A Home Where the Spirit of the Lord Will Dwell

            Parents can strengthen their family, community, and nation by creating a home where the Spirit of the Lord will dwell. We can create a home where love is spoken. We read in the Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ of a group of people who lived in such a society. After Jesus Christ was resurrected and ascended into heaven, He visited the people who lived in the ancient Americas. He taught His gospel to the people and ascended once again.

And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.

And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of –ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.

And how blessed were they! For the Lord did bless them in all their doings; yea, even they were blessed and prospered until an hundred and ten years had passed away; and the first generation from Christ had passed away, and there was no contention in all the land (4 Nephi 1:15-18).

            This blessed and happy life lasted for more than two hundred years after the Savior taught His gospel to them. Then pride started to creep into their hearts. They stopped sharing their possessions with others. They began to divide into classes according to their wealth. They began to lose faith in Jesus Christ. They began to hate other people and to commit all kinds of sin. In his talk titled “A Home Where the Spirit of the Lord Dwells,” President Henry B. Eyring quoted the above scripture and then counseled parents on how to help their family to avoid the problems faced by the ancient Americans. 

Wise parents will be alert enough to notice those symptoms when they appear among their family members. They will, of course, be concerned. But they will know that the underlying cause is the influence of Satan trying to lead good people down a path to sin and thus to lose the influence of the Holy Ghost. So the wise parent will see that opportunity lies in leading each child, and themselves, to accept more fully the Lord’s invitation to come unto Him.

You could have limited success by calling a child to repent, for instance, of pride. You might try persuading children to share what they have more generously. You could ask them to stop feeling they are better than someone else in the family. But then you come to the symptom I described earlier as “They began to diminish in their faith in Jesus Christ.”

There is the key to leading your family to rise to that spiritual place you want for them – and for you to be there with them. As you help them grow in faith that Jesus Christ is their loving Redeemer, they will feel a desire to repent. As they do, humility will begin to replace pride. As they begin to feel what the Lord has given them, they will want to share more generously. Rivalry for prominence or recognition will diminish. Hate will be driven out by love. And finally, like it did for the people converted by King Benjamin, the desire to do good will fortify them against temptation to sin. King Benjamin’s people testified that they had “no more disposition to do evil.”

So building faith in Jesus Christ is the beginning of reversing spiritual decline in your family and in our home. That faith is more likely to bring repentance than our preaching against each symptom of spiritual decline.

            According to the words of President Eyring, the way to create a home where the Spirit of the Lord will dwell is to help family members to develop faith in Jesus Christ. If parents will teach their children about faith in Jesus Christ and lead by example, the children will follow. They can create a home where love dwells and where the Spirit will come. One family can influence other families for good, and they can thus strengthen their homes as well as their communities and nations.