For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world.
5 And verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth my gospel receiveth me; and he that receiveth not my gospel receiveth not me.
6 And this is my gospel—repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which showeth all things, and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom.
. . .
22 And he that receiveth these things receiveth me; and they shall be gathered unto me in time and in eternity.
Each of us experiences a constant downward pull as we live inside mortal bodies on a mortal planet. Sometimes that pull is stronger and sometimes it is weaker, but in some way it is always present. That downward pull will turn even the best of us into natural men and natural women unless we constantly strive to offset it with an upward spiritual movement toward the Savior. The Holy Ghost will remind us of what we should be doing if we listen and will help us move upward, but the initial effort must be ours.
Putting off the natural man is not something we do once or twice in our lives. It requires a daily, sometimes hourly, sometimes minute-by-minute effort. We can’t become saints in a single giant leap and then sit back and relax. We must constantly be working at that saintly becoming, sometimes moving forward, at other times working our way back from a downward slide. Becoming, changing, moving to be a better person is the core activity of our mortal lives, and we cannot make those vital and constant changes without the strength the Atonement provides.
David P. Vandagriff
I Need Thee Every Hour – Applying the Atonement in Everyday Life
I have struggled throughout my life with feelings of failure, of not being good enough. But I have discovered that the gospel of Jesus Christ is an antidote to these feelings.
Because of the Atonement, the Savior understands my fears, and He comforts me through the Holy Ghost. He knows my weaknesses, and He helps me to overcome them. He has never left me alone, but He has strengthened me and expanded my heart.
I may never measure up by the world’s standards, but I feel valued, worthwhile, and loved when I do my best to live the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Susan Lunt
“The Savior’s Merciful Embrace,” Ensign, Mar. 2008, 38