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.