Let the Holy Spirit Guide

Kyle and I got to speak in Sacrament meeting today!  I haven't been asked to speak in the last 3 wards we've been in, not since the singles ward.

We were the whole program too!

From the Sacrament to the closing hymn was just us :)

 I spoke about the role of the Holy Ghost in the Plan of Salvation.

Of all the names for the Plan of Salvation, the Plan of Happiness is my favorite.  Probably because being happy is easier to understand that how exactly we will be saved from spiritual and physical death.

The Plan of Happiness explains our purpose here on earth (which Kyle will talk more about).  God literally wants us to have joy.  He also wants us to become like Him and return to His presence.  His plan of happiness is what makes this possible.

Because God loves us and wants us to be successful, He has given us a number of tools to help us along the way, such as; the restored gospel, scriptures, prayer, a prophet, the priesthood, our Savior (the most important part of the plan and what makes it work), families (also central to the plan), temples (where we learn more about the plan), and the Holy Ghost.

What does the Holy Ghost do?

“The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead; He is a personage of spirit and bears witness of all truth. In the scriptures the Holy Ghost is referred to as the Comforter, a teacher, and a revelator.  Revelations from the Father and the Son are conveyed through the Holy Ghost. He is the messenger for and the witness of the Father and the Son. (This is one way we can receive answers to our prayers.)

Fundamentally, all gospel teachings and activities are centered on coming unto Christ by receiving the Holy Ghost in our lives.

And it is a living church because of the workings and gifts of the Holy Ghost. How blessed we are to live at a time when the priesthood is upon the earth and we can receive the Holy Ghost.” –Bednar

The Fall-

The 3 pillars of God’s plan of happiness are the creation, the fall and Christ’s Atonement.

Because of the fall we are now subject to both spiritual and physical death.  Because Jesus Christ was resurrected we all will be resurrected and given freely the gift of immortality.  But overcoming spiritual death and gaining eternal life takes effort on our part.  The Holy Ghost’s role is to help us feel Godly sorrow leading us to repentance, for all of us sin.  The Holy Ghost also testifies of Christ’s Atonement, allowing us to believe that Christ really has paid for and can advocate for the forgiveness of our sins.  This is why God’s plan is a perfect plan, because we are able to overcome both effects of the fall.

“Confirmation of truth comes to a son or daughter of God who has claimed the right to receive the Holy Ghost. Since falsehoods and lies may be presented to us at any time, we need a constant influence of the Spirit of Truth to spare us moments of doubt. “ –Eyring

We need to always have a fresh testimony of God’s plan and love for us because our trials will come unexpectedly.  IF we have already done those things to have the Spirit with us beforehand, THEN even among our trials we can still feel the comfort of God’s love and His perfect peace.  We will be able to trust in the Lord, His plan and His timing.

“The companionship of the Holy Ghost makes what is good more attractive, and the temptations less compelling.” – Eyring

Story-

“Working as a special agent for the FBI, my friend investigated organized crime groups transporting illegal drugs into the United States. 

On one occasion, he and another agent approached an apartment where they believed a known drug dealer was distributing cocaine. My friend describes what happened: 

“We knocked on the door of the drug dealer. The suspect opened the door, and upon seeing us, tried to block our view. But it was too late; we could see the cocaine on his table.

“A man and a woman who were at the table immediately began removing the cocaine. We had to prevent them from destroying the evidence, so I quickly pushed the drug suspect who was blocking the door to the side. As I pushed him, my eyes met his. Strangely, he did not appear angry or afraid. He was smiling at me.

“His eyes and disarming smile gave me the impression that he was harmless, so I quickly left him and started to move toward the table. The suspect was now behind me. At that instant, I had the distinct, powerful impression come into my mind: ‘Beware of the evil behind the smiling eyes.’

“I immediately turned back toward the suspect. His hand was in his large front pocket. Instinctively I grabbed his hand and pulled it from his pocket. Only then did I see, clutched in his hand, the semiautomatic pistol ready to fire. A flurry of activity followed, and I disarmed the man.”

Later, in another case, the drug dealer was convicted of murder and boasted that he would have also killed my friend had he not turned around at that very moment.

*So how do we beware of the evil behind the smiling eyes?

Let the Holy Ghost be your guide. The Lord has promised us that as we live righteously, the still, small voice will come into our mind and into our heart.  You have felt this influence. You know this voice.

The gift of the Holy Ghost is a spiritual gift. It is sensitive and will not be associated with unworthiness. *You cannot offend or ignore it one day and expect it to strengthen you the next day.* But as you heed its promptings and remain righteous, it will grow stronger within you. The Holy Ghost warned my friend of physical danger; the Holy Ghost will also warn you of spiritual danger.” - Anderson

This hits home for me as my husband is a police officer.  He faces life or death situations on a regular basis, just like we all face spiritual danger on a regular basis, but IF we are worthy to have the Spirit always with us THEN we'll receive these blessings of protection. 

How can we have the Holy Ghost to be with us?

Stand in Holy Places-

Another essential part of the plan is our free agency. 

We get to choose if we want to follow God’s commandments or not.  We get to choose if we want to actually receive the Holy Ghost or not.  We have to use our agency to invite the Spirit to be a part of our life.  God won’t force Him to be with us if we haven’t shown that we want him around.  Our actions determine how influential the Spirit can be and how close of a companion we want.  When we choose to maybe watch a bad movie or talk about inappropriate things then the Spirit will slowly withdraw until we invite it back through repentance and change.  IF we want to bring the Spirit with us THEN we need to go where the Spirit will follow.

We can’t always choose our surroundings, but we can choose how we react to them.  Who we are is more important than where we are.  Bring the Spirit with you.  Use the Spirit to bring Christ's light to others instead of letting them take His Spirit away from you. 

We also ought to make our homes holy, by trying harder to do those things that are conducive to the Spirit of the Lord.

Facilitate spiritual experiences-

This will help us to feel and recognize the Holy Ghost.  This is also how we can gain and strengthen our testimonies.  As parents, if we want our children to have their own testimonies then we need to help them have spiritual experiences.  Such as sharing our testimonies with them, having FHE or other gospel discussions and praying together.  In order to know the truth, we have to feel the Spirit.  Sharing the gospel out of anything except love for someone will not bring the Spirit and the Spirit is essential to conversion.

We need to leave the noise, whether that is busyness or our own sins, and be just still sometimes in order to let the Spirit speak to us.  That was one of my favorite parts of my mission- the total media fast that allowed us to be able to focus on feeling the Spirit guiding us. 

We can also leave the noise as we attend the temple and focus on God's plan for each of us.

Keep covenants-

God’s plan includes priesthood ordinances and covenants (like baptism and receiving our endowment) and IF we keep those covenants, THEN we have a glorious promise that we will always have God’s spirit to be with us.  The Holy Spirit of Promise is what seals and sanctifies the ordinances of the priesthood so that they will be acceptable to the Lord even after this life.

D&C 82:10 “I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say then ye have no promise.”

“One of the terms we hear often today is that God’s love is “unconditional.” While in one sense that is true, the descriptor unconditional appears nowhere in scripture. Rather, His love is described in scripture as “great and wonderful love,” “perfect love,” “redeeming love,” and “everlasting love.” These are better terms because the word unconditional can convey mistaken impressions about divine love, such as, God tolerates and excuses anything we do because His love is unconditional, or God makes no demands upon us because His love is unconditional, or all are saved in the heavenly kingdom of God because His love is unconditional. God’s love is infinite and it will endure forever, but what it means for each of us depends on how we respond to His love. God will always love us, but He cannot save us in our sins. God’s greater blessings are conditioned on obedience. President Russell M. Nelson explained: “The resplendent bouquet of God’s love—including eternal life—includes blessings for which we must qualify, not entitlements to be expected unworthily.”  -Christofferson

One of these greater blessings is having the Holy Ghost to be with us always.  It is conditioned on obedience.  IF we are TRYING to follow Christ and keep His commandments THEN we will be blessed with His Spirit.  We must be worthy by keeping the commandments.

The gift of the Holy Ghost is the right to have, whenever one is worthy, the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.  If you are living the right way, you will know in your heart what the Spirit is saying to you.  We will never be prompted to do something contrary to what Christ has already taught.

Follow promptings-

We need to be willing to change our own plans to follow promptings.  We need to obey impressions from the Spirit or they won’t come as frequently.  Thank Heavenly Father for those answers we receive or feelings of peace that we asked for.  Spiritual experiences are sacred and the impressive experiences do not happen often so we should be grateful when they do happen.

“Repentance takes care of the past, faith the future and the Holy Ghost helps us with today.” –Maxwell

The Holy Ghost’s role in the Plan of Salvation is to help us gain a testimony of God’s perfect plan for us.  His role is to guide us in following the commandments, encourage us to repent when we don’t and comfort us when the trials come by ways out of our control.  His role is to help us make it back to God’s presence.  By our agency we can receive the Holy Ghost to be a constant companion in our lives to help us along the path.

I feel the Holy Ghost strongest when I am sharing by testimony.  It helps strengthen it and reminds me that this really is the only true church on the earth.  Through the prophet, Joseph Smith, the fullness of Christ’s gospel has been restored.  Jesus Christ lives.  We can have true and lasting happiness, but nothing comes easy that is worth it in the end.  Keeping the Spirit with us always is not easy, repenting and keeping the commandments is not easy, and gaining eternal life and exaltation will not be easy.  It will require the best we can do and a lot of sacrifice, but doing what God has asked of us and then being eternally happy because of it will be worth it.  Eternal life is possible because God's plan is perfect.  

I KNOW these things are true!

Kyle gave an awesome talk about our purpose here on earth.  

I really liked the quotes he used:

"The wise learn from their mistakes, but the super wise learn form the mistakes of others."

We are always asking others for help to make good choices temporally like,

"What insurance company has the best rates?"

"Where can I get a car for a good deal?"

"What do I need to know about buying my first house?"  

But we don't always do the same thing spiritually.  If we watch others choices though it is easy to see which paths will lead to the most happiness.

Don't let guilt discourage you, let it motivate you to use Christ's Atonement in your life.

"We all must suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment."