Sheri Dew - God Wants A Powerful People

Introduction

Several years ago I included a chapter entitled "God Wants a Powerful People" in another work, and also allowed a version of that message to be released as a talk on CD. Since that time, I have continued to ponder this themehence the expanded treatment in this book. Further, to set the stage for what follows, I have incorporated some of the material from that original chapter into the first few chapters of this book.

The words in this book are significant only insofar as they teach truth. The examples and stories are meant to do just one thingshow in practical ways how the gospel can change us, mold us, purify us, and sanctify us. What is far more significant than any words in print is what the Spirit will speak to your mind and heart as you read and ponder these doctrinal truths.

The reason to study and learn is so that we will change and do something, perhaps several somethings, differently from how we've done them before. So, as you read this book, I invite you to listen as the Spirit speaks to your mind and to your heart, identifying those things you ought to start doing or stop doing, do a little more or a little less of. The Holy Ghost is the Great Revelator and Translator, and He will reveal and translate truths in such a way that you can hear them, understand them, and apply themall so that you will continue to progress and grow and change. Perhaps you will choose to reflect at the end of each chapter on something you can and perhaps should do differently. With the hope of being helpful, I'll suggest questions along the way to consider. But the most relevant questions for you will come as prompted by the Holy Ghost.

And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them.

Doctrine and Covenants 109:22

Chapter One

God Wants a Powerful People

While I was serving in the Relief Society general presidency, the Church instituted a new security system that required Church employees, general officers, and others who frequented the extended Church campus in downtown Salt Lake Citymeaning Temple Square and the blocks housing the Conference Center and the Church Administration Buildingto wear identification badges. This new system was implemented prior to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, held in Salt Lake City just a few months before our presidency's release. Because we had served five years and were therefore easily recognized around Church headquarters, we rarely had much cause to use the ID badges. So I didn't develop the habit of wearing mine, though I usually carried it with me.

In the Saturday session of the April 2002 general con-ference, our presidency was released. We came and went to sessions of that conference in the manner typical for General Authorities and general officers of the Churchmeaning, we went to and from the Conference Center through a series of tunnels that connect the various buildings on the Church campus.

I had agreed to speak at an early-morning devotional for all Church hosts and hostesses serving in the Conference Center, Tabernacle, and other Church campus buildings. I was to be at the Little Theater in the Conference Center at 6:00 A.M. on the Sunday morning of general conference. As I drove to the Conference Center in the early morning, it dawned on me that the doors located at certain points along the tunnel might not be open that early.

Sure enough, the very first door in the tunnel was still locked. Wondering what to do, I noticed a buzzer by an intercom next to the large double doors. I pushed the buzzer, alerting a Church Security officer, identified who I was, explained my assignment in the Little Theater, and asked if he would let me through the door. "Sister Dew, do you have your ID badge with you?" he asked. When I rummaged through my binder and found it, the officer responded, "Your badge gives you access to all of these doors. Didn't you know that?"

"No," I admitted. "How do I use it?"

"Just hold it in front of the sensor, and the doors will open," the security officer instructed. Sure enough, as I waved the badge next to the sensor, Voila! the heavy security doors swung wide open.

"Cool!" I exclaimed, probably giving the officer an early-morning chuckle. "You mean, I've been carrying with me all this time a badge that would give me entrance to all of these places on the Church campus, and I didn't even know it?"

"Yes," he said, then, quickly bringing me down to earth, continued, "And didn't you just get released, Sister Dew?" When I replied yes, he said, "Well, enjoy the badge today, because tomorrow it will be deactivated."

Just as he promised, all of the doors through the tunnel sprang open in Open Sesame! fashion as I held my badge in front of the sensor next to each of them. And, also just as he predicted, the next day the card no longer worked. The privilege was gone.

The irony was unmistakable. For months I had carried with me a badge that had given me privileges I hadn't understood or, worse, taken advantage of. I had not understood that badge's power.

I couldn't help but think about Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, who went to extraordinary lengths to find the Wizard because she believed he had the power to help her get back home to Kansas. It was not until after she'd made an exhausting, unfruitful journey that she learned she'd had the power with her all along to get back homepower contained in the ruby red slippers she'd been wearing.

We are all trying to find our way back homeand I don't mean just to Kansas. And we seem to look anywhere and everywhere in the worldto "experts" in all their gloryfor clues on how to get there. We look for ways to increase our skills and talents, enhance our gifts, expand our influence, improve our lot in life, and find happiness. But the truth is that the Lord has already given His peoplecovenanted, faithful, believing Saintseverything they need to find their way back home. Many of those Saints have already received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Many have been ordained and hold the priesthood of God. Many are walking around with the most precious recommendation of all, a "badge" that gives them entrance to the Lord's House, which is a house of glory wherein they are endowed with power. Many have entered the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, which affords them even greater blessings, privileges, and power.

To return to The Wizard of Oz, recall for a moment the scene where the Wicked Witch is melting. As she disappears, she exclaims to and about Dorothy, "Oh, what a world, what a world. Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy all my beautiful wickedness!"

Good little boys and girls, meaning covenant-making men and women, filled with the power of God, are perfectly poised to destroy the beautiful wickedness so evident in our world. I was reminded of this a few weeks ago, when I joined members of our extended family at the Salt Lake International Airport to greet a nephew returning from his mission. Because there were about a dozen returning elders on his flight, which had originated in Mexico, and also because it happened to be the evening of the Fourth of July, the airport was jam-packed with families, banners, American flags, red-white-and-blue balloons,