The Holy Ghost and Revelation - Jay E. Jensen
We all find our own way to the faith and actions that lead to the witness given by the Holy Ghost. In this case, it was during his mission in San Antonio about the same time I was serving in Brasil. In my case, the first memory of that was in Roanoke, Virginia when I was seven years old. In both cases it had to do with one of the "four essential cornerstones of the Church." For Elder Jensen it was the quest to know (receive the revelation) through the Gift of the Holy Ghost. For me it was the Joseph Smith First Vision and memorizing and presenting those five verses. The Spirit will give that assurance about truth whenever the door is opened to receive it. That is a revelation.
We all have this swarm of bees darting around in our heads every minute and it is hard for that still small voice to make itself heard. We have to divert the bees for awhile and open ourselves in heart and mind to recognize when the Spirit is attempting communication. Step away from the beehive and ask the important questions. Then listen. When we feel the response, it is often not what we expect and we may not see the wisdom or purpose of it at the beginning or sometimes not in this life. Be patient and watch for the confirmation of the source and the result. Then acknowledge what is given and the blessing that you were given to be part of it.
The four cornerstones:
- The Book of Mormon
- Joseph Smith's First Vision
- The Restoration of the Priesthood
- Our Testimony of Jesus Christ
As a result of these foundation stones, we have our personal assignments. We need revelation from time to time. We are spiritual beings and that spirit resides now in a temporal home. Our spirit is in there but we forget how it is connected. Over 30 times in the Old Testament the phrase "... and he slept with his fathers..." referring to death as sleep occurs. Explained, it means that the spirit left the body much as it does in deep sleep. We don't understand this well or remember much but the spirit has no earthly barriers. Revelation may come as visions or dreams. "Pay attention to a significant dream," we are told. Shirlyn has counseled to write down your dream as soon as you wake from it.
Other promptings or revelations and perhaps the most frequent involve another person or family. Make the visit. Call. Email. Skype if possible. Pleasant blessings will occur. "Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion?" (Joseph Smith)
My testimony is firmly planted on the four cornerstones above. I bear witness of this work and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
When I listened to Elder Jensen's remarks I noted that we all start out on "borrowed light", usually from wonderful parents. But there comes a time in all of our lives when we need our own light (testimony) of the Father & the Son. He gave a quote from Woodruff that the greatest gift restored upon man is the gift of the Holy Ghost. He told a touching story about the death of one of their grandsons while he and his wife were serving a mission in Argentina. The Holy Ghost gave them such peace as he did to their grandsons parents. I recalled as I listened to his remarks the time that I received a prompting that saved our Billy's life. I won't go into it all but I was told in a RS lesson that if we want the spirt to be with us and help us when nothing else will (especially in regards to our children) we need to live worthy to receive it because it comes in a still small voice that cannot be heard if we are cluttering up our lives with meaningless trivia. In the lesson we were told that when moved upon by the Holy Ghost we need to act. Well shortly after that I was in my hospital room finally comfortable when the spirt wispered to me to go check on my baby. I thought to myself why? He is in the nursery with trained nurses, but I remembered the RS lesson that I had just had so I jumped up and ran into the adjoining nursery to find Billy the only baby in there and no nurses anywhere in sight and he was turning blue and struggling so hard to breath that his little body was partially lifted off the mattress. I won't go into how muture I acted at that point but we still have our Billy and are so grateful for him in our lives.
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