Question:
How can I know when my thoughts and feelings are
from the Holy Ghost and when
they are just me?
In the past few
months I have done a serious search for an answer to know if I am supposed to
serve a full-time LDS mission. During this journey, I felt as if I had a
million different answers through my pondering and asking. One day I felt like
the spirit told me so powerfully that Heavenly Father wanted me to go, but the
next day I felt strongly that I should stay home and go to school. We are told
multiple times throughout the scriptures that Heavenly Father will reveal to us
what we need to know and do through the Holy Ghost. I found this principle to
become problematic because I simply didn’t understand how to separate my own
thoughts, and the impressions that came from God. Many saints struggle with
this today as we strive to follow God but feel as if we are receiving
mixed-messages. I was able to decipher more clearly what Heavenly Father wanted
me to do through study of the insights I found from the Doctrine and Covenants.
I, and others, can find out the source of our inspiration by understanding how
the Holy Ghost will communicate with us, the character of the Holy Ghost, and
the Holy Ghost’s divine mission.
1)
The
Holy Ghost will speak to our minds and our hearts.
“Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy
Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart” (D&C
8:2). The Holy Ghost will brings both truth to our minds and peace to our
hearts when directing us. In the October 1994 General Conference, Elder Boyd K.
Packer stressed, “If ever you receive a prompting to do something that makes
you feel uneasy, something you know
in your mind to be wrong and contrary
to the principles of righteousness, do not respond to it!” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994).
The spirit will never make us feel
uneasy or uncertain, it will echo what we know to be true, and motivate us
through the strength and comfort we will feel in our hearts. This does not
necessarily mean that we should only follow promptings that we can make sense
of or explain, because we will discount many impressions if we do that. This
simply means that we are led by the Holy Ghost enlightening our minds to
understanding and our heart softening. Richard G. Scott, in the 1989 Ensign,
also mentions why it is critical that the Holy Ghost speaks to our minds and
hearts by discussing the ways we respond, “When we receive an impression in our
heart, we can use our mind either to rationalize it away or to
accomplish it.” (http://www.lds.org/ensign/1989).
2)
The
Holy Ghost speaks to us reverently. President Kimball said,
“The great volume of revelation… comes to today’s prophets in the less
spectacular way-that of deep impressions, but without spectacle or glamour or
dramatic accompanying” (https://www.lds.org/ensign/1999).
We can expect that when we are receiving revelation from the Holy Ghost it will
most likely be by subtle promptings rather than a large event, which is why we
refer to the Holy Ghost as the still small voice. “Yea, thus saith the still
small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things” (D&C 85:6).
Lamanite guards in Helaman 5 also experience this piercing whisper, “And it
came to pass when they heard this voice, and beheld it was not a voice of
thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was
a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did
pierce even to the very soul-” (Helaman 5:30). Elder Young in the 1976 General
Conference said, “It will not be in the whirlwind, or in thunder, or in lightning,
or in any spectacular display. It will come, as to Elijah, in a “still small
voice”” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1976).
3)
The
Holy Ghost works under the patterns of Heavenly Father. Because
the Holy Ghost works under the father, we know that the Holy Ghost teaches as
the father does. We learn from the scriptures that we are not given all of the
answers at once “For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept
upon precept” (D&C 98:12). We can know that if we are receiving all of the
answers we need it is most likely not from the Holy Ghost. “That which is of
God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth
more light; and that light growth brighter and brighter until the perfect day”
(D&C 50:24). Elder L. Lionel
Kendrick stated, “This pattern for receiving promptings follows the principle
by which the Savior was taught and tutored during the meridian of time. John
bore witness that “he received not of the fullness at first, but continued from
grace to grace, until he received a fullness” (D&C 93:13. The Prophet
Joseph Smith Counseled, “It is not wisdom that we should have all knowledge at
once presented before us; but that we should have a little at a time.”” (https://www.lds.org/ensign/1999).
4)
Because
the Holy Ghost loves and follows Heavenly Father, The Holy Ghost will never tell
us anything that is not supportive of what has been revealed through God’s
prophets and church leaders. The Holy Ghost is
completely obedient and true to Heavenly Father. Because Heavenly Father calls
his prophets we can be sure that when we are trying to figure out whether or
not we are receiving inspiration, that it is surely not the Holy Ghost if it
does not follow the teachings of the prophet. “And thou shalt not command him
who is at thy head, and at the head of the church… For, behold… neither shall
anything be appointed unto any of this church contrary to the church covenants”
(D&C 28:6, 12). A 1913 official first presidency message included “When
visions, dreams, tongues, prophecy, impressions, or any extraordinary gift or
inspiration, convey something out of harmony with the accepted revelations of
the Church or contrary to the decisions of its constituted authorities,
Latter-Day Saints may know that it is not of God, no matter how plausible it
may appear.” (https://www.lds.org/manual/doctrine-and-covenants-student-manual/sections-21-29/).
5)
The
Holy Ghost will lead us to joy and service. “I will impart
unto you of my spirit…which shall fill your soul with joy” (D&C 11:13). One
of the reasons the Holy Ghost will lead us to happiness is because it will lead
us to do good and be obedient. “But behold, that which is of God inviteth and
enticeth to do good continually” (Moroni 7:13). We know that when we are doing
good things continually, we will be led to happiness because of the opposite
that “wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10). Whenever we are commanded
to do something that is good we know it is from the Holy Ghost and will
ultimately make us happy, and that is why we should, as Sister Kimball would
say, “never suppress a generous thought” (http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1685).
6)
The
Holy Ghost leads us to Christ and repentance. Part
of the mission of the Holy Ghost is to lead us to, and testify of, Jesus Christ
and his divine role as The Savior. If
our thoughts are leading us to repent and become more like the Savior, we can
guarantee the thought is coming from the Holy Ghost. Marion G. Romney said,
“Every person who knows or has ever known that Jesus is the Christ has received
that witness from the Holy Ghost” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1974/).
The Lord wants to bless us by helping us to know him through the Holy Ghost,
“For behold, I will bless all those who labor in my vineyard…and they believe
on his words, which are given him through me by the Comforter, which
manifesteth that Jesus was crucified by sinful men for the sins of the world,
yea, for the remission of sins unto the contrite heart” (D&C 21:9). When we
truly understand Jesus’s mission through the Holy Ghost, we in turn are able to
follow him because we recognize his love for us. We can know that we are being
influenced by The Holy Ghost when we feel a deeper desire to live like Jesus and
use his atonement to repent.
This insight lead me to
my answer that yes, I should go on a full time mission. As I pondered what I
was learning through my studying of D&C, I realized that the thought of
staying home brought me more unhappiness and confusion to what I wanted to do.
As I pondered the feelings and thoughts I was getting, I realized that the
reasons I had felt for staying home were selfish and were not going to lead me
closer to God and Christ. It wasn’t until a mission preparation class that I
felt that I knew what Heavenly Father wanted me to do. As I role-played and
taught a fellow member the story of Joseph Smith, the spirit really touched my
heart and spoke to my mind that a mission would bring me, and those I taught,
so much happiness. This prompting brought with it peace and a desire to follow
Christ more diligently. It wasn't a lightning bolt, and it wasn’t the only time
I felt I had an answer, but it was the ending to a sequence of small
experiences that led me to truly desiring to serve a mission. Just like a lot of things, we see if something was the right answer or decision retrospectively. Ever since I have started my papers and gone on in this journey, I have felt so much happiness through the whole experience--even in the times I feel completely inadequate to go. This experience truly has motivated me to repent daily and choose to live better and follow Christ. Although I haven't gone yet, I know that this has been the right path for me to take looking back and already seeing the support i've felt through the Holy Ghost from my Heavenly Father. Just like I did, I
know that anyone can find out if their answers are from God through these
insights found in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Works
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