5. Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence: Elder Jorg Klebingot

I always love the time of year when General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rolls around. It is such a privilege to be able to hear the word of God spoken through the mouth of our Prophet and other church leaders.

In the most recent October 2014 General Conference, Elder Jorg Klebingot's gave a talk titled Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence which really stood out to me. He talks about how if we apply the Atonement to our lives, and put forth honest effort, we will be able to approach the throne of God with confidence. After he introduced his topic he said how he is going to speak boldly in hopes to edify, not offend. There is a power in delivering a message this way as he speaks clearly and somewhat bluntly. Klebingot uses a lot of pathos to elicit strong emotions to help us see things from the right perspective, which helps us recognize if we are looking at things the wrong way.

He uses imagery to describe how we may feel when we meet God--he asks if we will wait with "joyful anticipation", or avoid His gaze? He describes all the feelings we may have, and the thoughts that go through our minds. He words are stated so simply and straightforward, that it is a bit surprising. There is an emotional impact with the simplicity of his teaching.

Klebingot gives a list of six suggestions we can use to gain spiritual confidence:
     1. Take responsibility for your own spiritual well being.
     2.  Take responsibility for your own physical well being.
     3. Embrace voluntary, wholehearted obedience part of your life.
     4. Become really, really good at repenting thoroughly and quickly.
     5. Become really, really good at forgiving.
     6. Accept trials, setbacks, and "surprises" as part of your mortal existence.

These six points sums up the main message of his talk. He said, "Acknowledge and face your weaknesses, but don’t be immobilized by them." He teaches that it basically comes down to a choice. If we strive to do our very best, then the Savior's Atonement will take place in our lives and we will "be fully clean and acceptable before God all the time". We just need to have the faith and courage to recognize what we can improve on, and then take action.