Spiritual Capacity - Michelle Craig

President Russell M. Nelson has extended a simple, powerful invitation: “My beloved brothers and sisters, I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation. … Choose to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the Spirit more frequently and more clearly.”

1. Be Intentional about Creating Time and Space to Hear God’s Voice

• Pick a time and place, and listen for God’s voice every day. And keep this sacred appointment with exactness, for so very much depends on it!

2. Act without Delay

•  When you receive promptings... act with intention... The more you act, the more familiar the voice of the Spirit becomes. You will increasingly recognize God’s guidance...

3. Get Your Errand from the Lord

•  The prayer Heavenly Father seems eager to answer is our plea to be led to someone who needs our help...seek revelation by asking God who we can help for Him.

  (He may ask you to "break the Sabbath" to find a lost sheep. Love is higher than the law. The law does not exalt us...love does. That does not mean you do not believe the law or preach the law or obey the law otherwise, it just means that you are obeying God still - even if He asks you to set down another law for a moment. You are still following Him and His prophet when you obey in this way.) 

  • "Do we miss or dismiss personal errands from the Lord because He has prepared “a way” different from the one we expect?

    My grandpa was led to an unusual place—in a suit, on a rooftop, on a Sunday. Trust God to lead you, even if that way looks different than you expected or is different from others."
    
    

4. Believe and Trust

• “And Aaron said unto the king: Behold, the Spirit of the Lord has called him another way.” 

  (This comforts me when I do not receive the prompting to help someone. I trust the Lord has called me "another way". It also comforts when I am tempted to be hurt because someone doesn't come to my aid. Perhaps the Lord as called them "another way".)

• No matter who you are or what you’re dealing with, you are invited to the Lord’s table.¹³ 

   

  The Church’s new program for children and youth is built on the foundation of learning to seek revelation, discovering what the Lord would have us do, and then acting on that direction. Each one of us, regardless of age or circumstance, can strive to seek, receive, and act. As you follow this eternal pattern ordained for our day, you will draw nearer to Jesus Christ—His love, His light, His direction, His peace, and His healing and enabling power. And you will increase your spiritual capacity to become an everyday instrument of His hands in accomplishing His great work. 

October 2019 General Conference

Thoughts while listening to the General Conference Talks:

Elder Holland:

1. I am the "blind" man in the story. The "spiritually sensitive" people in the crowd are the prophet and apostles pointing the way to and witnessing of Christ. 

2. I gather with others to General Conference to beg for mercy that I might have my own sight restored. "Jesus, thou Son of David, Have mercy on me!"

3. Between now and the 200th anniversary of the Sacred Grove experience, strive to create a similar environment of "religious ferver" in preparation for the Father and the Son to reveal themselves to ME!

4. Don't get distracted by all the "clamor" that surrounds our church activity and schedules and traditions. Keep my focus on Jesus, the meaning and purpose of it all. Even God the Father turned Joseph's attention and focus to Jesus. "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him."

5. Remind others that "self reliance supplies" are a continuing part of our religious practice.

6. Have a YW lesson where you put Jesus in the center and all the doctrines in a circle around Him. Put a string from each doctrine to Christ. Have a discussion where we tie each doctrine back to Christ.

7. Retreat to the "solitude" of the temple. Let it be my "sacred grove" to cut through the "darkness and confusion" around me. There I may receive a "gift of sight unimagined and unanticipated".  I can come to "see" and "hear" God and His Son. 

8. He bore apostolic witness of Joseph's experience. The most thrilling sight and sound in life is that of Jesus coming to us, stopping beside us and making His abode with us.

9. See Christ at the center of my life, my faith, and my service. THAT is where true meaning lies.

10. "I promise with apostolic ferver and prophetic conviction that He will hear you and will say, soon or late, "Receive thy sight. Thy faith hath saved thee."