By Lisa Johnson
Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught students of the importance of temple preparation during Tuesday?s Devotional
?The temple is a sacred edifice ? a holy place,? Elder Hales said.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are instructed to partake of the temple ordinances because they are some of the greatest blessings available in mortality, he said.
?The temple endowment blessings are as essential for each of us as was our baptism,? Elder Hales said. ?For this reason we are to prepare ourselves ? that we may be clean to enter the temple of God.?
He said obedience to living the covenants daily is a demonstration of faith, love, devotion and spiritual commitment to honor Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ. It prepares members of the church to live with him in the eternities.
?The temple is truly a place where you are in the world and not of the world,? Elder Hales said.
He explained to students that when they are troubled and have crucial decisions, they can take them to the temple and receive spiritual guidance and added strength.
Because of the temple endowments performed in the Nauvoo Temple, the pioneers were given strength to endure the hardships of crossing the plains to the Salt Lake Valley, Elder Hales said.
?In order to be able to have the strength to endure what was ahead of them, they had to be endowed with power ? the power of the priesthood,? he said.
Joseph Smith knew finishing the Nauvoo Temple was important because he knew what would be required of the early saints, he said.
?Their covenants with the Lord in the Nauvoo Temple were a protection for them during this journey westward, as it is for each of us today and throughout our lives,? Elder Hales said.
The ordinances and covenants of the temple are a protection for members during their trials and tribulations, not only now, but also during what they will face in the future.
Endowment instructions give guidance as to how members should conduct their lives in mortality, he said. The temples are a place of instruction so those who attend may be perfected in their understanding in all things.
?Temples are the greatest university known to man,? Elder Hales said.
Blessings will come to those who remain true and faithful to the laws, ordinances and covenants learned in the temple, he said.
?The lesson we learn is this,? Elder Hales said. ?The temple experience, if we make the right decision to come to earth to experience mortality and how we live our life in this brief period of mortality, will determine how we live in the eternities to come.?
