned about our eternal progression. For this reason, the Lord’s way includes commandments to become self-reliant and to serve our neighbor in addition to caring for the poor.
We may be tempted to rely on others to take us out of difficult circumstances we may be in. While we can ask for others to guide us, we must do our part to change our path. President Russell M. Nelson has stated, “The Lord loves effort.”9 God has sent us to this earth to be tested and proven to see if we “will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them”10. While we can certainly benefit from the expertise and experience of others, we grow and learn the most when we accomplish the work through our own efforts.
This does not mean that we should not involve God in our journey to self-reliance. God is the giver of all good gifts, and He loves and desires to bless all of His children. But He expects that we do our part. Let us make our temporal and spiritual preparation a priority.
I witness that as we do our part to become self-reliant temporally and spiritually, if we ask in faith, God will make up the difference with His matchless power. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Matthew L. Carpenter was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in March 2018. He is married to Michelle (Shelly) Kay Brown; they are the parents of five children.