Kelly Merrill

Latter-day Saint Life

The Gift of Prophecy: It's Surprising Definition + How Every Member Accesses It

By Kelly Merrill

August 13, 2019 03:45 PM MDT

The following has been republished with permission from gospelstudy.us.

6 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 25: "Move Forward with Faith"

By Kelly Merrill

June 13, 2017 06:48 PM MDT

Faith, as a principle of power, is one of the most amazing parts of our relationship with God. He is able to measure the amount of faith a person has, and based on that amount or quality, He is able to bring to pass events that can only be described as miracles.

3 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 24: "The Atonement of Jesus Christ: Vast in Its Reach, Intimate in Its Effect"

By Kelly Merrill

June 12, 2017 08:24 PM MDT

The Atonement is all about love and all about mercy. Our Father in Heaven has the role of lawgiver. As the lawgiver, he cannot extend mercy to us for breaking those laws. That has to be done by a third party.

4 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 23: "The Blessings of the Holy Temple"

By Kelly Merrill

June 08, 2017 07:53 PM MDT

There are those who cannot find a suitable companion in this life and have to wait until the hereafter to get married. There are those who long for children in this life, but will have to wait for that promised blessing until after the resurrection. Just so, the bulk of humanity has had to trust that the blessings available only in a temple of God would be available to them in the next life. Such blessings were just not available in this life.

4 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 22: "Reaching Out with Love to New Converts and Less-Active Members"

By Kelly Merrill

June 05, 2017 02:46 PM MDT

Those of us who are actively involved in the gospel of Christ have become accustomed to its demands. We direct music, give talks, run whole organizations with secretaries and counselors. We volunteer countless hours in service, clean our church houses, and willingly pay tithes and offerings regularly. Can you name any other organization on earth that requires so much of its members? I can’t name one.

6 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 21: "The Latter-day Miracle of Missionary Work"

By Kelly Merrill

June 05, 2017 02:32 PM MDT

The opening section of this lesson talks about the missionary experiences of President Hinckley. It also gives some statistics about the growth of the Church during his time as President and Prophet. The question that arose in my mind while reading the stats given in the lesson has more to do with the work involved in attaining growth in the Church.

6 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 20: "Fellowship with Those Who Are Not of Our Faith"

By Kelly Merrill

May 15, 2017 06:45 PM MDT

In the introduction to this lesson, President Hinckley talks about the fellowship and unity we ought to have with those not of our faith. Here is the quote:

4 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 19: "Priesthood Leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ"

By Kelly Merrill

May 15, 2017 06:25 PM MDT

The major burden of the priesthood of God is to serve God’s children. The higher the office in the priesthood, the greater the expectation to serve well and much. Without service, the priesthood is a hollow ordination and counts for little. Without service, there can be no power in the priesthood. It is through service that the power of the priesthood is manifest.

6 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 18: "Virtue—a Cornerstone on Which to Build Our Lives"

By Kelly Merrill

May 15, 2017 05:55 PM MDT

The scriptural and doctrinal meaning of the word virtue has always alluded me. When the woman with an issue of blood touched the hem of Christ’s garment and He felt virtue go out of Him, that tells me that virtue must mean something more than just not having inappropriate sex. So what does it mean to have virtue or to be virtuous?

4 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 17: "Continue in the Great Process of Learning"

By Kelly Merrill

May 15, 2017 05:24 PM MDT

For many of us learning is a mixed bag. We may be good at learning or we may struggle to retain information we read. Many of us learn best when we do something versus read about something. But no matter how we prefer to learn, the question we need to answer is “Have we learned to love learning?”

6 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 16: "The Power of the Book of Mormon"

By Kelly Merrill

April 14, 2017 07:05 PM MDT

As we launch into this lesson about the Book of Mormon it is important that we review the nature of a Spirit-born testimony first. One of the keys to understanding how our testimonies work is to remember that we are mortal. As such, our memories fade with time. Even spiritual witnesses dim if not nourished and renewed by the Spirit.

5 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 15: "The Holy Priesthood"

By Kelly Merrill

April 14, 2017 03:20 PM MDT

I have been told by some sisters that just as the men have a problem teaching and studying the yearly lesson on the women of the Church, so to do the women have a problem on the lesson on the priesthood. Hopefully we can remedy that this time.

6 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 14: "Losing Ourselves in the Service of Others"

By Kelly Merrill

March 28, 2017 03:01 PM MDT

The title of this lesson will cause the hackles to stand up on the backs of some people’s necks. The prevailing thought of today’s society is that what is best for me is what is most important. To say that I need to learn to sacrifice my own convenience for the welfare of someone else smacks too much of a codependent (unhealthy) relationship.

6 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 13: "Peace and Contentment through Temporal Self-Reliance"

By Kelly Merrill

March 28, 2017 02:17 PM MDT

In this lesson, the word "peace" is generally equal to the word "security." We’re not talking about the spiritual peace the Spirit brings into our lives. This peace is the security that comes to us because we have learned how to work, and have developed the discipline to store and save against a rainy day and the unexpected disaster.

6 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 12: "Obedience: Simply Live the Gospel"

By Kelly Merrill

March 20, 2017 04:53 PM MDT

To understand the scope and importance of being obedient to the laws of the gospel of Christ, we should first look at why they are in place, and what they mean for us. First, let’s look at why the Church and kingdom of God need to be on the earth.

5 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 11: "Home—the Basis of a Righteous Life"

By Kelly Merrill

March 14, 2017 08:11 PM MDT

One of the great dangers of our present society is the adoption of the belief that all things in life are optional. Life, and the way we live life can be based, and indeed should be based on personal opinion and convenience.

8 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 10: "Nurturing the Eternal Partnership of Marriage"

By Kelly Merrill

February 13, 2017 03:50 PM MST

Mortality is chock-full of new experiences. All of us have mortal bodies to learn to deal with, but on top of the privilege of having a physical body, we get to experience a taste of a relationship that up till now only our Father and Mother in heaven got to enjoy. We get to begin to learn how powerful the matrimonial relationship can be.

7 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 9: "The Precious Gift of Testimony"

By Kelly Merrill

February 13, 2017 03:26 PM MST

Think about the universal nature of testimony. You may live in a big city, complete with cultural centers and every convenience money can buy. Then again, you may live in the desert among vagabonds who travel from place to place with only the clothes on your back and a few tools and supplies. You may live in a jungle, eating off the land, or you may live in the frozen north.

5 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 8: "We Look to Christ"

By Kelly Merrill

January 23, 2017 05:56 PM MST

Our baptismal covenant requires us to stand as witnesses of Christ at all times and in all places. What better way for us to represent our belief in Christ than to live and act as He would?

5 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 7: "The Whisperings of the Spirit"

By Kelly Merrill

January 23, 2017 05:34 PM MST

President Hinckley states that we need to listen to the “whisperings of the Spirit in the middle of the night, and respond to those whisperings.” Of course, the Spirit whispers to us in the daytime too, but His inspiration comes in the nighttime often enough that several of the General Authorities have stated that they sleep with pen and paper next to the bed so they can write down what comes into their heads in the middle of the night.

5 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 6: "How Mighty a Thing Is Prayer"

By Kelly Merrill

January 09, 2017 03:50 PM MST

Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said that when President Hinckley “comes up against an insoluble problem, he goes to his knees.” This illustrates an important principle or two about prayer. President Hinckley did everything he could to solve his own problems. He used all the resources available to him, but he knew that when all else failed the Lord was there to listen to his problems and help him find the solutions which had thus far eluded him.

5 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 5: "Daughters of God"

By Kelly Merrill

January 09, 2017 02:55 PM MST

Every year there is a lesson on the women of the Church. Every year the women groan for the same reason so many groan at Mother’s Day. Every year the men look at the title and think, “What am I supposed to do with this in quorum meeting?” Be patient. This lesson offers both camps good things to consider and think about.

5 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 4: "The Pioneer Heritage of Faith and Sacrifice"

By Kelly Merrill

January 06, 2017 05:32 PM MST

Below is the opening quote to this lesson. I have included it because it sets up an important premise for the whole lesson.

6 Min Read

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley Lesson 3: "Cultivating an Attitude of Happiness and a Spirit of Optimism"

By Kelly Merrill

January 06, 2017 05:17 PM MST

Good attitudes often suffer from bad reputations. I know I have often accused my wife of being a “Pollyanna” when something was going terribly wrong and she piped in with how it could be seen to be going right. You might say this lesson was tailor-made for people like me. I wouldn’t call myself a pessimist (of course not!), but if something can go wrong, it usually does.

6 Min Read