Having a Personal Relationship with our Savior

As we approach our celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, I hope we each can take the time to evaluate our personal relationship with our Savior.

To help us in developing this relationship, I would like to share some excerpts from a talk given by President James E. Faust that addresses the steps towards having a personal relationship with Christ.


James E Faust

Some time ago in South America, a seasoned group of outstanding missionaries was asked, "What is the greatest need in the world?" One wisely responded: "Is not the greatest need in all of the world for every person to have a personal, ongoing, daily, continuing relationship with the Savior?" Having such a relationship can unchain the divinity within us, and nothing can make a greater difference in our lives as we come to know and understand our divine relationship with God.

We should earnestly seek not just to know about the Master, but to strive, as he invited, to be one with him (see John 17:21), to "be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man" (Ephesians 3:16). We may not feel a closeness with him because we think of him as being far away, or our relationship may not be sanctifying because we do not think of him as a real person.

How can we receive the personal blessing of the Master's divine and exalting influence in our own lives? Since our own feelings are sacred to us and cannot be disputed by others, let us begin with those quiet assurances which occasionally can come to all of us and which we know are true. We cannot always prove these verities to others, yet they come as a form of knowledge. Is this part of the divine that ferments within us reaching to its source? Is it not like a personal witness of truth flowing through the thin curtain that separates this world from another? Is there not a yearning to understand in your mind what is in your heart, a feeling that you cannot give utterance to because it is so unspeakably personal? The Master said that this quiet reality can "speak peace to your mind concerning the matter." (D&C 6:23.)

May I suggest five beginning, essential measures that will greatly clear the channel for a daily flow of "living water" from the very source of the spring, even the Redeemer himself.

First: A daily communion involving prayer. A fervent, sincere prayer is a two-way communication that will do much to bring his Spirit flowing like healing water to help with the trials, hardships, aches, and pains we all face. What is the quality of our secret prayers when only he listens? As we pray, we should think of him as being close by, full of knowledge, understanding, love, and compassion, the essence of power, and having great expectations of each of us.

Second: A daily selfless service to another. The followers of the divine Christ have to be weighed on the scales of what their actions are rather than on solemn professions of belief. The true measure is found in Matthew: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these . . . ye have done it unto me." (Matthew 25:40.) A wise man observed, "The man who lives by himself and for himself is apt to be corrupted by the company he keeps." (Charles Henry Parkhurst.)

Third: A daily striving for an increased obedience and perfection in our lives. "What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am," said the Savior. (3 Nephi 27:27.) Because of the perfect atonement of Jesus, just men may be made perfect. (See D&C 76:69.)

Fourth: A daily acknowledgment of his divinity. To have a daily, personal relationship with the Master, we must be his disciples. "For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?" (Mosiah 5:13.)

Fifth: A daily study of the scriptures. President Spencer W. Kimball has said: "I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures, the distance narrows and the spirituality returns." ("What I Hope You Will Teach My Grandchildren," address to seminary and institute personnel, July 11, 1966.)

I have a certain knowledge that Jesus of Nazareth is our Divine Savior. I know that he lives. From my earliest recollection I have had a sure perception of this. As long as I have lived, I have had a simple faith that has never doubted. I have not always understood, yet I have known through a knowledge that is so sacred to me that I cannot give utterance to it. I know and I testify with an absolute awareness in every fiber and innermost recess of my being that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Divine Redeemer, and the Son of God. May we ever be obedient to his wish, "Come unto me thy Savior." (D&C 19:41.)

May I add my testimony to President Faust's testimony, that I too have a testimony of Jesus Christ. It may not be the same personal witness as an apostle or prophet, but with an assurance, none the less, that Jesus Christ is real; He lives. He has personally paid for our sins, pains and anguish. 

I have a conviction that he is active in the leadership of this Church. He is also actively involved in our everyday lives.

I have felt his presence in the temple, in the Sacred Grove, in a small hotel room in Istanbul, Turkey, while giving a blessing and at a funeral service. I have received a personal witness many times in my life that he lives and loves me. He is personally interested in my daily activities, as well as yours.

As a family, I hope we can all make a united effort to renew and improve our relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. As we do so, I can promise you, as the patriarch of this family, that your lives will improve, that you will be filled with happiness and joy, even in the midst of trial and hardship. I speak from personal experience.

To this I bear witness, in his name, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love, Dad