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Raleigh North Carolina Temple dedicatory prayer: ‘May Thy Holy Spirit constantly dwell herein’

Following is the complete text of the dedicatory prayer of the Raleigh North Carolina Temple, given Dec. 18-19, 1999, by President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Our gracious Father, Thou Almighty Elohim, we approach Thee in solemn prayer. We are met to dedicate Thy Holy House. It has been constructed as an offering unto Thee and to Thy Beloved Son, for the accomplishment of Thy holy purposes.

We thank Thee for this day of dedication, for the opportunity to gather as Thy thankful sons and daughters. We are partakers of those wondrous blessings promised in words of revelation. Thou hast said: “For I deign to reveal unto my church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times, ... even the fulness of the priesthood” (Doctrine and Covenants 124:41, 28).

In the authority of this priesthood and in the name of Jesus Christ we dedicate unto Thee and to Thy beloved Son this the Raleigh North Carolina Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Wilt Thou accept it, Father, and accept our gratitude for having it in our midst. May Thy Holy Spirit constantly dwell herein and may it refresh and nourish the lives of all who enter Thy house.

We dedicate the grounds and the entire structure with all of its facilities and furnishings. We dedicate the baptistry where a great work will be done in behalf of those beyond the veil of death. We dedicate each of the ordinance rooms wherein eternal covenants will be made with Thee, covenants binding upon both the living and the dead. We dedicate the sacred altars of this Thy house, where promises will be made concerning sanctified and eternal relationships within the human family. We dedicate the crowning figure of Moroni whose prophetic role was seen by John the Revelator, who declared: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6).

Dear Father, bless Thy work in all the earth. Bless all whose tithes have made possible this holy house. Open the windows of heaven and shower blessings upon them. Bless them in their basket and in their store. Bless them in their faith and give strength to their testimonies. Nurture their children and their children’s children with a love for the gospel of Thy divine Son.

Pour out Thy blessings upon those who will go from this house as messengers of eternal truth to the nations of the earth. Endow them with power in their proclamations and give voice to their witness of the living reality of Thee and Thy Son, our Redeemer.

We pray for all who enter Thy house that they may be pure and clean in heart and hand. May they here “feel thy power, and feel constrained to acknowledge that thou hast sanctified it, and that it is thy house, a place of thy holiness” (Doctrine and Covenants 109:13).

May all who come as patrons to this temple know that they are dealing with the things of eternity, and that the relationships here entered into are everlasting. Bless all who are here sealed in the bonds of eternal marriage that they may live together with love and respect for one another. Bless the fathers and mothers that they may rear their children as Thy children, in a spirit of kindness and encouragement, that the encircling hand of love may bind together the relationships of the family.

We invoke Thy special blessings upon the temple presidency and the matron and her assistants, and upon all who give generously of their time and talents in consecrated effort as workers in this hallowed edifice.

Now dear Father, as we dedicate Thy house we ask that Thou wilt protect it from the machinations of any evil hand. May it be looked upon as a place of holiness with respect and reverence. We pray that the elements may be kind to it, that it shall stand against the storms of nature.

Almighty God, we bow before Thee with love and with love for Thine Only Begotten Son. Forgive our sins. Give us strength to live above our weaknesses and to walk above our faults, we humbly pray as Thy thankful children in the name of the Redeemer of the world, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

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