How Jesus Christ Empowers Us

The visiting teaching message for September is “Divine Attributes of Jesus Christ: Powerful and Full of Glory,” and it talked about how the Savior “uses His power to reedem and empower us”—and the way that He empowers us is through covenants As Sister Linda K. Burton said, “Covenant keeping strengthens, empowers, and protects.” It’s interesting to think about covenants being empowering because there are probably a lot of people who would consider them restrictive—a big list of things you can and can’t do. However, when we remember that there are two sides to every covenant—both what we promise and what God promises—it becomes more apparent how keeping our covenants brings power into our lives. A few specific examples: with the baptismal covenant, we are promised to “always have His spirit to be with” us. With the endowment, we are endowed with power from God. With the sealing covenant, we are promised kingdoms, thrones, principalities—all things which are associated with power. Additionally, as we work toward having an eternal family—as we keep the covenant we make at our sealing—incredible power comes—because it’s through our families that we experience the most growth. The family is designed by God to help us become like Him—so as we keep our covenants, especially as they pertain to our family, we become more powerful and more like God is.

“Making and keeping covenants means choosing to bind ourselves to our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ.” In one sense, that means we are committing to do what They want us to do. And when we think about covenants, each has a specific list of things that we are promising to do. However, besides just binding us to THEM, it binds them to us.

D&c 82:8-10 says, “I give unto you a new commandment, that ye may understand my will concerning you. Or, in other words, I give unto you directions how ye may act before me, that it may turn to you for your salvation. I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say.” If Christ is bound to us, which happens as we keep our covenants, we are completely empowered—because all of His power works for our good.

 True to the Faith talks about some of  the other ways we are empowered through keeping covenants: “You will be inspired by the Holy Ghost, and Christlike conduct will be part of your nature…you will “receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal” (D&C 42:61). Your greatest hope should be to enjoy the sanctification that comes from this divine guidance

In the talk referenced in the VT message, Sister Burton mentioned that “keeping covenants is essential for true happiness.” Thinking about how that relates to power, I couldn’t help but think how much stronger and more capable I am when I am HAPPY than when I’m sad or angry; at those times, I’m more likely to think I can’t do something, or to give up, or to just have a bad attitude and not care. But when I’m happy, I feel more powerful. So, keeping covenants makes us happy, which in turn makes us more powerful.

She also said, “As we keep our covenants, we also receive courage and strength to help us bear one another’s burdens.” Our capacities are increased—we are more powerful.

The VT message shares 1 Nephi 14:14: “I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended…upon the covenant people of the Lord,…and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.” That made me think of Ephesians 6:14, which talks about the “breastplate of righteousness.” Looking at the Bible Dictionary, it pointed it out that the breastplate is used in “protecting the vital organs against the evil things of life”—and I think the most important thing it protects is the heart. So, if we keep our covenants, our HEARTS are protected—as we keep our covenants, we love God more, we love our fellowmen more, we have a better perspective and our hearts aren’t led away by the things of the world, etc. When our hearts are turned to Him, the evil things in life lose their power over us.

Final thought: What is the breastplate of righteousness—or what is righteousness? Well, interestingly enough, I have a son named Zedekiah, and I chose that name because according to the Bible Dictionary, it means “The Lord is righteousness.” So, being armed with righteousness could be changed to “being armed with the LORD” or the breastplate of righteousness could be “the breastplate of the Lord.” When we keep our covenants, we invite the LORD into our lives—and there is nothing and no one more powerful than He is.