This video of a summarized part of the talk “The Miracle of Hope” given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland during the last General Conference is worth watching again and again. You can watch or read the address in its entirety here.
Image Credit: Screenshot from the video
To hear the voice of the Spirit can be both in the literal sense to hear an audible voice and also to have a feeling inside of you, an inner voice, telling you what to do.
There are times when God will give you audible commands and you can hear a disconnected voice, but these are not as frequent as the still small voice inside of you. We often do not need God shouting at us, but instead the gentle promptings.
The Scriptures share Elijah’s experience:
“And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” —1 Kings 19: 11–12
The Holy Ghost can speak to us in multiple ways, each customized to how we recognize that voice. Sometimes it might be a burning in our chest, what we like to call the warm fuzzies, or it might be thoughts of things we need to do, or it can be a good feeling about something we read. That’s not an extensive list, but some things to give you an idea of what to look for.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave his view of how he is able to hear the voice of the Spirit.
You can watch how others are also able to #HearHim.
One final thought: There is a saying, “You want to talk to God, you pray. You want God to talk to you, you read the scriptures. If you don’t feel like you are hearing the Spirit, perhaps the best place to start is in the scriptures.
Image Credit: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we don’t have one person who gives talks or sermons each week during our sacrament meeting. Instead, speakers are selected from the members of the congregation and are asked to prepare a talk. I was recently asked to speak, and the subject of the talk was to be based on a recent speech given at General Conference. The talk was Spiritually Defining Memories by Elder Neil L. Anderson. I thought I would also share it here.
During General Conference this year we celebrated the 200 year anniversary of Joseph Smith’s First Vision. The experience was so powerful that, despite facing opposition, this 14-year-old boy testified of the experience again and again throughout his life stating,
“I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did, in reality, speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true. … I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it.”
Joseph Smith continued to testify of Jesus Christ and God the Father until his untimely death. As he turned himself over to his captors at Carthage Jail, knowing that he would not return, he wrote, “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men.”
Elder Neil L. Anderson referred to experiences like these as our “spiritually defining experiences.” He said:
“There is a lesson for us in the Prophet Joseph’s example. Along with the peaceful direction we receive from the Holy Ghost, from time to time, God powerfully and very personally assures each of us that He knows us and loves us and that He is blessing us specifically and openly. Then, in our moments of difficulty, the Savior brings these experiences back into our mind.”
One experience stands above the rest– something I return to when times are tough and I find myself doubting.
Several years, I was in my room reading when I suddenly felt the desire to pray. I knelt down and began to pray. I don’t remember getting much further than addressing Heavenly Father when I was overcome with the most overwhelming sense of love from my Heavenly Father. As I basked in that heavenly feeling, there was little more I needed to say. I simply said, “Thank you” and closed my prayer.
With this experience I can completely relate with Elder Anderson when he said:
“When personal difficulty, doubt, or discouragement darken our path, or when world conditions beyond our control lead us to wonder about the future, the spiritually defining memories from our book of life are like luminous stones that help brighten the road ahead, assuring us that God knows us, loves us, and has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to help us return home. And when someone sets their defining memories aside and is lost or confused, we turn them toward the Savior as we share our faith and memories with them, helping them rediscover those precious spiritual moments they once treasured.”
Though my experience was a spiritually defining moment, it is still several years old. We are entitled to personal revelation and the companionship of the Holy Ghost on a daily basis. We just need to ensure we are positioning ourselves to be receptive when the Lord sees fit to bless us.
Elder Anderson reminds us:
“We hear Him in our prayers, in our homes, in the scriptures, in our hymns, as we worthily partake of the sacrament, as we declare our faith, as we serve others, and as we attend the temple with fellow believers. Spiritually defining moments come as we prayerfully listen to general conference and as we better keep the commandments.”
We have recently heard President Russell M. Nelson say:
“I invite you to think deeply and often about this key question: How do you hear Him? I also invite you to take steps to hear Him better and more often.”
Embrace your sacred spiritually defining memories. Believe them. Write them down. Share them with your family. Trust that they come to you from your Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son. Let those memories bring patience to your doubts and understanding to your difficulties.
I promise you that as you willingly acknowledge and carefully treasure the spiritually defining memories in your life, more and more will come to you. Heavenly Father knows you and loves you. And He is actively involved in your life.
Image Credit: The Salt Lake Temple-Dallas Golden, Man Praying- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
This article is going to be slightly out of the norm, but I don’t know what else to write about this week and I feel like sharing this.
This last Tuesday I got up early and went for a hike up a nearby canyon to photograph a herd of moose I had discovered on a previous hike. This experience is a manifestation of the protection we can experience when we listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Also, check out these other posts of videos about hearing the spirit:
Elder M. Russell Ballard
Elder Gerrit W. Gong
Elder Gary E. Stephens
Elder David A. Bednar
I’m going to make this easy on myself and pull this experience directly from my journal.
At one point I was standing at the water’s edge when the smaller bull moose came running down towards where I was set up with my camera. I had nowhere to go. I could move towards the moose to dodge around to the other side of a clump of bushes that were to the left of me. I could have moved to my right along the shoreline, but I didn’t feel comfortable being there because that left me in the wide open where I would have nothing to hide behind.
My other and best option was back and to the left behind the clump of bushes and up a small hill to a ridge. That would have afforded me a little coverage behind the bushes before I was back in pretty much the same path of the moose. I’ve heard, but I don’t know if it’s true, that moose will charge people into water and hold them under the water with their antlers. I decided to dash to the side up the small hill. I don’t think the moose really saw me standing by the water because he stopped when I made my dash. Moose don’t have good vision.
The moose continued to the waterside and stopped where I had been standing. I felt safe photographing on the top of the hill to shoot down on the moose because the moose was on the opposite side of the bushes.
After a minute or so I began to feel unsafe where I was standing and felt prompted to move. There was a couple on the ridge close to me and as I left I told a couple that I felt like it was unsafe to be standing there, but the couple remained.
I moved up the ridge where I could still see all of the moose and to get some more photos. The moose by where I had been standing was eating the bushes and slowly worked his way through them.
Suddenly the moose started running right at the couple who were standing on the trail about 10 feet away. The couple ran down the other side of the hill but the moose kept chasing them until the people ran off the trail and the moose kept running along the trail. Had I stayed where I was I would have been right in the moose’s path like the couple was, but I would have been extremely too close for comfort and I would have been backed into a corner of trees if the moose decided to change directions.
After a couple of minutes of standing on the ridge, I felt prompted to move again and so I moved back down closer to the water. I know it was a spiritual prompting. Soon after I moved the second larger bull moose and two cows started running and ran over the hill exactly where I had been standing.
Since I’ve probably done a poor job explaining where things happened I’ll draw a poor picture to diagram it.
I’m represented by the orange arrows.
Moose 1 is represented by blue arrows.
The 3 moose are represented by the green arrow.
Image Credit: Dallas Golden/Google Maps
Incidentally, here is a good article to read about being attacked by a moose should you ever find yourself in that predicament. I’ve hiked within 10-15 feet of a cow moose who just sat there munching on the bushes idly watching us pass, but it could have turned bad very quickly.
Today I’m going to continue re-sharing the short video series the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been publishing. Today M. Russell Ballard shares how he hears the voice of the Savior. It seems like we don’t give ourselves enough quiet to hear the influence of the Spirit. I recognize that I don’t give the Lord enough time as I’m often on my digital device not allowing the Lord to speak through the quiet promptings.
Image Credit: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Some of the greatest times in which I’m feeling the love of the Lord are in those times when I’m serving others. To reach our as the Savior reaches out to each one of us individually.
I know that I’ve reposted several of these videos, but they’re great. Check out hearhim.org for some more ideas on how to hear the Spirit in your own life.
This video reminds me of the times in my life when I have felt the need to change my course of travel or to make a different choice and have later benefitted from that prompting that was given by the Spirit.
One such experience that comes to mind was on a walk with my girlfriend now wife. We were walking around my neighborhood and we were going to walk through a park. I had the prompting that we shouldn’t walk through the park, so we passed the park on the sidewalk by the street. We continued with no thought to any dangers we might have faced in the park. On our way back to my house we passed by the park again and police officers were dealing with something that had happened in the park. I firmly believe this was a warning from the Spirit to keep us safe from any dangers.
Conversely, I received a prompting one day that I ignored and had to pay a heavy price as a result.
A couple of years ago we were visiting my wife’s sister. After our visit, my brother-in-law called and said that I should take a look at our van because it had left a large oil spot in his driveway. It was Sunday, so I was going to put off checking the van until after work on Monday. The business of life took over and Monday afternoon came and I forgot about the van.
The following Saturday morning we were on our way for another activity with my wife’s family up at a lake. As we passed a grocery store I had the impression that I should stop and check the oil then I could buy some in the store if I needed to top off the oil. I didn’t want to delay our trip by stopping and I thought to myself, “I can check it tonight when I get home.”
You know the rest of the story, but I’ll still tell it.
We were up in the mountains when the car began to act weird then it began to overheat. We stopped and I checked the oil… There wasn’t a drop left. I had allowed my oil to run dry… I feel like there is something in the scriptures about that…
We had to get my wife’s brother to backtrack to come and pick up my wife and kids. They went to enjoy a day at the lake while I had to wait for a tow truck to come pick me up. Since we were so far from home the tow truck was going to cost a fortune. To save some money I had the tow truck driver take me back to his city and drop me off at the train station and he took the car back to his shop.
The end of the story? The van’s engine had seized up and it would have cost more than what the vehicle was worth to replace the engine. We had to sell the van for parts. If only I had listened to the prompting of the Spirit instead of telling myself that I would check the engine when we got home…
Does God allow you to blow up your car so you have a story to tell about not following the Spirit? This is one expensive post.