So I'm in the middle of the semester (not even), and life is CRAZY. Which means I haven't really had time to devote to writing in my blog. So I had this assignment for my Doctrine and Covenants class to write a paper about a "doctrinal dilemma." I thought I would ReduceReuseRecycle and use it here. The object was to base ourselves out of the D&C, but as you will see, my knowledge of the Book of Mormon is most readily available. Paper as follows:
Question: If the Holy Ghost speaks subtly to the mind and heart through thoughts and feelings, how can I more clearly distinguish between my own daily thoughts and feelings and inspired ones from the Spirit? When is it God, and when is it just me?
We know that “the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world” (D&C 84:46). That light, or the guidance of the spirit, can be and has been termed many different things, such as: impression, feeling, thought, impulse, etc. For the purposes of this paper, anytime I refer to any of these, I will simply use the word ‘impression,’ be it from the Spirit or of our own genesis. That said, it can be quite difficult to tell when an impression comes from the Holy Ghost, or whether it is a product of our own thoughts and feelings. Over the course of this paper I will first take a look at some of the characteristics of the Spirit, in an effort to help the reader be able to more readily identify those spiritual impressions. Then I will transition over to talking about why it is important that we can identify the Spirit’s voice, and how we can use that knowledge to be more secure in our decisions.
The Spirit impresses feelings upon us.
One of the sure indicators of the Holy Ghost speaking to us is by the way we feel. The scriptures are replete with examples of how the Spirit can make one feel: to Oliver Cowdery, for example, the Lord told him that in an affirmative response to a prayer, He would “cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right” (D&C 9:8). Other places in the scriptures identify different feelings, as well: in D&C 11:13, the Lord promises that the Spirit will “enlighten your mind [and] fill your soul with joy.” In D&C 85:6, the ‘still small voice’ “whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake.” We are reminded that the Holy Ghost, upon testifying to the Nephites, “did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn” (3 Nephi 11:3). One of my favorite instances of the Lord’s instruction regarding the spirit was another communication to Oliver Cowdery, in which the Lord told him that divine communication would come “in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost” (D&C 8:2). As we have impressions, and are trying to decide whether they are spiritually or internally sourced, we can remember this key, that the spiritual impression will have both a mental and emotional aspect to it.
Ours is the task of learning to recognize the voice of the Spirit as He talks to us. In that regard, it is much like learning another language. It is a process of attuning our spiritual ears to pick up on the nuances of communication that we are not used to hearing in our day to day life. As a note of caution, though, let us not be misled into limiting our range of hearing to what is explicitly described in the scriptures. As unique children of our Heavenly Father, we also communicate in unique ways, of which the Holy Ghost will be very aware. He will not communicate to me the same way He communicates to my brother.
The Spirit leads us to do good.
The way we feel is not the only recourse we have when trying to determine whether impressions come from God or from ourselves. Another thing we can remember is that the Holy Ghost “leadeth to do good— yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously” (D&C 11:12). If we are having a hard time discerning our feelings, then another tactic we can try is to look at the results of the impression we are considering. Mormon teaches us that “that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every [such] thing is inspired of God” (Moroni 7:13). If we can think about the results and consequences of acting on our impression, then we can more surely determine if it is of God or of ourselves. For example, an impression to look at our patriarchal blessing definitely inviteth to do good continually, and may well be from the Spirit. However, an impression to read our patriarchal blessing instead of home teaching is more likely just a distraction thought up by our own mind. It is important to look not only at the content of the impression, but the reach and effects thereof.
The Spirit knoweth all things
Just as we can tell that an impression comes from God based on the effects of its completion, we can also discern the true nature of an impression by looking at the genesis of the impression. In other words, did we know enough to come up with the impression? D&C 35:19 teaches us that “the Holy Ghost…knoweth all things,” which includes things about other people as well as things about education. An impression to make cookies for someone else might be a personal impression, if you know they’re going through a hard time. On the other hand, if you receive an impression to make cookies for someone you hardly know, and have probably talked to 2 or 3 times, it’s probably because the Spirit knows more than you about what that person is going through. Furthermore, we are taught that a person can receive certain gifts of the spirit; “to others it is given to prophesy” (D&C 46:22). Again, if our impression doesn’t seem to make sense in our current context, it may very well be that it is preparing us for something that is yet to come.
We are assured the presence of the spirit when we are obedient.
Another helpful tool in our arsenal of Spirit identifiers is conducting a quick examination of our own obedience. President James E. Faust taught this about the Holy Ghost: “The gift of the Holy Ghost comes after one repents and becomes worthy.” Conversely, if we are not striving to repent and be obedient, there is a very low likelihood that we are being led by the Spirit. The Lord explicitly stated that “he that looketh upon a woman to lust after her…shall not have the Spirit” (D&C 42:23). Many other sins, or staying in sin, will have the same effect. However, if we keep ourselves clean, and “let virture garnish [our] thoughts unceasingly, then…The Holy Ghost shall be [our] constant companion” (D&C 121:45-46).
Ask, and ye shall receive
One of the things that often happens is that we forget that revelation is really a two-way communication. Many times we expect the Lord to just give us what we need. While He does know our needs, he has instructed us time and time again to “Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 4:7, emphasis added). In D&C 6:14, He tells us “as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time” (emphasis added). So when we have an impression, we should think about whether it’s something that we’ve thought to bring before the Lord, or whether we’ve only been mulling it over in our own heads (and if the latter is the case, we should think very strongly about bringing it before the Lord before acting on it).
We should do many things of our own free will to bring to pass righteousness
We’ve seen many different tools associated with the receipt of impressions that we can use to determine whether they are of God or from within. However, it is also important to recognize for what purposes God gives us the guidance of the Holy Ghost. It certainly isn’t so that we may be “compelled in all things;” on the contrary, God wants us to be “anxiously engaged in a good cause…and bring to pass much righteousness,” because ultimately, we are “agents unto [our]selves” (D&C 58:26-28). So why have the Spirit? Lehi gives us a glimpse at the answer in 2 Nephi 2:5: “Men are instructed sufficiently they know good from evil.” Where does that instruction come from? The Holy Ghost. This is further clarified by Mormon: “the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil” (Moroni 7:16, emphasis added). Thus we can see that the Holy Ghost isn’t going to tell us every little thing we should do though it does play a fundamental role in our understanding of right and wrong. The point I’m trying to make here is that just because an impression comes from within instead of from God, doesn’t mean it’s bad. Quite the contrary. “Sometimes the Lord hopefully waits on his children to act on their own, and when they do not, they lose the greater prize” (Ezra Taft Benson). The Lord hopes to bring us to the point where we can make good decisions because of how much we’ve changed through repentance.
When we ask in the Spirit, we ask according to the will of God
This is the most important principle out of all the ones I will be introducing today. D&C 46:30 reads: “He that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to the will of God, therefore it is done even as he says.” There is a difference between asking, or acting, because of a spiritual impression, and acting in the Spirit. The people of King Benjamin clarify this for us: “The Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which as wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2). There is a point in our conversion process (or perhaps better described, a series of flags along our road to conversion) where we have learned so much about the will of God, and have obeyed it, that the Spirit is able to change our heart, effectively aligning our desires with those of God. Another perfect example of this is Nephi, son of Helaman, to whom the Lord promised: “all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.” (Helaman 10:5). This may seem unrelated to the dilemma at hand; however, I submit that our goal in life should not be to always be able to recognize the Spirit, but to always be able to work righteousness. When we reach the point in our conversion that was experienced by the people of King Benjamin, or by Nephi, we can start applying some of the aforementioned tools to our impressions, and find that they always indicate an inspired action. We will reach the point where our own desires will be to come closer to God, for “every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father” (D&C 84:47).
In closing, I would like to emphasize that we should be aware of the Spirit’s impressions. I don’t want to give the impression that they’re not important. After all, “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5). What I am trying to get at is that at some point, knowing whether we’re acting because of a direct impression from the Spirit, or because of our own righteous desires, isn’t important. For me, the key to it all is the following passage from D&C 6:36: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.” Because if confusion about whether an impression is from God or from ourselves causes us to not act on an inspired impression, that is the real tragedy. Let us, then, not doubt. The reason why I decided to make use of the term ‘impression’ throughout this paper was because that’s ultimately what we need to be seeking. The source of the impression isn’t so important as long as we are looking unto God in every thought, and steadily making our way along the path back home to Him.
James E. Faust, “The Gift of the Holy Ghost—a Sure Compass,” Ensign, Apr. 1996, 4
Ezra Taft Benson, “Not Commanded in All Things,” General Conference, Apr. 1965
