when our son was in fourth grade his class set up a mock government where Eli was elected by his peers to serve as class judge one day a sitting judge from the second district visited put his official robes on Eli and then administered an oath of office for their class this ignited in his young impressionable soul a passion for studying law and the lawgiver himself Jesus Christ after years of diligent effort Eli received an invitation for an interview with one of his top choices for law school he pronounced "Mom I was asked 10 questions the final question was where do you derive your moral compass i stated that throughout history humankind has derived systems of morality by patterning their lives from archetypes the archetype of morality I strive to pattern my life from is that of Jesus Christ i stated "If all of humanity abided by the teachings of Jesus Christ in the sermon on the mount the world would be a better more peaceful place." Then the interview ended and he thought to himself "There go my childhood dreams no one in secular academia wants to hear about Jesus Christ." Two weeks later Eli was admitted with a scholarship before committing we visited the campus the law school looked like a castle and was set high on a hill overlooking a beautiful lake remarkably as we walked through the magnificent library and stately corridors we found on banners and carved in stone attributes from the Sermon on the Mount the Sermon on the Mount is decisively the most noteworthy discourse ever delivered pioneering in its teachings no other sermon can help us better understand the character of Jesus Christ his divine attributes and our ultimate purpose to become like him lifelong disciplehip of Jesus Christ begins in our homes and in primary as early as 18 months of age we want our children to believe in Jesus Christ belong to Jesus Christ and his church through covenant and strive to become like Jesus Christ first believe in Jesus Christ after the bread of life sermon many of the Lord's disciples found it hard to accept his teachings and doctrine and they went back and walked no more with him jesus then turned to the twel and asked a heart-wrenching question will ye also go away peter responded,"Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the son of the living God." As Peter demonstrated belief is to have faith in someone or to accept something as true and for our faith to lead to salvation it must be centered in the Lord Jesus Christ we exercise faith in Jesus Christ when we have an assurance that he exists an understanding of his true character and nature and a knowledge that we are striving to live according to his will our beloved prophet President Russell M nelson declared "Faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of all belief and the conduit of divine power." End quote how can we help strengthen children how can we help children strengthen their belief in Jesus Christ and access his divine power we need to look no further than to our savior himself the Lord spake unto the people saying,"Behold I am Jesus Christ arise and come forth." The multitude went forth and thrust their hands into his side and did fill the prince of the nails in his hands and in his feet and this they did do going forth one by one and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands and did know of assurityity and did bear record that it was he i invite you to ponder what this can look like in the life of young children do they hear testimonies of Jesus Christ in his gospel do they see reverentual worshipful images of his ministry and godhood do they feel and recognize the Holy Ghost testifying of his reality and divinity do they know of his message and mission second belong to Jesus Christ and his church king Benjamin's people experienced a mighty change of heart and by covenant dedicated their lives to doing God's will because of the covenant they made with God and Jesus Christ they were called the children of Christ his sons and his daughters as members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we have a covenantal responsibility to build his kingdom and prepare for his return how can we help children make and keep sacred covenants in Come Follow Me in appendix A and B we find conversation starters and lessons that will empower families and support teachers and leaders in their sacred stewardship to prepare children for a lifetime on God's covenant path third become like Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon the Savior admonished his newly called disciples to emulate him as closely as possible what manner of men ought you to be verily I say unto you even as I am how can we help baptized and confirmed children fulfill their covenantal responsibility to gather themselves and others unto Jesus Christ lifelong disciplehip requires us to be doers of the word and not hearers only when extending invitations to the Lord's youngest disciples please take every opportunity to lead them guide them walk beside them and help them find the way counsel with these precious little ones as they prepare to teach testify pray or serve so they are confident and experienced joy in fulfilling their responsibilities seek inspired ways to help them come to know that this is their church and they have a vital role to play in preparing for the Savior's return as Jesus Christ becomes the focus of our lives what we desire and how we desire it is forever altered conversion changes everything it changes our nature that we have no more disposition to do evil but to do good continually it changes how we spend our time our resources what we read watch listen to and share it even changes how we respond in a distinguished academic career on the line interview we need to infuse the light of Jesus Christ into every corner of our lives if we are not testifying to the veracity of his premortal godhood his divine mission and his prison bursting resurrection in our homes and in every single meeting of this church then our messages of love service honesty humility gratitude and compassion can become nothing more than a jaunty pep talk of thoughtful living without Jesus Christ there is no power to change no purpose to aspire to and no reconciliation of the tralls of life if we become casual in our disciplehip of Jesus Christ it could be catastrophic for our children when we tell our children we love them are we also telling them that their father in heaven and savior Jesus Christ loved them our love may comfort and inspire but their love can sanctify exalt and heal this Jesus should not be a fictional Jesus or a simplistic Jesus or a bodyless Jesus or a casual Jesus or an unknown Jesus but a glorified omnipotent resurrected exalted worshipful powerful only begotten son of God who is mighty ready to save and as a young child in the Philippines compellingly testified to me one day we are worth saving in the sacred and holy name of him whom God has set forth to be the great propitiation Jesus Christ amen