By Elder RichardG.

Scott

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

How to Obtain
Revelation and
Inspiration for
Your Personal Life
Why does the Lord want us to pray to Him and to ask?
Because that is how revelation is received.

nyone who stands at this pulpit

to deliver a message feels the
strength and support of members throughout the world. Im grateful
that that same support can come from
a beloved companion on the other side
of the veil. Thank you, Jeanene.
The Holy Ghost communicates
important information that we need to
guide us in our mortal journey. When
it is crisp and clear and essential, it
warrants the title of revelation. When
it is a series of promptings we often
have to guide us step by step to a
worthy objective, for the purpose of
this message, it is inspiration.
An example of revelation would be
the direction that President SpencerW.
Kimball received after his long and
continued supplication to the Lord
regarding providing the priesthood to
all worthy men in the Church when at
the time it was available to only some
of them.

Another example of revelation is this

guidance given to President JosephF.
Smith: I believe we move and have
our being in the presence of heavenly
messengers and of heavenly beings. We
are not separate from them. ... We are
closely related to our kindred, to our
ancestors ... who have preceded us
into the spirit world. We can not forget
them; we do not cease to love them;
we always hold them in our hearts, in
memory, and thus we are associated
and united to them by ties that we can
not break. ... If this is the case with
us in our finite condition, surrounded
by our mortal weaknesses, ... how
much more certain it is ... to believe
that those who have been faithful, who
have gone beyond ... can see us better
than we can see them; that they know
us better than we know them. ... We
live in their presence, they see us, they
are solicitous for our welfare, they love
us now more than ever. For now they

see the dangers that beset us; ... their

love for us and their desire for our well
being must be greater than that which
we feel for ourselves.1
Relationships can be strengthened
through the veil with people we
know and love. That is done by our
determined effort to continually do
what is right. We can strengthen our
relationship with the departed individual we love by recognizing that
the separation is temporary and that
covenants made in the temple are
eternal. When consistently obeyed,
such covenants assure the eternal
realization of the promises inherent
in them.
A very clear case of revelation in
my life occurred when I was strongly
prompted by the Spirit to ask Jeanene
Watkins to be sealed to me in the
temple.
One of the great lessons that each
of us needs to learn is to ask. Why
does the Lord want us to pray to Him
and to ask? Because that is how revelation is received.
When I am faced with a very difficult matter, this is how I try to understand what to do. I fast. I pray to find
and understand scriptures that will
be helpful. That process is cyclical. I
start reading a passage of scripture;
I ponder what the verse means and
pray for inspiration. I then ponder and
pray to know if I have captured all
the Lord wants me to do. Often more
impressions come with increased
understanding of doctrine. I have
found that pattern to be a good way to
learn from the scriptures.
There are some practical principles
that enhance revelation. First, yielding to emotions such as anger or hurt
or defensiveness will drive away the
Holy Ghost. Those emotions must be
eliminated, or our chance for receiving
revelation is slight.
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Another principle is to be cautious

with humor. Loud, inappropriate
laughter will offend the Spirit. A good
sense of humor helps revelation; loud
laughter does not. A sense of humor
is an escape valve for the pressures
of life.
Another enemy to revelation comes
from exaggeration or loudness in what
is stated. Careful, quiet speech will
favor the receipt of revelation.
On the other hand, spiritual communication can be enhanced by good
health practices. Exercise, reasonable
amounts of sleep, and good eating
habits increase our capacity to receive
and understand revelation. We will live
for our appointed life span. However,
we can improve both the quality of our
service and our well-being by making
careful, appropriate choices.
It is important that our daily activities do not distract us from listening to
the Spirit.
Revelation can also be given in
a dream when there is an almost
imperceptible transition from sleep to
wakefulness. If you strive to capture
the content immediately, you can
record great detail, but otherwise it
fades rapidly. Inspired communication
in the night is generally accompanied
by a sacred feeling for the entire experience. The Lord uses individuals for
whom we have great respect to teach
us truths in a dream because we trust
them and will listen to their counsel. It
is the Lord doing the teaching through
the Holy Ghost. However, He may in a
dream make it both easier to understand and more likely to touch our
hearts by teaching us through someone we love and respect.
When it is for the Lords purposes,
He can bring anything to our remembrance. That should not weaken our
determination to record impressions
of the Spirit. Inspiration carefully
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recorded shows God that His communications are sacred to us. Recording
will also enhance our ability to recall
revelation. Such recording of direction
of the Spirit should be protected from
loss or intrusion by others.
The scriptures give eloquent confirmation of how truth, consistently
lived, opens the door to inspiration
to know what to do and, where
needed, to have personal capacities enhanced by divine power. The
scriptures depict how an individuals
capacity to conquer difficulty, doubt,
and seemingly insurmountable challenges is strengthened by the Lord
in time of need. As you ponder such
examples, there will come a quiet
confirmation through the Holy Spirit
that their experiences are true. You

will come to know that similar help is

available to you.
I have seen individuals encountering challenges who knew what to
do when it was beyond their own
experience because they trusted in
the Lord and knew that He would
guide them to solutions that were
urgently required.
The Lord has declared: And
ye are to be taught from on high.
Sanctify yourselves and ye shall be
endowed with power, that ye may
give even as I have spoken.2 The
words sanctify yourselves may appear
puzzling. President HaroldB. Lee
once explained that you can replace
those words with the phrase keep my
commandments. Read that way, the
counsel may seem clearer.3

One must be ever mentally and

physically clean and have purity of
intent so that the Lord can inspire.
One who is obedient to His commandments is trusted of the Lord. That
individual has access to His inspiration
to know what to do and, as needed,
the divine power to do it.
For spirituality to grow stronger and more available, it must be
planted in a righteous environment.
Haughtiness, pride, and conceit are
like stony ground that will never produce spiritual fruit.
Humility is a fertile soil where
spirituality grows and produces the
fruit of inspiration to know what to
do. It gives access to divine power to
accomplish what must be done. An
individual motivated by a desire for
praise or recognition will not qualify
to be taught by the Spirit. An individual who is arrogant or who lets his or
her emotions influence decisions will
not be powerfully led by the Spirit.
When we are acting as instruments
in behalf of others, we are more easily
inspired than when we think only of
ourselves. In the process of helping
others, the Lord can piggyback directions for our own benefit.
Our Heavenly Father did not put us
on earth to fail but to succeed gloriously. It may seem paradoxical, but
that is why recognizing answers to
prayer can sometimes be very difficult.
Sometimes we unwisely try to face life
by depending on our own experience
and capacity. It is much wiser for us
to seek through prayer and divine
inspiration to know what to do. Our
obedience assures that when required,
we can qualify for divine power to
accomplish an inspired objective.
Like many of us, Oliver Cowdery
did not recognize the evidence of
answers to prayers already given by
the Lord. To open his and our eyes,

this revelation was given through

Joseph Smith:
Blessed art thou for what thou
hast done; for thou hast inquired of
me, and behold, 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.
Behold, thou knowest that thou
hast inquired of me and I did en
lighten thy mind; and now I tell thee
these things that thou mayest know
that thou hast been enlightened by
the Spirit of truth.4
If you feel that God has not
answered your prayers, ponder these
scripturesthen carefully look for
evidence in your own life that He may
have already answered you.
Two indicators that a feeling or
prompting comes from God are that
it produces peace in your heart and a
quiet, warm feeling. As you follow the
principles I have discussed, you will
be prepared to recognize revelation at
critical times in your own life.
The more closely you follow divine
guidance, the greater will be your
happiness here and for eternity
moreover, the more abundant your
progress and capacity to serve. I do
not understand fully how it is done,
but that guidance in your life does not
take away your agency. You can make
the decisions you choose to make. But
remember, the disposition to do right
brings peace of mind and happiness.

Should choices be wrong, they

can be rectified through repentance.
When its conditions are fully met, the
Atonement of Jesus Christ, our Savior,
provides a release from the demands of
justice for the errors made. It is wondrously simple and so incomparably
beautiful. As you continue to live righteously, you will always be prompted
to know what to do. Sometimes the
discovery of what action to take may
require significant effort and trust on
your part. Yet you will be prompted
to know what to do as you meet the
conditions for such divine guidance
in your life, namely, obedience to the
commandments of the Lord, trust in His
divine plan of happiness, and the avoidance of anything that is contrary to it.
Communication with our Father in
Heaven is not a trivial matter. It is a
sacred privilege. It is based upon eternal, unchanging principles. We receive
help from our Father in Heaven in
response to our faith, obedience, and
the proper use of agency.
May the Lord inspire you to understand and use the principles that
lead to personal revelation and inspiration, in the name of Jesus Christ,
amen.
NOTES

1. Joseph F. Smith, in Conference Report, Apr.

1916, 23; see also Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed.
(1939), 43031.
2. Doctrine and Covenants 43:16.
3. See Teachings of Presidents of the Church:
Harold B. Lee (2000), 34.
4. Doctrine and Covenants 6:1415.
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