Governing by Inspiration with the help of the Atonement

In an attempt to digitize some of my study notes I am adding this information from a Sacrament talk I gave probably late in November 2014 based upon a talk in the October 1979 General Conference by Elder William R. Bradford called “The Governing Ones”

I wanted to speak about 3 aspects of the governing ones and then 2 tools to help us:

1. Governing Self
   1. We are agents who act, not objects to be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:14) (inspired by thoughts given by Elder Brent H. Nielson during the Papillion Stake Conference in November of 2014)
      1. There are essentially two creations, things which act (agents) and things to be acted upon (objects)
      2. Everything around us was created to be acted upon except we were created to act
      3. In the Great War in Heaven, Satan’s plan was for us to do nothing (not to act)
      4. The only way for the Kingdom of God to move forward is for agents to act
      5. We chose agency in the Pre-Mortal life and we chose it here by virtue of the covenants that we have made with Heavenly Father
      6. We govern ourselves through discipline and by choosing obedience
         1. “If you are obedient to God’s law, you remain free. You progress and are perfected. If you are disobedient to God’s law, you bind yourself to that which restricts your progress. You become defiled and unworthy to be an associate with those who are more clean and pure.” (Elder Bradford)
         2. For example look at Nephi and Laman in the Book of Mormon, or look at examples in your own family of those who have chosen righteousness vs. those who have not
         3. “You are here to work to govern the Lord’s affairs, not to be entertained.” (Elder Bradford) such as Social Media, Internet, electronic games, television, etc
         4. We need to choose the Best things (see Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Good, Better, Best” October 2007 General Conference) such as establishing holy homes, hastening the work of salvation, ministering, serving, uplifting, etc
   2.  We have at least two tools to help us in appropriately governing ourselves:
      1. The Atonement (both the enabling and redeeming powers) helps us to overcome sin, pain, weakness, affliction, temptation, infirmities, sickness, and spiritual death
      2. The Holy Ghost (inspiration and direction) guides us, protects us, helps us to know right from wrong, helps us with important decisions, and to understand specifically how to implement the gospel in our lives.  The Holy Ghost helps us to obtain a testimony for ourselves especially of our Savior and our Father in Heaven
2. Governing in the Family
   1. The Proclamation on the Family helps us understand our divine roles and responsibilities in the family
      1. Inspiration is an important part of governing in the family
      2. Example: inspiration in moving to Omaha and the resultant blessings such as a good job and top-notch care for Ezra
   2. “Since the family is the basic unit of the Church, as the family is governed so is the Church governed.  The Lord expects you to govern a home- and family-centered gospel-living system. The challenge of governing the family is to so love, teach, and motivate its members that their personal decisions will be to unite one with another in the common purpose of following God’s plan.” (Elder Bradford)
      1. We need to establish home- and family-centered gospel-living system -> once a week devotion is simply not sufficient for our salvation
      2. “The pattern of a home- and family-centered gospel-living system is then established: faith in Christ, repentance, keeping the commandments, and rendering service to one another. This system meets all of the temporal and spiritual needs of the family members at every age level.” (Elder Bradford)
      3. Family devotion consists of daily personal and family scripture study, daily personal and family prayer,  and weekly Family Home Evening
      4. We govern the family “by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.” (D&C 121:41-44)
      5. We also know “Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.” (The Proclamation on the Family)
   3. Again, the tools of the Atonement and the Holy Ghost help us to govern in families
      1. Atonement helps us to serve each other and help each other develop faith in Jesus Christ and to repent.  Through the Atonement we can learn to be more forgiving and obedient, we rely upon the Atonement collectively as a family as well as individually
      2. The Holy Ghost helps us with inspiration and direction in our divinely-established roles and in our service to our families as we face the challenges of the world together.  The home is a holy place, if we choose to make it so by our conduct and habits, because the Spirit dwells there.
3. Governing in the Church
   1. “The formal organization of the Church consists of a divine, orderly system by which we as individuals and as families can meet together in an organized way to be taught God’s plan for our salvation, take upon ourselves covenants, and administer the saving ordinances to one another using priesthood power and authority.” (Elder Bradford)
   2. We govern inside the Church by virtue of our callings, no matter what they may be
      1. We need everyone! Everyone needs to do their best in their callings, especially home and visiting teaching (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-26)
      2. You can make a difference in the salvation of others (for example Bruce Nelson and Bryce Schieving and their interest in me when I was only a Young Man)
   3. We govern outside the Church by virtue of our good examples and sharing the gospel every chance that we get (see 1 Timothy 4:12)
      1. We take upon us the name of the Lord during the Sacrament, we need to act as He would act if He were here personally
      2. Don’t create a chapel-centered gospel-living system where we act one way at Church and then act differently during the rest of the week when we are with our friends, at school, at work, or at home
   4. Once again, the tools that we use are the Atonement and the Holy Ghost to help us both in and out of Church
      1. The Atonement plays an important role in the Church especially as we partake of the Sacrament each week and begin to understand that no one is perfect and that we all need our Savior’s help in the life.  Through our personal and collective experience with the Atonement we learn better love and patience with each other and with all whom we may encounter
      2. The Holy Ghost plays an important role in our Church meetings and as we share the gospel with those around us.  We invite the Holy Ghost into our lives as we worthily participate in ordinances and make covenants with Heavenly Father.  We receive inspiration in our callings, in our service, and in our missionary efforts
4. The Atonement
   1. The Lord knows how to succor us in our pains, afflictions, temptations, sicknesses, and infirmities,  He has loosed the bonds of death (see Alma 7:11-12)
   2. He has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows, He was wounded for our transgressions and with His stripes we are healed (see Isaiah 53:4-5)
   3. The Son of Man has descended below all things and thereby knows how to help us regardless of what our present challenges are (see D&C 122:8)
   4. The Lord calls us unto Him for rest, His burden is light (see Matthew 11:28-30)
   5. The Savior helps us to put off the natural man and to become a saint (see Mosiah 3:19)
5. The Holy Ghost
   1. As we feast upon the words of Christ they will tell us all things we should do (general principles), then, if we allow it, the Spirit will show unto us all the things that we should do (specific application) (see 2 Nephi 32:3-5)
   2. See also my notes on Principles of Revelation

Principles of Revelation

So I have been going through an old study journal and I found this little list of thoughts that I wanted to capture on my blog.  This won’t be a polished blog post, mostly a list of references for future use.  In any case, it was apparent that I was trying to understand a little more about the principles that govern personal revelation and here are my notes:

1. The Lord works through prophets and will not reveal something to you contrary to what the prophets are saying (see Amos 3:7; D&C 1:38)
2. Fasting and caring for the needy enhances revelation (see Isaiah 58:6-11; Alma 17:3)
3. Humility enhances revelation (see D&C 112:10; D&C 3:4)
4. Obeying the Word of Wisdom and physical health help with revelation (see D&C 89:19)
5. If ye seek, ye shall find; knock and it will be opened unto you (see D&C 4:7; Matthew 7:7-12; D&C 6:5; 3 Nephi 14:7-11)
6. Personal righteousness is important (see Helaman 10:4-5; Alma 22:16)
7. Recognizing the hand of God in your life helps with revelation (Proverbs 3:6)
8. We can seek answers from God without fear of reprisal but we need to seek in faith (see James 1:5-6)
9. We need to seek the Lord, early (see D&C 88:83; Hebrews 11:6; D&C 6:7,11; Psalms 34:4,6,10; Lamentations 3:25)
10. We need to “inquire of the Lord”, be open to revelation (no hard hearts), ask in faith (what does that mean?), and keep the commandments in order to receive knowledge (see 1 Nephi 15:8-11)
11. We need to follow what is already in the scriptures (the Lord won’t reveal to us anything contrary to what is already recorded) (see Alma 17:2; 2 Nephi 32:3)
12. The Sons of Mosiah had the spirit of revelation because they had studied the scriptures and had given themselves to much prayer and fasting.  Oftentimes, revelation is spiritual work! (see Alma 17:2-3)
13. We need to counsel with the Lord (perhaps this is similar to counseling with a lawyer, your parents, or a school counselor where we seek counsel on a specific course of action and they are qualified to give an authoritative answer) (see Alma 37:37; Jacob 4:10)
14. The OliverCowdery principle:
    • Ask in faith, with an honest heart, believing you will receive then the Spirit will tell you in your mind and in your heart (thoughts and feelings) (see D&C 8:1-3; Moroni 10:3-5)
    • When we inquire of the Lord we receive by the Spirit.  For example, we experience an enlightened mind or peace in our mind (also revelation is private) (see D&C 6:14-16, 22-23)
    • We need to put forth an effort beyond simply asking (we need to study it out in our mind) and then ask for confirmation.  If you receive a “burning in the bosom” then the things you have studied or the course of action you are contemplating is correct; otherwise you will feel a “stupor of thought” to let you know it is wrong (see D&C 9:7-9)
15. We need to ask, believing that we will receive (see Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; Moroni 10:4; Enos 1:15; Mosiah 4:21; Alma 22:16; 3 Nephi 18:20; Moroni 7:26)
16. There are many different manifestations of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23; Moroni 7:15-18)

When I shared these thoughts with my young men, our bishop made the following comment (more or less, this isn’t a direct quote, more of a note on what I thought I heard) which I really also liked:

The Spirit is like a sixth sense (next to sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing).  We have a hard time describing to a blind man what it is like to see and everyone experiences sight in their own way, just like it is hard to describe the Spirit.  The scriptures do a good job explaining the feelings associated with Spirit but it is hard to describe just like trying to describe your senses.

In any case, I hope these notes are helpful.  Until next time, have a marvelous day!