Gospel Doctrine Lesson 5: “This Is the Spirit of Revelation”

Today, I taught this lesson. I keep meaning to post my lessons (this is only my third), but I keep forgetting. But today, I’m posting it. I thought the lesson went really well. People commented, threw out personal stories and participated rather well. I was very happy with that because the last two times I taught most people were hesitant to answer questions and offer thoughts. There are a few (I love you guys) who are very willing to participate and always pop up with thoughts and comments when nobody else does. Those people are just so wonderful because I’m still trying to get the hang of teaching. I’ve found everyone (so far) is more than willing to read handouts, so I’m going to continue with the handout route. A couple of people today raised their hands and offered personal experiences and comments, which was super great. It made me really happy.

Anyways, here is the lesson I taught. I really enjoyed this lesson and I had a great time preparing it. 

One of the things we know and believe is that our church is led by the Lord through revelation to the prophets. Revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth of knowledge through communication with God.

Revelation for our church is not just limited to the doctrines and teachings of our church. Revelation encompasses every aspect of decisions made. No decision is made in regards to the building of meetings houses, temples, canneries, storehouses or welfare centers without revelation from God. Same goes for the opening and establishing of missions, the areas missionaries are sent to, what should be done with each and every penny of church funds, who should talk in conferences and what the topics of the conference should be.

Revelation is a wonderful gift God has given us, not just the prophets and apostles, but to each and every one of us. We can each receive revelation and revelation is received in a myriad of different ways. God wants to help us in our lives and revelation is a way in which He does that. When we ask for help in knowing whether we should accept a particular job, move somewhere, date or marry someone, which of two choices is better or any other question, we are asking for God to help us by revealing an answer to us. This is revelation. We can ask for revelation for anything and, in most cases, God will answer. We must do our part and ask in the correct way and He WILL answer.

While researching this lesson I came upon a talk by Elder Tad R. Callister given at a BYU-Hawaii devotional in August 2009. It is titled Recognizing and Receiving Revelation and he lists seven principles for how we can increase revelation in our lives and recognize it when it comes. 

The first principle is that everyone is entitled to receive revelation within the sphere of his or her responsibility. We do not as individuals receive revelation for the entire church, but we can each receive revelation for our own lives and for the areas in which we hold responsibility. If we ask for revelation for someone else or for something with which we have no authority over, God will not answer those requests.

First Principle: Every person is entitled to revelation within the sphere of his responsibility.

The Lord will never give us a calling or responsibility without the right to receive revelation to help us fulfill it. What does that mean?

It means that every person has the right to receive revelation to help him in his individual quest for exaltation.

It means that every spouse has the right to receive revelation to help him or her be a better companion.

It means that every parent has the right to receive revelation so he can give good and wise counsel to his children.

And it means that every member with a church calling has the right to receive revelation to help him magnify that calling.

It is so wonderful that we can receive revelation for every aspect of our lives. If we are uncertain about an action we should take or if we (like me) are unsure about how to go about our callings, we can pray for help. As long as we are in tune with the Spirit and listening, God will reveal the course we should take.

The second principle of revelation has to do with receiving revelation for the areas within which we have responsibility and authority.

Second Principle: We are not entitled to revelation outside the sphere of our responsibility. 
God is a God of order; therefore revelation is given in an orderly way. If one or more persons were to receive revelation for another person’s sphere of responsibility then confusion would result. For example, if multiple people received conflicting revelations for one person’s responsibility, which “revelation” should be followed? In the early days of the Church some did not understand this principle. They thought that in addition to Joseph Smith they could also receive revelation for the whole church. As a result the Lord spoke on this matter: “No one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jun.” (D&C 28:2). And then in a later revelation the Lord explained why this was the case: “And this I give unto you that you may not be deceived, that you may know they are not of me” (D&C 43:6). If someone claims revelation for the bishop or stake president or prophet, you may know with certainty they are not of the Lord. God does not operate through multiple channels for a single responsibility—why—because He is a God of order.

Revelation is limited to the areas of our life that we are responsible for. The bishop or branch president can receive revelation for something I should do or a calling I should have because he has authority over me by his calling. I can receive revelation for what I should teach in my class, but I cannot receive revelation for my class members as individuals. My responsibly over them only goes so far as teaching them and does not extend to their individual lives.

By making it so each of us receive revelation only for the areas in which we are responsible, God establishes a clear line of authority and order and removes the chaos and confusion that would arise if many people received revelation for overlapping areas.

The third principle of revelation that Elder Callister discusses is that revelation is a supplement for reason and not a substitute.

Third Principle: Revelation is not a substitute for reason and common sense; it is a supplement to them. 
Reason and revelation often work hand in hand. The Lord declared: “These things remain with you to do according to judgement and the directions of the Spirit” (D&C 62:8).

Revelation is not a short cut for obtaining quick and easy answers. President Harold B. Lee was once asked: “How do you get revelation?” He responded, “If you want to get revelation, do your homework.” (Henry B. Eyring, To Draw Closer to God, p. 94). In other words, we are to use our powers of reason and common sense as stepping stones to receiving revelation. Reason of course, is not the equivalent of revelation, but it often creates a climate or an atmosphere in which revelation can be facilitated. Oliver Cowdery learned the hard way the relationship between revelation and reason. Unable to translate the Book of Mormon, the Lord gave him the reason why:

“Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you” (D&C 9:7-8).

Oliver Cowdery failed to realize that he had to do all within his power before revelation would come.

When making decisions in our lives, we should not just go to the Lord and say, “Here are my options. What should I do?” We need to search out the pros and cons of each option, decide which we think is the best one and THEN go ask the Lord if that is the correct choice.

God sent us here with agency and freedom to make our own choices. This helps us to learn and to grow and to trust in Him. If we just expect God to tell us every move we should make without even trying to decide the correct choice for ourselves, it would be just like having Satan as our Savior instead of Jesus Christ.

The fourth principle of revelation is the fact that sometimes God withhold revelation in order to help us learn and grow by applying principles and truths we have previously received.

Fourth Principle: If you have done your best and still haven’t received revelation, then act on your best judgement and in the course of doing so revelation will usually come. 
Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave this wise and practical counsel:

“A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices. Personal decision making is one of the sources of the growth we are meant to experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it. For example, this is likely to occur in those numerous circumstances in which the choices are trivial or either choice is acceptable. We should study things out in our minds, using the reasoning powers our Creator has placed within us. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it if we receive it. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgement” (“Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfall,” Ensign, Oct 1994).

Sometimes it is hard to understand why God won’t answer a prayer. We live in a world where everything is given to us almost instantaneously and we want God to work that way as well. He does not and sometimes it can make us feel like God does not hear us or love us. This is not the case.

Elder Richard G. Scott has good counsel on that subject and really puts the Lord’s actions into a new perspective.

“It is a mistake to assume that every prayer we offer will be answered immediately. Some prayers require considerable effort on our part. True, some impressions come when we have not specifically sought them. They generally concern something we need to know and are not otherwise able to find out.

We are here on earth to gain experience we can obtain in no other way. We are given the opportunity to grow, to develop, and to gain spiritual maturity. To do that, we must learn to apply truth. How we face challenges and resolve difficult problems is crucially important to our happiness.

When we explain a problem and propose a solution, sometimes He answers yes, sometimes no. Often He withholds an answer, not for lack of concern, but because He loves us – perfectly. He wants us to apply truths He has given us. For us to grow, we need to trust our ability to make correct decisions. We need to do what we feel is right. In time, He will answer. He will not fail us.” ~Elder Richard G. Scott (Learning to Recognize Answers to Prayer, General Conference October 1989)

God loves us. He wants to help us. Sometimes, the way He knows is best to help is to withhold an answer for a time. This delay is not because of a lack of love. It is because God knows all and He knows this course of action is best.

The fifth principle of revelation has to do with learning to apply the principles of the gospel and follow the truths we have learned. This is especially important when the revelation we have received appears to be in direct conflict with reason.

Fifth Principle: Sometimes reason and revelation are in apparent conflict and you must choose which will govern your life. 
Each of us at various times in our lives will confront a crossroad—where we must choose either revelation from God or the reason of the world. None will escape. It may come at a time when a loved one is lost, or there are insufficient funds to pay one’s tithing, or one feels rejected and lonely. But the conflict will come, not once, but on multiple occasions. It faced Moses as he was trapped between the Red Sea and the fast approaching Egyptian army. No doubt the powers of reason screamed “veer to the left or to the right,” but the Spirit whispered, “March direct for the Red Sea.” His allegiance to the Spirit saved the Israelite nation.

Years ago there was a young man in Hawaii learning about the Church. He later became an astute businessman here on the island. He was then being taught by a young missionary who has just recently finished serving as a mission president in Australia. The young investigator was progressing well, but was then taught the law of tithing. He explained to his missionaries that he believed everything he had been taught, but he just couldn’t live the law of tithing. He had calculated the figures and mathematically it wasn’t possible. The young missionary then received an impression and said to him: “I promise you in the name of Jesus Christ that if you pay your tithing you will never know a day of want.” The words struck the young investigator; he melted—and that day he chose revelation over reason. He chose spiritual math over worldly math. That choice of priorities would govern the rest of his life.

There will be times in our lives when the things God has asked of us, commanded us or prompted us to do make no logical sense or appear like it won’t work. We must be like unto Nephi and have faith that God will not ask us to do something without having provided us a way to accomplish that which he has asked us to do. (1 Nephi 3:7) And when we follow the commandments and promptings from Him, He will take care of us and make sure we have what we need.

The sixth principle of revelation is that there is a price tag for revelation. unfortunately, we cannot just receive revelation without having first done certain things. We must possess certain attributes in order to invite revelation and avoid activities that repel it.

Sixth Principle: There is a price tag for revelation—certain activities and attributes invite revelation; others repel it.  Elder Tad R. Callister describes three attributes that help invite revelation

First: Asking with intensity. Elder McConkie was often asked what methods he used to study the scriptures in order to become such a master scholar. He replied that is was not so much the method, but the intensity. So it is with receiving revelation—it is not just the asking or the approach, but the intensity. Joseph Smith was the master receiver of revelation because he was the master asker. Revelation after revelation appears in the Doctrine and Covenants simply because Joseph Smith asked with intensity. Perhaps the most repeated mandate with a promised blessing in the scriptures is, “Ask and ye shall receive.” If you want revelation you must take the initiative, you must ask with intensity and then keep on asking.

Second: Revelation is predicated upon our worthiness. President Lee, when discussing revelation with a man, told him that he had a wonderful instrument in his home called a radio. It could broadcast music and talks from thousands of miles away and bring them into his living room just as though the performers were there. The sounds were received by crystal tubes. If one of them wore out he might hear some static. If another wore out the sound might fade in and out, and if another tube went bad the sound might discontinue altogether.

Then he said our spirit is like that radio set. We have what you might call a Word of Wisdom tube, and read the scriptures tube, and perhaps most importantly a morality tube. And if any of these are not functioning it adversely affects our ability to receive and recognize impressions from the other side.

If our worthiness tubes are in order we will receive and recognize promptings as they are broadcast from the divine source; if not it will be difficult, if not impossible, to recognize the divine signals that are being sent.

Third: The degree of revelation we receive is related to our spiritual integrity. Spiritual integrity is an absolute honesty with ourselves and with God. It is a willingness to accept and do God’s will whatever it may be, however hard it may be. For example:

What happens when a young man feels physically and emotionally attracted to a young lady and those feelings become so dominating that he prays to a conclusion? What do I mean? He prays something like the following: “I have been dating Jane for six months. I love her; now confirm she is the one for me.” When we pray like that we leave only one door open for response, the “yes” door. Perhaps a more mature prayer—a prayer of greater integrity would be, “I have dated Jane for six months—I am attracted to her, she brings out the best in me. I believe she would be a good spouse and noble mother and if she is the one, please confirm it to me, but if not (here is the hard part), then please let me know and I will follow thy decision, whatever it may be.” When someone prays with that type of integrity he is ripe for revelation.

Basically, to be in a place where we can receive revelation, we must be following the commandments, have spiritual integrity and ask with a sincere desire to know.

The seventh principle of revelation that Elder Callister talks about is the fact that while Satan sometimes attempts to lead us astray by imitating revelation from the Lord, there are certain things Satan cannot make us feel that God can. We must trust and rely on these feelings.

Seventh Principle: There are certain distinct feelings of the Spirit which Satan cannot counterfeit. 
Some might ask: “How can I distinguish between my own psychological feelings verses impressions of the Spirit? For most this is a life-long educational process. But in the interim we can proceed with assurance that there are certain feelings of the heart and impressions of the mind that come only from heaven. Even Satan, the great counterfeiter cannot duplicate them. I share a few such feelings and impressions.

One is peace. The Savior said, “My peace I give unto you.” Oliver Cowdery had been in Joseph Smith Senior’s home and prayed to know the truth of the Book of Mormon. There he received a convincing assurance of peace, but he never told Joseph Smith of this experience. Some time passed and human nature took its toll. No doubt he wondered if that experience was some psychological feeling or an impression from heaven. So he went to Joseph Smith and asked him to request a revelation that would be a witness to him that the Book of Mormon was true. Joseph Smith, unaware of Oliver’s previous experience, sought a revelation from the Lord. It came in D&C 6:22-23:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things. Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?”

Oliver had received peace. The Lord reaffirmed his prior experience and feelings. There was no way Joseph Smith could have known of Oliver’s earlier experience except through revelation. This was the Lord’s confirmation that peace comes only from Him.

Alma 32 gives us three other keys to detect revelation. In verse 28 it tell us that revelation or the word of God will begin to enlarge our hearts—there will swell within us a desire to be a better person—to go about doing good. You may remember the story of the Grinch—at first his heart was two sizes too small, and then as the Spirit of Christmas worked upon him, his heart enlarged. Not too long ago, I was in New Caledonia. A non-member came to an early morning session for new converts before the general stake conference session. I talked to her and said, “If you feel peace today and an impression to be a better person, it will be a witness from heaven that the things you have heard are true.” At the conclusion of conference she turned to her friend and said, “I did feel a peace and I do desire to be a better person.” She then invited the missionaries to come to her home. They went—and it would not surprise you to know that she was baptized in June of this year.

Alma also taught that revelation will enlighten your understanding and expand your mind. In other words it will make you smarter as to things of eternal consequence. Joseph Smith put it this way: “A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas” (“The Spirit of Revelation,” Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 149, 151).

Revelation from God is sacred and special, no matter how ‘trivial’ the thing we are asking about may seem. At times Satan will try to confuse us or lead us in the wrong direction, but if we will remember and learn to recognize the ways God speaks to us as individuals, we can differentiate between Satan’s lies and God’s truths.

Revelation is a powerful tool God has given us to help strengthen our testimonies, learn divine truths, receive guidance and expand our understanding. The more we utilize this precious gift, the closer to God we will become.

In closing, I’d like to share Elder Callister’s closing remarks from his talk.

Conclusion 
Somewhere, sometime, each of us must pay the price to receive a testimony built upon the rock of revelation. Alma declared: “Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me” (Alma 5:46).

Revelation, however, is not just reserved for the prophets. It is available for every righteous seeker after truth regardless of his station in life or calling in the Church. It is one of God’s gifts to each of us. As Paul cautioned Timothy, “Neglect not the gift that is in thee” (1 Timothy 4:14). May revelation not only be a potential in our lives but a reality. May we heed Brigham Young’s warning and not live beneath our revelatory privileges, I so pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

For me, I’m thankful for revelation. I probably wouldn’t be here in Malaysia if it weren’t for revelation. I mean, who moves halfway across the world for a guy they’ve only known 7 months? Crazy, right? It was a huge decision and I prayed about it a lot. I prayed at home and I prayed in the temple. When I finally got my answer, I knew it at once. The peace I felt outweighed every doubt I had and every negative thought anyone had said about it. The concern I’d felt about moving melted away and I was just consumed with such a wonderful feeling of peace and happiness. I couldn’t help but cry and revel in the joy I was feeling. It was truly wonderful. From that day on, I wasn’t scared and my anxiety about the move never came back.

Revelation is real. I have felt it and I have acted on it. We can all receive revelation if we are worthy and ask with sincere intent. If we open our hearts and our minds and are in tune with the spirit, we will hear God’s answer. He loves us and He wants to help us. All we have to do is ask and listen.