Post # 148 -- Spiritual Capacity
Dear Family and Friends
As I was cleaning my computer to
make more room, my computer is forever telling me that it needs more room for
this or that☹ In my effort to make more room, I came across this
wonderful talk that I thought I would share with each of you. I remember our
Prophet President Russell M. Nelson counselled us a short while ago about
increasing our spiritual capacity. Oh, what was it that he had said???
He said
something about how there will come a time when we will need personal
revelation… oh, what was it exactly???
Well until it comes back to me, I want to share a question from this talk.
A young woman at young women’s summer camp handed in a note with this question
on it: “How
can I tell when God is trying to tell me something?” when I read this question it really sparked my
interest, so I had to read on😊
If you have ever asked this
question or a similar one, or at least had a question like this in your mind,
then you might want to think about it for a moment or two. Maybe even ponder on
it for a while. Or maybe you have already figured out the answer so you did not
need to pose the question – that is truly great for you, so then I will speak
to all of you who have had this question in your mind at one time or another. I
think it is a really good question.
So, how can you tell when God is
trying to tell you something? I have often wondered about the answer to this
very question. I do know that if something leads us to do good then it comes
from God. So how does this work – don’t I have good thoughts that will lead me
to do good ?
Don’t each of you have good thoughts that lead you to do good as well?? How then do I know when it is my own thoughts or that of the Lord, through the Holy Ghost??? With the help of a few people who are so much more able to answer this question, I will try to give you an answer😊
Don’t each of you have good thoughts that lead you to do good as well?? How then do I know when it is my own thoughts or that of the Lord, through the Holy Ghost??? With the help of a few people who are so much more able to answer this question, I will try to give you an answer😊
--
Sister Michelle Craig -- First
Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency in her talk titled “Spiritual
Capacity”
gives us this insight:
As Jesus Christ’s faithful disciple, you can receive personal
inspiration and revelation, consistent with His commandments, that is tailored
to you.
My desire this
morning is to speak to you from my heart about four ways to increase your
spiritual capacity to receive revelation.
1. Be Intentional about Creating Time and Space to Hear God’s Voice
As you use your
agency to carve out time every day to draw close to God’s voice, especially in
the Book of Mormon, over time His voice will become clearer and more familiar
to you.
In contrast, the distractions and noise that fill the
world and our homes and our lives can make it more difficult to hear His voice.
These distractions can so occupy our minds and hearts that we leave no room for
the gentle promptings of the Holy Ghost.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that most often God reveals Himself
“to individuals in private, in their chamber; in the wilderness or fields, and
that generally without noise or tumult.”3
Satan wants to
separate us from God’s voice by keeping us out of those quiet places. If God
speaks in a still, small voice, you and I need to draw close to hear Him. Just
imagine what would happen if we were as intent on staying connected with heaven
as we are on staying connected to Wi-Fi!
Pick a time and place, and listen for God’s voice every day. And keep this sacred appointment with exactness, for so very much depends on it!
Pick a time and place, and listen for God’s voice every day. And keep this sacred appointment with exactness, for so very much depends on it!
2. Act without Delay
When you receive promptings and then act with intention, the Lord
can use you. The more you act, the more familiar the voice of the Spirit
becomes. You will increasingly recognize God’s guidance and that He is “willing
… to reveal His mind and will.”4 If you delay,
you might forget the prompting or miss the chance to help someone for God.
3. Get Your Errand from the Lord
The prayer Heavenly Father seems eager to answer is our plea to be
led to someone who needs our help. President Henry B. Eyring has taught us
to seek revelation by asking God who we can help for Him. “If you ask
questions like that, the Holy Ghost will come and you’ll feel nudges about
things you can do for other people.
When you go and do those things, you’re on the Lord’s errand, and when you’re on the Lord’s errand, you qualify for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”5
When you go and do those things, you’re on the Lord’s errand, and when you’re on the Lord’s errand, you qualify for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”5
You can pray and ask
the Lord for an errand. As you do, He can use your ordinary skills to
accomplish His extraordinary work.
My grandfather,
Fritz Hjalmar Lundgren, emigrated from Sweden when he was 19 years old. He
arrived in America alone, with a suitcase and six years of formal schooling.
Unable to speak any English, he made his way to Oregon and worked there as a
lumberjack and then later, with my grandmother and my mother, joined the
Church.
He never presided over a ward, but as a faithful home teacher, he brought more than 50 different families into Church activity. How did he do that?
He never presided over a ward, but as a faithful home teacher, he brought more than 50 different families into Church activity. How did he do that?
After Grandpa’s
death, I was going through a box of his papers and came across a letter written
by a man who had come back to church because of Grandpa’s love. The letter
read, “Brother Fritz’s secret, I believe, is that he is always on an errand for
Heavenly Father.”
That letter was from
Brother Wayne Simonis. Grandpa visited him and got to know each member of the
family. In time, Grandpa told them that they were needed and invited them to
attend church. But that Sunday, Brother Simonis awoke with a dilemma—he had not finished
reroofing his house, and rain was expected that week.
He decided that he’d go to church, shake hands with Grandpa, and then leave and go home to finish the roof. His family could attend sacrament meeting without him.
He decided that he’d go to church, shake hands with Grandpa, and then leave and go home to finish the roof. His family could attend sacrament meeting without him.
His plan was working
just fine until, on the roof, he heard someone climbing the ladder. In his
words: “When I looked up, … standing at the top of the ladder was Brother
Fritz. He just gave me that big smile. At first, I was embarrassed and felt
like a little kid getting caught for skipping school. Then … I felt anger.
[But Brother Fritz just] took off his suit coat and hung it on the ladder. As he rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, he turned to me and said, ‘Brother Simonis, do you have another hammer? This work must be very important or you wouldn’t have left your family, and if it’s that important, I want to help you.’
As I looked into his eyes, I saw only kindness and Christlike love. My anger left. … I laid my tools down that Sunday and followed my good friend down the ladder and back to the chapel.”
[But Brother Fritz just] took off his suit coat and hung it on the ladder. As he rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, he turned to me and said, ‘Brother Simonis, do you have another hammer? This work must be very important or you wouldn’t have left your family, and if it’s that important, I want to help you.’
As I looked into his eyes, I saw only kindness and Christlike love. My anger left. … I laid my tools down that Sunday and followed my good friend down the ladder and back to the chapel.”
Grandpa had obtained his errand from the Lord, and he knew he was
to seek out lost sheep. Just as when the four men who carried their friend with
palsy onto a roof and then let him down to be healed by Jesus Christ,6 so too did
Grandpa’s errand take him to a rooftop. The Lord sends revelation to those
seeking to help others.
4. Believe and Trust
Recently, I read in the scriptures about another great missionary
who obtained his errand from the Lord. Aaron was teaching the king of the
Lamanites, who wondered why Aaron’s brother Ammon had not also come to teach
him. “And Aaron said unto the king: Behold, the Spirit of the Lord has called
him another way.”7
The Spirit spoke to
my heart: each of us has a different mission to perform, and at times the
Spirit may call us in “another way.” There are many ways to build the kingdom
of God as covenant-making, covenant-keeping disciples of Jesus Christ.
As His faithful disciple, you can receive personal inspiration and revelation, consistent with His commandments, that is tailored to you. You have unique missions and roles to perform in life and will be given unique guidance to fulfill them.
As His faithful disciple, you can receive personal inspiration and revelation, consistent with His commandments, that is tailored to you. You have unique missions and roles to perform in life and will be given unique guidance to fulfill them.
Nephi, the brother of Jared, and even Moses all had a large body of
water to cross—and each did it
differently. Nephi worked “timbers of curious
workmanship.”8 The brother of
Jared built barges that were “tight like unto a dish.”9 And Moses
“walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea.”10
They each received personalized direction, tailored to them, and
each trusted and acted. The Lord is mindful of those who obey and, in the words
of Nephi, will “prepare a way for [us to] accomplish the thing which he
commandeth.”11 Note that
Nephi says, “a way”—not “the way.”
Do we miss or dismiss personal errands from the Lord because He has
prepared “a way” different from the one we expect?
My grandpa was led
to an unusual place—in a suit, on a rooftop, on
a Sunday. Trust God to lead you, even if that way looks different than you
expected or is different from others.
Latter-day Saints come in many shapes and sizes, but “all are alike
unto God”—“black and white, bond and
free, male and female,” single and married, rich
and poor, young and old, lifelong member and recent convert.12 No matter
who you are or what you’re dealing with, you are invited to the Lord’s table.13
As seeking and doing the
will of the Father becomes the cadence of your daily life, you will, of course,
be led to change and repent.
The Church’s new program for children and youth is built on the
foundation of learning to seek revelation, discovering what the Lord would have
us do, and then acting on that direction. Each
one of us, regardless of age or circumstance, can strive to seek, receive, and act.
As you follow this eternal pattern ordained for our day, you will draw nearer to Jesus Christ—His love, His light, His direction, His peace, and His healing and enabling power. And you will increase your spiritual capacity to become an everyday instrument of His hands in accomplishing His great work. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
As you follow this eternal pattern ordained for our day, you will draw nearer to Jesus Christ—His love, His light, His direction, His peace, and His healing and enabling power. And you will increase your spiritual capacity to become an everyday instrument of His hands in accomplishing His great work. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
let’s
have a little review of what Sister Craig taught us
1. Be Intentional about Creating Time and
Space to Hear God’s Voice
Just imagine what would happen if we were as intent on staying
connected with heaven as we are on staying connected to Wi-Fi!
I think this is a really great thought in our day and time, everyone is connected to the internet at some point during the day, right? I know that I try to be – I like to study my scriptures on my computer😊
I think this is a really great thought in our day and time, everyone is connected to the internet at some point during the day, right? I know that I try to be – I like to study my scriptures on my computer😊
So, our first step in being able to hear the still small voice
more clearly – we need to pick a time and place and listen for God’s voice every
single day!!!
For the most part I believe that you and
I tend to keep our appointments with our doctors, dentists, and others for our
physical health and wellbeing, am I right?
We each do this so that we can stay feeling well physically, right? It is necessary to keep these appointments for our overall physical health and wellbeing😊
This is also true for our spiritual health and wellbeing – it is truly essential for our spiritual health and wellbeing, this is a sacred appointment – be sure to keep it, no matter what!!!
We each do this so that we can stay feeling well physically, right? It is necessary to keep these appointments for our overall physical health and wellbeing😊
This is also true for our spiritual health and wellbeing – it is truly essential for our spiritual health and wellbeing, this is a sacred appointment – be sure to keep it, no matter what!!!
2.
Act without Delay
For step number two, we are to act
without delay! As soon as we are prompted to do something we need, we must
follow through and act on that promptimg…. Immediately.
I will admit, I need to work on this one.
I tend to try to rationalize my thoughts to decide if they are mine and then if
I have time.
For example, I was on my way to work one
morning and I passed by this woman on the street. I had this thought that I should
offer her a ride. Then another thought but you will be late to work if you
stop.
I decided not to stop☹ it bothered me all day that I didn’t take the time to stop for her and help her out. I am sure that it was the Spirit that had prompted me, and I lost that opportunity to serve the Lord☹
I decided not to stop☹ it bothered me all day that I didn’t take the time to stop for her and help her out. I am sure that it was the Spirit that had prompted me, and I lost that opportunity to serve the Lord☹
3. Get Your Errand from the Lord
We are taught here by President Eyring, to
‘seek revelation by asking God who we can help for Him.’ As you know, we are
His hands here on the earth😊 We are also taught here that ‘If [we]
ask questions like that, the Holy Ghost will come and [we] will feel nudges about things [we]
can do for other people.’
He further instructed us that ‘When [we] go and do these things, [that we are prompted to do] [we are] on the Lord’s errand, and when [we are] on the Lord’s errand, [we] qualify for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” we ‘can pray and ask the Lord for an errand.’
He further instructed us that ‘When [we] go and do these things, [that we are prompted to do] [we are] on the Lord’s errand, and when [we are] on the Lord’s errand, [we] qualify for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” we ‘can pray and ask the Lord for an errand.’
Remember this: when we are on the errand
of the Lord, we ‘qualify for the gift of the Holy Ghost.’ Remember too, that as
we pray and ask the Lord for an errand, ‘He can use our ordinary skills to
accomplish His extraordinary work.; I felt like President Eyring’s counsel was
totally worth repeating here😊 as well as Sister Craig’s teachings.
So, for step number three we should pray
for an opportunity to serve the Lord😊
4. Believe and Trust
Here is another line of two that is worth
repeating: ‘As His faithful disciple, you can receive personal inspiration and
revelation, consistent with His commandments, that is tailored to you. You have
unique missions and riles to perform, in life and will be given unique guidance
to fulfill them.’
So, each one of us – you and I, as
faithful disciples of the Lord can each receive personal inspiration and
revelation tailored to each one of us individually. And we each have our own
unique missions and roles to perform in our individual lives and we will each
be given our own unique guidance to fulfill those roles and missions! Wow!! Within
these lines sound like a marvelous promise😊
So, for step number four we must believe
that we can receive personal inspiration and revelation for our individual lives,
and we must trust that that Lord will give us what we need to accomplish
what He asks us to do. He will qualify us for whatever He calls us to do😊
I am sharing these steps with you in a
effort to help improve myself as well as give you ideas of how you can become
more in tune with God and His Spirit as He speaks to you😊 I
know that need to work on these things so I thought maybe there were some of
you out there in our cyber world that maybe needed to work on these things as
well!
And because our living Prophet has said
that we need to develop and perfect this skill of listening to and following
the promptings of the Holy Ghost I felt it was important to share this
information with all of you as well😊 we can learn and grow together in the
Spirit! We can each make it our individual – personal goal to learn how to hear
our Heavenly Father best by making time for Him.
By setting aside a specific time for Him,
every single day😊 finding a time when you can have quiet
may be difficult, but it will be worth it! You will become closer to the Lord
and become better able to hear His voice. That is what I am looking forward to😊
I need to hear His voice! You need to hear His voice!!! It is essential to our spiritual welfare!! I found a few other talks that I have enjoyed learning from, I thought I would share them with you as well, just in case you would like to learn a bit more about tuning in to the spirit and becoming more spiritually strong😊
I need to hear His voice! You need to hear His voice!!! It is essential to our spiritual welfare!! I found a few other talks that I have enjoyed learning from, I thought I would share them with you as well, just in case you would like to learn a bit more about tuning in to the spirit and becoming more spiritually strong😊
Here’s the question for your
response: How can we know if we have heard the voice of the Spirit?
We might ask ourselves a few
additional questions as we ponder this question:
Have I experienced feelings of
love, joy, peace, patience, meekness, gentleness, faith, hope, and comfort?
Have ideas come to my mind, or
feelings to my heart, that I know are from the Lord and not from me?
Have I heard my voice speaking truth without having planned what I would say?
Have I experienced a magnification of my own skills and abilities?
Have I felt guidance and protection from deception?
Have I recognized sin in my life and had the desire to correct it?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you have felt the Spirit of the Lord at some time in your life. But the most important question is “Can ye feel so now?”4
This is just a little sample of what is in this talk for each of us to learn😊
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2014/01/tuning-our-hearts-to-the-voice-of-the-spirit?lang=eng
Voice of the Spirit – video
In a world full of noise
and many voices, President James E. Faust invites us to listen to and follow
the voice of the Spirit, which is calm and quiet and leads to eternal life.
This is a
great video to listen to, to help you understand just how important it is for
us to learn to tune in to the Spirit of the Lord. We must learn to get on the
same wavelength as the Spirit😊
How to Tune in to the Holy
Ghost
There are several things that greatly enhance our
ability to understand the promptings of the Holy Ghost and thereby hear the
voice of God.
First is fasting and prayer.
Second is immersing yourself in the scriptures.
Third is preparing to spend time in the house of the Lord
Fourth is listening to the counsel of your father and mother.
Fifth is obedience and repentance.
Women and men who can hear the voice of the Lord, and
who respond to those promptings, become invaluable instruments in His hands.
I believe this talk was given to the
youth of the church, but it can truly be applied to any of us at any age😊
Hearing His Voice
First,
at critical moments in our lives, we will hear multiple voices competing for
our attention. And second, it is vital that we listen to the right ones.
If we
are not careful, the wrong voices can draw us away from the gospel center to
places where faith is difficult to sustain, and we find little more than
emptiness, bitterness, and dissatisfaction.
There
is a spiritual equivalent to the death zone. If we spend too much time in
faithless places, seemingly well-intended voices deprive us of the spiritual
oxygen we need.
Because
our Heavenly Father wants better for us, He makes it possible for us to hear
His voice.
I hope these few quotes from this talk have inspired you to
want to read the whole talk. I found it to be a wonderful source of learning
about the ways we can hear His voice😊
To Hear the Voice of the
Lord
Although the Lord might not speak to us
audibly, as we learn to talk to Him and recognize how He communicates with us,
we begin to know Him. President Lee said that “to know God and Jesus Christ
whom he has sent (see John 17:3), as the Master told his disciples, is to
begin on the sure course that leads to eternal life in the presence of these
glorified beings.”2
Hear the Voice of God
You and I can take confidence in that
assurance. If you and I will study the scriptures and pray and tune our hearts
and ears, we will hear the voice of God in the voice of the people that He has
sent to teach and guide us and direct us.
The
Voice of the Lord
I believe that one of the most
important challenges of our mortal probation is learning to hear, recognize,
and then follow the voice of the Lord.
I would like to say that again: One of the most important—if not the most important—challenges in learning how to come unto Christ and to be perfected in him is to learn to hear, to recognize, and then to follow the voice of the Lord.
I would like to say that again: One of the most important—if not the most important—challenges in learning how to come unto Christ and to be perfected in him is to learn to hear, to recognize, and then to follow the voice of the Lord.
Learning to Hear and Understand the Spirit
One of the most important things we can do is learn the Spirit of God—learn to hear and
follow the promptings of the Spirit.
If we so desire and are worthy, the Lord will school us in the principle of revelation.
If we so desire and are worthy, the Lord will school us in the principle of revelation.
I was guided
to this personal and companion activity in the Preach My Gospel Manual. I
wanted to share this activity with each one f you. It may be an activity that
you would want to do with your family to help them to recognize and understand
better how and when the Spirit speaks to them😊
Many voices in the
world compete for your attention, and they can easily drown out spiritual
impressions if you are not careful.
Learn to Recognize the Promptings of the Spirit
Activity:
Personal or Companion Study
Study the following table. Think of times when
you have experienced any of the feelings, thoughts, or impressions described in
the passages below. As you study and gain experience, add other passages to
this list. Think of how you can use these principles to help others feel and
recognize the Spirit.
Gives
feelings of love, joy, peace, patience, meekness, gentleness, faith, and
hope.
|
|
Gives
ideas in the mind, feelings in the heart.
|
|
Occupies
the mind and presses on the feelings.
|
|
Helps
scriptures have strong effect.
|
|
Gives
good feelings to teach if something is true.
|
|
Enlightens
the mind.
|
|
Replaces
darkness with light.
|
|
Strengthens
the desire to avoid evil and obey the commandments.
|
|
Teaches
truth and brings it to remembrance.
|
|
Gives
feelings of peace and comfort.
|
|
Guides
to truth and shows things to come.
|
|
Reveals
truth.
|
|
Guides
and protects from deception.
|
|
Glorifies
and bears record of God the Father and Jesus Christ.
|
|
Guides
the words of humble teachers.
|
|
Recognizes
and corrects sin.
|
|
Gives
gifts of the Spirit.
|
|
Helps
to perceive or discern the thoughts of others.
|
|
Tells
what to pray for.
|
|
Tells
what to do.
|
|
Helps
the righteous speak with power and authority.
|
|
Testifies
of the truth.
|
|
Sanctifies
and brings remission of sins.
|
|
Carries
truth to the heart of the listener.
|
|
Enhances
skills and abilities.
|
|
Constrains
(impels forward) or restrains (holds back).
|
|
Edifies
both teacher and students.
|
|
Gives
comfort.
|
In answer to the question “How do we recognize the promptings of the Spirit?” President Gordon B. Hinckley read Moroni 7:13, 16–17 and then said: “That’s the test, when all is said and done. Does it persuade one to do good, to rise, to stand tall, to do the right thing, to be kind, to be generous? Then it is of the Spirit of God. …
“If it
invites to do good, it is of God. If it inviteth to do evil, it is of the
devil. … And if you are doing the right thing and if you are living the right
way, you will know in your heart what the Spirit is saying to you.
“You recognize the
promptings of the Spirit by the fruits of the Spirit—that which enlighteneth,
that which buildeth up, that which is positive and affirmative and uplifting
and leads us to better thoughts and better words and better deeds is of the
Spirit of God” (Teachings
of Gordon B. Hinckley, 260–61).
I sure hope
and pray that I have shared something with you today that has inspired you to
want to learn the language of the Spirit and how your Heavenly Father speaks to
you😊 I know that for some people it is or
seems to be an easy thing for them to recognize when the Lord is speaking to
them.
Personally, I have struggled a bit. I am always second guessing if it is the Lord or if it is my own thoughts. Although I have had times when I have known without a shadow of a doubt that it was the Lord speaking directly to me!
Personally, I have struggled a bit. I am always second guessing if it is the Lord or if it is my own thoughts. Although I have had times when I have known without a shadow of a doubt that it was the Lord speaking directly to me!
I am not sure
just what time it is wherever you are at right at this very moment, but here
for me it is getting very late – or getting very early – depending on how many
hours you have been up😊 for me it is getting very late, so I
will cease my ramblings for tonight. I hope and I pray that you will join me in
trying to come closer to our Heavenly Father by learning to hear Him when He
speaks to each one of us directly and personally😊
As always,
remember who you are! You are each a child of God, a son or a daughter of a
Heavenly Father who loves you. Who knows you! And who is always there for you!
He is only a prayer away! Keep saying your prayers every day. Continue studying
your scriptures every day. And if you have not had the opportunity or taken the
opportunity to read the Book of Mormon, you really should give it a read.
The Book of
Mormon contains amazing stories as does the Bible and all are centered on Jesus
Christ. Go ahead and take Moroni’s challenge and pray to know if it is the word
of God😊 you may be surprised at the answer
you receive! If you do not have your own copy, you can receive one from here: https://www.comeuntochrist.org/beliefs/book-of-mormon/book-of-mormon-request
Until my next
post, keep learning about your Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. And
don’t forget to make it a great week😊
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