Gospel Topic # 3: Agency

I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father for His gift of agency, or the right to choose. Each of us has come to this earth with all the tools necessary to make correct choices. The prophet Mormon tells us, “The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil” (Moroni 7:16).
President Thomas S. Monson, "Decide Right Now", October 2010 General Conference Address








That is so because God gave us agency, not just as a right but as a necessity. We must choose with our agency to obey in faith that the promised blessing will come, that the promise is true because it comes from God. 
Henry B. Eyring, "A Life Founded in Light and Truth", July 2001

 You have agency, and you are free to choose. But there is actually no free agency. Agency has its price. You have to pay the consequences of your choices. 

Human agency was purchased with the price of Christ’s suffering. The power of Christ’s Atonement overcomes the effect of sin on the condition of wholehearted repentance. Through and by the Savior’s universal and infinite Atonement, all have been redeemed from the Fall and have become free forever to act for themselves (see 2 Ne. 2:26).

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "On the Wings of Eagles", From a Brigham Young University devotional address given on November 11, 2003.

No Father would send His children off to a distant, dangerous land for a lifetime of testing where Lucifer was known to roam free without first providing them with a personal power of protection. He would also supply them with means to communicate with Him from Father to child and from child to Father. Every child of our Father sent to earth is provided with the Spirit of Christ, or the Light of Christ. ¹ We are, none of us, left here alone without hope of guidance and redemption.

President Boyd K. Packer, "Prayer and Promptings", October 2009



Those of us who have been around a while—and Elder Wirthlin and I have been around for a long time—have recognized certain patterns in life’s test. There are cycles of good and bad times, ups and downs, periods of joy and sadness, and times of plenty as well as scarcity. When our lives turn in an unanticipated and undesirable direction, sometimes we experience stress and anxiety. One of the challenges of this mortal experience is to not allow the stresses and strains of life to get the better of us—to endure the varied seasons of life while remaining positive, even optimistic. 
L. Tom Perry, "Let Him Do It With Simplicity", October 2008



But the final responsibility to prepare for salvation and exaltation rests upon each person, accountable for individual agency, acting in one’s own family, bearing another sacred title of mother, father, daughter, son, grandmother, or grandfather.

Russel M. Nelson, "Salvation and Exaltation", April 2008








To achieve our eternal destiny, we will desire and work for the qualities required to become an eternal being. For example, eternal beings forgive all who have wronged them. They put the welfare of others ahead of themselves. And they love all of God’s children. If this seems too difficult—and surely it is not easy for any of us—then we should begin with a desire for such qualities and call upon our loving Heavenly Father for help with our feelings. 

Dallin H. Oaks, "Desire", April 2011




As children of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity and power of independent action. Endowed with agency, we are agents, and we primarily are to act and not merely be acted upon—especially as we “seek learning … by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118).

David A. Bednar, "Watching With All Perseverance", May 2010







Remember that with His gift of moral agency, our Heavenly Father has graciously provided us help to exercise that agency in a way that will yield precious, positive fruit in our life here and hereafter. 

D. Todd Christofferson, "Moral Agency", Ensign June 2009








Impressions of the Spirit can come in response to urgent prayer or unsolicited when needed. Sometimes the Lord reveals truth to you when you are not actively seeking it, such as when you are in danger and do not know it. However, the Lord will not force you to learn. You must exercise your agency to authorize the Spirit to teach you. As you make this a practice in your life, you will be more perceptive to the feelings that come with spiritual guidance. Then, when that guidance comes, sometimes when you least expect it, you will recognize it more easily.

Richard G. Scott, "To Acquire Spiritual Guidance", October 2009 General Conference





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My position Statement:
Agency is a big key to the plan of salvation. Satan tried to take away our Agency, but that was contrary to God's plan. Without Agency, everything falls to pieces. We must be able to choose our lives and make our own decisions. That is how we learn and grow. The consequences that come are important. We should not be forced to be good, or to make the exact right decisions. That was Satan's plan, but it is wrong. The whole purpose of the Plan of Salvation is to be happy, and without Agency, we could never possibly be happy. 

Tara Howard
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