A couple of weeks ago, I started a personal challenge to share one of the 21 principles as covered in the book by Richard G. Scott. This book has really touched my heart and I have felt impressed to share it with you and my own feelings about each of the principles. You can read about the other principles I have covered here. If you would like your own copy of this book, you can purchase it here. This is NOT an affiliate link, even though I do have an affiliate account with Amazon. I have chosen NOT to use an affiliate link as I don’t feel right about it in this circumstance.
“As you seek spiritual knowledge, search for principles,” counsels Elder Richard G. Scott. “Principles are concentrated truth, packaged for application to a wide variety of circumstances.”
“A true principle makes decisions clear even under the most confusing and challenging circumstances.”
I really love this principle. How often do we really receive promptings from the Holy Ghost and then just ignore them? Do we understand how the Holy Ghost really works with us to influence us to the things our Heavenly Father desires of us and for us?
To explore this further, we need to understand that the Holy Ghost works in many different ways. It is different for each person. Sometimes, we can hear an audible voice. These are usually times when we are in danger and our attention is needed immediately. Not everyone does or will have this experience. For most of us, we will feel the Holy Ghost affirm and confirm things to us through our thoughts or gentle impressions in our hearts. In Galatians 5:22-23 we read about the fruit of the spirit. These are the ways we can know if we are feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives.
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23
One of the easiest ways to keep the influence of the spirit with you is to keep a prayer in your heart. This is essential as we make important decisions and also seek to be a tool in the hands of the Lord. This is how the Lord communicates with us. In order to understand what He is trying to tell us, we must exercise that spiritual muscle and our spiritual hearing. This takes practice. The more we practice it, the better we get at it. Let me see if I can explain this a little better…
Often, I am faced with making important decisions in our home , for my business, or even just my personal life. If I am earnestly listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, I will most often feel at peace and calm. As long as I am feeling this way, I know that I can proceed along my path, as this is what the Lord has in mind. If I began to feel anxious, or I experience a stupor of thought–meaning I am just not sure or I forget what I was thinking about–then I know that I should back up to where I was before I started feeling that way. Once I do, then I can try again to listen and try to find the right way to the Lord’s plan.
Sometimes I am stubborn and continue along the wrong path. I am sure I weary the Lord with my inadequacies at listening to the promptings I get from the Spirit or Holy Ghost. And I am positive I miss important messages of how I can be of service to someone in need of something I can do or share. I need to be better about listening for those things so I can bless others. One of my favorite quotes talks about how the Lord usually blesses us through the actions of another.
“God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.” ~Spencer W. Kimball
I need to be better at listening for these promptings. It would be a wonderful thing to be used by the Lord to bless someone else. This is something I want to work on in my own life, and I hope it is something I can continue to teach my son every single day. I can’t think of anything more important than teaching him to listen for and to the Lord through the promptings he receives through the Holy Ghost.
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