“Trust in the Lord”

Last updated on September 29th, 2024 at 06:14 pm

General Conference Applied

S3 E29 – Thursday, September 26, 2024 | “Trust in the Lord” by Elder Paul B. Pieper; April 2024 General Conference

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Podcast Episode Outline

Introduction

Bio

• “Elder Paul B. Pieper was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 2, 2005. He has served in area presidencies in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States. Elder Pieper has also filled assignments in the Family History, Correlation, and Priesthood and Family Departments at Church Headquarters in Salt Lake. He is currently serving as a member of the Africa Central Area Presidency.
  
  “Prior to his calling as a General Authority Seventy, Elder Pieper served a full-time mission in Mexico and, with his wife, Melissa, as mission leaders in St. Petersburg, Russia.
  
  “Elder Pieper was trained as an attorney and was employed by law and management consulting firms during his professional career, working in Latin America, Asia, and countries of the former Soviet Union.
  
  “Paul Bowen Pieper was born [on October 7, 1957] and raised in Pocatello, Idaho. He married Melissa Tuttle in the Salt Lake temple. They are the parents of six children.”
• This was Elder Pieper’s fourth general conference address:
  • “The First Generation” – October 2006 General Conference
  • “To Hold Sacred” – April 2012 General Conference
  • “All Must Take upon Them the Name Given of the Father” – October 2018 General Conference

What is the speaker inviting me to do, and how might I consider taking action?

Invitations

1: “If prior loss of trust is keeping you from trusting God, please follow Leonid’s example. Patiently continue to learn more about Heavenly Father, His character, His attributes, and His purposes. Look for and record experiences feeling His love and power in your life.”

• Consistently increase your trust in Heavenly Father.
• Christlike Attribute: “I have faith that God will bring about good things in my life and the lives of others as we devote ourselves to Him and His Son. (Ether 12:12)” (Faith)
• Questions:
  1. What are experiences we might have in our lives that could cause us to lose trust in Heavenly Father, or in father figures in general?
     • “Several years ago, two friends of mine, Leonid and Valentina, expressed interest in becoming members of the Church. As Leonid began to learn the gospel, he found it difficult to pray. Earlier in his life, Leonid had suffered from manipulation and control by superiors and had developed a distrust of authority. These experiences affected his ability to open his heart and express personal feelings to Heavenly Father. With time and study, Leonid gained a better understanding of God’s character and experienced feeling God’s love. Eventually, prayer became a natural way for him to express thanks and the love he was feeling for God. His increasing trust in God eventually led him and Valentina to enter into sacred covenants to strengthen their relationship with God and each other. …
       
       “Our living prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, has taught that the more we learn about God, the easier it will be for us to trust Him.” -Elder Pieper
  2. Where can I ‘learn more about Heavenly Father, His character, His attributes, and His purposes’?
  3. When was the last time you ‘[looked] for and [recorded] experiences feeling [Heavenly Father’s] love and power in your life’?
     • “To Hold Sacred“, Elder Paul B. Pieper, April 2012 General Conference: “As we seek answers from God, we feel the still, small voice whisper to our spirits. These feelings—these impressions—are so natural and so subtle that we may overlook them or attribute them to reason or intuition. These individualized messages testify of God’s personal love and concern for each of His children and their personal mortal missions. Daily reflecting upon and recording the impressions that come from the Spirit serve the dual purposes of helping us (1) to recognize our personal encounters with the divine and (2) to preserve them for ourselves and our posterity. Recording them is also a formal recognition and acknowledgment of our gratitude to God, for ‘in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things’ (D&C 59:21).
       
       “With respect to that which we receive by the Spirit, the Lord said, ‘Remember that that which cometh from above is sacred’ (D&C 63:64). His statement is more than a reminder; it is also a definition and an explanation. Light and knowledge from heaven is sacred. It is sacred because heaven is its source.
       
       “Sacred means worthy of veneration and respect. By designating something as sacred, the Lord signals that it is of higher value and priority than other things. Sacred things are to be treated with more care, given greater deference, and regarded with deeper reverence. Sacred ranks high in the hierarchy of heavenly values.
       
       “That which is sacred to God becomes sacred to us only through the exercise of agency; each must choose to accept and hold sacred that which God has defined as sacred. He sends light and knowledge from heaven. He invites us to receive and treat it as sacred.
       
       “But ‘there is an opposition in all things’ (2 Nephi 2:11). The opposite of sacred is profane or secular—that which is temporal or worldly. The worldly constantly competes with the sacred for our attention and priorities. Knowledge of the secular is essential for our daily temporal living. The Lord instructs us to seek learning and wisdom, to study and learn out of the best books, and to become acquainted with languages, tongues, and people (see D&C 88:118; 90:15). Therefore, the choice to place the sacred above the secular is one of relative priority, not exclusivity; ‘to be learned is good if [we] hearken unto the counsels of God’ (2 Nephi 9:29; emphasis added).
  4. What are some of the good things that Heavenly Father has brought about in your life?
  5. Why is it so important to trust in our Heavenly Father?
  6. What do you tell someone who trusts in Jesus Christ, but not in Heavenly Father (and vice versa)?
  7. Do I believe that Heavenly Father is interested in me and wants me to succeed?
  8. What is the best way for me to model my trust in Heavenly Father to my children?
  9. If my children can’t trust me (their earthly father), can they trust their Heavenly Father?
  10. Who is Heavenly Father, and what are His character, attributes, and purposes?

2: “We show our trust in God by turning to Him first when confronted with life’s challenges.”

• Maintain an eternal perspective when confronting life’s challenges.
• “Our mortal life is a test. Challenges that stretch us beyond our own capacity come frequently. When our own knowledge and understanding are inadequate, we naturally look for resources to help us. In an information-saturated world, there is no shortage of sources promoting their solutions to our challenges. However, the simple, time-tested counsel in Proverbs provides the best advice: ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.'” -Elder Pieper
• Christlike Attribute: “I rely on God for help. (Alma 26:12)” (Humility)
• Questions:
  1. Thinking back on the last time I was frustrated, overwhelmed, or stressed out, who (or what) did I turn to first for relief?
  2. When I experience challenges in life, am I viewing those challenges myopically?
     • “Let God Prevail“, President Russell M. Nelson, October 2020 General Conference: “Not long ago, the wife of one of our grandsons was struggling spiritually. I will call her ‘Jill.’ Despite fasting, prayer, and priesthood blessings, Jill’s father was dying. She was gripped with fear that she would lose both her dad and her testimony.
       
       “Late one evening, my wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, told me of Jill’s situation. The next morning Wendy felt impressed to share with Jill that my response to her spiritual wrestle was one word! The word was myopic.
       
       “Jill later admitted to Wendy that initially she was devastated by my response. She said, ‘I was hoping for Grandfather to promise me a miracle for my dad. I kept wondering why the word myopic was the one he felt compelled to say.’
       
       “After Jill’s father passed on, the word myopic kept coming to her mind. She opened her heart to understand even more deeply that myopic meant ‘nearsighted.’ And her thinking began to shift. Jill then said, ‘Myopic caused me to stop, think, and heal. That word now fills me with peace. It reminds me to expand my perspective and seek the eternal. It reminds me that there is a divine plan and that my dad still lives and loves and looks out for me. Myopic has led me to God.’
       
       “I am very proud of our precious granddaughter-in-law. During this heart-wrenching time in her life, dear Jill is learning to embrace God’s will for her dad, with an eternal perspective for her own life. By choosing to let God prevail, she is finding peace.”
  3. What does Heavenly Father offer that the world can’t offer?
  4. “Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble?” (Alma 5:27)
  5. Has President Russell M. Nelson’s invitation to ‘think celestial!‘ prompted me to change the way I deal with life’s challenges?
  6. What does ‘[showing] our trust in God by turning to Him first when confronted with life’s challenges’ look like in my life?
     • 3 Nephi 10:3-6 – “[3] And it came to pass that there came a voice again unto the people, and all the people did hear, and did witness of it, saying: [4] O ye people of these great cities which have fallen, who are descendants of Jacob, yea, who are of the house of Israel, how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you. [5] And again, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, who have fallen; yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalem, as ye that have fallen; yea, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not. [6] O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart.”
     • The Book of Mormon – Master Class: Class 39 – 3 Nephi 8-11: Jesus Christ Visits America: [John Hilton III] “There’s something about the image of a mother hen. I’m sure that there’s great mother snakes and probably great mother rabbits, but it’s the mother hen that we hear about. Why does Jesus Christ use this imagery to describe himself? Well, I’m no chicken farmer, but I was really interested in this insight from Christian author Peggy Joyce Ruth. She wrote:
       
       “‘Our old mother hen [had] hatched some baby chicks. One afternoon, when the little chicks were scattered all over the yard, I suddenly saw the shadow of a hawk overhead… I thought that old hen would pick her favorite chicks in a split second and run [to] cover them. No! Instead, to my surprise, she squatted down, spread out her wings and began to squawk.
       
       “‘Without hesitation, those little chicks came running to her from every direction and then ducked under those outstretched wings. All that mother hen did was cluck and expand her wings so they knew where to hide. Then she pulled her wings down tight, tucking every little chick safely under her. There was no way that hawk could get to those babies without going through that mother hen.
       
       “‘If one of those chicks had tried to hide itself or failed to heed its mother’s warning clucks, it would have been snatched up by the hawk. And, when we run to God in faith, it means the enemy has to go through God to get to us. There is no greater safety. Under the wings is very inviting. Knowing that promise of refuge is described as a literal wing thrown over you should make you feel very safe and protected.’
       
       “I love this image of Jesus Christ as a mother hen, stretching out his arms to gather us, to protect us under his wings.
       
       “His invitation: come unto me. And as we do so, there’s safety, there’s peace.”
  7. When others are facing challenges, how can I more effectively point them to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?
     • Bluffdale Utah Independence Stake Conference, Saturday, March 6 – Sunday, March 7, 2021, Bishop L. Todd Budge (Presiding Bishopric): Bishop Budge shared that he and the other members of the Presiding Bishopric had approached the First Presidency about a particular challenge they were facing. When they presented the challenge, President Eyring and President Oaks looked at each other, President Eyring shrugged his shoulders, President Oaks raised one eyebrow, and then everyone looked at President Nelson. He said, in effect, I’m not sure what we should do here. However, “WE need to seek the Lord’s will on this.” Bishop Budge was impressed that the prophet didn’t say, “I will seek the Lord’s will on this,” he said “WE”. Each one of us is entitled to personal revelation, and revelation within our designated sphere of influence. Jesus Christ’s prophet to the world knows that you and I can receive personal revelation when we seek Heavenly Father’s help with our challenges.
  8. Why does life have to be so hard?
  9. “Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray?” (Did You Think to Pray?)
  10. When I’m seeking for truth, do I allow these verses of scripture to guide my searching: “[5] Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

3: “Each time we accept and act on an invitation, our trust in God grows. If we ignore or decline an invitation, our progress stops until we’re ready to act on a new invitation.”

• To trust Heavenly Father more, and to become more like Him, act on inspired invitations.
• “The Book of Mormon teaches the pattern God uses to stretch us in order to build strong relationships with us. In Come, Follow Me, we recently studied about how Nephi’s trust in God was tested when he and his brothers were commanded to return to Jerusalem to obtain the brass plates. After their initial attempts failed, his brothers gave up and were ready to return without the plates. But Nephi chose to place his complete trust in the Lord and was successful in obtaining the plates. That experience likely strengthened Nephi’s confidence in God when his bow broke and the family was facing starvation in the wilderness. Again, Nephi chose to trust in God, and the family was saved. These successive experiences gave Nephi even stronger confidence in God for the enormous, trust-stretching task he would soon face of building a ship.
  
  “Through these experiences, Nephi strengthened his relationship with God by consistently and continuously trusting Him. God uses the same pattern with us. He extends us personal invitations to strengthen and deepen our trust in Him.” -Elder Pieper
• Christlike Attribute: “I willingly … follow the counsel of my leaders. (Hebrews 13:17)” (Obedience)
• Questions:
  1. Where do invitations from Heavenly Father come from?
     • Footnote 13: “God’s personal invitations to each of us come through reading the scriptures, from living prophets, and by the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.” -Elder Pieper
  2. Am I actively seeking for, and acting upon, Heavenly Father’s personal invitations to me?
  3. Is there a scriptural account that teaches about acting on invitations from Heavenly Father?
  4. Who could you become by accepting and acting on every invitation that you receive from your Heavenly Father?
     • “Bridging the Two Great Commandments“, Elder Gary E. Stevenson, April 2024 General Conference: “Brother Evans was surprised when he was prompted to stop his car and knock on an unknown door of an unknown family. When a widowed mother of over 10 answered the door, their difficult circumstances and great needs became readily apparent to him. The first was simple, paint for their home, which was followed by many years of temporal and spiritual ministering to this family.
       
       “This thankful mother later wrote of her heaven-sent friend: ‘You have spent your life reaching out to the least of us. How I would love to hear the things the Lord has to say to you as He expresses His appreciation for the good you have done financially and spiritually for the people that only you and He will ever know about. Thank you for blessing us in so many ways, … for the missionaries you provided for. … I often wonder if the Lord picked on you exclusively or if you were just the one who listened.'”
  5. Do you agree with Elder Pieper’s statement that “sometimes the best way to learn to trust God is simply by trusting Him”?
     • “The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics” by Daniel James Brown: “In the last desperate few hundred meters of the race, in the searing pain and bewildering noise of that final furious sprint, there had come a singular moment when Joe realized with startling clarity that there was nothing more he could do to win the race, beyond what he was already doing. Except for one thing. He could finally abandon all doubt, trust absolutely without reservation that he and the boy in front of him and the boys behind him would all do precisely what they needed to do at precisely the instant they needed to do it. He had known in that instant that there could be no hesitation, no shred of indecision. He had had no choice but to throw himself into each stroke as if he were throwing himself off of a cliff into a void, with unquestioned faith that the others would be there to save him from catching the whole weight of the shell on his blade. And he had done it. Over and over, forty-four times per minute, he had hurled himself blindly into his future, not just believing but knowing that the other boys would be there for him, all of them, moment by precious moment.”
  6. Looking back on your life, what are some of the ‘soul-stretching experiences’ that have made you who you are today?
     • “After I finished law school in Utah, our family faced the important decision of where to work and make our home. After counseling with each other and the Lord, we felt directed to move our family to the eastern United States, far from parents and siblings. Initially, things went well, and we felt confirmed in our decision. But then things changed. There was downsizing at the law firm, and I faced the prospect of no job or insurance at the very time our daughter Dora was born with serious medical challenges and long-term special needs. While confronting these challenges, I was extended a call to serve that would require significant time and commitment.
       
       “I had never faced such a challenge and was overwhelmed. I began to question the decision we had made and its accompanying confirmation. We had trusted in the Lord, and things were supposed to work out. I had fallen backward, and it now appeared that no one was going to catch me.
       
       “One day the words ‘Don’t ask why; ask what I want you to learn’ came distinctly into my mind and heart. Now I was even more confused. In the very moment I was struggling with my earlier decision, God was inviting me to trust Him even more. Looking back, this was a critical point in my life—it was the moment when I realized that the best way to learn to trust in God was simply by trusting Him. In the subsequent weeks, I watched with amazement as the Lord miraculously unfolded His plan to bless our family.
       
       “Good teachers and coaches know that intellectual growth and physical strength can happen only when minds and muscles are stretched. Likewise, God invites us to grow by trusting His spiritual tutoring through soul-stretching experiences. Therefore, we can be sure that whatever trust we may have demonstrated in God in the past, another trust-stretching experience lies yet ahead. God is focused on our growth and progress. He is the Master Teacher, the complete coach who is always stretching us to help us realize more of our divine potential. That will always include a future invitation to trust Him just a little bit more.” -Elder Pieper
  7. How might you utilize “The Crazy Trust Exercise” in a future family home evening or church lesson?
  8. Do I willingly follow the counsel of my church leaders?
  9. How is strengthening trust in Heavenly Father similar to strengthening abilities in other areas of your life?
     • “The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance” by Josh Waitzkin:
       • “In my experience, successful people shoot for the stars, put their hearts on the line in every battle, and ultimately discover that the lessons learned from the pursuit of excellence mean much more than the immediate trophies and glory. In the long run, painful losses may prove much more valuable than wins — those who are armed with a healthy attitude and are able to draw wisdom from every experience, ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ are the ones who make it down the road. They are also the ones who are happier along the way. Of course the real challenge is to stay in range of this long-term perspective when you are under fire and hurting in the middle of the war. This, maybe our biggest hurdle, is at the core of the art of learning.”
       • “To my mind, the fields of learning and performance are an exploration of greyness — of the in-between. There is the careful balance of pushing yourself relentlessly, but not so hard that you melt down. Muscles and minds need to stretch to grow, but if stretched too thin, they will snap. A competitor needs to be process-oriented, always looking for stronger opponents to spur growth, but it is also important to keep on winning enough to maintain confidence. We have to release our current ideas to soak in new material, but not so much that we lose touch with our unique natural talents. Vibrant, creative idealism needs to be tempered by a practical, technical awareness.”
  10. When was the last time you accepted an invitation from Heavenly Father that took you outside your comfort zone?

Take Action

How will you take action on the invitations extended in this General Conference address?

Conclusion

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Tags

Adversity | Agency | God the Father | Trust

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