Elder F. Michael Watson was the Secretary to the First Presidency for many, many years. I love how he shares his experiences and favorite teachings from them in his talk, “His Servants, the Prophets.”
This is our talk selection for Week 19 of GCBC; I look forward to “discussing” it with you. Maybe it would be fun to share some of your favorite teachings from beloved prophets from your lifetime.
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Here is a classic video of President Ezra Taft Benson teaching a devotional in 1980 about the 14 fundamentals of following the prophet.
Diapers and Divinity 
How cool is it to listen to a talk from someone who has known all these prophets and their counselors?
This talk reminded me that each prophet kind of had a platform for their term–something that they felt was really important:
President Lee: Listen and obey the living prophet.
President Kimball: the Miracle of Forgiveness
President Benson: The Book of Mormon
President Hunter: Every member should have a temple recommend.
President Hinckley: Building and attending temples.
President Monson: Stand for Truth and Righteousness/Service
I am so amazed at how perfectly each prophet leads into the mission of the next one. That they build perfectly upon each other. I felt that testimony, from Elder Watson, that each of these men truly was a prophet, and that each of them is leading us *forward* in the Gospel, and closer to where we need to be. Great talk.
I too, liked the review of all those important messages. The prophets of my own memory have been Benson, Hunter, and Hinckley, and now obviously Monson. Here are some of my own specific memories of them:
With President Benson, I had an experience in my youth where I recalled his words about the Book of Mormon and his promise that reading it would bring a spirit of love into our homes. I took him up on that and initiated family scripture study on a day where we were fighting. The change was tangible and the event was key in building my testimony of how true a prophet’s promise is.
President Hunter was sustained as a prophet while I was on a mission. I remember feeling love for him from another land and being amazed at how the Lord strengthened his health to serve in that calling. I also remember his emphasis on the temple and on being a covenant-minded people.
President Hinckley was the prophet of most of my young adult years and I loved him dearly. There are so many great messages and themes he had, but the one that stood out the most to me personally was his simple directive to try a little harder to be a little better, and his general optimism.
I have to confess that President Monson has never been one of my “favorite” speakers because his style is so anectdotal, and I’ve always been a fan of a more hard-hitting doctrinal style like Neal A. Maxwell, but when I attended Women’s Conference in 2008 and heard him speak, I had a strong experience where the spirit confirmed to me that he truly is a prophet of God, and I’m learning to be more discerning about his parables and see that there’s more there than meets the eye.
There’s not doubt that these prophets of God DO lead us through the fog and give us the guidance that protects us.