Seeking the Holy Ghost in Times of Peace, and Trouble
Almost exactly two years ago I wrote my first post on this blog. Since then, I have read hundreds of post and comments from other LDS blogs, and written over a hundred posts myself. My main emphasis has been to write about the Holy Ghost.
As church members we’re taught that acquiring the gift of the Holy Ghost is the most important thing we can do.[1] Some readers might not agree with this statement, saying that coming to Christ is more important. If that is true, how would you answer this question: “How can we come to Christ without the Holy Ghost?”
One purpose of the Holy Ghost is to testify or reveal to men that Jesus Christ is the Son of God the Eternal Father (Matt. 16:16, 1 Corinthians 12:3). Without the Holy Ghost we cannot receive the necessary experiences to have a relationship with Christ. We can study the scriptures, listen to the words of the living prophets, and thereby intellectually learn of Christ, but we won’t be able to experience Christ until we qualify for the Holy Ghost. Intellectual conversion to Christ is fragile, Spiritual conversion to Christ will ground and root us.
The challenge we have as followers of Christ is to diligently seek for the Holy Ghost. It’s not easy to acquire and maintain this gift, but the Lord is merciful to those who work at it.
The Lord reveals things about Himself so that we can understand Him, understand His dealings with men. He wants to be our friend, as well as our Savior, is the reason. When I read the following verses I see a side to the Lord that I’m glad to know:
They were slow to ahearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble.
In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me. D&C 101:7-8
These verses teaches me not to esteem lightly the Lord’s counsel when things are going well. Elder Henry B. Eyring said, “The problem for most human beings is that when things go well, we feel self-sufficient...[we] tend to seek the Holy Ghost most fervently when [we’re] humbled by difficult circumstances or life-changing decisions.” Raise the Bar, BYU January 25, 2005.
So my thought for this post is to diligently seek the Lord through our gift of the Holy Ghost, in times of peace, as well as in times of trouble. This is a sure way of becoming His friend.
One might ask: "how can I seek the Lord in times of peace?" Spend time with Him in earnest prayer asking to draw near to Him. Ask question about those things in the scripture that you want to understand better. Seek to be guided to people you can "minister" to.
My experience is that the Lord hears such prayers and will answer with a blessing, and as time goes on your faithfulness will be rewarded with increased manifestations of the Spirit that will provide you with a certainty of testimony.
[1] Men ought—above all things in this world—to seek for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing as important as having the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Bruce R. McConkie, New Witness for the Articles of Faith, P. 253
October 18th, 2009 - 02:28
Thanks for discussing this topic with reverence and true intellectual intent.
I’m a “silent” fan of yours from another…um…blog…and not only do I appreciate and silently cheer nearly every doctrinal comment you make, I thought your latest retreat was rather classy.
I too, like yourself, want nothing more than to submit my will to our Father’s no matter how hard it is or how many times I fail.
October 18th, 2009 - 06:46
me–
What can I say other than
October 18th, 2009 - 17:00
One key aspect of this that I keep coming back to is how important (mandatory?)obedience is to our spiritual/intelligence growth. The scriptures state repeatedly that if we want to “know” whether a law or doctrine is true or not, we must first be willing to “obey” that law or embrace that doctrine. God rewards us with further light and knowledge in direct proportion to our willingness to embrace what we have already been given.
Since the Holy Ghost reveals all truth, obedience is then a key (THE key?)to this “gift”. To put it more simply-God speaks, we obey, the HG bears witness that what God said is true. THEN God can speak MORE to us THROUGH the Holy Ghost.
To me, the evidence is overwhelming and obvious. What say you?
October 18th, 2009 - 21:10
me–
I certainly agree with the importance of obedience as you have outlined it. D&C 130:20-21 is support for that conclusion.
However, at times in my life I have had difficulty with the law of obedience. It can be a task master for fallen men and women. When I’ve been discouraged because of my inability to keep the commandments I’ve found the Spirit teaching me to have faith in Christ and to repent. I’ve had to rely on the merits and mercy of Jesus Christ to make any progress.
In other words, I’ve been very obedient to the law of repentance.
One time, many years ago, I asked the Lord how long it would be before I would be equal to a particular weakness. The answer surprised me. I saw, by the Spirit, a long corridor that represented time, and realized it would be decades before I would gain the victory I desired.
We can’t be perfect in this life, but we can access Christ perfection and be in a state of justification as we earnestly and sincerely repent.
I’ve enjoyed Stephen E Robinson’s book, Believing Christ. He explores this topic in depth.
October 18th, 2009 - 23:52
We all struggle with obedience, and Christ knew we would. We have to. We aren’t capable of returning to our Father WITHOUT the Atonement. We could be as obedient as it is possible to be and we would still be unable to redeem ourselves.
As I read your reply, a thought occurred to me. Your response indicated that you asked the Lord “How long will it be before I will be equal to (a particular weakness)?”. Is it possible that the “decades” answer was His response to your “I” question where the answer might be different if framed as “How long until “we” conquer this?”
October 19th, 2009 - 08:51
me–
Good point. At that time in my life I didn’t understand the “we” aspect of the doctrine of Christ.
Your comment called to memory a book by Steven A. Cramer, The Worth of a Soul. It was published in 1995. It tells about his quest for repentance after serious transgression. Following is a quote from his book:
“No wonder my life was so frustrated and “withered.” I had never been close to the Savior, nor had I dared allow Him to be close to me. In my efforts to reach the Father, I had ignored the Savior. I had never learned to rely upon Him for the strength and power I needed to overcome my faults. I had always believed that I must perfect myself before He could accept me. But now I realized that if that were possible, we would not even need a Savior…I was so busy trying to save myself that I had left no room for His help” P. 92-93
October 19th, 2009 - 11:02
Interestingly, I was studying Romans 8 yesterday and it goes along with this theme. Verse 31 (JST) states “If God be for us, who can prevail against us?” And I would add “what” can prevail against us? Certainly not mere mortal weaknesses.
We cannot enter the celestial kingdom WITHOUT the partnership of Jesus Christ, and some of us are too oblivious/stubborn/blind/proud/rebellious to voluntarily submit to that necessity. Our Supreme Father understands that, and I believe that He views our sins and weaknesses as BLESSINGS if they are the catalysts that bring us to the Savior’s feet.
In fact, after listing all manner of trials, tribulations, persecutions etc. Romans 8:37 states “In all these things we are MORE than conquerors through Him that loved us”.
Evil, wickedness, stupidity etc.-all are NECESSARY to God’s plan because they “prove” what we are made of. They cause the pure in heart to turn to God and the hard of heart to turn away from Him. They are the “fertilizers” if you will that cause our fruits to spring forth, indicating what kind of “trees” we really are.
Whatever that “particular weakness” was or is still today, IT does not define you. How you choose to let it to shape your life DOES. Will you choose to fight it-even if you have to fight it your entire life, or will you let it win? Do you truly wish that it wasn’t in your life or do you just wish it wasn’t “off limits”? Will you blame God for “cursing” you or will you, like Paul, thank Him for the constant reminder that you need Him in order to become whole?
Perspectives my brother.
In fact, I think I’ll change my posting name to SisterofJared.
October 19th, 2009 - 18:56
me–
Great thoughts–SisterofJared.