“The Power of Godliness: Temple Work Connects Us to Jesus Christ,” Liahona, Oct. 2025, United States and Canada Section.
Come, Follow Me
The Power of Godliness: Temple Work Connects Us to Jesus Christ
“I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house.”
Photograph of Star Valley Wyoming Temple spire
Sharee Jones of Richfield, Utah, was receiving initiatory ordinances in the temple on behalf of her deceased sister. She had a spiritual impression that her sister, who had disabilities and died of heart failure at age 17, was not encumbered in the spirit world and would be resurrected with a perfect body. While participating in this temple ordinance, Sharee realized that because of the Savior’s Resurrection, her sister’s body would no longer have restrictions when she was resurrected.
As we participate in temple ordinances, the Holy Ghost can reveal gospel truths in important and sometimes personal ways. Sharee’s experience illustrates one way the Lord’s power can be manifested in the temple, in part fulfilling His words in the Doctrine and Covenants. After the dedication of the Kirtland Temple in 1836, the Lord appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and told them, “I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:7; emphasis added).
“This significant promise applies to every dedicated temple today,” said President Russell M. Nelson. “I invite you to ponder what the Lord’s promise means for you personally.”
Although the Lord may not appear to you in the temple, as He did to the Prophet Joseph and Oliver Cowdery in 1836, His power can be manifested in other ways.
Manifested in Temple Ordinances
“If you’re seeking a more meaningful experience … in the temple,” suggested Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “try looking for the Savior in the sacred ordinances we receive there.”
In all priesthood ordinances, especially those of the temple, “the power of godliness is manifest” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:20). The Lord manifests His divine nature to us through priesthood ordinances, enabling us to become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) with Him.
We also learn in the temple that the garment is “a symbol of the Savior Himself.” And at the end of the endowment, we symbolically return to the Lord’s presence when we enter the celestial room.
As we do temple work for our ancestors, God’s mercy is manifest through the vastness and reach of His divine plan, regardless of where or when a person may have lived. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that through temple ordinances, we participate with the Savior in the salvation of others. This divine plan is a manifestation of His unending commitment to help all of us in this life as well as the next.
Manifested in Temple Covenants
Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles emphasized that making and keeping temple covenants allows us to access the power of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Making and keeping covenants with God draws us closer to Him and transforms us. “By making and keeping temple covenants, we learn more about the Lord’s purposes and receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost,” Elder Renlund said.
The Holy Ghost can teach us and testify to us in—and outside—the house of the Lord, helping us know of God’s love for us and for all of His children. The Holy Ghost can reveal to us what is important, give us a vision of our eternal destiny, and help us know that the Lord has forgiven us. All of these are ways the Lord may manifest Himself to us in mercy in His house.
Making covenants with the Lord in His house shows that we desire a closer relationship with Him. As President Nelson taught, “The covenant path is all about our relationship with God.”
“As we make covenants with God in the house of the Lord, we further deepen our relationship with Him,” said Sister J. Anette Dennis, First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency.
This relationship is intended to be transformational, not transactional. A transactional relationship is a temporary relationship in an exchange, like when we pay someone for a product or service. A transformational relationship, on the other hand, is long lasting and intended to change us. Our covenant relationship with the Lord tethers us to Him. As Jacob in the Old Testament said, “God … was with me in the way which I went” (Genesis 35:3).
The Lord may manifest His transformative power to us in the temple as we focus on our covenant relationship with Him, thinking less about what is happening around us in the temple and more about what is happening in us. The house of the Lord thus becomes a place of refuge, recalibration, and renewal. “I promise that increased time in the temple will bless your life in ways nothing else can,” said President Nelson.
Manifested in Others
The Lord may manifest His love to us in the service rendered by others. Every good act is inspired of Him and can remind us that He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). We might see Him in the warm welcome of a temple worker, in the kind gesture of someone holding a door open for us, in the inspiring examples of other members who come to the temple to serve.
Steve Chamberlain of St. George, Utah, went to the temple often, pleading for help when he was struggling with depression. As he sat in the celestial room, a temple patron put an arm around his shoulder and whispered, “I love you.” They sat silently together. This unexpected personal touch seemed to Steve as if it came from the Savior. It was life-changing for Steve.
Close to the Savior in His House
President Nelson offered this promise to each of us: “Nothing will help you more to hold fast to the iron rod than worshipping in the temple as regularly as your circumstances permit. Nothing will protect you more as you encounter the world’s mists of darkness. … Nothing will soothe your spirit more during times of pain. Nothing will open the heavens more.”
He promised that as we prayerfully and consistently seek to understand temple ordinances and covenants, our testimonies will be strengthened, our spirits will be soothed, and direction from heaven will manifest itself to us.
The author lives in Utah, USA.