Episode 93: Stretching Your Current Spiritual Ability to Receive Revelation

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Since President Nelson gave this talk, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,” in April 2018 General Conference, his words have been on the forefront of my mind. His words in that that talk were exactly what I needed to hear. Specifically the following statement. 

 “I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation. In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.” 

The prophet of God was URGING me to do something! I felt like I needed to implement this ASAP! But how? I was already reading my scriptures, saying my prayers and attending church. So how was I going to stretch myself?

I started looking at personal study guides I could use to help me understand the scriptures more deeply. As I tried various ways to study, understand, and seek guidance, I took bits and pieces from various sources. I found that it was important for me to write down how I saw the hand of God in my life daily. I saw power in asking for help with my day from the Lord. I saw direct revelation coming as I was able to seek specific questions in my study and my ability to receive revelation grew as I wrote down my thoughts during my study and prayer. 

As I am writing these words, I am feeling the power of His spirit letting me know I need to pursue this path to help YOU understand these concepts as well.  After all, the prophet is a SEER, and if he is seeing that I will not survive spiritually in the future without these tools, I am l going to listen! I URGE you to listen and implement as well. 

What came of this stretching was my Seeking Personal Revelation Journal. I want to show you how each section of my journal helps me in stretching my ability to receive personal revelation. Then I am going to share with you a way I have recently found to amplify my results and what others have found with this secret weapon too. So first, the journal, which is broken up in to various sections.

 THANKING

I think you can agree that you know you need to be grateful and give thanks to Heavenly Father each day for your blessings. However, do you know the power in doing so? Do you know the reason behind WHY Heavenly Father is asking you to be grateful in your prayers? Let's see what else President Nelson said in his April 2018 talk. 

“Each of these blessings has come as a result of seeking and heeding the promptings of the Holy Ghost. President Lorenzo Snow said, ‘This is the grand privilege of every Latter-day Saint … that it is our right to have the manifestations of the Spirit every day of our lives.’ I promise that as you continue to be obedient, expressing gratitude for every blessing the Lord gives you, and as you patiently honor the Lord’s timetable, you will be given the knowledge and understanding you seek.” 

There it is! When you are grateful, you will be given knowledge and understanding. Oftentimes when people kneel to pray they try to think of all the things they're grateful for and end up using vain repetitions or forgetting something they were truly grateful for. This is because they did not have the time to truly ponder their activities the day before. This is where I believe the true knowledge and understanding comes in: THE PONDERING! So, here is the process I use for this section. 

Ponder what happened in the last 24 hours that you are truly grateful for and write those items down under the thanking section. Or read over the previous day’s asking section and write down items you saw answered. Only write a few key words about it to prompt you when you say your prayer. Don't say your prayer yet though. Just move onto the asking section.

ASKING

As I started on my journey of stretching beyond my current spiritual ability, I felt like when I knelt to pray, even though I would try to think about what I wanted to say, I couldn’t truly remember everything and everyone I wanted to pray for. I was prompted in the next General Conference, October 2018, to start writing down my prayers so I could look back on previous days and be prompted by things I am still seeking answers to. This helped me bring more focus to my prayers and to also see when a prayer had been answered by looking at previous days. I was then prompted to have more gratitude.

I also saw opportunities to ask for help in areas I was feeling weak or tempted.  This taught me that daily repentance is possible—and I have grown in strength of faith, courage, and integrity.  As I look back on President Nelson’s talk I can now see that He was prompting me, even back then, to put more effort into the asking portion of my prayer. President Nelson said, 

“Brothers and sisters, how can we become the men and women—the Christlike servants—the Lord needs us to be? How can we find answers to questions that perplex us? If Joseph Smith’s transcendent experience in the Sacred Grove teaches us anything, it is that the heavens are open and that God speaks to His children…The Prophet Joseph Smith set a pattern for us to follow in resolving our questions. Drawn to the promise of James that if we lack wisdom we may ask of God, the boy Joseph took his question directly to Heavenly Father. He sought personal revelation, and his seeking opened this last dispensation…Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Does God really want to speak to you? Yes!” 

As with the thanking section I only write one or two words to prompt me on what I am asking for—not a whole sentence or paragraph. Again, I  don’t say my prayers just yet. I fill out one more section before I do that! The seeking section.

SEEKING

Now you might be saying to yourself, what is the difference between seeking and asking? Well they might seem like the same word, but I use them differently in this journal. I use the asking section for things I need help with and the seeking section for answers I am hoping He can give me as I study that day. I write one question I want Him to speak to me through while I read the scriptures. President Nelson said it best… 

"What will your seeking open for you? What wisdom do you lack? What do you feel an urgent need to know or understand? Follow the example of the Prophet Joseph. Find a quiet place where you can regularly go. Humble yourself before God. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father. Turn to Him for answers and for comfort…For the Lord has promised that ‘if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.’ 

After I have written my Thanking, Asking, and Seeking, then I kneel down and say my prayer. I set my prompts in front of me and I go one by one. I look at the couple of words I wrote down and then I talk to Heavenly Father about them. That is where I go more in depth about my thanking and asking with Him. Then after my prayer I move onto the His will section.

HIS WILL

I have seen other people use this technique to define long-term goals and dreams. I started that way then realized what I really wanted to know was what HE wanted for me. However, I do believe HE wants us to be happy and use our gifts and talents to improve our lives in any way possible. I wanted to know what my unique mission here on Earth is. He placed me in a certain location, time period, and with certain people for a reason. If we don’t pay attention to why He chose those for us, we might miss out on opportunities to fulfill His will for us. President Nelson tells us… 

"How willing the Lord is to reveal His mind and will. The privilege of receiving revelation is one of the greatest gifts of God to His children. I know that good inspiration is based upon good information.” 

Learning to understand His will is a vital part of learning to grow in the principle of revelation. Knowing what He wants for us is crucial to our growth and progression towards eternal life. But it doesn't stop there.

ACTION

God is always willing to tell us His will for us. We are His children after all. He knows us better than anyone else. He truly understands the divinity of our worth and will tell us how to understand it for ourselves. What is our part in all of it? We must act when we he does reveal His will to us. President Nelson said,

“Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will 'grow into the principle of revelation.” 

Making a commitment daily to act on revelation you received will help you see the hand of God in your life giving you strength beyond your own as you act. When we move forward with the promptings we have received from Him and we act accordingly He will send more, we will hear more, and we will accomplish more with Him as our guide.

REVELATION

 After I have completed all of the sections above, I dive into my study for the day. You can use this section with anything you are studying: scriptures, general conference talks, or any other gospel book.. As I am reading, I write down all the impressions that come to my mind—no matter how small or insignificant. I make sure to follow through with any prompting I feel from the Lord. I then look back at my seeking section to see how my question was answered. Guess what? Is it answered, every time! Not always exactly how I thought it should be but I feel the Lord giving me guidance and direction. I am amazed at how He speaks to me each and every day—and how willing HE is to answer my prayers. This continual process and stretching using these sections in my journal has given the me the courage and strength to do even more. To stretch even further than I tough I possibly could. So I have amplified my results by adding a secret weapon.

 Revelation Meditations

I actually created 20 specific revelation meditations that align with each section of the Journal. The shifting of the state of mind you are in that comes from these meditations helps you amplify the still small voice of the spirit and really align your will with God. They give specific prompts for the Holy Ghost to guide you in clarity with your thoughts and REALLY stretch your ability to receive personal revelation. The journal gives you a place to record all these sacred revelations and a way to act on them as you receive even more details about the revelation

Now these 20 meditations are not one and done. These meditations are created so that you will receive different revelation every time you do them. Here’s what Tina said after completing the 20 meditations, “When I complete these I will repeat them over again.”  All of these meditations are found in the Clarity in the Chaos Course  and because they work so well together you will also get a Seeking Personal Revelation Journal for free in the mail when you sign up. I know that God truly is waiting to reveal His will for YOU. The revelation is there. His answers are there. His guidance is there. He is there.

I love how there are a variety of lengths so that I can fit them in no matter how much time I have. I love how these meditations not only allow me to ground myself in the present moment but also allow me to connect with my Savior and to feel his love for me. These meditations have been the perfect addition to my daily routine and have really helped me to connect with God. I am so beyond grateful that you created these! They pair so perfectly with your prayer journal. ~Courtney