Personal Revealtion: The Teaching and Examples of the Prophets

My thoughts on Elder Hales' talk "Personal Revelation: The Teachings and Examples of the Prophets"

Personal Revelation is such a wonderful thing. I don’t think I could be a member of the church if we didn’t have this and believe in it. (OK, the church wouldn’t be the church without it.)

I think the word that sums up my feelings on this talk is “amen.”
Now teaching this to your children is something else. It is easy if you start early and let them know that you will have answers to your prayers. Not, MAYBE have answers, but WILL have answers. And those answers will be for prayers that are simple “Where is my lost sock.” and prayers that are more complicated “Is the church true.”

“Elder Romney said, ‘I have learned that when we are on the Lord’s errand, we have His blessings to accomplish whatever we are asked to do.’”

When I was the Relief Society President I felt his so strongly. But I don’t feel it any less as a Primary Pianist. I feel it acutely as a mother. The Still Small Voice is a constant in my life and I try really hard to listen to it throughout the day.

“Each of us has been sent to earth by our Heavenly Father to merit eternal life;”
MERIT means to earn. I don’t know about at your house, but at my house to earn something means you have to put for some effort and work in order to receive it.

“Personal revelation is the way Heavenly Father helps us know Him and His son, learn and live the gospel, endure to the end in righteousness, and qualify for eternal life—to return back into Their presence.” (emphasis added)

Noticed what this gift gives us the ability to do. WOW! So how do we get it? PRAYER!

“To obtain that Spirit, we begin with prayer.” (If you want something you have to ask for it.)
“Behold, … you must study it out in your mind.” (One of my favorite scriptures.)
“I have learned that prayer provides a firm foundation for personal revelation.” (Let’s all hum now, “How firm a foundations, ye saints of the Lord.”)
“We pondered our assignment, counseled together, and listened to the voice of the Spirit.” Can it truly be that simple? Yes and no.

“Revelation comes on the Lord’s timetable, which often means we must move forward in faith, even though we haven’t received all the answers we desire.”

“.. by continuing to seek our Heavenly Father’s will as we moved forward in faith.”

I think that is one of the hardest things to do--period! Move forward with faith when you don’t know all the answers. Next is to move forward when you don’t like the answers.

Many, many years ago I approached my Father in Heaven because I was troubled about something in our marriage. He wouldn’t give me an answer, well; he answered it, “Not now—be patient and wait.” Eventually I decided we needed to take this to the temple and see what kind of clarity would come through there. My answer was most definite, “Follow your husband’s council.” That pained me the most because it was an answer I didn’t want to follow. My heart sank because I knew that Steve received an answer I wasn’t going to like. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. On the way home from the temple Steve was very quiet and I told my mouth to shut because asking him would break my heart. He knew that his answer would break my heart too so he was quiet. But eventually it had to be spoken. I went first and told him what I got for an answer. He then told me what he got for an answer. The only thing I could do was pray for healing and comfort. To this day, I still do not like the answer and when I think about it, my heart breaks. I have to ask for strength every time I think about it. I have to reach for a tissue box because it is still painful, BUT I have moved forward with faith. I don’t know why my blessing is for listening and following my husband, but I’m hoping that like Abraham I will be blessed because I have obeyed personal revelation and went forward in faith.

“… prophets received revelations to warn, teach, strengthen, and comfort…”
I have felt this very thing as I have read the Book of Mormon as well as the talks these past few years. I truly have felt warned, taught, strengthened and comforted as I have moved forward in faith doing things that are at times hard.

“We prepare to receive personal revelation as the prophets do, by studying the scriptures, fasting, praying and building faith. Faith is the key.”
I don’t know how this struck you, but it struck me that EVERYONE of us can do the very same thing our living prophets do to get personal revelation. There is no secret formula that makes it better or faster (kind of like losing weight). There is no secret priesthood office that gets us a quicker response or audience with Heavenly Father. NO! Everyone must do the same things. BUT the closer we live to the spirit, the more obedient we are, the more faith we exercise and the more broken our heart is, the easier it is to recognize the revelations.

“By design, most miracles are spiritual demonstrations of God’s power—tender mercies gently bestowed through impressions, ideas, feelings of assurance, solutions to problems, strength to meet challenges, and comfort to bear disappointments and sorrow.”
What a neat statement. And I only pray I can have more miracles worked in my life through personal revelations.