Remembrance of the Lord Jesus

Doctrine and Covenants 20:75 "Remembrance of the Lord Jesus"

Meditation is one of the most secret, most sacred doors through which we pass into the presence of the Lord. . . . I believe the short period of administering the sacrament is one of the best opportunities we have for such meditation. . . .

Great events have happened in this Church because of such communion, because of the responsiveness of the soul to the inspiration of the Almighty. I know it is real. . . . You will find that when these most inspirational moments come to you that you are alone with yourself and your God. They come to you probably when you are facing a great trial, when the wall is across your pathway, and it seems that you are facing an insurmountable obstacle, or when your heart is heavy because of some tragedy in your life. I repeat, the greatest comfort that can come to us in this life is to sense the realization of communion with God.
If we partake of it mechanically, we are not honest, or let us say, we are permitting our thoughts to be distracted from a very sacred ordinance. (David O. McKay, in Conference Report, Apr. 1946, p. 115.)

Real Home Teaching

Doctrine and Covenants 20:47 "Visit the house of each member"

Home teaching, in essence, means that we consider separately each individual member of the family who constitutes the entire home personnel. Home teaching, as distinguished from ward teaching, is to help the parents with home problems in their efforts to teach their families the fundamentals of parental responsibility, as contrasted with merely bringing a message, a gospel message, to the entire family. (Harold B. Lee, Improvement Era, Jan. 1968, p. 27; or Conference Report, Oct. 1967, p. 100.)

Man May Fall From Grace

Doctrine and Covenants 20:31-34 "Man may fall from grace"

I am brought to believe that it is possible for men to repent and then to unrepent, and to fail to keep their repentance good; and I believe that the victory is in the retaining our repentance and making it good, so that the Spirit of the Lord may dwell richly with us. (Francis M. Lyman, in Conference Report, Oct. 1897, p. 16.)

Temptation

Doctrine and Covenants 20:22 "He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them"

So much will depend, Brothers and Sisters, upon your developing and using righteous reflexes. Reprocessing the same temptation, again and again, is unnecessary and unwise.

Of Jesus we read, "He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them." (D&C 20:22.) We cannot become like Jesus, attribute by attribute, if we display hesitancy as to our purity, or if we are undiscerning between joy and pleasure. Lust is no more like love than itching is to joy, or talkativeness to wisdom, or indulgence to compassion, or passivity to patience. (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, Feb. 1986, p. 19.)

Eternal Punishment

Doctrine and Covenants 19:4-12 "Eternal punishment"

During this hundred years many other great truths not known before, have been declared to the people, and one of the greatest is that to hell there is an exit as well as an entrance. (D&C 76:81-85; Matt. 5:25-26.) Hell is no place to which a vindictive Judge sends prisoners to suffer and to be punished principally for his glory; but it is a place prepared for the teaching, the disciplining of those who failed to learn here upon the earth what they should have learned. True, we read of everlasting punishment, unending suffering, eternal damnation. (Matt. 18:8; 25:41, 46; Rev. 14:10-11.) That is a direful expression; but in his mercy the Lord has made plain what those words mean. "Eternal punishment," he says, is God's punishment, for he is eternal; and that condition or state or possibility will ever exist for the sinner who deserves and really needs such condemnation; but this does not mean that the individual sufferer or sinner is to be kept in hell longer than is necessary to bring him to a fitness for something better. When he reaches that stage the prison doors will open and there will be rejoicing among the hosts who welcome him into a better state. (James E. Talmage, in Conference Report, Apr. 1930, p. 97.)

True Love

 True love is a process.  True love requires personal action. Love must be continuing to be real. Love takes time. Too often expediency, infatuation, stimulation, persuasion, or lust are mistaken for love. How hollow, how empty if our love is no deeper than the arousal of momentary feeling or the expression in words of what is no more lasting than the time it takes to speak them.

 We must at regular and appropriate intervals speak and reassure others of our love and the long time it takes to prove it by our actions. Real love does take time. Love demands action if it is to be continuing. Love is a process. Love is not a declaration. Love is not an announcement. Love is not a passing fancy. Love is not an expediency. Love is not a convenience.

 Marvin J Ashton "Love Takes Time"  General Conference October 1975

Love of the very essence of life. It is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Yet it more than the end of the rainbow. Love at the beginning also, and from it springs the beauty that arches across the sky on a stormy day. Love is the security for which children weep, the desire of youth, the cement that binds marriage, and the smoothing oil that prevents devastating friction in the home; it is the peace of old age, the sunlight of hope shining through death. How rich are those who enjoy it in their associations with family, friends, church, and neighbors.

I am one who believes that love, like faith, is a gift of God. I agree with the expression, Love cannot be forced, love cannot be coaxed and teased."  

 Gordon B. Hinckley "And the Greatest of These Is Love" BYU Devotional February 14, 1978