Leadership for Saints: Part 57

The Price of the Gift

by Rodger Dean Duncan and Ed J. Pinegar

What can we do to increase our susceptibility to the ministrations of the Holy Ghost?

The steps are clear.

First, we must be humble and obedient, living the Lord’s gospel on the Lord’s terms. “Selective” obedience is a cop-out. “Partial” commitment is really no commitment at all.

The Lord doesn’t expect us to be perfect, yet.  But he does expect us to be making definite and deliberate progress toward perfection.

Obedience is the result of faith and love. “Line upon line, precept upon precept” can be roughly translated to read: “Yard by yard it’s hard, but inch by inch it’s a cinch.” To make it so, our hearts must undergo the “mighty change” discussed in the fifth chapter of Alma. Our loving Father shows us the way.

Second, we must study the scriptures.

How can we obey the law if we don’t know the law? Gospel scholarship cannot be acquired through osmosis or by proxy. We can’t be saved through someone else’s understanding of the scriptures. The plan of salvation is not a piggyback proposition. It’s a personal, individual opportunity. We must read and study and internalize the richness of the scriptures for ourselves. That includes the standard works and the words of the living prophets.

Third, we must pray.

The most repeated command that we’ve received from our Father is to pray. Prayer is the principal means by which the Spirit is obtained and felt. The scriptures admonish us to “pray unto the Father will all the energy of heart.”16 

You’ve likely found that the most productive prayers are personal, private prayers—when you’re not fashioning words for the ears of any mortal person.

And it’s clear that productive prayers—especially those in which we are asking for specific guidance—require preparation. “Behold, you have not understood,” we are taught in D&C 9:7–8, “You have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right.”  

A fourth step that will make us more susceptible to the influence of the Holy Ghost is clearing the static from our spiritual airwaves. Static comes from interference. Interference is all around us. Certain kinds of literature, television programming and movies can clog our minds with debris unworthy of a child of God.  If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us can identify these. Simply follow the counsel in the Doctrine & Covenants:  “. . . that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness” (See D&C 50:23).

Interference can come from music. Many of us enjoy a wide range of musical fare, and different kinds of music can be appropriate for different circumstances. The kind of music that might be just right when you’re doing aerobic exercise is terribly out of sync with invitations to the Spirit.

The kind of music that helps prepare us for inspiration is soothing music.  Music that promotes quiet introspection. For many of us, the kind of music often sung by our Young Women is a perfect spiritual conditioner.

Interference can come from poor health.

When we talk about the Word of Wisdom, we often confine our meaning to the abstinence from substances known to harm us. But how many of us who wouldn’t dream of drinking a cup of coffee has allowed our bodies—the tabernacles of our spirits—to get woefully out of shape? From personal experience, we know that when we’re in good physical condition we think more clearly, we listen more carefully, we learn more surely.

To quote President Boyd K. Packer, “As valuable as the Word of Wisdom is as a law of health, it may be much more valuable . . . spiritually than it is physically.”

Quotes Worth Remembering

… we must be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost to aid us in the work of righteousness all the day long, to enable us to sacrifice our own will to the will of the Father … – Lorenzo Snow

The mechanism of the spirit is so delicate that even our thought may interfere with good reception and unguarded actions may create such static as to make reception impossible. – Hugh B. Brown

Note: The excerpts of Leadership for Saints posted on Meridian are only a fraction of the contents of this 349-page book. To learn more about this ground-breaking book and to order copies, click here.