Years ago in the YW manual there was a lesson about prayer, revelation, and personal guidance. It gave me the answers I was seeking of how to incorporate prayer and receive direction for our daily lives. That coupled with the talk I shared yesterday are my two most favorite talks on how prayer works and what to expect and how to avail yourself of that direction. This talk is from 1979 and has impacted my life in so many ways. Again...combined with Elder Oaks talk from yesterday, it is just a powerhouse.
I have used this process many, many times. Terry and I used it when we left Alaska. Moving to a place we'd never even seen! Moving ahead with faith that I will be stopped if I'm wrong. This is the part that impacted me, taught me, strengthened my faith and is a huge part of my life right down to today.
This just grabbed my heart and taught me things beyond measure! I figured if it went through the Church Correlation Committee and was approved to be in the manuals for the youth then it was a truth! Read this part and then enjoy the entire talk. You won't regret it! I hope you will be glad I shared it!!!
Let me spend a moment on an item that I think a great many people, particularly members of the Church, do not understand. A lot of our people—including a lot of you—have great amounts of faith but sometimes tend to distort that faith a little by saying, "I am not going to move until I receive a positive assurance"—a burning in the bosom, as it were—"that that is the right thing to do."
You are all familiar with the scripture where Oliver Cowdery was trying to translate and could not do it. The Lord explained that Oliver had to figure it out himself, and if it was right He would give him a burning in his bosom; and if it was wrong he would have a stupor of thought. Many people say, "I am not going to move because I do not have that burning in my bosom. I am not positive about this, that, or the other . . . ." Too often we want to be positive about everything. We feel that we need to have this burning all the time. Often people say, "I am confused. I don't know what to do"—and so they end up treading water and not doing anything, not making any real progress—and that, in and of itself, is a great sin. We should not do things wrong—and, as I said before, the Lord will let you know when things are wrong—but, for heaven's sake, we should do something! This lengthening of our stride and quickening of our pace about which our modern-day prophet, the Lord's spokesman, talks so much cannot happen if we are standing still. We must be moving, and we should be moving in the right direction.
Let me tell what I have discovered—and this is somewhat repetitious. I do not say that we will not get that burning in our bosom, for we will when it is the right thing. In my life there have been quite a few occasions where there was absolutely no question about it—that burning was there. For instance, I have had the experience of installing stake presidents when there was absolutely no question, when I was positive that "that is the man to be the stake president now." It has happened in other situations also, but generally it has worked the other way—that is by eliminating the wrong directions to reveal the right direction, especially concerning our opportunities for progress in life in what we often term the temporal sense. We must try to figure it out ourselves. In the past I have tried out whether I should go into business or into teaching or into the arts or whatever. As I have begun to proceed along one path, having more or less gathered what facts I could, I have found that if that decision was wrong or was taking me down the wrong path—not necessarily an evil one, but one that was not right for me—without fail, the Lord has always let me know just this emphatically: "That is wrong; do not go that way. That is not for you!"
On the other hand, there may have been two or three ways that I could have gone, any one of which would have been right and would have been in the general area providing the experience and means whereby I could fulfill the mission that the Lord had in mind for me. Because he knows we need the growth, he generally does not point and say, "Open that door and go twelve yards in that direction; then turn right and go two miles . . . " But if it is wrong, he will let us know—we will feel it for sure. I am positive of that. So rather than saying, "I will not move until I have this burning in my heart," let us turn it around and say, "I will move unless I feel it is wrong; and if it is wrong, then I will not do it." By eliminating all of these wrong courses, very quickly you will find yourself going in the direction that you ought to be going, and then you can receive the assurance: "Yes, I am going in the right direction. I am doing what my Father in Heaven wants me to do because I am not doing the things he does not want me to do." And you can know that for sure. That is part of the growth process and part of accomplishing what our Father in Heaven has in mind for us.
Let me quote from 2 Nephi, again from the thirty-second chapter, in verses one through three, where Nephi says:
And now, behold, my beloved brethren, I suppose that ye ponder somewhat in your hearts concerning that which ye should do after ye have entered in by the way [that is, after you have become members of the Church and been baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost or after you have really and seriously decided that you want to find out what your mission and calling is]. But, behold, why do ye ponder these things in your hearts [—why are you not sure]?
Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?
Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ [that is, study the scriptures, and listen to the modern-day prophets and your priesthood leaders]; for behold, the words of Christ [that is, what the Brethren tell you and what you read in the scriptures] will tell you all things what ye should do. [Emphasis added.]
That is rather powerful, is it not? All things? Even what I ought to do for a living? You read it—there it is in the thirty-second chapter of 2 Nephi. Yes, all things that are necessary.
http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6726&x=51&y=6
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