Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

By Elder Steven R. Bangerter
Of the Seventy

Our prophet’s references to the Lord holding the youth of our day in reserve for this time in the gathering of Israel and his invitation to pray to know what the Lord would have you do are, in part, references to the life you lived and blessings you received from God before you were born on this earth. All of us who are born on this earth first lived with our Heavenly Father as His spirit children. The Lord declared to Moses, “I, the Lord God, created all things … spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth.”

When He created you spiritually, He loved you as His spirit sons and daughters and embedded within each of you a divine nature and eternal destiny.

During your premortal life, you “developed [your] identity and increased [your] spiritual capabilities.” You were blessed with the gift of agency, the ability to make choices for yourself, and you did make important decisions, such as the decision to follow Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness, which is to “obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress … and ultimately realize [your] divine destiny as heirs of eternal life.” This decision affected your life then, in your premortal life, and it continues to affect your life now. As a child of God living in your premortal life, you “grew in intelligence and learned to love the truth.”

Before you were born, God appointed each of you to fulfill specific missions during your mortal life upon the earth. If you remain worthy, the blessings of that premortal decree will enable you to have all kinds of opportunities in this life, including opportunities to serve in the Church and to participate in the most important work happening on the earth today: the gathering of Israel. Those premortal promises and blessings are called your foreordination. “The doctrine of foreordination applies to all members of the Church.” Foreordination does not guarantee that you will receive certain callings or responsibilities. These blessings and opportunities come in this life as a result of your righteous exercise of agency, just as your foreordination in your premortal life came as a result of righteousness. As you prove yourself worthy and progress along the covenant path, you will receive opportunities to serve in your Young Women class or priesthood quorum. You will be blessed to serve in the temple, to become a ministering brother or sister, and to serve a mission as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/32bangerter?lang=eng