Be Fruitful, Multiply, and Subdue the Earth

Magnificent Father has charged and favored us to be fruitful, to duplicate, and to curb the earth that we may end up like Him.

Much obliged to you, Tabernacle Choir, for that sweet tribute to the Savior of the world.

In the day that God the Father called upon His Only Begotten Son to make man in Their picture and similarity, He favored His youngsters, saying, "Be fruitful, and increase, and renew the earth, and quell it, and have dominion … over each living thing that moveth upon the earth."1 Thus, our human voyage started with both a divine charge and a blessing. A loving Father gave us the charge and the blessing to be fruitful and to increase and to have dominion with the goal that we can create and turn out to be even as He seems to be.

Brothers and sisters, I invite your faith and supplications as I share a few contemplations with you around three basic qualities of our divine nature. I petition that we may all more completely perceive and satisfy our sacrosanct responsibility—our Father's charge—to build up our divine nature with the goal that we may explore our voyage all the more effectively and obtain our divine destiny.

To start with, God Charged Us to Be Fruitful

A significant piece of being fruitful that is here and there neglected is that of bringing forward the kingdom of God upon the earth. The Savior educated:

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the equivalent bringeth forward a lot of fruit: for without me ye can sit idle. …

"On the off chance that ye live in me, and my words stay in you, ye will ask what ye will, and it will be done unto you.

"Herein is my Father celebrated, that ye bear a lot of fruit; so will ye be my disciples."2

We become fruitful as we reside in Christ and as we "take upon [ourselves His] name [and] … serve him to the end"3 by helping others come unto Him.

In our day, living prophets and witnesses continue to lift their voices to invite every single one of us to turn out to be completely occupied with crafted by salvation according to our capacities and openings.

The starting point of a reaction that yields a lot of fruit is to "be quiet and humble in heart."4 We can then more completely come unto Christ as we respect the enticings of the Holy Spirit and keep every one of the agreements we have made.5 We can look for and get the endowment of philanthropy and have the capacity to invite our very own families, our progenitors, and our part and nonmember neighbors and companions to get the good news of Jesus Christ.

Laboring in the spirit of philanthropy isn't an obligation however a joy. Difficulties become chances to fabricate faith. We become "observers of [the goodness of] God consistently and in all things, and in all places that [we] might be in, even until death."6

We all can and ought to turn out to be completely occupied with crafted by salvation. The Savior has given us the following duty with a guarantee: "I have picked you, and ordained you, that ye ought to proceed to bring forward fruit, and that your fruit ought to remain: that at all ye will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you."7

Second, God Charged Us to Multiply

Our physical bodies are a blessing from God. We got them for the reasons for fulfilling Heavenly Father's work "to bring to pass the interminability and everlasting existence of man."8 The body is the method by which we can attain our divine potential.

The body empowers Heavenly Father's devoted spirit youngsters to encounter life on earth.9 Bearing kids gives other spirit offspring of God the chance to likewise enjoy life on earth. All who are conceived in mortality have the chance to advance and to be lifted on the off chance that they comply with God's edicts.

Marriage between a man and a lady is the institution that God ordained for the satisfaction of the charge to duplicate. An equivalent sex relationship doesn't duplicate.

A legitimate and legal marriage fixed in the sanctuary and in which the sealing agreements are respected gives guardians and their kids the open door for the best understanding of affection and readiness for a fruitful life. It offers them the perfect condition where they can live their pledges made with God.

In light of His adoration for us, Heavenly Father has given that all His faithful kids who don't or are not ready to enjoy the blessings of a contract marriage and kids or a fulness of those blessings for reasons, not of their making will, in the Lord's appointed time, enjoy these blessings.10

Living prophets and missionaries have mentored all who have the chance to go into the agreement of endless union with continue in shrewdness and faith. We ought not to put off the hour of that consecrated day as a result of common interests or hold our desires for a reasonable friend at a level that excludes each conceivable competitor.

The guarantee to all who are fixed in the agreement of unceasing marriage and who are fruitful through keeping they pledge that the foe will never have the capacity to undermine the establishment of their endless friendship.

Third, God Charged Us to Subdue the Earth

To curb the earth and have dominion over each living thing is to control these things so they satisfy the desire of God11 as they fill the needs of His youngsters. Subduing includes gaining dominance over our very own bodies.12 It doesn't include being vulnerable casualties of these things or using them in spite of the desire of God.13

Developing the capacity to stifle the things of the earth begins with modesty to perceive our human shortcomings and the power accessible to us through Christ and His Atonement. For "Christ hath stated: If ye will have faith in me ye will have the capacity to accomplish at all things is convenient in me."14 This power ends up accessible to us as we act in acquiescence to His edicts. We increase our capacity by seeking the endowments of the Spirit and by developing our abilities.

I was brought up in humble conditions average to numerous families in Africa. I gained the capacity to lift myself from those conditions by seeking and obtaining, with the caring assistance of my folks, a great training. Developing a dream of what I could move toward becoming was basic to my advancement. Afterward, as a youthful couple, my significant other, Gladys, and I found the reestablished gospel, which continues to favor our lives with spiritual bearing. Like each family, we have our preliminaries and difficulties. However, as we seek the Lord for assistance, we have discovered answers that bring peace and solace, and we don't feel overpowered by these things.

The difficulties facing human culture today, including unethical behavior, sex entertainment, outfitted clash, contamination, substance misuse, and destitution, thrive because numerous on the planet have turned themselves over by decision "to the desire of the demon and the flesh"15 rather than to the desire of God. "They look for not the Lord to build up his nobility, however every man walketh in his specific manner, and after the picture of his god, whose picture is in the resemblance of the world."16

Be that as it may, God invites every one of His youngsters to obtain His assistance to survive and persevere through the difficulties of this existence with these words:

"I am God; I made the world and men before they were in the tissue.

"… If thou shrivel turn unto me, and notice unto my voice, and accept, and apologize of all thy offenses, and be purified through water, even in water, for the sake of mine Only Begotten Son, … ye will get the endowment of the Holy Ghost, asking everything in his name, and at all, ye will ask, it will be given you."17

Faithful Latter-day Saints who comprehend their divine potential and depend wholeheartedly on the power accessible through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ are strengthened in their common shortcoming and "can do all things."18 They are empowered to defeat the enticings of insidiousness that have put numerous under subjugation to the foe. Paul instructed that:

"God is faithful, [and] won't endure you to be enticed over that ye are capable; yet will with the allurement additionally approach to get away, that ye might have the option to tolerate it."19

"For in that he hath endured being enticed, he can aid them that are tempted."20

Magnificent Father has charged and favored us to be fruitful, to duplicate, and to quell the earth that we may end up like Him. He has made assistance accessible that we may each, according to our choosing, really develop to end up like Him. I implore that we may all live our lives with the end goal that we will be guided by the vision of our divine nature, guarantee all our divine benefits, and satisfy our divine destiny.

I affirm of the living truth of God the Father and His Beloved Son, our Savior Jesus Christ; of His heavenly arrangement of happiness; and of the keys, He has caused to be presented to a living prophet on earth today, even Thomas S. Monson, whom we cherish and sustain. I implore that we may have the capacity to enjoy the fullness of His blessings for the sake of Jesus Christ, so be it.