Receiving Personal Revelation

Over the past few days I have had Elder Richard G. Scott’s talk from last conference (October 2009) referred to me several times. I guess I finally get the hint and realize it is something I should write about. I will do my best to express my feelings and impressions about this important subject.

Elder Scott’s talk is titled “To Acquire Spiritual Guidance” and covers the topic of receiving personal revelation. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have been in the habit over the past 4 or 5 years of limiting my listening selections while driving, to Conference talks and to Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I feel that this one decision has been important in my life and has helped me immeasurably as I have strived to let “virtue garnish my thought unceasingly.” I have the blessing of listening to most of the talks around 20 times between conferences. I have learned that it isn’t until the 5th or 6th time that I really begin to hear what is being taught.

Despite this habit, and having already listed to this talk probably 7 times, I had a very humbling experience while talking to my friend Donna Nielsen last week. Over Christmas Donna gave me a copy of her book “The Beloved Bridegroom.” She also gave me a couple of CD’s that have some of her lectures on them. Sister Nielsen has become an expert on ancient Jewish life and on ancient symbols found in the scriptures. She is a speaker at Education Week and has a vast knowledge of the scriptures.

I called Donna to ask for her insight on the symbol of the fig leaf in the Garden of Eden. I know this may seem strange but it has been something on my mind for months. I really wanted to understand what Adam and Eve were trying to “cover” when they used fig leaves to cover their “nakedness”.

After discussing this topic a bit, we began to talk about our experiences of how and where personal inspiration comes. I described how I was on a flight from Boise to Salt Lake last year, and suddenly had an answer come clearly to my mind on a topic that I had been pondering for weeks. In an unlikely place… at an unlikely time…the answer came clearly and powerfully. I then asked Donna about her experience. She began by introducing to me a term she called “divine conversations”: she said “Elder Scott explains it perfectly in his last conference talk, doesn’t he?”

I was a little dumbfounded. I had heard this talk many times but had no idea what she was talking about. I hadn’t had that impression at all in this talk. After finishing this call I went immediately to the church website and re-read this talk. It was like I was reading it for the first time. This method of “divine conversation” that she talked about seemed to jump off the page at me! I was amazed. I read it over and over.

Yesterday my stake, the Holladay North Stake, held its annual High Priest Quorum meeting. All the High Priests and their wives were invited, as well as the single sisters who have home teachers that are high priests. The topic of Elder Scott’s talk was addressed at the beginning and then each person was asked to make notes of impressions they received during each of the talks. It was a great experience and I made many notes. When I came home I followed his council and pondered and rewrote my impressions.

In a testimony meeting that followed, Peggy Matheson, a friend and a sister I home teach, bore testimony to how this talk had been meaningful in her life in recent weeks. She felt she had received guidance on how to proceed with her business when following this method. To top it off, she went to the temple last week and Elder Scott was in her session! She took that as a confirmation.

For anyone really seeking how to receive answers to important questions, and how to feel confident they are following the promptings of the spirit, I encourage you to read this talk again. I want to quote part of it here but please take the time to read all of it.

Elder Scott said “Now I share an experience that taught me a way to gain spiritual guidance. One Sunday I attended the priesthood meeting of a Spanish branch in Mexico City. I vividly recall how a humble Mexican priesthood leader struggled to communicate the truths of the gospel in his lesson material. I noted the intense desire he had to share those principles he strongly valued with his quorum members. He recognized that they were of great worth to the brethren present. In his manner, there was an evidence of a pure love of the Savior and love of those he taught.
His sincerity, purity of intent, and love permitted a spiritual strength to envelop the room. I was deeply touched. Then I began to receive personal impressions as an extension of the principles taught by that humble instructor. They were personal and related to my assignments in the area. They came in answer to my prolonged, prayerful efforts to learn.

As each impression came, I carefully wrote it down. In the process, I was given precious truths that I greatly needed in order to be a more effective servant of the Lord. The details of the communication are sacred and, like a patriarchal blessing, were for my individual benefit. I was given specific directions, instructions, and conditioned promises that have beneficially altered the course of my life.
Subsequently, I visited the Sunday School class in our ward, where a very well-educated teacher presented his lesson. That experience was in striking contrast to the one enjoyed in the priesthood meeting. It seemed to me that the instructor had purposely chosen obscure references and unusual examples to illustrate the principles of the lesson. I had the distinct impression that this instructor was using the teaching opportunity to impress the class with his vast store of knowledge. At any rate, he certainly did not seem as intent on communicating principles as had the humble priesthood leader.

In that environment, strong impressions began to flow to me again. I wrote them down. The message included specific counsel on how to become more effective as an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I received such an outpouring of impressions that were so personal that I felt it was not appropriate to record them in the midst of a Sunday School class. I sought a more private location, where I continued to write the feelings that flooded into my mind and heart as faithfully as possible. After each powerful impression was recorded, I pondered the feelings I had received to determine if I had accurately expressed them in writing. As a result, I made a few minor changes to what had been written. Then I studied their meaning and application in my own life.

Subsequently I prayed, reviewing with the Lord what I thought I had been taught by the Spirit. When a feeling of peace came, I thanked Him for the guidance given. I was then impressed to ask, “Was there yet more to be given?” I received further impressions, and the process of writing down the impressions, pondering, and praying for confirmation was repeated. Again I was prompted to ask, “Is there more I should know?” And there was. When that last, most sacred experience was concluded, I had received some of the most precious, specific, personal direction one could hope to obtain in this life. Had I not responded to the first impressions and recorded them, I would not have received the last, most precious guidance.

What I have described is not an isolated experience. It embodies several true principles regarding communication from the Lord to His children here on earth. I believe that you can leave the most precious, personal direction of the Spirit unheard because you do not respond to, record, and apply the first promptings that come to you.

Impressions of the Spirit can come in response to urgent prayer or unsolicited when needed. Sometimes the Lord reveals truth to you when you are not actively seeking it, such as when you are in danger and do not know it. However, the Lord will not force you to learn. You must exercise your agency to authorize the Spirit to teach you. As you make this a practice in your life, you will be more perceptive to the feelings that come with spiritual guidance. Then, when that guidance comes, sometimes when you least expect it, you will recognize it more easily.”

I get the following ideas from this talk:
• When spiritual impressions come, write them down.
• After writing them down, seek a place where you can ponder what you have written to determine if you have written it down accurately. Make changes as necessary.
• Thank the Lord for what you have received.
• Then ask if there is anything more… and listen for the answer.

As I think back on the last couple of years, and recognize the spiritual growth that I have made, I ask myself what have been the determining factors? Certainly one of these factors has been the amount of writing down of spiritual impressions that I have done. This blog is one of the places I have written as well as a personal journal that I have kept faithfully over the past two years. Now I don’t mean to imply that I have done a great job in these writings because I haven’t. But I certainly have written more over the last two years than any time previously. I have much to learn from this pattern that Elder Scott outlines and I need to start following it. I look forward to the promptings that will come as I do.