Your covenants give you more power than you think—heaven is behind you.
PHOTO BY MARKUS LAANISTO
When you hear the word endowment, what do you typically think of? If you think of going to the temple to ‘get your endowment out,’ you would be in the majority; however, it isn’t something you ‘get out’ but rather something you receive and live by.
In his BYU devotional address, Anthony Sweat talks about the power an endowment has and what it really is. He describes this covenant as “an endowment of spiritual power, or a heavenly gift of divine knowledge, experience, capacity, and ability.…a heavenly bestowal of spiritual power.” This is such a beautiful way to describe our endowments. They aren’t just a one time ceremony that we promptly forget— they’re a heavenly blessing that changes both who we are and how we live.
So what if you haven’t received your temple endowment yet? Does that disqualify you from these heavenly blessings? Not at all! As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are promised powerful blessings as we keep the covenants we have made. This is not limited to our endowment but starts with our baptismal covenant. Whether you just got baptized and confirmed as a member or you recently got married in the temple, you still have access to that power.
The most important thing to remember is that our endowment isn’t just something we do in a day—the covenant and associated power are with us throughout our lifetime. We should look for all the ways we can use our endowment to better ourselves and the lives of others. As we allow our covenants and endowments to transform us, we can become a light in a world that needs it now more than ever.
Read or watch Anthony Sweat’s speech“We Need an Endowment.”
Source: speeches.byu.edu
—Cecilia Oaks, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY GUILLAUME DE GERMAIN
Find more insight
Read or watch “Claim the Blessings of Your Covenants” by Linda S. Reeves to learn more about covenant blessings.
Read more about living your covenants in “The Eternal Perspective of the Gospel”
This is such a great insight on the blessings we receive from keeping all of our covenants, not just from the endowment. Thanks for your thoughts!