[Teachldsseminary] Eyring talk/ CES site

[James and Marji Meyer]

I am looking for a talk given at a CES  satellite 
training broadcast in Aug of 2004 by Henry B. Eyring. 
===============

Raising Expectations

Elder Henry B. Eyring

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles


 

We share a consuming concern. Night and day we ask ourselves: What can I do
better to strengthen the faith of young people? Some of us are teachers.
Most of us are parents or hope to be soon. Some of us are grandparents or
want to be someday. And all of us are concerned by the signs of the rapidly
increasing and spreading wickedness in the world surrounding those young
people we love and will love. Terrible evil we hardly knew existed when we
were young is being presented every day on screens in almost every home, in
what we used to think of as the safe "family hours" when little children
could watch in safety. And because of the marvelous spread of technology,
even those of us who live in places once largely shielded from the messages
and images of evil now face what parents fought against in Sodom and
Gomorrah. Now there seems to be no safe place and no safe time. And the tide
of evil never seems to ebb, only to rise, and to rise rapidly. Now, we are
not surprised by all this, since God for thousands of years has shown
prophets the things that we now see.

 

Our concern is deepened by what we know it will take to be a missionary and
a parent in the days ahead. It will take deep conversion to the gospel of
Jesus Christ. It will take the companionship of the Holy Ghost. And
wickedness is the tool of the enemy against that conversion and that
companionship. True conversion, where the gospel of Jesus Christ goes deep
into the heart and changes it, brings the companionship of the Holy Ghost.
One of the dangers of the times we are passing into is that we might be
tempted to lower our expectations for ourselves and for those young people
we serve. As the world darkens, even a partial conversion and a few
spiritual experiences may seem more and more remarkable, compared to the
world. We might be tempted to expect less.

 

The Lord has given another signal, clear and powerful. It is that we can
expect more, not less, of youth. One example is the raising of the bar for
the qualification to serve in the mission field. And another is the change
in what is expected of the missionaries in teaching. No longer will they
depend on memorizing words of a discussion. They will write their own
lessons, and even those they will adapt to the needs of each person they
teach. And that is only an example and just a beginning of the Lord's rising
expectations for spiritual power.

 

The prophets saw this part of our day, too. That gives us hope and
direction. One scripture best captures for me a wonderful outcome which is
sure. And from that prophecy we can see what to do. You have read it and
heard it many times. But you may not have recognized that it is for us and
in these times and that it is a call to courage. As you hear the words
again, think of someone you love, someone you worry may not be able to
weather the trials ahead, let alone rise to higher expectations. Think of
them as you hear the description of the times we are in and those just ahead
of us. These are words from Joel. It is a promise of an outpouring of the
Spirit. It was quoted by Peter and by Moroni. And these words and this
prophecy are for every young person you love. And they are for you and for
me.

 

"And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord
your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

 

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon
all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, [and] your old
men shall dream dreams, [and] your young men shall see visions:

 

"And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour
out my spirit.

"And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire,
and pillars of smoke.

"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the
great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be
deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall
call" (Joel 2:27-32).

 

This is not poetry, nor is it allegory; it is description of reality as it
will be. Some of it will happen so gradually that you may not notice it.
Some has already begun across the Church and we may not have seen the
blessing developing, or at least we may not have done what we must to help
the Lord with these miracles.

 

That scripture does not say that your sons and your daughters may claim the
gift of prophecy by the Spirit. It says that they will. It doesn't say that
your young men may see visions. It says that they will. And it will come
because the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. Not only will the
youth you love and serve have the Spirit poured out on them, but so will the
people around them and those who lead them.

 

The Spirit will be poured out, but it will wash over some and fall to the
ground and fail to make a difference. The Spirit will be poured out, but
choices must be made in faith to receive spiritual power. That is how we can
and must make a difference. Whether or not that outpouring of the Spirit on
all flesh brings prophecies and visions and safety to the young people we
love will depend upon their choices. And you know the choices they must make
that matter most. So you can make it far more likely that they will choose
what will let them claim a constant companionship of the Spirit. That is
what they can have. That is what they must have.

 

It begins with expectations, yours and theirs. If you expect little, they
will feel your lack of faith in them and in the Lord's promised outpouring
of the Spirit. If you communicate, by word or action or even by your tone of
voice, that you doubt their spiritual capacity, they will doubt it. If you
see in them the potential Joel describes, they will at least have the chance
to see it in themselves. Your choices of what you expect will have powerful
effect on their choices of what to expect of themselves. Here are four
choices they will make where you can make a difference by the expectations
you raise in them.

 

The first choice they must make is to pray with faith that the gift of the
Spirit will come beyond their human capacities. You will have opportunities,
many opportunities, to show them you have not just the hope but the
expectation that they can and will pray with that faith and that revelation
will come. You will give a child or a student the chance to choose to pray
in faith for that inspiration. You will find many opportunities to do that
if you try and if you really believe they can do it. 

 

I appreciate now how people did that for me long ago. I had a father who
more than once treated me as if the words in the book of Joel were a reality
which had already arrived.

 

I was not even 20, a college student. He was a mature and gifted scientist.
As a lay member of the Church, he had been asked by a member of the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostles to give him a brief summary of the scientific
evidence about the age of the earth. Dad did not know the purpose of the
request. But he did know that there were strong and sometimes differing
opinions about how old the earth is. He did what he was asked to do. He
always did what his leaders in the Church asked of him. He wrote the paper
and had it typed. 

 

I can still remember the afternoon when he came to me in our kitchen at
home, this great scientist and high priest, who seemed to me so much wiser
than I was. I do not remember his exact words, but he told me about the
request and what the paper was he was handing me. When I had it in my hands,
he said, "Hal, you will know better than I will whether this is what the
Lord wants. You read it, and you will know what changes to make to get it
right. I trust you will get an answer."

 

He was treating me then, as he did other times, the way Jared treated his
brother. You remember the words Jared said to his brother: "Go and inquire
of the Lord whether he will drive us out of the land" (Ether 1:38). He
expected with perfect confidence that his brother would do it and that God
would answer.

 

A father was kind and wise enough to have that expectation for his immature
son. He made me feel that he knew I would get the revelation that he needed
about something that really mattered and was beyond human power. I don't
remember whether I made many suggestions, or if I made any. But I prayed in
faith because I was treated as if that faith would surely be honored by God.
I also don't know much about the outcome either, except that a few weeks
later I answered the phone at home and heard a voice, a soft voice, say:
"This is David McKay. Is your father home? May I speak to him?" I learned
later that President McKay had asked Dad to represent the Church at a
conference held at a major university in the southern part of the United
States on science and religion. I remember the sweetness of the prophet's
voice. And I can still feel what it meant to be trusted to be able to hear
the voice of the Spirit.

 

I can't imagine all the ways you will have the opportunity to treat a young
person as if you were sure they had a right to the gift of prophecy. Those
choices to trust will appear most often in your family setting. They may
also come when you work with students. The Lord is doing it now in the
mission field. He trusts 19-year-olds to teach by the Spirit. He expects it
of them. And so they do it, and they will do it. Some, the lucky and the
blessed ones, have felt that sweet expectation long before the mission
field. More must. And more will. We will choose to show our confidence that
they will choose to pray for revelation and that the revelation will come.

 

There is a second choice we can help them make which will move them along
the path to the companionship of the Spirit. It is to choose to trust the
scriptures which speak of spiritual gifts with the simple faith of a child.
When we do it, it will set an unspoken expectation that they will read
scripture that way, too. If we, on the other hand, qualify and shade the
meaning of the words, we will miss the chance to help them.

 

The scripture from Joel we've shared today is an example. Such a sweeping
promise needs to be left as it stands, not hedged. The scriptural stories of
the prayers and personal experiences of the brother of Jared with the Lord
is another. Yet another is the almost casual comment in Mormon about the
three Nephites:

 

"And whether they be upon the face of the land no man knoweth.

"But behold, my father and I have seen them, and they have ministered unto
us.

"And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the
imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than
these" (Mormon 8:10-12).

 

The accounts of remarkable spiritual gifts in the scriptures are almost
endless. We can choose to speak of them and teach about them as simple
facts, always expressing gratitude, never surprise, and never the need to
qualify them. That will communicate to them your expectation that such
spiritual experiences are expected when we qualify for them. And that will
lift their expectations for themselves.

 

The third choice we can help them make is to be obedient to the impressions
of the Spirit when they come. When the Spirit confirms eternal truth, there
is always something to be done about it. We can show that we always act upon
revelation. And they will see that when we go and do, the revelation comes
more often and more clearly. And when they see that in us, they will be more
likely to be obedient to the inspiration when it comes to them. 

 

Many of us have been blessed by such examples. Most of us have been shaped,
perhaps more than we know, by obedient parents, spouses, bishops, mission
presidents, and even missionary companions. I heard a story from young men
returned from their missions to England long ago. The example of their
mission president, conveyed to me in my youth, lifted my own determination
and confidence to follow the inspiration of the Spirit whenever it came.

 

The incident they recounted was a simple one. A new mission president they
did not know arrived in London. Without speaking with anyone who knew about
the missionaries, he looked at the mission pictures on the wall. Then he got
on a train on his first day in the mission, rode north to a city, went to
the flat of two missionaries, found them still in bed in the middle of the
day, and called them to repentance, and went back to London. The word spread
across the mission. "Be careful. You can't fool this man. He gets revelation
from God and he acts."

 

At least according to the elders who told the story to me, it did wonders
for obedience in the mission. But the missionaries I met still chose to be
obedient to the Spirit because they had seen from their president's example
that obedience invites the Spirit back again. What that mission president
did set an expectation for me as well. To this day I try to rise to the
expectation he set just by his example. You can set that example, too. And
you must. 

 

The fourth and perhaps most important choice anyone can make to invite the
Spirit is to testify of the Savior and His Restoration of His true Church
through His prophet Joseph Smith. When we set that example we set an
expectation that others will be blessed by. 

 

This is how it works. One of the offices of the Holy Ghost is to testify of
the Savior and His work. There are many true things you can choose to say to
your child or to your student. The Spirit testifies of all truth. And yet
the surest way I know to have the Spirit come to verify what you say is to
testify of the Savior. So, when the person you love and serve feels the
Spirit as you testify of the Savior, it strengthens their faith. They then
are more likely to choose to testify of their growing faith in Him and His
works. And when they do, the Spirit will confirm what they say to those who
hear them. And it will reinforce their own faith. 

 

When you testify of the Savior you will often find yourself led to testify
at the same time of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the
priesthood through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I will tell you why that is so
for me. I have read many accounts and descriptions of the Savior in
scripture. Yet for me, there is nothing which so warms my heart as to know
that the Creator, the resurrected Savior of the world, our Redeemer, was
introduced to a young boy by our loving Heavenly Father. The Lord taught the
boy. The boy was trusted with spiritual duties beyond anything asked of any
prophet before him. He was to be the human instrument, this young boy,
through whom there would be a restoration of all things from all previous
dispensations.

 

There is something else in the way the Savior trusted and treated Joseph
that sets an expectation for young people. It is to realize that revelation
comes at a price, a high price. It takes faith to go through tribulation and
make sacrifices of all things. And disobedience to revelation from the Lord
causes it to be withdrawn. Joseph learned that by hard experience. When we
testify of Joseph's mission and of what we owe him, we at the same time set
a high expectation that paying the price for the revelation we need is
always worth it.

 

Many of our youth are already familiar with that price. There are tens of
thousands who have followed examples of young disciples of Christ centuries
before them: They have read scriptures in the Book of Mormon which you have
read. And they have believed like children in the price which must be paid
for the gifts of prophecy and revelation.

 

"Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first
appeared unto him; . . . for they were men of a sound understanding and they
had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of
God.

 

"But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting;
therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and
when they taught, they taught with power and authority [from] God" (Alma
17:2-3).

 

I am confident that the words from Joel are true. In the days ahead, the
Lord will raise the spiritual bar again and again. And our youth will rise
higher and higher to more than clear that rising expectation. They will make
the choices to receive the promised spiritual outpouring deep in their
hearts. Our sons and daughters will prophesy, and our young men shall see
visions. The questions for us are these: Will those young people feel by
what we have said and done that we expected it? And will the Lord say that
we rose to the best we could be and that He expected of us to show them how?
I have an assurance that we will rise to that expectation.

 

I leave you my love, to you and your families. I have felt the Lord's love
for you and for them. I know that God the Father hears our prayers, every
one. I know that because of our faith in His Beloved Son, the Father can and
will grant to us every righteous desire of our hearts. I testify that Joseph
had his humble prayer to find the true Church of Jesus Christ answered. The
Father and the Son appeared to him. And I know that he rose to their high
expectations. And because of that, we and all the children of our Heavenly
Father can have the full fruit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to live in
eternal life in families forever. I so testify, in gratitude, and in the
sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.