Elder & Sister M. Russell Ballard, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Tuesday devotional, February 14, 2017
Tuesday devotional, Elder and Sister M. Russell Ballard, Tuesday, February 14, 2017
- President Spencer W. Kimball told young men that regardless of your current situation, you are building a foundation for the rest of your life, and rather you fail or succeed, rather you are happy or miserable, depends entirely on your ATTITUDE! You must not be average. You know right and you know wrong. Choose the right. You are painting your own picture, you are carving your own statue. Will you have a work of art or a failure?
- He pointed out that all of the brethren who were instrumental in the organization and leadership of the early church were young men in their twenties! Thomas B. Marsh was the oldest and he was in his thirties! Young men can do great things.
- You can be SUPERIOR missionaries as young men. All of the original Quorum of the Twelve were young men.
- Your assignments to your respective fields of labor were inspired.
- Elder Ballard testified that no more honorable or noble man ever existed than Joseph B. Wirthlin. Elder Wirthlin at one time counseled young men to set righteous goals, and to be aware that they would face endless challenges in their lives, including pursuit of wealth or power or success. J. Paul Getty said that there were three means by which a person could achieve wealth — get up early, work hard, and strike oil. Set a goal and work for it.
- Resolve in your mind right now what kind of missionary you are going to be. You can be just a great as you want to be. Become a master of Preach My Gospel. Jump out of bed every morning with enthusiasm, even if it is raining. Realize what a tremendous privilege it is to serve as a missionary.
- Don’t murmur! What role did ‘attitude’ play in Lehi’s family?
- One master or major goal that we should all have is to be worthy to pass by the angels in the next life and be received into the presence of the Father and the Son. The plan of salvation has everything we need to achieve that goal built right into it.
- He said that he had to face tremendous challenges every day as he served a mission in the British Isles — he had to eat Brussels sprouts every day! He didn’t have the advantage of an MTC experience. The only thing he remembered learning in his 3 or 4 days of training was how to lead music, and he promptly forgot even that.
- He said that when we die, the Lord will only have vital interest in one thing regarding our lives, that being ‘how valiant were you in striving to bring others to the gospel of Jesus Christ?’ How great it will be if we can answer that we tried our best to bring souls to Him. Knowing that, we should never pass others without making some effort to introduce them to Christ and His church.
- The privilege to work is a gift, the power to work is a privilege, the love of work is divine.
- The Ballard’s youngest son served in Osaka, Japan. After six months there, he wrote to his father and expressed discouragement because he had not taught even one lesson all the way through to an investigator. No one would listen. He felt that he was a failure and sought counsel. Elder Ballard said to him that if he could honestly kneel every night and tell Heavenly Father that he had done his very best to represent Him in Japan, and sought every opportunity to talk to others, he would be considered a GREAT missionary in the eyes of the Lord.
- President Hinckley — there is no substitute for hard labor. Work makes all the difference between success and failure.
- A Brother Millett was an early pioneer. During a time of extreme hardship, food was scarce. A destitute neighbor knocked on his door, asking if he could spare anything for his family to eat. Brother Millett gave him some flour, knowing that his own family would not have enough to eat. The brother replied gratefully and told Brother Millett that the Lord had told him to go to Brother Millett because Brother Millett could be depended upon to help others. Brother Millett later expressed sincere thanks for knowing that the Lord was aware of him and his character.
- The Ballards had a young man come to the Toronto mission with a terrible stuttering problem. He could hardly express himself. Two years later they saw this same young man bear powerful testimony of the blessings that his mission had brought into his life, including speaking without a stutter. The gift of tongues?
- Apostles are missionaries first and foremost. We have created our own mission field – we have seven children, 43 grandchildren, and 80 great-grandchildren.
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