This week on social media, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles invited others to learn with him how they may obtain the Spirit to teach through the “prayer of faith.”
Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson shared how she is preparing to speak by the Spirit at the Young Adult Worldwide Devotional on Sunday, May 4, and invited young adults around the world to gather as friends to watch the devotional, sharing what they learned with each other afterwards.
Other leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also shared messages about hope and worship for the youth and general membership of the Church.
Reading Doctrine and Covenants 42:14, which teaches that the Spirit is given by the prayer of faith and warns against teaching without the Spirit, Elder Bednar shared he has “long been concerned that people may misinterpret this verse” thinking that if they pray and don’t feel the Spirit, they “better not teach.”
“That is why I want you to pay attention to the phrase ‘by the prayer of faith,’” he said. “Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a principle of action and of power.”
This, he explained, means individual prayers should be followed by actions conducive to the blessings prayed for. “As you offer that simple, earnest prayer and then get up and act in accordance with the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will always have His Spirit to be with you when you teach.”
Elder Bednar’s study of this scripture was posted to the Gospel Learning and Teaching account April 28.
On May 1, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared a post where he reflected on the meaning of “true worship” using excerpts from his April 2025 general conference remarks.
He wrote, “True worship means loving God, feeling gratitude to Him and yielding our will to Him — the most precious gift we can offer.”
Elder Christofferson continued by teaching that worship involves remembering the Savior and offering our time and “whole souls” unto Him. He said, “Ultimately, how we live may be the best, most genuine form of worship.”
In a video posted April 27, Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles returned to his “roots of living on a small dairy farm” and shared a few of the lessons he learned growing up there.
“While I was far from perfect, the workings of our small dairy farm helped me learn how to put the things that were more important ahead of those things that were less important.”
Elder Andersen explained his and his family’s daily work and responsibilities taught him about true and unfaltering obedience, as well as the importance of caring for others. He said, “We learned to sacrifice our own pleasure to help our brother or sister.”
Using an aerial picture of a statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which depicts the “Savior with his arms outstretched,” Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught how individuals can come to know the Savior and His love.
He said that just as clouds obstruct the city’s view of the statue at times, requiring “an uphill climb” to see it once again, coming to know the Savior requires “each of us to rise above and take that uphill climb.”
Said Elder Soares in his May 1 social media post, “The journey to truly know the Savior and feel the depth of His redeeming love is a sacred and personal sojourn.”
On April 27, President Johnson shared a video post where she explained how her experience as a lawyer contributes to how she writes talks and devotional messages.
“I try to make a point up front that I reinforce over the course of my writing and delivery,” she said, “and then summarize at the end.”
But there is an important distinction, she said. As a legal writer, her intention was to convince a judge of the rightness of her case. “That’s never my intention here,” she continued. “My intention when I write and deliver a talk … is to always invite the Spirit.”
President Johnson invited young adults around the world to join her Sunday, May 4, for the Young Adult Worldwide Devotional, where she prays the Spirit will teach them through her remarks. She gave further details about the devotional in another video posted May 2.
“I don’t know about you, but my journey through mortality has not been on calm waters,” wrote Sister J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, in a May 2 social media post.
Sister Dennis shared that, like many others, she has had times when she’s “cried to the Lord and asked Him why things had to be so hard.” Yet, she said that in life’s storms, “we must remember that our Father loves us.”
“He would not have us go through difficult challenges just to see us suffer. That is not His character, nor is it His plan,” she testified, adding that God knows the experiences that “will cause us to grow in ways that will eternally bless us.”
In a video posted Friday, April 25, Young Men General President Steven J. Lund shared a quote from the late Church President Gordon B. Hinckley and reminded young Aaronic Priesthood holders of the sacred privilege they have to bless and pass the sacrament.
Said President Lund, reading President Hinckley’s words from April 1988: “When you, as a priest, kneel at the sacrament table and offer up the prayer, which came by revelation, you place the entire congregation under covenant with the Lord. Is this a small thing? It is a most important and remarkable thing.”
President Lund said this quote was “top of mind” as he prepared his April 2025 general conference talk. He said, “What we’re doing here isn’t reciting a poem, it isn’t chanting a chant. … It’s a prayer of ordinance that places each other under covenant.”
“Did you hear what President Nelson said about you at this past conference?” asked Sister Andrea Muñoz Spannaus, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, in an April 29 social media post shared on both her accounts and Young Women Worldwide.
Sister Spannaus quoted Church President Russell M. Nelson‘s words where he states he is “especially inspired” by today’s youth, and acknowledged some may wonder “why he feels that way.”
It is because the youth are serving others and testifying of the Savior, she explained. “You are helping God in His work of salvation and exaltation, and helping His children find relief in Him.”
Quoting the Savior’s words as recorded in John 15:11 and cited in the "For the Strength of Youth" guide, Brother Michael T. Nelson, second counselor in the Young Men general presidency, invited others to consider what Jesus Christ taught His disciples to “give them joy.”
Brother Nelson’s post was posted May 1 on the Young Men Worldwide social media account. In it he referenced Christ’s teachings about the “true vine” (John 15:1-7) and the Savior’s invitation to abide in Him.
“The Savior was teaching His disciples, and through them all of us, that joy can be found in our covenant relationship with God and with Him,” Brother Nelson wrote. “That connection is the source of true joy.”
