Moroni 10:32

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

We are perfected, or completed, only by Christ. We cannot do it on our own. All the self-help books in the world cannot change us enough to meet God's standards. Only Jesus and the atonement and the power of the Holy Ghost can make the kind of changes in us that qualify as perfection.  We must try and do our best, but we must always remember where the power to please God comes from.

Ether 3:12-13

And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie. And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.

When we truly know that God does not and cannot lie, when we know for ourselves that he has worked out the atonement for us personally, and when we believe him when he says he can save and exalt us, we will be redeemed from the fall like Moriancumr, Enos, Nephi the first, Nephi son of Helaman, and a host of others. We can have our calling and election made sure by the testimony of Jesus Christ himself through personal revelation. The experiences of the prophets in the scriptures are not to taunt us with unattainable goals, but to testify that such goals ARE attainable. Christ does not want to save us just in the hereafter, but in the here and now. This life is not just the time to prepare to meet God, it is the time to receive a proper introduction.

Mormon 9:21

Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

If we want power from God, we begin with belief in Christ, as evidenced by our submitting to the first principles and ordinances of his gospel, which are faith and repentance, followed by baptism and the conferring of the Holy Ghost by one holding the proper authority.

We must trust with our whole heart and soul in Christ. He holds our very salvation and eternal life in his hands. When we trust him, we do not try to wrestle our salvation away from him as if we can save ourselves. No, we do not doubt in the least that he can and will redeem us.

With that trust and faith in Christ, we go to the Father in his name and ask for the help we need to strengthen and increase our faith. We ask him to change our hearts and minds from the squalor of the natural man to the humility of a disciple of Christ. Such a prayer will God always, always answer.

And his answer will be a miracle, for it is only by the miracle of the Christ's Atonement that a sinner can be washed clean and spotless.

God excludes no one from the promise of hope in this formula, to the ends of the earth and the end of time. Everyone can receive his grace. If we do not, it is only because we exclude ourselves by trying to get it some other way than how God has prescribed. He has the right to set the conditions by which we come to him. We have the choice to accept or reject those conditions. We do not, however, have the right to override the consequences of our choices.

Mormon 9:11

But behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.

The greatest miracle of God is Christ's Atonement and the plan of salvation. God must be a God of miracles to pull off our salvation. If we don't think God does miracles, then we don't think he can save us. And if that were the case, what good is he, and what good is life itself?

Mormon 9:6

O then ye unbelieving, turn ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day.

Even the most rebellious, wicked and unbelieving can turn around. Right up to the last day they can come to themselves and seek the Lord. The pure miracle of the Christ's Atonement is that it can make even the worst of sinners spotless, pure, white, and thoroughly clean. We do not have to appear before our Father stained with our sins.  Christ holds out boundless hope for everyone. No one is lost  who will come to him and have faith in him.

3 Nephi 22:11

O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.

Though we have been afflicted with guilt, the Lord can make our lives beautiful through his Atonement.

3 Nephi 19:29

Father, I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me out of the world, because of their faith, that they may be purified in me, that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one, that I may be glorified in them.

We come unto Christ by faith. The Father, who recognizes our faith, gives us to Christ to purify and nurture. When Christ owns us, his goal is to purify us through his atonement to make us as much like him as he is like his Father. His glory is to bring us back to the Father purified, sanctified, and ready to dwell with him in the Father's presence. Notice who is doing all the work. Our job is to start the process through faith in Christ as evidenced by our desire and our obedience. Once we are turned over to him, he does the rest.

3 Nephi 18:10

And when the disciples had done this, Jesus said unto them: Blessed are ye for this thing which ye have done, for this is fulfilling my commandments, and this doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you.

Through the sacrament of the Lord's Supper we make a commitment. We fully intend to keep the Lord's commandments. In that sincere moment, we don't want anything to deter us or distract us. Yet even in that moment, we know we will fail. Because we cannot carry out our commitment as we would like, we have to repeat the sacrament weekly. Starting over does not detract from our correct intention the previous week. It just means that we are still mortal and ever dependent on the Savior's atonement.

3 Nephi 17:21

And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

Everything Christ does is individualized. It is personal for each of us as he ministers to us one by one. He never sees people as groups. The ninety and nine are each individually numbered, and he knows every name. He did not atone for the world as a mass but for each individual son and daughter of God in the world. He did not suffer for a mountain of sins but for each particular sin of each particular sinner. He will greet us and welcome us home not as a crowd in a parade but personally, singularly, one by one. That is how he knows us, and that is how he saves us

3 Nephi 12:30

For it is better that ye should deny yourselves of these things, wherein ye will take up your cross, than that ye should be cast into hell.

To take up our cross is to sacrifice the things of the world that take us away from Christ. We have to give up the sins for which he went to the cross to pay on our behalf. We take up our cross when we accept his cross.

3 Nephi 9:14

Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.

Christ extends mercy to everyone, not just to General Authorities, not just to stake presidents or relief society presidents, not just to people who serve three missions or pay off their mortgage or have at least five children. Everyone who comes to Christ will receive mercy. He will receive everyone and turn no one away. No one has sinned too much or too long to be cast off by the Savior if they truly want to change and receive his mercy. He has paid for every single sin of every single person who ever has or ever will come to this earth. He has already paid for it all, so why would he turn anyone away and squander what he has already accomplished?

3 Nephi 9:13

O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?

With repentance and conversion comes spiritual healing. Christ can heal our pains and sorrows. He can heal the damage we have done to ourselves and to others and the damage that others have done to us. He can heal it all because he understands it all because he has suffered it all.

3 Nephi 4:33

And their hearts were swollen with joy, unto the gushing out of many tears, because of the great goodness of God in delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; and they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction.

Repentance and humility always qualify us for the saving grace of Christ's atonement. Just as the Nephites were delivered from the overwhelming odds of the Gadiantons, Christ will deliver us from the overwhelming odds of mortality and sin. Every story of rescue, protection and deliverance in the scriptures testifies of this truth. Our very lives can testify of it if we repent and humble ourselves.

Helaman 14:30

And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free.

We can earn our punishment, but we cannot earn our redemption. Redemption comes as a gift for which we qualify through repentance. Justice, on the other hand, will come upon us if God does nothing to stop it. We choose justice or mercy. Mercy is the result of Christ's atonement, which we must choose to accept. If we do not choose mercy, we get justice by default.

Helaman 13:38

But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head.

Christ offers the grace of his atonement to all, but he does not offer it forever. It is free, but it is not without terms and conditions. A condition of redemption is that we must repent before it is too late. Only God knows the statute of limitations on repentance for each of us. We must repent before we find ourselves in the situation where a prophet tells us it is too late. If we repent continuously, we need not worry. But if we put off repentance when we know it is needed, we play a very dangerous game, a game with eternal consequences.

Helaman 13:11

But if ye will repent and return unto the Lord your God I will turn away mine anger, saith the Lord; yea, thus saith the Lord, blessed are they who will repent and turn unto me, but wo unto him that repenteth not.

Because of Christ's atonement, we are not condemned for our sins directly. We all make mistakes and fall short of the mark. It us not our sins per se, but our attitude towards them and what we do about them, that make the difference. We are blessed when we repent, meaning we are in a state of blessedness. Christ forgives us, heals us, and strengths us to do better when we repent. But if we do not repent, he cannot help us. Then we are in a state of wretchedness, and we drink the gall of bitterness, which is a brew we manufacture for ourselves.

Helaman 5:42

And it came to pass that they all did begin to cry unto the voice of him who had shaken the earth; yea, they did cry even until the cloud of darkness was dispersed.

It did not take these Lamanties long to receive forgiveness and deliverance. God is quick to forgive when we repent in sincerity. That does not mean, however, that repentance is cheap or easy. These people had many wrongs to repair and bad habits to overcome. They still had to change their lives in order to retain a remission of their sins. They would have to spend the rest of their lives learning the gospel, keeping the commandments, overcoming the natural man, and taking upon them the name of Christ. But initial forgiveness, pardon, and justification can come quickly through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Helaman 5:9

O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world.

It is only through Christ's intervention that we are delivered from the grasp of justice. We cannot save ourselves. Nothing we can do is sufficient unless we turn our hearts over to God. Christ redeemed the whole world, not just the elect. Every single individual can choose salvation through Christ. No one has to be excluded. We may choose to exclude ourselves, but God's desire is for all his children to come back to him. He knows not everyone will choose him, but he offers everyone the opportunity through Christ's infinite and eternal atonement.

Alma 57:26

And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.

Faith is the key to power. When we have faith in God's power, we unlock his power in our lives. 

Now,  Helaman points out that thousands of patriotic and righteous Nephites died in battle while the two thousand stripling warriors all survived. Surely God did not love the Nephites less than the Lamanite youths. Yet he demonstrated his power on their behalf to a greater degree than he did on behalf of the fallen Nephites. The difference must have been in the nature of the faith of Helaman's boys. Their faith drew down the powers of heaven in a way that the Nephites' faith could not. Captain Moroni obviously had great faith and personal righteousness. His army had the faith to follow him,  but they may have had more faith in Moroni than in God. They had faith that God would bless and prosper the army but not themselves personally. The young warriors, however, had faith that God would preserve them personally and individually.

God can be as specific in his power as we are in our faith. If we have specific faith, God will manifest specific power.

The lesson of the stripling warriors is that God has the power to save us. He can protect us from the enemy of our souls, even if others around us seem to be succumbing. If we have faith in him, even though we may be wounded, he will heal us through the atonement of Christ and bring us home safely to him.

Alma 51:21

And thus Moroni put an end to those king-men, that there were not any known by the appellation of king-men; and thus he put an end to the stubbornness and the pride of those people who professed the blood of nobility; but they were brought down to humble themselves like unto their brethren, and to fight valiantly for their freedom from bondage.

Before we can do battle without, we must win the battle within. We must conquer ourselves and put down the natural man and his pride. Satan doesn't usually have to mount an all-out attack from the outside because he knows he has a strong and treacherous ally already on the inside. He just needs to stir up the natural man from time to time. Our internal enemy makes enough commotion to keep us occupied, distracted, and off balance almost all the time. He is well ensconced within us, and we lack sufficient power on our own to dislodge him from his strongholds. We may be able to harass him, but we cannot win without a strategy and additional power. Christ and his atonement are the reinforcements we need, and the Holy Ghost conveys the strategy from headquarters. The battle plans are in the scriptures. If we obey our captains, the living prophets, we can overcome and force the natural man to surrender. But we must be diligent and faithful.