D&C 88:1-3

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a training meeting which influenced me to make a study of Section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The first three verses are as follows:

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you who have assembled yourselves together to receive his will concerning you:
2 Behold, this is pleasing unto your Lord, and the angels rejoice over you; the alms of your prayers have come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded in the book of the names of the sanctified, even them of the celestial world.
3 Wherefore, I now send upon you another Comforter, even upon you my friends, that it may abide in your hearts, even the Holy Spirit of promise; which other Comforter is the same that I promised unto my disciples, as is recorded in the testimony of John.

The part that stuck out to me (as highlighted) was the Lord sending the Holy Spirit of promise to the people. Typically I have thought of the Holy Spirit of promise to be a role of the Holy Ghost in which he seals and confirms in heaven priesthood ordinances that are performed by one with proper authority to one worthy of receiving it as described in D&C 132:7 and by Elder Faust here. This verse in Section 88 however, implies another role for the Holy Spirit of promise as coming upon the people of God's church who have an open heart and a willing mind that are striving to know and do the will of the Lord. It appears to me for these to roles to be consistent that receiving the Holy Spirit of promise is representative of the Lord "sealing you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation, and eternal life (Mosiah 5:15)." This sealing up unto the Lord can be lost if we choose to go another way, but as long as we are continuing each day following the Lord's will, we may have the promise of eternal life confirmed to us by the sealing power of the Holy Ghost.