We love and sustain you.

My dear brothers and sisters, today I

would like to discuss a principle that is

key to our spiritual survival.

It is a principle that will only become

more important as the tragedies and travesties around us

increase.

These are the latter days, so none of us

should be surprised when we see prophecy fulfilled.

A host of prophets, including Isaiah, Paul, Nephi,

and Mormon, foresaw that perilous times would come,

that in our day the whole world would be in commotion,

that men would "be lovers of their own selves, . . .

without natural affection, . . . lovers of pleasures more than

lovers of God," and that many would become servants of Satan

who uphold the adversary's work.

Indeed, you and I "wrestle . . . against the rulers

of the darkness of this world, [and] against spiritual

wickedness in high places."

As conflicts between nations escalate,

as cowardly terrorists prey on the innocent,

and as corruption in everything from business to government

becomes increasingly commonplace, what can help us?

What can help each of us with our personal struggles

and with the rigorous challenge of living in these latter days?

The prophet Lehi taught a principle

for spiritual survival.

First, consider his circumstances:

He had been persecuted for preaching truth in Jerusalem

and had been commanded by the Lord to leave his possessions

and flee with his family into the wilderness.

He had lived in a tent and survived

on what food could be found on the way

to an unknown destination, and he

had watched two of his sons, Laman and Lemuel,

rebel against the teachings of the Lord

and attack their brothers Nephi and Sam.

Clearly, Lehi knew opposition, anxiety, heartache, pain,

disappointment, and sorrow.

Yet he declared boldly and without reservation a principle

as revealed by the Lord: "Men are, that they might have joy."

Imagine!

Of all the words he could have used

to describe the nature and purpose of our lives

here in mortality, he chose the word joy!

Life is filled with detours and dead ends, trials

and challenges of every kind.

Each of us has likely had times when distress, anguish,

and despair almost consumed us.

Yet we are here to have joy?

Yes!

The answer is a resounding yes!

But how is that possible?

And what must we do to claim the joy that Heavenly Father has

in store for us?

Eliza R. Snow, second General President

of the Relief Society, offered a riveting answer.

Because of Missouri's infamous extermination order

issued at the onset of the grueling winter of 1838,

she and other Saints were forced to flee the state

that very winter.

One evening, Eliza's family spent the night

in a small log cabin used by refugee Saints.

Much of the chinking between the logs

had been extracted and burned for firewood

by those who preceded them, so there

were holes between the logs large enough for a cat

to crawl through.

It was bitter cold, and their food was frozen solid.

That night some 80 people huddled

inside that small cabin, only 20 feet square.

Most sat or stood all night trying to keep warm.

Outside, a group of men spent the night

gathered around a roaring fire, with some singing songs

and others roasting frozen potatoes.

Eliza recorded: "Not a complaint was heard--all were cheerful,

and judging from appearances, strangers would have taken us

to be pleasure excursionists rather than a band

of gubernatorial exiles."

Eliza's report of that exhausting, bone-chilling

evening was strikingly optimistic.

She declared: "That was a very merry night.

None but saints can be happy under every circumstance."

That's it!

Saints can be happy under every circumstance.

We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week,

or even a bad year!

My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel

has little to do with the circumstances of our lives

and everything to do with the focus of our lives.

When the focus of our lives is on God's plan of salvation that

President Monson just taught us and Jesus's gospel,

we can feel joy regardless of what is happening--or not

happening--in our lives.

Joy comes from and because of Him.

He is the source of all joy.

We feel it at Christmastime when we sing, "Joy to the world,

the Lord is come."

And we can feel it all year round.

For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!

That is why our missionaries leave their homes

to preach His gospel.

Their goal is not to increase the number of Church members.

Rather, our missionaries teach and baptize to bring joy

to the people of the world!

Just as the Savior offers peace that

"passeth all understanding," He also offers

an intensity, depth, and breadth of joy

that defy human logic or mortal comprehension.

For example, it doesn't seem possible to feel joy

when your child suffers with an incurable illness

or when you lose your job or when your spouse betrays you.

Yet that is precisely the joy the Savior offers.

His joy is constant, assuring us that our "afflictions

shall be but a small moment" and be consecrated to our gain.

How, then, can we claim that joy?

We can start by "looking unto Jesus the author

and finisher of our faith" "in every thought."

We can give thanks for Him in our prayers

and by keeping covenants we've made with Him and our Heavenly

Father.

As our Savior becomes more and more real to us,

and as we plead for His joy to be given to us,

our joy will increase.

Joy is powerful, and focusing on joy

brings God's power into our lives.

As in all things, Jesus Christ is our ultimate exemplar,

"who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross."

Think of that!

In order for Him to endure the most excruciating experience

ever endured on earth, our Savior focused on joy!

And what was the joy that was set before Him?

Surely it included the joy of cleansing, healing,

and strengthening us; the joy of paying for the sins of all who

would repent; the joy of making it possible for you and me

to return home--clean and worthy--to live with

our Heavenly Parents and families.

If we focus on the joy that will come to us or to those we love,

what can we endure that presently

seems overwhelming, painful, scary, unfair,

or simply impossible?

One father in a spiritually precarious situation focused

on the joy of finally being clean and right with

the Lord--the joy of being freed from guilt and shame--and

the joy of having peace of mind.

That focus gave him the courage to confess

to his wife and bishop about his problem

with pornography and his subsequent infidelity.

He is now doing everything his bishop counsels him to do,

striving with all his heart to regain

the trust of his dear wife.

A young woman focused on the joy of staying sexually pure

to help her endure the mocking of friends

as she walked away from a popular and provocative

but spiritually dangerous situation.

A man who frequently demeaned his wife

and indulged in angry outbursts at his children

focused on the joy of being worthy to have the Holy Ghost

as his constant companion.

That focus motivated him to put off

the natural man, to which he had too often succumbed,

and make needed changes.

A dear colleague recently told me

of his past two decades of heavy trials.

He said, "I have learned to suffer--with joy.

My suffering was swallowed up in the joy of Christ."

What will you and I be able to endure

as we focus on the joy that is "set before" us?

What repenting will then be possible?

What weakness will become a strength?

What chastening will become a blessing?

What disappointments, even tragedies,

will turn to our good?

And what challenging service to the Lord

will we be able to give?

As we diligently focus on the Savior

and then follow His pattern of focusing on joy,

we need to avoid those things that can interrupt our joy.

Remember Korihor, the anti-Christ?

Spewing falsehoods about the Savior,

Korihor went from place to place until he

was brought before a high priest who asked him,

"Why do ye go about perverting the ways of the Lord?

Why do ye teach this people that there shall be no Christ,

to interrupt their rejoicings?"

Anything that opposes Christ or His doctrine

will interrupt our joy.

That includes the philosophies of men, so abundant online

and in the blogosphere, which do exactly what Korihor did.

If we look to the world and follow its formulas

for happiness, we will never know joy.

The unrighteous may experience any number

of emotions and sensations, but they will never experience joy!

Joy is a gift for the faithful.

It is the gift that comes from intentionally

trying to live a righteous life, as taught by Jesus Christ.

He taught us how to have joy.

When we choose Heavenly Father to be our God

and when we can feel the Savior's Atonement

working in our lives, we will be filled with joy.

Every time we nurture our spouse and guide

our children, every time we forgive someone

or ask for their forgiveness, we can feel joy.

Every day that you and I choose to live celestial laws,

every day that we keep our covenants

and help others to do the same, joy will be ours.

Heed these words of the Psalmist:

"I have set the Lord always before me:

because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

. . .

In [His] presence is fulness of joy."

As this principle is embedded in our hearts, each and every day

can be a day of joy and gladness.

I so testify in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.