“The Love of God”

Posted on by Mitch Peterson

Last updated on September 19th, 2025 at 02:24 pm

General Conference Applied

S5 E47 – Sunday, September 14, 2025 | “The Love of God” by Elder Benjamin M.Z. Tai; April 2025 General Conference

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Podcast Episode Outline

Introduction

As we begin this podcast episode, please remember that the General Conference Applied Podcast is meant to be a supplement for your review of General Conference Addresses. This podcast episode will be even more beneficial to you if you also review Elder Tai’s April 2025 General Conference address.

Bio

  • “Elder Benjamin M. Z. Tai was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 6, 2019. At the time of his call, he had been serving as an Area Seventy and a member of the Eighth Quorum of the Seventy in the Asia Area. At Church headquarters he has served as an area assistant in the North America Southeast Area and as an Assistant Executive Director of the Missionary Department. He is currently serving as President of the Asia Area.

    “Elder Tai has served in a number of Church callings, including as a full-time missionary in the Australia Melbourne Mission.

    “Elder Tai received a bachelor of science degree from Brigham Young University and a master of business administration degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. His professional career was in investment banking and real estate development.

    “Benjamin Ming Zhe Tai was born in Hong Kong, and he married Naomi Toma in 1995. They are the parents of six children.”
  • This was Elder Tai’s second general conference address. His most recent address was “The Power of the Book of Mormon in Conversion” from the April 2020 General Conference.

Invitations

  1. “The scriptures teach us that ‘faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ While disorienting distractions and terrestrial temptations cloud our spiritual vision, when we exercise faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, we receive clear assurance of Their reality and of Their concern for us.”
    • In our own words: Exercise faith in God and Jesus to receive clear assurance of Their reality and concern for us.
  2. “[L]ike Lehi, we too can receive a joyful witness of God when we invite Him into our lives.”
    • In our own words: Invite God into your life to receive a joyful witness of Him.
  3. We can consistently experience God’s love when, through the grace of Jesus Christ, we: repeatedly repent.
  4. We can consistently experience God’s love when we: frankly forgive.
    • Application Idea #1: Sometimes, in a moment of spiritual strength, we’ll frankly forgive others who have wronged us. But I think the hardest part of forgiveness is then moving on and allowing others to remain forgiven. Forgiving them brought us inner peace and release from unkind feelings in that moment, but I’ve found that if the situation or person continues to harm me or my family even after I’ve supposedly “let it go,” Satan slides in to tempt me to drift back into bitterness. We could study the topic of forgiveness in the scriptures and prayerfully ponder the hard question of whether we have frankly and fully forgiven others. Then, plead for help to perfect any incomplete forgiveness, and ask God for strength against temptations to revoke our forgiveness later.
    • Clay Application: Idea #1. I’ll commit to studying the topic of forgiveness in the scriptures and prayerfully ponder the hard question of whether I have frankly and fully forgiven others. Then, I’ll plead for help to perfect any incomplete forgiveness, and ask God for strength against temptations to revoke my forgiveness later.
  5. We can consistently experience God’s love when we: strive to keep His commandments.
  6. We can consistently experience God’s love when we: selflessly serve others.
    • Application Idea #1: When we need something or badly want God’s help, guidance, or divine intervention on a matter, consider first looking outward for someone else to serve.
    • Nick Application: Serve a family in my stake who recently had a family member pass away.
  7. We feel God’s love when we do things that draw us closer to Him, such as: conversing with Him daily through prayer and scripture study.
    • Application Idea #1: Create a scripture study and prayer routine to hear God’s word.
  8. We feel God’s love when we: stop doing things that distance us from Him, such as being prideful, contentious, and rebellious.
  9. “President Russell M. Nelson has invited us to ‘remove, with the Savior’s help, the old debris in our lives’ and to ‘lay aside bitterness.’ He has encouraged us to ‘bolster our spiritual foundations’ through ‘centering our lives on [the Savior] and on the ordinances and covenants of His temple.’ He promised that ‘as we keep our temple covenants, we gain greater access to the Lord’s strengthening power. … We experience the pure love of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father in great abundance!'”
    • In our own words: Remove “debris” from your life and lay aside bitterness with the Savior’s help. Center your life on the Savior and temple covenants to strengthen your spiritual foundation.
    • Application Idea #1: Pray with a notebook asking for help to identify any “debris” or bitterness to lay aside. Go to the temple for strength and guidance on how.
  10. “When we experience the love of God, we can bear up our burdens with ease and submit patiently and cheerfully to His will. We have confidence that God will remember His covenants with us, visit us in our afflictions, and deliver us from bondage. We will also desire to share the joy we feel with our family and loved ones.”
    • In our own words: Do the work to experience the love of God. Doing so will improve our strength, patience, obedience, confidence and trust in God, and we’ll want to share our joy.
  11. “To help others feel God’s love, we need to cultivate in ourselves Christlike attributes such as humility, charity, compassion, and patience and help turn others towards the Savior through following the two great commandments of loving God and loving our fellow men.”
    • In our own words: Develop Christlike attributes to help others feel God’s love. Love God and all people to help turn them to the Savior.
    • Application Idea #1: Mitch’s Christlike Attributes activity spreadsheet
  12. “When the winds are against us in our lives, are we willing to be cheerful and courageous? How can we remember that the Savior does not forsake us and that He is near us, perhaps in ways we don’t yet recognize? Are we willing to go to Him in faith, especially when the path before us seems impossible? And in what ways does He lift us to safety when we flounder? How can we faithfully look unto Him in every thought, without doubt or fear?”
    • In our own words: Be cheerful and courageous despite opposition. Remember the Savior is near. Go to the Lord in faith without doubt or fear, especially when our path seems impossible.
  13. “If you would like to feel the love of God more abundantly in your life, may I invite you to consider the following:
    • “First, pause frequently to remember that you are a child of God and think of the things you are grateful for.
    • “Second, pray daily, asking Heavenly Father to help you know who around you needs to feel His love.
    • “Third, ask sincerely what you can do to help that individual to feel the love of God.
    • “And fourth, act promptly on the inspiration you receive.
    • [The Promise:] “If we consistently pray and ask on the behalf of others, God will show us the people we can help. And if we act promptly, we can become the means through which He answers their prayers. By doing so, in time, we will receive answers to our prayers and we will feel God’s love in our own lives.”
      • In our own words: To feel the love of God more: Remember you’re a child of God, be grateful, pray daily to know whom you can help feel God’s love, pray to know how you can help them, and then act.
      • Mitch Application: Do this exercise.
  14. “I joyfully witness that the Savior Jesus Christ is the love of God. His love for us is perfect, personal, and perpetual. As we faithfully follow Him, may we be filled with His love and may we be a lighthouse that guides others to His love.”
    • In our own words: Faithfully follow Jesus Christ to be filled with His love and guide others to His love.
    • Application Idea #1: Live the gospel fully in every situation. Don’t hide your faith; share it in respectful ways whenever you can. Allow your personal and professional behavior to obviously mark you as a disciple of Christ. Like President Nelson’s experience of living his faith in his medical practice, and sometimes getting a slap on the wrist from colleagues for it, our faith should not be something you can ever hide or take off. Consider reading biographies of church leaders for many great examples of doing this well.

Discussion Questions

  1. What in your life is acting like clouds or air/light pollution, blocking you from seeing the “stars” or a “glorious vista” God has for you?
  2. If you, in a moment of spiritual strength, have frankly forgiven someone, have you moved on and allowed them to remain forgiven or do you occasionally drift back to bitterness? Has God fully forgiven you of something?
  3. What “old debris” do you need to remove from your life, with the Savior’s help?
  4. Why do we often need to pray for and serve others, becoming “the means through which [God] answers their prayers,” before we get answers to our own prayers or feel God’s love ourselves?
  5. Elder Tai asked, “When the winds are against us in our lives, are we willing to be cheerful and courageous? How can we remember that the Savior does not forsake us and that He is near us, perhaps in ways we don’t yet recognize? Are we willing to go to Him in faith, especially when the path before us seems impossible? And in what ways does He lift us to safety when we flounder? How can we faithfully look unto Him in every thought, without doubt or fear?”

External Resources Referenced In This Episode

  1. Dark Sky International
  2. Prayer and the Blue Horizon, Dieter F. Uchtdorf
  3. “He Maketh Me to Lie Down in Green Pastures,” 1993.
  4. How the gospel brought this Asian General Authority’s family together in a remarkable way
  5. Denmark, Copenhagen Mission
  6. Alaska, Anchorage Mission
  7. S5 E41
  8. S5 E43
  9. S5 E45
  10. S5 E44
  11. Hong Kong Temple
  12. President Uchtdorf 2009 address

What will you do?

How will you take action on the invitations extended in this General Conference address?

Conclusion

The focus of our next podcast episode will be the August 2025 General Conference+.

As we conclude this episode, we would invite you to refer to the podcast episode details for this podcast episode where we have provided important information for connecting with us and further supporting the General Conference Applied Podcast. The best ways to help us are to like and subscribe to the podcast, to share the podcast with others, to like and share our content on social media, to share your own experiences with us on social media, and especially to contact us on our website.

Please remember that General Conference Applied is meant to be a supplement for your review of General Conference Addresses. We promise that you will get more out of each General Conference Applied episode when you study the General Conference address first.

Thank you for joining us in this effort to become doers of the word and to take action on general conference invitations.

Tags

Faith | God the Father | Jesus Christ | Love | Prayer | Service

Additional Content

Previous Podcast Episode (“Harden Not Your Heart” by Elder Christopher H. Kim)

Next Podcast Episode (August 2025 General Conference+)

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