Isaiah 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Strengthened by the Atonement
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Other
Comments by Pres. Oaks
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Because of that same Atonement, our Savior can provide us the
strength we need to overcome these mortal challenges. That is my subject
today.
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Most scriptural accounts of the Atonement concern the Savior’s
breaking the bands of death and suffering for our sins.
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President James E. Faust taught, “Since the Savior has suffered
anything and everything that we could ever feel or experience, He can help
the weak to become stronger.”
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He therefore knows our struggles, our heartaches, our
temptations, and our suffering, for He willingly experienced them all as an
essential part of His Atonement. And because of this, His Atonement
empowers Him to succor us—to give us the strength to bear it all.
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Our Savior experienced and suffered the fulness of all mortal
challenges “according to the flesh” so He could know “according to the flesh”
how to “succor [which means to give relief or aid to] his people according to
their infirmities.”
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At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus explained that He was
sent “to heal the brokenhearted” (Luke 4:18). The Bible often tells us
of His healing people “of their infirmities” (Luke 5:15; 7:21). The
Book of Mormon records His healing those “that were afflicted in any
manner” (3 Nephi 17:9).
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Isaiah taught that the Messiah would bear our “griefs” and our
“sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). Isaiah also taught of His strengthening us: “Fear
thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will
strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee” (Isaiah 41:10).
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Speaking of some of his own mortal challenges, the Apostle Paul
wrote, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”
(Philippians 4:13).
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And so we see that because of His Atonement, the Savior has the
power to succor—to help—every mortal pain and affliction. Sometimes His
power heals an infirmity, but the scriptures and our experiences teach that
sometimes He succors or helps by giving us the strength or patience to
endure our infirmities.
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As the Psalmist declared, “Many are the afflictions of the
righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).
Some addictions are likely to have been caused by sinful
behavior. Even when that behavior has been repented of, the addiction may
remain. That disabling grip can also be relieved by the decisive strength
available from the Savior.
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We all have pains and afflictions and infirmities at one time or
another. Apart from what we experience because of our sins, mortality
is filled with frequent struggles, heartaches, and suffering. Examples:
sickness, physical or mental difficulties, the death of a loved
one, failure in our personal responsibilities, our family relationships, or
our occupations, when a spouse or a child strays from the path of
righteousness, feeling of rejection, life has many other challenges, such as
unemployment or other reverses in our plans, some are born with physical or
mental disabilities, the infirmity of depression is painful or permanently
disabling, singleness, addictions.
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Who can be succored and strengthened through the Atonement of
Jesus Christ? Because of His atoning experience in mortality, our
Savior is able to comfort, heal, and strengthen all men and women
everywhere, but I believe He does so only for those who seek Him and ask for
His help.
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As Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, “Having ‘descended below all
things,’ He comprehends, perfectly and personally, the full range of human
suffering.” We might even say that having descended beneath it all, He is
perfectly positioned to lift us and give us the strength we need to endure
our afflictions. We have only to ask.
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His Atonement also provides the opportunity to call upon Him who
has experienced all of our mortal infirmities to give us the strength to
bear the burdens of mortality.
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Our Savior’s Atonement does more than assure us of immortality
by a universal resurrection and give us the opportunity to be cleansed from
sin by repentance and baptism.
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Like the good Samaritan, when He finds us wounded at the
wayside, He will bind up our wounds and care for us (see Luke 10:34). The
healing and strengthening power of Jesus Christ and His Atonement is for
all of us who will ask.
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I pray that we will all understand the hope and strength of our
Savior’s Atonement: the assurance of immortality, the opportunity for eternal
life, and the sustaining strength we can receive if only we will ask,
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