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Lesson: Spiritual Capacity By Michelle Craig
I wanted to start off with a story I found on LDSLiving.com, titled, “2 Things Distracting Us from Hearing the Voice of God in Our Lives + How to Tune Them Out,” by Dr. Taylor Halverson and Doug Witney.
Back when the telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication, a young man applied for a job as a Morse Code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sound of the telegraph in the background. A sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office.
The young man filled out his form and sat down with the seven other applicants in the waiting area. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They murmured among themselves that they hadn’t heard any summons. They assumed the man who went into the office made a mistake and would be disqualified.
Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other applicants, “Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has just been filled.” The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and one spoke up saying, “Wait a minute, I don’t understand. He was the last to come in, and we never got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That’s not fair!”
The employer said, “I’m sorry, but all the time you’ve been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code, ‘If you understand this message then come right in. The job is yours.’ None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his.”
(This version of the story has been modified from Character Out of Chaos: Daring to Be a Daniel in Today’s World by David O. Dykes, 2004, pp. 66-67).
How many of us are like the hopeful job applicants of this story, distracted by the noise of life that we miss the clear message, “If you can hear this, the job is yours”?
Essentially, God says the same thing to us. If we stay focused on Him and His voice we can receive all that he has, “And he that [hears] my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him” (D&C 84:38, modifying the original word “receiveth” with “hears”).
Another great resource: “To Hear the Voice of the Lord,” ch 6, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee
Although the Lord might not speak to us audibly, as we learn to talk to Him and recognize how He communicates with us, we begin to know Him. President Lee said that “to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent (see John 17:3), as the Master told his disciples, is to begin on the sure course that leads to eternal life in the presence of these glorified beings.”
Harold B. Lee
1. Be Intentional about Creating Time and Space to Hear God’s Voice
What have you found so powerful about the Book of Mormon?
Jeffrey R. Holland Facebook post.
“Young friends, I know it will stun you, shock you, perhaps even offend you that I was your age once and can remember some of the challenges I faced, some of the angst I felt as a young adult. I wish to share one profound experience I had as a young adult that has shaped my life.
“As a 19-year-old, I read the Book of Mormon for the first time with “real intent.” It was while reading this sacred record so hungrily, even ravenously, that I felt—again and again—the undeniable whispering of the Holy Ghost declaring to my soul the truthfulness of its message. To those first convictions have been added all the other quickening moments and sanctifying manifestations that now give meaning to my days and purpose to my years. But the Book of Mormon was the first.
“I testify that the Book of Mormon is the sacred expression of Christ’s great last covenant with mankind. Reading it was the beginning of my light. It led me to and taught me to love the Lord Jesus Christ, to glimpse His merciful compassion, and to consider the grace and grandeur of His atoning sacrifice for my sins and the sins of all men, women, and children from Adam to the end of time. The light I walk by is His light. I testify that you can walk by the same light. Seek your witness with “real intent.” Come unto Him and achieve “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). Your life, like mine, will never be the same.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that most often God reveals Himself “to individuals in private, in their chamber; in the wilderness or fields, and that generally without noise or tumult.”
2. Act without Delay
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. President Henry B. Eyring has taught us to seek revelation by asking God who we can help for Him. “If you ask questions like that, the Holy Ghost will come and you’ll feel nudges about things you can do for other people. When you go and do those things, you’re on the Lord’s errand, and when you’re on the Lord’s errand, you qualify for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
When was a time that you prayed and asked the Lord for an errand, and felt His love and guidance?
4. Believe and Trust
Recently, I read in the scriptures about another great missionary who obtained his errand from the Lord. Aaron was teaching the king of the Lamanites, who wondered why Aaron’s brother Ammon had not also come to teach him. “And Aaron said unto the king: Behold, the Spirit of the Lord has called him another way.”
The Spirit spoke to my heart: each of us has a different mission to perform, and at times the Spirit may call us in “another way.” There are many ways to build the kingdom of God as covenant-making, covenant-keeping disciples of Jesus Christ. As His faithful disciple, you can receive personal inspiration and revelation, consistent with His commandments, that is tailored to you. You have unique missions and roles to perform in life and will be given unique guidance to fulfill them.
Do we miss or dismiss personal errands from the Lord because He has prepared “a way” different from the one we expect?
**This is a great question to ponder.
Trust God to lead you, even if that way looks different than you expected or is different from others.
As seeking and doing the will of the Father becomes the cadence of your daily life, you will, of course, be led to change and repent.
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.
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