Identity, Priority, and Blessings - Elder Nelson

Elder Russell M. Nelson delivered this speech at Brigham Young University on September 10, 2000. He focuses upon the importance of understanding our heritage through an Abrahamic identity. He also discusses the need to prioritize the covenants of the gospel and the blessings that flow therefrom.

How do you obtain your blessings? How can you qualify for eternal blessings—even “all that [the] Father hath”? With your identity preserved and your priorities properly honored, our Father’s blessings will flow to you by virtue of the holy priesthood, which is without beginning or end.

You can lay claim to all the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, destined to be fulfilled in these latter days (see 1 Nephi 15:18). Blessings and responsibilities once extended to other nations (see Galatians 3:7–9, 14, 27, 29) have now been given to us (see D&C 110:12). Patriarchal blessings reveal our linkage to the great patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We are the seed of Abraham through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed. That identity merits our precious priority, which in turn brings to us the blessings of heaven.

Read the full text of this speech here.