Ongoing Personal Revelation is Like Learning a Language

Have you ever learned or wanted to learn a foreign language?

When studying a language, it’s an interesting process. You learn a lot of the vocabulary and some grammar. But you don’t really start learning the language until you go out and first start listening to people speak in that language, followed by you attempting to put words together and form sentences that are understandable. At first, this is a difficult thing, it takes a lot of listening to start to understand someone speaking a different language. You have to really be quiet, focus, listen, understand (know the words before they spoke them), figure out sentence structure, etc. 

The Holy Ghost is a revelator, no man can receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelations.

Joseph Smith (HC 6:58)

Like learning a language, we need to learn the language of the spirit.

“There is no doubt, if a person lives according to the revelations given to God’s people, he may have the Spirit of the Lord to signify to him his will, and to guide and to direct him in the discharge of his duties, in his temporal as well as his spiritual exercises. I am satisfied, however, that in this respect, we live far beneath our privileges” 

Brigham Young (Journal of Discources)

The Precious Gift of Personal Revelation
Edwin Kumferman
Ricks College Devotional
October 24, 2000

Seven Steps to Ongoing Personal Revelation

1. Live clean, pure lives
   • D&C 50:29 And if ye are purified and cleansed from all sin, ye shall ask whatsoever you will in the name of Jesus and it shall be done.
2. Search the scriptures
   • 2 Nephi 32:3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
3. Ask in Faith
   • If we don’t ask, it is like having a driver’s license and a new car, but no key. Prayer is the key to receiving revelation from the Lord.
   • Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
4. Be Patient
   • D&C 98:12 For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith.
5. Do everything that is in your power
   • You shouldn’t be asking the Lord to guide your steps if you aren’t willing to move your feet. Heavenly Father has given you your agency and common sense along with certain talents, gifts, and abilities. He expects you to use them in your decision-making process.
6. Be calm and at peace
   • Do you have any personal quiet time?
   • Elder M. Russell Ballard: Handheld devices, such as smartphones, are a blessing, but they can also distract us from hearing the “still, small voice.” They need to be our servants, not our masters. For example, if later tonight you share inspiring thoughts from this devotional on social media, your smartphone is a servant. If you randomly surf the Internet, your smartphone is a master.
7. Write down promptings you receive and act quickly upon them
   • Elder Richard G. Scott wrote, “Sometimes the direction comes so clearly and so unmistakably that it can be written down word for word, like spiritual dictation” (Finding Peace, Happiness and Joy, 42).
   • In 1998, Elder Richard G. Scott speaking to church educators said, “learn to write revelation in your journals so you can remember what the Lord has said.”