The Priesthood, the Authority of God

By Elder Cándido Fortuna

Area Seventy

The Lord is our perfect example of diligence in priesthood service. He is our captain. He called us. He goes ahead of us. He chose us to follow Him and to bring other people with us. President Henry B. Eyring said, “When I find myself drawn away from my priesthood duties by other interests and when my body begs for rest, I give to myself this rallying cry: ‘Remember Him’”.¹

The spiritual progress and happiness we receive as a result are based on understanding and obedience to the principles of the priesthood.

“Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?

“Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson—

“That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.”²

When we have the power to bless families in any of the ordinances, then we are using this God-given authority for its most exalted purpose: to bind family ties, and to perform priesthood ordinances that will endure through the eternities.

We have the revealed promise that, if our souls are filled with “charity towards all men, and to the household of faith,” and if we let “virtue garnish [our] thoughts unceasingly; then shall [our] confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon [our] soul as the dews from heaven.”³

Priesthood is power like none other on earth or in heaven. It is the very power of God himself, the power by which the worlds were made, the power by which all things are regulated, upheld, and preserved.

I have seen the power of the priesthood manifested in my life and in that of my family, in the moments in which I have laid my hands on one of them to bless them. I have also seen the priesthood power manifested in small acts of service of those who have this authority of God.

Today more than ever there is a need to use this authority to see the power of God manifested by blessing and ministering to His children in a holier and higher way as President Russell M. Nelson taught in the April 2018 general conference, “Brethren, there are doors we can open, priesthood blessings we can give, hearts we can heal, burdens we can lift, testimonies we can strengthen, lives we can save, and joy we can bring into the homes of the Latter-day Saints—all because we hold the priesthood of God. We are the men who have been ‘called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of [our] exceeding faith,’ to do this work.”⁴

I know that Jesus Christ lives and directs this work through a prophet, I know that President Russell M. Nelson is His prophet at this time.