Blessings of the Temple

            These week’s topic has been on Marriage as a covenant not just a contract. As I read about the covenants we make in the temple it hit home to me just how binding those covenants are. Not only do they bind us to the Lord, but the bind us together as husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters. I reflected on these things while in the temple and felt an overwhelming gratitude for the gift of temples. In reading President Ezra Taft Bensons remarks on the blessings of the temple he stated,

“• You will receive the spirit of Elijah, which will turn your hearts to your spouse, to your children, and to your forebears.

• You will love your family with a deeper love than you have loved before.

• Your hearts will be turned to your fathers and theirs to you.

• You will be endowed with power from on high as the Lord has promised.

• You will receive the key of the knowledge of God. (See D&C 84:19.) You will learn how you can be like Him. Even the power of godliness will be manifest to you. (See D&C 84:20.)

• You will be doing a great service to those who have passed to the other side of the veil in order that they might be “judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (D&C 138:34.) “ (Benson 1986)

I really appreciated the wording here. These are not “you can” statements. They are “you will” statements. If we go to the temple worthily and keep our covenants we will receive these blessings. These blessings are not just limited to ourselves, but also to our loved ones. How wonderful it is that we have temples in our midst to invoke the blessings of heaven to pour down on us.

References

Benson, E. T. (1986). What I Hope You Would Teach Your Children about the Temple.

Retrieved October 04, 2017, from https://www.lds.org/liahona/1986/04/what-i-hope-you-would-teach-your-children-about-the-temple?lang=eng