"Recognizing and Receiving the Guidance of the Holy
Ghost", June 1, 2014
Sister Sheri L. Dew, October 1998
"The Holy Ghost enlarges our minds, our
hearts, and our understanding; helps us subdue weaknesses and resist
temptation; inspires humility and repentance; guides and protects us in
miraculous ways; and gifts us with wisdom, divine encouragement, peace of mind,
a desire to change, and the ability to differentiate between the philosophies
of men and revealed truth.
"
The Holy Ghost is the minister and messenger of the Father and the Son, and He
testifies of both Their glorious, global reality and Their connection to us
personally. Without the presence of the Spirit, it is impossible to comprehend
our personal mission or to have the reassurance that our course is right. No
mortal comfort can duplicate that of the Comforter. Said President
Hinckley, “There is no greater blessing that can come into our lives
than … the companionship of the Holy Spirit” (Boston
Massachusetts Regional Conference, 22 Apr. 1995; emphasis added).
And yet Brigham Young lamented: “[We] may have the Spirit of the Lord to …
direct [us]. … I am satisfied, however, that, in this respect, we live far
beneath our privileges” (Deseret News Semi-Weekly, 3 Dec.
1867, 2).
1. Elder
David A. Bednar, October 2010
"Receiving the Holy Ghost starts with
our sincere and constant desire for His companionship in our lives."
2. Elder
Boyd K. Packer, October 1979--
"We
succeed in the Church, by and large, in teaching our members to pray. Even our
little ones are taught to fold their arms and bow their heads, and with
whispered coaching from their parents and from brothers and sisters, they soon
learn to pray.
3. Elder
Boyd K. Packer, October 2009
"You
can know the things you need to know. Pray that you will learn to receive that
inspiration and remain worthy to receive it. Keep that channel—your mind—clean
and free from the clutter of the world."
4. Brother Gordon Limb, BYU Devotional, May
5, 2013
"...immersing ourselves in the
scriptures invites the constant companionship of the Spirit. 'Studying the
scriptures trains us to hear the Lord’s voice' and recognize His Spirit" (David M.
McConkie, Ensign, November 2010, 15).
5. Elder David A. Bednar, October 2013
"Praying, studying, gathering,
worshipping, serving, and obeying are not isolated and independent items on a
lengthy gospel checklist of things to do. Rather, each of these righteous
practices is an important element in an overarching spiritual quest to fulfill
the mandate to receive the Holy Ghost. The commandments from God we obey and
the inspired counsel from Church leaders we follow principally focus upon
obtaining the companionship of the Spirit. Fundamentally, all gospel teachings
and activities are centered on coming unto Christ by receiving the Holy Ghost
in our lives."
6. Elder
Boyd K. Packer, October 1979--
"Young
people, carry a prayer in your heart always. Let sleep come every night with
your mind centered in prayer. Keep the Word of Wisdom. Read the scriptures. Listen
to your parents and to the leaders of the Church. Stay away from places and
things that common sense tells you will interfere with inspiration. Develop
your spiritual capacities. Learn to tune out the static and the interference. Avoid
the substitutes and the counterfeits! Learn to be inspired and directed by the
Holy Ghost."
7. Elder Richard G. Scott, April 2012
"When we are acting as
instruments in behalf of others, we are more easily inspired than when we think
only of ourselves. In the process of
helping others, the Lord can piggyback directions for our own
benefit."
"If
we will take the time to study, ask, pause, listen and then follow through on
the answers, we can all receive the sudden strokes of divine inspiration Joseph
Smith described when he taught:
"A person may profit by noticing the
first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure
intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas . . .
and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of
revelation. (Joseph Smith).
"The
prophet Joseph teaches us that with practice, we can learn and improve in our
ability to recognize the Spirit.... It takes a conscious effort to have this
type of daily communication with the Lord.
It is not always convenient. Yet,
if we want more powerful daily revelations and guidance, it is well worth
it. Our lives will go so much better if
we are in tune with the Spirit by practicing this language of
revelation."
9. Sister
Sheri L. Dew, October 1998
"Our
ability to hear spiritually is linked to our willingness to work at it.
President Hinckley has often said that the only way he knows to get anything
done is to get on his knees and plead for help and then get on his feet and go
to work. That combination of faith and hard work is the consummate curriculum
for learning the language of the Spirit.
"The
Savior taught, “Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst
after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost” (3 Ne. 12:6;
emphasis added). Hungering and thirsting translate to sheer
spiritual labor. Worshiping in the temple, repenting to become increasingly
pure, forgiving and seeking forgiveness,
and earnest fasting and prayer all increase our receptivity to the Spirit.
Spiritual work works and is the key to learning to hear the voice of the
Lord."
10. Brother
J.D. Griffith, BYU-Idaho Devotional, April 29, 2014
"Conditioning ourselves to act
when called upon [prompted by the Holy Ghost], builds--up our strength and
confidence. This is turn increases our
ability to be instruments in the Lord's hands."
11. President James E. Faust, April 2004
"Perhaps
something in our lives prevents us from hearing the message because we are
'past feeling'. We often put ourselves
in spiritual dead spots--places and situations that block out divine
messages. Some of these dead spots include
anger, pornography, transgression, selfishness, and other situations that
offend the Spirit.... One message missed by so many in our time is the word of
the Lord commanding us to 'keep [ourselves] unspotted from the world.'"
12. Elder David A. Bednar, October 2010
"Our
invitations for the companionship of the Holy Ghost occur in many ways: through
the making and keeping of covenants; by praying sincerely as individuals and
families; by searching the scriptures diligently; through strengthening
appropriate relationships with family
members and friends; by seeking after virtuous thoughts, actions, and language;
and by worshipping in our homes, in the holy temple, and at church. Conversely,
casualness about or the breaking of covenants and commitments, failing to pray
and study the scriptures, and inappropriate thoughts, actions, and language
cause the Spirit to withdraw from or to avoid us altogether."
13. Caryn
Esplin, BYU-Idaho Devotional, July 31, 2012
"The
most overlooked but perhaps the most important part of the spiritual
communication process is to pause and listen."
14. Elder
Richard G. Scott, April 2012
"When
it is for the Lord’s purposes, He can bring anything to our remembrance. That
should not weaken our determination to record impressions of the Spirit.
Inspiration carefully recorded shows God that His communications are sacred to
us. Recording will also enhance our ability to recall revelation. Such
recording of direction of the Spirit should be protected from loss or intrusion
by others."
15. Brother J.D. Griffith, BYU-Idaho
Devotional, April 29, 2014
"Look for patterns in your life
that reveal a closeness to the Spirit or look back on a time in your life when
you felt a strong connection to the Spirit.... Several of my Journal entries
look like this, "today I felt the Spirit during my personal scripture
study" or "when I was sitting in the Temple" or "playing
with one of my kids." Looking back
on my journal entries and seeing these patterns, I realize that I need to spend
more time doing these particular things.
What I did not see was, "today I felt the Spirit when I was
mindlessly watching TV, or playing video games, or engaged in frivolous social
media content".
16. Elder
David A. Bednar, April 2011
"Because
the Spirit whispers to us gently and delicately, it is easy to understand why
we should shun inappropriate media, pornography, and harmful, addictive substances and
behaviors. These tools of the adversary can impair and eventually destroy our
capacity to recognize and respond to the subtle messages from God delivered by
the power of His Spirit. Each of us should consider seriously and ponder
prayerfully how we can reject the devil’s enticements and righteously ‘apply
unto it,’ even the spirit of revelation, in our personal lives and families”
17. Elder
Boyd K. Packer, October 1979 --"It is difficult to separate from the
confusion of life that quiet voice of inspiration. Unless you attune yourself,
you will miss it. Answers to prayers come in a quiet way. The scriptures
describe that voice of inspiration as a still, small voice....
"We
have commented on this over the years, convinced that you can train yourself to
hear what you want to hear, to see and feel what you desire, but it takes some
conditioning.
"There
are so many of us who go through life and seldom, if ever, hear that voice of
inspiration, because “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned” (1
Cor. 2:14).
18. Elder
Burke K. Peterson, Ensign, June 1981
“As
we go through life, we ofttimes build a rock wall between ourselves and heaven.
This wall is built by our unrepented sins. For example, in our wall there may
be stones of many different sizes and shapes. There could be stones because we
have been unkind to someone. Criticism of leaders or teachers may add another
stone. A lack of forgiveness may add another. Vulgar thoughts and actions
may add some rather large stones in this wall. Dishonesty will add another;
selfishness another; and so on.
“In
spite of the wall we build in front of us, when we cry out to the Lord, he
still sends his messages from heaven; but instead of being able to penetrate
our hearts, they hit the wall that we have built up and bounce off. His
messages don’t penetrate, so we say, ‘He doesn’t hear,’ or ‘He doesn’t answer.’
Sometimes this wall is very formidable, and the great challenge of life is to
destroy it, or, if you please, to cleanse ourselves, purifying this inner
vessel so that we can be in tune with the Spirit."
19. Elder
Burke K. Peterson, Ensign, June 1981
“The pattern of our lives determines
our eligibility to receive the promptings of the Spirit and to hear the answers
to our prayers. Again, let there be no misunderstanding. Heavenly Father does
answer our prayers, but often we aren’t prepared to hear him. Some are answered
immediately, but some do take longer, and that’s where we may become
discouraged”
20. Gospel
Principles Manual (2011)
"When
we fast wisely and prayerfully, we develop our faith. With that faith we will
have greater spiritual power. For example, Alma (a Book of Mormon prophet)
tells the story of meeting again with the sons of Mosiah many years after their
miraculous conversion. He felt great joy when he learned that they had
strengthened their faith and had developed great spiritual power. They had
gained this power because “they had given themselves to much prayer, and
fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of
revelation” (Alma
17:3).
"Take Time to Be Holy", by William
D. Longstaff
Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
And run not before Him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
"Gardening God's Way", Author Unknown
Plant three rows of peas:
Peace of mind
Peace of heart
Peace of soul
Plant four rows of squash:
Squash gossip
Squash indifference
Squash grumbling
Squash selfishness
Plant four rows of lettuce:
Lettuce be faithful
Lettuce be kind
Lettuce be obedient
Lettuce really love one another
No garden without turnips:
Turnip for meetings
Turnip for service
Turnip to help one another
Water freely with patience and cultivate with love.
There is much fruit in your garden
Because you reap what you sow
To conclude our garden we must have thyme:
Thyme for God
Thyme for study
Thyme for prayer
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