If your faith in Christ has led to a heart softened by His Atonement you will be more able to receive His answers.
It is important that any personal revelation we think we may receive be compatible with the gospel of Christ. It isn’t legitimate revelation if it runs counter to the teachings of Christ.
The way to receive revelation from God has not changed from the days of Adam and Eve. It has been the same for all called servants of the Lord from the beginning to the present day. It is the same for you and me. It is always done by exercising faith.
The teenage Joseph Smith had faith sufficient to ask a question of God, believing that God would answer his heartfelt need. … The answer he received encouraged him to keep asking ever-better questions and to act on the continuing flow of revelation that had just begun.
Your experience can possibly be similar in this conference. You have questions for which you seek answers. You have at least enough faith to hope that you will receive answers from the Lord through His servants. You will not have the opportunity to ask aloud for answers from the speakers, but you can ask your loving Father in prayer.
Asking questions is different than making requests. I would like to start of pattern of seeking revelation by asking questions and refining those questions until I know what I need to know.
I know from experience that answers will come to fit your needs and your spiritual preparation. If you need an answer that is important to your eternal welfare or that of others, the answer is more likely to come. Yet even then, you may receive—as did Joseph Smith—the answer to be patient.
If your faith in Jesus Christ has led to a heart softened through the effects of His Atonement, you will be more able to feel the whisperings of the Spirit in answer to your prayers. My personal experience is that the still, small voice—which is real—is clear and discernible in my mind when I feel an internal quiet and submission to the Lord’s will. That feeling of humility can be best described as “Not my will, but thine, be done.”
The Lord will say things through His servants to you and to me today and in the days ahead. He will tell us what things we should do. The Savior will not shout commands to you and me.
He will not seek to compel us by the power of His communication.
Hearing that voice will come from our faith in Him. With sufficient faith, we will ask for direction with the intent to go and do whatever He asks. We will have developed the faith to know that whatever He asks will bless others and that we can be purified in the process because of His love for us.
As our faith in Jesus Christ will have led us to ask the Father for answers, that faith will also have brought the Savior’s softening touch enough for us to hear His direction and be determined and excited to obey. We then will sing the words of the hymn with joy, even when the work is hard: “Sweet is the work, my God, my King.”
Another principle of revelation is that whatever direction we receive from God will bless others if we act on it.
President Nelson seeks and receives direction from the Lord. He is for me an example of seeking that direction with the determination to follow it. That same determination to be obedient to the Lord’s direction is in the hearts of all those who have spoken or will speak, pray, or sing in this general conference of His Church.
The consistent seeking for revelation and the determination to follow the direction he receives is crucial to President Nelson making the many changes that he has since the beginning of his time as president of the church.
Leave a Reply