Personal Revelation

Late in the year of 2007, the Melchizedek Priesthood quorum and Relief Society instruction manual for the following two years was distributed. This course of study would allow the Church’s membership to study writings by and concerning the Prophet Joseph Smith that the average member most likely never would have read given their limited ability to access the documents used in the manual’s preparation. Many of its readers realized almost immediately the nature of the treasure that had been placed in their hands. They did not have to be encouraged to read the next Sunday’s lesson in advance, they were busy reading the material to be taught many weeks hence.

Early 2008 found my wife and I serving in the leadership of the Freiberg Germany Temple. These were the most challenging callings either of us had ever received. There were few hours in a day when the temple was open that we were not under obligation to make decisions that impacted directly the sacred work being performed there. If ever there had been a time when we needed personal revelation because of a calling, it was then.

It was under these circumstances that I had occasion to read in our priesthood manual a statement made by John Taylor “while [he was] serving as President of the Quorum of the Twelve.”

“I well remember a remark that Joseph Smith made to me upwards of forty years ago. Said he, ‘Elder Taylor, you have been baptized, you have had hands laid upon your head for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and you have been ordained to the holy priesthood. Now, if you will continue to follow the leadings of that spirit, it will always lead you right. Sometimes it might be contrary to your judgment; never mind that, follow its dictates; and if you be true to its whisperings it will in time become in you a principle of revelation so that you will know all things’ ”

(Teachings of Presidents of the Church--Joseph Smith, 132-133).

Here in very few words were expressed in a coherent manner essentially the findings I had personally arrived at after most of a lifetime’s experience of trial and error with receiving personal revelation. If an individual reading this statement, I thought, had the sagacity to read, understand, and apply this counsel at a young age, how much they would be benefited by that knowledge in times to come.

Writing from my own experience over the years, the weakest link in the personal revelation process is casting out the inspiration I received because it was “contrary to [my] judgment.” All too often, I have been inclined to filter the inspiration I received through my own views and preferences. Often I have been too quick to think the inspired thought simply would not work or that this was not a convenient time or approach for taking this or that course of action. When we place ourselves in the position of second-guessing inspiration, we set ourselves up for failure.

This brings me to another personal lesson learned on this subject. If the Holy Ghost inspires us toward a course of action, and we reject the assistance, will not the Spirit be a bit more reticent to provide assistance in the near future absent our dedicated seeking for such? Possibly not, but I believe there is a point to be made here. Joseph Smith said, “ . . . if you be true to its whisperings it will in time become in you a principle of revelation. . . .” What I understand from this statement is that if we are consistently and positively responsive to the inspiration that we receive, we will be given more and more direction. This end logically follows because we will have demonstrated through our actions our willingness to exercise the faith required to be worthy of the further enlightenment we seek.

The hard times with which the faithful of this final dispensation must deal on a daily basis make it necessary that we not categorize our daily activities into those that appear to be secular and those that are religious. The gospel principles we know to be true cannot be placed on a shelf when we are engaged in “secular” activities and then taken down from that shelf when our activities are deemed to be “religious” in nature. In seeking to realize the full measure of our creation, we will eventually conclude that God does not make such distinctions (D&C 29:30-35). There is no righteous activity in which we may involve ourselves that is irrelevant to our beliefs and in which God does not have an interest (Alma 34:18-27). If we cannot ask God’s blessings and direction in a particular activity we are about to undertake, then that should be a certain sign that the activity is unworthy of our participation. As an educator, there were very few mornings in over thirty-three years that I did not pray in my office for assistance before entering the first classroom of the day. I know for a fact that I am not the only one who prays regularly for direction in the workplace. And this I know also, countless times I have received through inspiration the assistance I needed to be successful in a task at hand.

How much more successful might I have been in all of my pursuits if I had been willing to act upon the inspiration I did not follow?