Why Do I Write So Much About Hearing Him?

    For the past several months, I've made it a point to think and write a lot about Hearing Him, or about receiving personal revelation. I've quoted President Nelson's conference talk where he invited each of us to work on this, and I've tried to explain many thoughts and goals on different parts of it. The simple answer for why I write so much about it would be that I have faith in the words God speaks to us through His prophets. I would like to share something that has helped me lay a strong foundation for that faith.

 

When I was a young man, President Gordon B. Hinckley was the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; In October 1998, he shared these words in a conference talk:

...the time has come to get our houses in order. So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings.

Later, after discussing the need to avoid borrowing, especially staying out of credit card and other consumer debt:

I recognize that it may be necessary to borrow to get a home, of course. But let us buy a home that we can afford and thus ease the payments which will constantly hang over our heads without mercy or respite for as long as 30 years.

I was 14 when he gave that talk; along with that talk, I remember the many similar teachings he shared in subsequent general conferences, articles in the Ensign, church pamphlets, and so on that discussed the same principles. By the time I was in a position to buy a home, my wife and I had heard these principles hundreds of times, and to this day if I hear the words "modest home" my mind immediately jumps to President Hinckley. Of course, as a young adult I saw the housing market collapse, and many people around me - both inside and outside the church - struggled. Like everyone else at this time, I personally know people who lost their homes, and a lot more who lost the equity in their homes because they were forced to sell at a time when the house was devalued. 

I do not wish to judge anyone, and I know that people suffered despite making sound financial decisions, but anyone looking at the financial reality of what is often called the Great Recession has to admit that if the principles God taught through President Hinckley had been generally followed, then the suffering would have been at minimum greatly reduced, and perhaps even entirely avoided. I feel very grateful to have heard this counsel throughout my life, and I know that it helped my wife and I avoid what could have been a major financial disaster early in our marriage. In other words, I saw the financial mishaps of that time and know that there, but for the grace of God - through the teachings of His Prophet - went I.

I sometimes think about the way the Lord warned us all about this tragedy: He didn't tell President Hinckley to warn us that there would be a collapse of the housing market. Instead, the message was to get finances in order, minimize debt, and purchase affordable homes. We don't always get to know the reasons from beforehand, but the message is made clear. I am grateful for this and the other guidance the Lord gives us through prophets and other of His servants, and I have faith that working to "increase [our] spiritual capacity to receive revelation" will bless all of us for years to come.

More Motivation to Hear Him

In his first conference talk as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Nelson emphasized the importance of personal revelation by saying:

... in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.

Recently, I began to wonder what scriptures teach a similar principle, of needing revelation in order to survive. I thought about the Savior's words:

24 For there shall arise ^afalse ^bChrists, and ^cfalse prophets, and shall shew great ^dsigns and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall ^edeceive the very ^felect.

Certainly, there is a lot of noise in the world today. There are many different ways to spend your time and attention; and there's a constant pressure to watch this video, read that article, and so on. It can be hard to make time to listen for the impressions of the Holy Ghost, but we must do so in order to stay close to the Lord.

Just as this verse warns, the world is filled with false Christs and false prophets. Many take forms that are not what one might expect: many false prophets and false Christs don't even address salvation. Many simply preach worldly success, fame, or popularity, while others preach fitness and personal fulfillment. While some of these ideas are important and worth some of our time, none of them will ultimately save us. This is why many of these false Christs forgo religion entirely: dedicating our lives to any of these other things can stop us from hearing God's word and sever or diminish our connection to Him. Some of these surrogate prophets attempt to create a false dichotomy between attempting to live the Gospel and sufficiently loving and serving your neighbor, adequately caring for yourself, or other values which do not truly compete with being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter the method, the effort is to undermine or remove completely our ability to commune with the Father.

One who seeks and follows personal revelation will not be deceived by false prophets, even the most persuasive and apparently virtuous of them; such a person will not be lead away by logical fallacies. There is no anchor so secure as faith to go to our Father in prayer and then follow the answers He gives. There are a million reasons that it can be hard to receive revelation, but I testify that the Lord will speak to us in a way we can understand, and that He will guide us as we attempt to follow Him. I am so grateful for the many people around me who have been examples of righteously seeking the Lord's will, and for a loving Father in Heaven that wants to speak to all of us, including me.

Recognizing the Lord's Voice: Hearing Him Part 5

Part of getting answers to our prayers, inspiration throughout life, and otherwise hearing the Lord is being able to recognize when he's speaking to us. Moroni 7:15-17 contains an overarching principle that helps me know that I am hearing Him:

15 For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to ^ajudge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night.

16 For behold, the ^aSpirit of Christ is given to every ^bman, that he may ^cknow good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do ^aevil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.

If we examine what we are feeling, or what we perceive to be communication from the Almighty, and it brings us closer to Christ, then it is "sent forth by the power and gift of Christ." If not, then it is not. Sometimes we have experiences where we aren't 100% sure whether it is from the Lord or not, but this is a bright and clear standard we can use to rule some things out. If an experience is not uplifting, or if it causes us to distance ourselves from the Gospel, our covenants, or Christ Himself, then it is not from God.

The feelings of the Spirit are often emotional, so if we are already emotional it can cloud our judgment about a matter and make it more difficult to know that we've received direction from on high. It is helpful to step back and examine things from this guideline: is it bringing us closer to Christ? Some more specific ways of asking ourselves this question might be: is this bringing out my inner virtue? Am I truly willing to give this up if its the Lord's will? Do I feel selfish and prideful when I consider this question? Does this bring me closer to my family and loved ones? Will this help me keep my covenants? Is this in agreement with things I know are true according to the testimony I have received? Does this help me feel the Lord's love?

I know that God speaks to us; He wants us all to hear Him and listen to His voice. I know that efforts we spend towards doing so will bring us closer to Him and help us feel His peace in spite of the world.

Standing in Holy Places: Hearing Him Part 4

One of the things that can be frustrating about receiving revelation is that we don't control when it comes. (I often feel like I'd like to control everything, even though I know this would be a bad idea.) There have been many times I've received answers to prayers in ways I did not expect, and at times that were unexpected. None of these wonderful surprises happened when I was somewhere I shouldn't have been.

Doctrine and Covenants 87 is the revelation that the United States Civil War would soon start, beginning from South Carolina. At the end of the section the Lord counsels the Saints:

8 Wherefore, ^astand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh ^bquickly, saith the Lord. Amen.

When the Lord gave the Saints this message, there were no temples on the earth. The Kirtland Temple would not be dedicated until a little more than 3 years later in 1836. Certainly each of our temples are holy places, but I think the Lord was telling the Saints to be where He commanded them to be, and to make the places around them holy. At that time, the church gathered together physically to the largest degree possible; now, we are gathered in stakes throughout the world and do not move. Today, just as then, we need to make our own homes places where we can commune with God. I do not see any way someone can make their homes and the places around them holy if discipleship is a part-time pursuit.

The Lord was telling the Saints that they would receive more protection from the calamities and challenges of the world by being in holy places. Most of the time, we need spiritual protection more than physical protection, and inner peace is harder to come by than the absence of war. The Lord can help us cultivate our spirituality and recognize His words better if we seek to constantly be in His presence and in places that put us in a mindset to receive His words.

Personally, when I've needed answers to the more difficult doubts, or needed healing from the more difficult pains of life, the answers have often not come in the moment I was praying because I was not yet ready to fully understand the answer. Usually, the answer has come unexpectedly while I was somewhere I was supposed to be, doing something I was supposed to be doing. I have learned that I am almost always the limiting factor in how much the Lord can teach me, and that in spending time in holy places I become less of a limiting factor. I know that the Lord wants to teach and lead us, and that as we constantly seek to stand in holy places we will better understand Him.

Resiliency

We moved about 2 years ago and our new place had some flowers in the back that were overrun by weeds. I have never been as dedicated of a gardener / yard caretaker as I would like to be, but I'm really trying to do better at this house than I was at the last one, so I tried to weed around these flowers to see if they would come back to life. This week, they bloomed, and I believe they are bearded irises:

Plants often remind me of how resilient things can be; they seem to be able to make all kinds of things work and don't really seem to take a hint when you want them to go away, especially not weeds. In the Book of Mormon, Alma teaches that nature testifies of God:

all things denote there is a God; yea, even the ^bearth, and ^call things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its ^dmotion, yea, and also all the ^eplanets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

As these blossomed, I've been studying that same Alma the Younger's dramatic repentance as part of the Come, Follow Me reading for the week. In thinking about the flowers and the reading, I wondered how many people have given up on themselves as followers of Christ due to problems that are much easier to solve than Alma the Younger's sins. In order to repent completely, Alma would have to publicly repudiate everything he'd done in the past; he would have to admit he was wrong and or lying to people for years, and he'd have to become a completely different person. Sometimes we may have messed up badly, and we may need to greatly humble ourselves to repent, but even if our sins are worse than Alma's the Savior suffered specifically to be able to correct these wrongs.

I am so grateful that Alma was resilient enough to believe Christ could help him change. I pray that we all can exercise faith in the same principle as we try to overcome our own sins, big and small. People bloom more beautifully than flowers.

Hearing Him Part Three: Journal Writing

If you're interested in reading more about Hearing Him, here are links to part one and part two. This entry is about journal writing; I find that writing in a personal journal is very helpful for recognizing the voice of the Lord in my life.

I often write about experiences where I believe I have been inspired; this helps me clarify my thoughts about what I've received, and in many cases I have received additional details about revelatory experiences while writing them down. The act of writing forces me to further consider what happened, and in many cases this focuses my mind in a way that allows the Lord to speak to me. He taught:

I will ^atell you in your mind and in your ^bheart, by the ^cHoly Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.

I find that quiet reflection on these experiences - in this case brought on by writing in my journal - prepares my mind and my heart for further clarity from the Holy Ghost.

I will also often write about how I recognized the voice of the Lord; it doesn't always happen in exactly the same way, and it is almost always subtle. Sometimes I don't immediately recognize it, and sometimes I don't recognize the experience until after the opportunity to act on it has passed. However, even in these cases the Spirit will sometimes help me realize what I could have done differently to more completely recognize inspiration. Writing about how I've received revelation naturally causes me to think more about that process, and over time I improve in understanding.

Writing about these experiences also helps me value them, and helps me demonstrate the same to the Lord. I have learned that honoring the things the Lord has told me to do today makes it more likely that I will further understand His will for me tomorrow.

Last, I do read my journals from time to time. When I do so, I'm often seeking to better understand or remember something that happened, and I am very grateful for having written something. I often learn more when re-reading these experiences; I have now had several experiences that seem to teach me more each year rather than fading from memory. I am grateful for every word I've written about them.

Hearing Him Part Two: Real Intent

One of the scriptures that teaches clearly about revelation is Moroni 10:4-5:

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ^aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not ^btrue; and if ye shall ask with a ^csincere heart, with ^dreal intent, having ^efaith in Christ, he will ^fmanifest the ^gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may ^aknow the ^btruth of all things.

I love these verses because they concisely teach truths about receiving answers from God. These verses are part of what is often referred to as Moroni's promise; Moroni is engraving the last few words in the Book of Mormon, and he knew that many people would later read it. He offered us a test for how we might know the truth of the Book of Mormon, and the process for receiving that answer from God is the same as receiving any answer from Him.

I want to focus on these phrases: "with a sincere heart, with real intent." I think their meaning is plain enough: we have to truly want to know the answer, and be willing to act on the answer that we receive. To quote President Ezra Taft Benson: "Pride is a damning sin in the true sense of that word." If we are not willing to follow the will of God, He will not always reveal it to us. (This is merciful, by the way, because in this scenario He is not giving us commandments and knowledge that He would then have to judge us by when He knows we will not live up to them.) When we pray to know truth, we must be willing to follow that truth. If we are making a decision and we ask for guidance, we must be willing to follow His guidance. If we've already made a decision and will do our own will no matter what, then we are not asking with real intent nor with a sincere heart. Perhaps we are asking out of habit or only because we want the Lord's blessing to do what we've already decided to do. This does not please the Lord and is not a path towards communing with Him.

Would we meet with a financial planner with no intention of listening to her advice on how we manage our money? Do we consult doctors so that we can throw away the medicine they prescribe? Perhaps we know some people that do these things to one degree or another, but hopefully we know that this isn't normally wise. Even financial planners and doctors are human and fallible, where God is omniscient and omnipotent, and He sees the beginning from the end. He is not relying on statistical probabilities or best practices to guide us, but teaches based on a perfect understanding of where we are and the best way to help us be prepared for our eternal destiny.

Naturally, it is very difficult to set aside your own will when making decisions; the more important the decision, the harder it is to truly be willing to follow the Lord's words, whatever they may be. For me, cultivating a knowledge of His character and attempting to control my own pride have been two keys to success along this path. I know that many of the better decisions I've made were changed after praying, and some extremely important decisions I've made were only confirmed after I was willing to follow the Lord's will even though He did not want me to change my mind.

Hearing Him Part One

After General Conference and all the messages about recognizing when the Lord is guiding our lives - or "Hear Him" as it's been designated - I've decided to spend some time thinking about what things I've done to help me recognize God's influence in my own life. I think that there's almost nothing as universally helpful as being able to understand when the Holy Ghost is inspiring us to do (or not to do) something. Jesus taught that life eternal is knowing God, and it seems like recognizing His inspiration is a crucial part of that.

One of the first things that comes to mind is a recommendation I received about taking notes in church meetings some time when I was a missionary. The suggestion was to make a vertical line on the notes we took: one side of the line was for notes about something the speaker said, quotations, etc., and the other side would be for impressions that I recognized to be from the Spirit. These days, I often take notes using my cellphone, so I don't draw a vertical line in the notes, but I still have a notation that I use for spiritual impressions to distinguish them from my regular notes. I'm virtually always taking notes with bullet points, so for a line that is inspiration, I simply start with '***' after the bullet point. For the size of my phone screen, this makes it really easy to find these notes when I'm looking back through later. This is helpful because these impressions often include things I'd like to write in my journal about or are things that the Lord is telling me I need to do, so I need to be able to find them easily.

Ultimately, this doesn't take much effort: I always have my smartphone with me, and before smartphones I virtually always had paper with me. For me, adopting this habit has been a minor adjustment. (I recognize that if you do not have a habit of taking notes, it's a larger adjustment, but in many cases it's not a major undertaking.) However, making even this small act of attempting to recognize when the Spirit is speaking to me and exercising the small amount of faith to identify for myself, in my private notes, the things that God is telling me has made a great difference for the years I've practiced this. It makes me think of what Alma taught his son Helaman, "that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."

I don't remember who first taught me this idea, but I'm very grateful for it. It has helped me 'Hear Him' a bit more clearly over the years.

Between God and Myself

Many things in the past year or so have caused me to reflect on the importance of my motivation in worshiping, attending church, and practicing religion generally. Specifically, that it is very important for my devotion to be aimed at God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and nowhere else. Among other things, I've seen how focusing on the personal nature of worship protects me from feeling offended, becoming prideful, being distracted, or a myriad of other things that would reduce the meaning of and minimize the blessings from these devotions.

Thinking about this has made me reflect on the example of a man I met in the last area where I served as a missionary. Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints follow a schedule for their geographic assignments within the mission (a broader geographic area) known as transfers. Every six weeks, transfers occur, and that's when missionaries are sometimes moved. About two weeks before the 2nd to last transfer of my missionary service, the mission president asked my companion and I to visit an adjacent island (Brava) to determine whether or not missionaries should be placed there again. The missionaries had been removed for a time due to inconsistent boat service and no airport that made it unacceptably risky to keep missionaries there. As the boat service was now functioning normally, he sent us, we visited, and then we recommended that missionaries be placed there.

Two weeks later, my mission president informed me that I'd be transferring from Fogo to Brava, and I ended up finishing my missionary service there. As we got to know the members - most of whom had been members of the church for less than two years - we saw that they felt alone. Many had stopped coming to church; if I remember correctly, the average church attendance had gone down to six people per Sunday while there were no missionaries there.

Among the faithful was a man we'll call Ricardo. In one conversation, Ricardo told me how alone he felt as he saw the numbers of faithful Saints dwindle over time. He missed the fellowship of those who left greatly, and often felt lonely and forgotten as he worked to keep the church functioning on this small island, cut off from the world. He also mentioned how he'd felt offended at times by not being asked to serve in certain ways, even when he felt ready and capable to shoulder the burdens of these callings. In short, he had a number of serious obstacles, but he continued to attend and serve at church*.

Ricardo then told me why he never stopped coming: he simply stated that the promises he'd made when he was baptized and received the Priesthood were between him and God and no one else. It didn't matter that he felt isolated on this tiny island or even that at times he felt let down by things he couldn't control or influence in the church. Ricardo knew that his path back to his eternal home consisted in keeping the promises he'd made to his Father in Heaven.

Ricardo has been a tremendous example for my life; I see time and time again that when I act with devotion to God alone I am better able to commune with Him. I know that He watches over us and wants us to come to Him, and I testify that He will help us to do so as we try to walk the covenant path.


*Just a note that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a lay ministry. He served in a volunteer capacity and was not a church employee.