Things As They Really Are: Ye are of the House of Israel!

For the most part these phrases do nothing for me. Everyone is unique and special and everyone is a child of God, even those who don't believe in a God. This is what Christ told the Nephities:
3 Nephi 20: 25 And behold, ye are the ^achildren of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the ^bcovenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And ^cin thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

But being of the House of Israel, if you understand the significance of that can make a difference in how you feel about yourself. It did for me this week.

"Israel is a group of souls tested, tried, and proven before they were born into the world. . . . Through this lineage were to come the true and tried souls that had demonstrated their righteousness in the spirit world before they came here.

Malvin J. Ballard

"Those born to the lineage of Jacob, who was later to be called Israel, and his posterity, who were known as the children of Israel, were born into the most illustrious lineage of any of those who came upon the earth as mortal beings. All these rewards were seemingly promised, or foreordained before the world was. Harold B. Lee

If there is anything calculated to interest the minds of the Saints,
to awaken in them the finest sensibilities, and arouse them to
enterprise and exertion, surely it is the great and precious
promises made by our heavenly Father to the children of
Abraham; and those engaged in seeking the outcasts of Israel,
and the dispersed of Judah, cannot fail to enjoy the Spirit of the
Lord and have the choicest blessings of Heaven rest upon them
in copious effusions. Brethren, you are in the pathway to eternal
flame, and immortal glory; and inasmuch as you feel interested
for the covenant people of the Lord, the God of their fathers
shall bless you. Do not be discouraged on account of the
greatness of the work; only be humble and faithful. . . He who
scattered Israel has promised to gather them; therefore inasmuch
as you are to be instrumental in this great work, He will endow
you with power, wisdom, might, and intelligence, and every
qualification necessary; while your minds will expand wider
and wider, until you can circumscribe the earth and the heavens,
reach forth into eternity, and contemplate the mighty acts of
Jehovah in all their variety and glory.

–Joseph Smith, Jun., History of the Church, vol. 4, pages 128–129.

This quote above has SO much in it!

Elder Russell M. Nelson has said, “Once we know who we are and the royal lineage of which we are a part, our actions and directions in life will be more appropriate to our inheritance.” (The Power of the Word, p. 214)

..when the Patriarch declares your lineage in your patriarchal blessing, it is “as much a statement about who and what we were as it is about who we are now and what we may become.” - Robert L. Millet

Not everyone can say they are of the house of Israel and of the Covenant of Abraham. Not only is it a blessing, but also a responsibility.

Blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant

1) LAND: A promised land (Genesis 13:14-15; 3 Nephi 20:14)

2) SEED: A great posterity (Genesis 13:16; Abraham 2:9)

3) PRIESTHOOD: The Priesthood and its attached gospel (Abraham 2:9)

4) MINISTRY TO THE WORLD: The opportunity/ability to share all this with all the families of the earth (Abraham 2:10-11; 3 Nephi 20:25)