M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

The Lord's Disciples...Worthy to be instruments in the Lords hands
by Ed J. Pinegar

Missionaries (we are all missionaries) teach faith unto repentance. In all the discussions (and in all our lessons we seek to strengthen faith and bring about change), you first preach faith to accept the doctrine, then repentance to change people’s lives and help them live the doctrine. You can’t preach faith unto repentance until you live faith unto repentance. So your first step in preparing to become a good missionary is to repent, to make sure that you are worthy instruments in the hands of the Lord. Because if we’re not worthy, we can’t have the Spirit. If we don’t have the Spirit, we can’t teach, we can’t preach, we can’t be led, we can’t be directed, we can’t know the things to say—we simply can’t do anything. When conversion happens, it happens because the people’s hearts are softened, and then they feel the Spirit, and then they’re invited to make and keep commitments and they change.

It’s interesting when people write and explain the reasons they joined the Church: “I felt their love so much, I had to listen to what they said,” or, “While listening I felt the Spirit and I knew I had to be baptized.” So as missionaries, you and I must be worthy instruments by practicing faith unto repentance, being full of charity, and being exactly and courageously obedient so we can enjoy the Spirit.

We must be worthy to go to the temple, the house of the Lord. We must believe in God as our Father, in Jesus as the Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. We must have a testimony that Jesus atoned for our sins, and that through Him all mankind might be saved. We must sustain our prophets, seers and revelators. We must be honest in all our dealings. We must be pure in all ways: morally, intellectually, and spiritually. We must keep the Word of Wisdom. We must pay our tithing. We must make sure our family dynamics are in harmony with the teachings of the Church. We must be totally, completely repentant. And if we do these things, we will be a clean, prepared instrument in the hands of the Lord.

Earlier in my life I was a practicing dentist. I would go to the hospital and do oral surgery to remove the third molars (wisdom teeth). I can still remember preparing for surgery with the nurses around, the anesthesiologists in the operating room, and everything ready to go for the operation. Then I would say, “scalpel,” and the scalpel was in my hand. I would retract the cheek a little bit and make an incision, lay back the tissue, and then I would start to remove the impacted third molar. Those instruments did whatever I wanted them to do because I had them in my hand and I was in control. I knew what I was supposed to do and so I was hopefully very kind and efficient. Well you know what? The instrument was clean, it was pure, it was sharp. Each instrument had a purpose to perform in my hand, for I was the doctor. And that’s what our relationship is with our Savior. He is our master, and we are instruments in His hands—submissive to His will, provided we are clean and pure and know our purpose.

CHARITY
Now, as we become worthy, clean, and pure, we will start to prepare by doing specific things to be better instruments in the hands of the Lord. Preparation begins today and goes on forever because we want to be just like the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said, “What manner of men ought you to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am” (3 Ne. 27:27). We are to be like Christ. He said, “Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (3 Ne. 12:48). So the Lord expects us to start to be Christlike. In fact, He expects us to be full of charity. Remember why people are baptized? They feel your love, and are compelled to listen to what you say. Well, when we have the pure love of Christ within us we will be like Jesus Christ. We will have His love. We will radiate His countenance. We will hold up His light. “Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do” (3 Ne. 18:24). So when we radiate His goodness and His light, we radiate Jesus Christ. We have His image in our countenance. Have you received His image in your countenance? Have you had this mighty change of heart? (see Alma 5:14). Acquiring the attributes of Jesus Christ is part of the preparation. Doctrine and Covenants 4 is the missionary scripture. It is the standard and expectation missionaries should live by. “Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity” (D&C 4:6). How? By being humble and diligent. If we are humble and diligent we will be dependent upon the Lord; and we’ll work with all our heart, might, mind, and soul, to acquire these attributes of Christ, especially charity. When we have charity we possess many of the inner qualities we need to become a good missionary—the kind of missionary with whom the Lord is pleased. The kind who can be an ambassador and a disciple of Jesus Christ to preach His word to all the world.

GOSPEL KNOWLEDGE
We need gospel knowledge. We need to understand the word of the Lord.
“The words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Ne. 32:3). If we hold to the iron rod, the mists of darkness or temptation will never take us away from the strait and narrow path (see 1 Ne. 15:24). Once we hold to the word of God, and begin to gain gospel knowledge, we will be strengthened. We will go to the tree of life whose fruit (the love of God—the Atonement of Jesus Christ) is desirable above all other things to make us happy. In other words, when we gain gospel knowledge to the point that we understand and appreciate it, our behaviors and attitudes will change, and we’ll be happy because we have partaken of the goodness of God. We will be the most dynamic missionaries the Lord could have because we’re prepared, because we have gospel knowledge. We will nurture the word with faith, diligence, and patience so it can grow to be a fruitful tree (see Alma 32:40–43).

TESTIMONY
As we gain this knowledge our testimonies will grow. We’ll be able to stand up and say, “I testify that God our Father lives, Jesus is the Christ, the gospel has been restored, Joseph Smith was a prophet and we’re led by a Prophet today, and the Book of Mormon is true,” and we’ll testify of this by the Spirit. We can do that as gospel knowledge becomes part of us. As we study and as we pray, our testimony will grow and we’ll know we are about our Heavenly Father’s work.

PRAYER
Prayer is a form of worship (see Alma 33:3). We have been commanded to call upon our Heavenly Father, for the benefits of prayer are all-encompassing in our lives. We must pray for strength (see Moses 1:20), to overcome temptation (see Alma 13:28), for others (see Mosiah 27:14), for humility and faith (see Hel. 3:35), and for the Spirit in our teaching (see D&C 42:14).

The blessings of prayer are clear for missionaries. We must pray always. We must go with a prayer in our hearts (see 3 Ne. 20:1). We should pray for those who know not God (Alma 6:6). We should pray for our investigators to know the truth by the power of the Spirit. We’ve been commanded to pray for all things (see Alma 34:17–28). We must pray as if everything depends upon the Lord, and then work as if everything depends upon us.

OBEDIENCE—THE FIRST LAW OF HEAVEN
In the mission field there’s a great law—it’s called obedience. In our mission it was called immediate, exact, and courageous obedience. Obedience is built upon love, faith, and trust in God. When we live the principle of obedience, we will be more diligent in being immediately, exactly, and courageously obedient.

A story is told of a young boy who wanted to fly a kite. He and his father purchased a kite along with two spools of string, which they put on one big spool. They fixed it all up and went out to fly their kite. The kite started taking off. “Dad, look at it go, look at it go!” Soon the kite soared higher and higher. They let all the string out. The boy pulled the string and said, “Dad, the string is holding it down. Look how tight it is. It’s really tight. Let’s cut it so the kite can fly up higher.”

The dad said, “No, you don’t understand, son. This is the law that holds the kite up. It needs the string.”

The boy said, “Dad, look!” and he pulled on the string. “See, it’s holding, it’s tight, it’s holding it down.”

The father said, “No son, the string helps the kite fly.”

“No it doesn’t,” insisted the boy.

“So you want to cut the string?” asked the dad.

“Yes, I want to let it fly up all the way, all the way to the clouds,” replied the boy.

The dad said, “OK,” and he took out his pocket knife and let the boy cut the string. Well, you know what happened next, the kite came crashing down to the ground. The boy looked at his dad and asked “why?”

To which the father replied, “Son, the string was part of the law by which the kite could fly.” A lesson was learned about obedience to law. Everything is based upon a law. “And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come. There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:19–21). We get the blessing upon which the law is based. If we eat properly, we feel good. If we study, we learn. If we obey, we become free. Now, do you know what you get when you’re obedient? When you are obedient you receive the greatest gift in all the world—the gift of the Spirit.

Every Sunday you go to church and you partake of the sacrament, and at the end of the sacramental prayer it says, “if ye keep my commandments,” or in other words, if you are obedient, “ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.” The Spirit will guide you, it will testify for you, it will lead you, it will correct you, it will comfort you, and it will show you all things what you should do (see 2 Ne. 32:5). You cannot do anything in the mission field without having the Spirit, and you can’t have the Spirit unless you choose to be obedient. This is the hardest thing for missionaries to understand. If we are exactly, immediately and courageously obedient in all things, the Lord will bless us. This is the test of life to see if we will obey (see Abr. 3:25). When obedience becomes your quest you will be happy and you will grow, and you will enjoy your mission. 1 Samuel 15:18–22 teaches that sacrifice is good, but that obedience is greater than sacrifice, because if we obey, we will always sacrifice. Obedience is the great law.

THE SPIRIT
When we become obedient we become Spirit-directed in all things. We will be led by the Spirit not knowing beforehand the things what we should do (see 1 Ne. 4:6). We can have the Spirit all day long and every day. The question is, are we worthy? When we feel a desire to do good, we have the Spirit. We will search the scriptures, say our prayers, and be kind to our fellowmen. The Spirit will show us and help us do all the things we should do. Sometimes we feel, “I’m not ready, I don’t know how to do this, how can I ever do it?” The Lord and the Spirit will assist you. “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (D&C 84:88). The Lord is there helping every missionary, every day, by the power of the Spirit. We give the credit to the Lord for all things. All good is from God. We get to be an instrument for the Lord and a conduit for the Spirit. Every week or so I get letters from missionaries. They say, “Oh Brother Ed it’s just like you said, it’s so great, I feel the Spirit and I’m so happy. We just baptized. The Lord is so good to us in our trials as well as our successes.”

We are all missionaries in all aspects of our lives as we seek to bring people to Christ in whatever role we are presently in. As we become worthy we, in the strength of the Lord and by the direction of The Spirit, can do all things whatsoever He commands us to do. Worthiness is the key for becoming a mighty instrument in the hands of the Lord. This is what Alma prayed for (see Alma 29:9-10). We can do it too. The Lord will before our face and give us the things to say and do by The Spirit (see D&C 84:85-88).

This is taken and adapted from The Ultimate Missionary Companion to see this and other Missionary books and tapes log on to ldsleadership.com

Click here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.