There are so many reasons! One of my favorite, that I didn’t actually fully understand, is ordinances are windows to heaven. I had a visiting teacher once who joined the church after 76 years of being an active catholic. As he talked to our family, he told the story of how his wife was a member, so he decided to study the church on his own, although she had no idea.  He studied every book and bit of information he could, until he got to a point where he realized that he couldn’t go any further without baptism. This was a new thought to me. I didn’t realize that baptism would open up the windows of heaven. Once he was baptized he was able to continue his understanding.

“We need first to understand the inseparable relationship among three sacred ordinances that provide access to the powers of heaven: baptism by immersion, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the sacrament.” -David A. Bednar

It was probably a year after that when I was able to finally go to the temple. (My story is linked at the bottom) My experience in the temple was spectacular to say the least. It gave me a greater love and respect for my husband and the conviction to follow him. However, I did not expect to have the windows of heaven opened to me; I already had a strong testimony and unwavering faith. This is the power of ordinances, the heavens were opened to me as well. It was as if a layer of spiritual comprehension was immediately available to me. I was able to grow spiritually in ways that I had not been able to before the temple. My understanding increased.

President Thomas S. Monson taught, “The saving ordinances received in the temple that permit us to someday return to our Heavenly Father in an eternal family relationship and to be endowed with blessings and power from on high are worth every sacrifice and every effort.”

Elder James Faust gives this same explanation for the entire world after the heavens were opened by the first vision, and the gospel was restored. After my own experiences of the heavens being opened for me after my temple ordinances, this resonated as absolutely true. “I believe that the appearance of God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in 1820 to Joseph Smith unlocked the heavens not only to the great spiritual knowledge revealed in this dispensation but also to secular knowledge. “Anthropologists inform us that for thousands of years the average human being could expect to live about 25 to 30 years.” But since the late 19th century, life expectancy worldwide has risen to 64 years. New ideas, including scientific inventions and discoveries of better ways of doing things, were being produced annually at 39 a year from 4,000 B.C. to A.D. 1, contrasted to 3,840 new ideas a year in the 19th century, while today they are created at the rate of 110,000 a year.

Now comes the challenge to prevent the scientific, technical, and intellectual from stifling the spiritual enlightenment in our lives. As someone once said, “The greatest of undeveloped resources [in our country] is faith; the greatest of unused power is prayer.” Technology may help us communicate with each other and the world, but not with God”. -(The Shield of Faith James E. Faust)

We have full access to the powers of heaven through Christ’s Atonement. We need to recognize the spiritual help we have available at all times as we pray, fast, listen and respond to the Holy Ghost. As well as when we practice faith and repentance, believing with our full heart that the redeeming love of Christ is ever present in our lives and can transform us into spiritually -minded people while living in this mortal realm. Never discount the added strength, wisdom, understanding, and increased heavenly assistance that the ordinances of the gospel make available as we allow them to penetrate our lives.

“I have learned that where there is a prayerful heart, a hungering after righteousness, a forsaking of sins, and obedience to the commandments of God, the Lord pours out more and more light until there is finally power to pierce the heavenly veil. … A person of such righteousness has the priceless promise that one day he shall see the Lord’s face and know that he is.” -Spencer W. Kimball 

-Sherri Jorgensen