Lesson 2-24 "Revelation in Our Daily Lives"

This lesson is a workshop on getting answers, direction, and inspiration in everyday life. If prayer is people-to-heaven communication, then revelation is the reverse-flow process. It's also what we call the end product of that process - i.e. the thing you obtain is revelation, and so are the means by which you obtain it.

There are two scripture workshops embedded in the lesson, really - in the first, class members identify a range of methods by which people in the scriptures obtained revelation or communicated with God. In the second, class members learn how to prepare themselves to do the same, and to recognize it when it comes in answer to their petitions.

The metaphor of "light" is woven throughout, in using the hymn "Teach Me to Walk in the Light," and drawing on an old Ensign article by Elder Packer titled "Candle of the Lord." I could see using an object lesson around that image, like a lantern or a flashlight or a headlamp. In the case of a headlamp, it illuminates just where you're about to walk or what you are immediately doing in front of you, and it emanates from your own self rather than from a thing in your hand, and you need it especially when you are doing something so it seems like a particularly apt metaphor.

Some of the new recommended resources are very good:

Russell M. Nelson, "Ask, Seek, Knock" October 2009 Conference

Gerald N. Lund, "Opening Our Hearts" April 2008 Conference

Robert D. Hales, "Personal Revelation: The Teachings and Examples of the Prophets" Oct 2007 Conference

Boyd K. Packer, "A Message to the Youth of the Church: Personal Revelation-- The Gift, The Test, The Promise" from a October 1994 Conference talk

This past weekend we had a first in our family; the missionaries taught a discussion in our home to some friends of ours. In part of it, one of the elders was talking about getting answers - personal revelation - of the truthfulness of the gospel and whether Joseph Smith was a prophet, and he said something about having an open heart. The husband stopped him and asked him what that meant, or how one goes about "opening" one's heart. We spent a while as a group talking about what those words mean, and one of the missionaries asked me to explain what I thought. I had to think a while, then I said it was about preparation and intent and not being distracted or saturated already. Like soil is ready for rain, or a sponge is ready for liquid so that when it comes, there's somewhere for it to go.

Gerald Lund's talk/article explores this idea of opening one's heart in some detail, using the metaphor of a fence with or without a gate. He uses a quote by Elder Bednar, which I really liked also:

"Nephi taught, 'when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.' Please notice how the power of the Spirit carries the message unto but not necessarily into the heart... Ultimately... the content of a message and the witness of the Holy Ghost penetrate into the heart only if a receiver allows them to enter." That is, if we open the gate.

I also really liked the way Elder Nelson began his talk - by praising the miracle of rapid & wireless communication through technological devices, and then building on that, the greater miracle of accessing information and communication directly from heaven without any "hardware, software, or monthly fees."

One of the ideas that came up in the missionary discussion was that revelation works when we ask with real intent - that is, really planning to do something with the answers we get - not just idle curiosity; and that it works when we really need to know, when it really matters to us (as in the case of Joseph Smith's first vision). It doesn't always come on our chosen timetable, though, nor all at once. I think that's important to say to youth, that revelation is gradual, and uneven, and that answers can come not by some failsafe formula but by a combination of our obedience and moving forward in faith, our willingness to act on the answers we get, and the intensity of the need to know the answer. As we put those pieces together on our end and try to stay open and pure, the Lord stands ready to reveal truth--and indeed further--glimpses of His love and self and personality--to our hearts.

Headlamp image: from crosby_allison, Creative Commons licensed