Talk I gave this morning at our friends' baptism. Now that you have been baptized, you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. At your reception last night, you received many wedding gifts. But what good are they if you do not open them and use them? So it is with the gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Bednar said, “These four words—‘Receive the Holy Ghost’—are not a passive pronouncement . . . . The Holy Ghost does not become operative in our lives merely because hands are placed upon our heads and those four important words are spoken” ( Increase in Learning , 47). This is confirmed in D&C 88:33 : “For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift?” How, then, do we receive the Holy Ghost? Elder Bednar revealed, “Everything the Savior’s gospel teaches us to do and become is intended to bless us with the companionship of the Holy Ghost. . . . Praying, studying, gathering, worshipping, serving, and obeying are not isolated and inde
"That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day." -D&C 50:24