"That We May Always Have His Spirit to Be with Us"

Today, Michelle Rackley taught a lesson based on Elder Bednar's April 2006 General Conference address: "That We May Always Have His Spirit to Be with Us." This was not the lesson scheduled for today, but Michelle explained that it was one of three lessons she had prepared over the past year and not been able to give, and it was the one she felt most strongly about sharing with us. To begin, Michelle asked if it is an overstatement to use the term always in reference to having the Spirit's presence with us. L. said that is exactly what we are promised when we are confirmed after our baptism. Michelle said that a bishop had told her that even members who have sinned seriously enough to be excommunicated from the church feel a loss of the Spirit at the time their blessings are revoked. L. said that for her, the key word in the phrase is not always but may--it is up to us to be worthy and willing to have the Spirit as our constant companion. S. said that even when she is not living right, she can still feel His guidance. J. said that the Spirit's presence can be like water. A person standing up to their neck in water in a swimming pool will not be as aware of the water as someone in a desert during a drought. Michelle said that the Spirit can be with us but we may not feel it or be aware of its presence.

Next, Michelle asked how we can ensure that the Spirit will always be with us. Here are her answers:

1) Ask for it, in prayer. We read Alma 34:18-27 aloud, noticing how many times we are instructed to pray in these verses. It helps if we can keep a prayer in our hearts.

2) Expect it, today. This has to do with exercising our faith. In Joseph Smith's History, he tells us that he had full confidence in obtaining divine manifestation. Do we have this kind of confidence when we pray? Are we praying but not expecting an answer?

3) Create it with our thoughts and actions through obedience. Are we expected to be perfect? G. said that perfection is expected, but not demanded. Michelle said that the scripture in Matthew when Jesus tells us to be perfect is hard for her to understand. Why would he say that when he knows that we are sinful? She shared a recent experience she had with prayer. After several very difficult weeks, she was praying for comfort and understanding. The thought came into her mind: "Do I expect you to be as perfect as President Hinckley?" Her answer was yes. The next thought was, "Do I expect you to be President Hinckley?" Her answer was no. Then, "Every day is a different day for you, and I expect different things on different days." She was left with a powerful awareness of God's love and mercy. He is so willing to tell us that we've done the best we could.

What gets in the way of us always having the Spirit? Michelle wrote her answer in bold letters in the middle of the board: LIFE. She told us that, honestly, when she thinks about life, sometimes all she can think of is negative things, such as fear, doubt, loneliness, heartache, illness, divorce, feeling overwhelmed, tiredness...in other words, pain and suffering. Our society, she said, teaches us to avoid pain at all costs. We've been taught that pain is bad. But is pain bad? L. said that at the time we are feeling the pain, it is bad, absolutely. A. said that it depends...she has learned from her husband, who is a doctor, that there are more than one kind of pain. Some kinds of pain are a warning. But there are other kinds of pain that do no harm to the body whatsoever. R. said that pain warns us that something does not work properly. It wears on us spiritually, and we have to learn to deal with it. Life is not the problem, she said, but how we react to it. M. said that she has experienced a great deal of emotional pain and suffering in her life, and that she used to wish that she could have someone else's life instead of her own. But now, realizing all that she has learned, and how far she has gotten because of those experiences, she would not trade them. If given the choice, she would choose her same life all over again.

Michelle had us read 2 Nephi 2:23, Lehi's final words to his children as he prepared for death. Referring to Adam and Eve he said, "...they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin." She asked us, can we feel joy without sadness? Can we know our Savior without trials?

Is there a difference between pain and suffering? R. answered yes, pain is physical; suffering is what we do with it. Michelle read us a dictionary definition of both. Pain is an unpleasant physical sensation. Suffering is distress and anguish. Is suffering a part of life? Sometimes. She asked K. to share her feelings during the time immediately after her husband's injury. K. said that we can turn pain into suffering. She spent a lot of time asking why, and agonizing about how life should have been for them. This caused her great suffering. When she was able to accept the reality of their new situation, the suffering was alleviated.

B. asked whether the suffering caused by mental or emotional illness is the same as what we were talking about. She explained that she has bipolar disorder, and that when she is depressed, she often asks, "why me?" She turns away from people, and she pushes away spiritual things. She is not sure when the suffering is caused by herself and her attitudes, or by her illness. K. responded that there is a difference between accepting what is in our life, and turning our backs on the promise of God's Spirit being with us always. Michelle told us that her own mother, like B., suffers from bipolar disorder, and does not take medication to treat it. Her illness gets in her way, and Michelle believes that God understands that.

Michelle agreed with what K. had said about acceptance affecting pain and suffering. God knew we would feel these trials, and gave us a way to heal. They have a purpose...to bring us closer to our Savior. Ask yourself: have you turned away from God, and thereby turned pain into suffering?

Michelle shared stories from the lives of three people that she has thought of repeatedly during her own struggles. The first is her brother. He experienced tremendous difficulty in a two-week period recently, including the return of his cancer, an unexpected emergency surgery, being evicted, moving in with his in-laws who do not approve of him, having his car break down, and breaking his foot. During this time, he was calling Michelle up to seven times a day for support. He was depressed, sad, and fearful. But at the same time, he acknowledged that God had provided every needful thing for him, and was able to list a number of specific blessings he had been given to help him get through this difficult time.

The second story is of a family that is close friends with Michelle's sister. Last year, the father lost his wife and three children in a car accident, leaving him all alone. He was praying one day, telling the Lord that he could not go on without his family, and that he wanted them back. The thought came into his mind, "you can have them back, but you would have to also give back all of the experiences you have had with the Savior since them, including his atonement, which will make it possible for you to be with them forever."

The third example is a family science professor at BYU. He used to be an atheist, and loved to make fun of Mormons. One day, he was prompted to read the Book of Mormon, and this led to his conversion and baptism. After that, he was inspired to get a Ph.D. from BYU. He left his job, sold his house in California, and moved his wife and children into a small apartment in family housing. Part way through his studies, he came to a point where he realized he had no job prospects whatsoever. He went to the temple and asked the Lord why he had guided him to this place. The answer he received was, "If you knew me, you would not ask why." This experience caused him to re-commit himself to knowing his Savior, and not shying away from experiences that would bring him closer to this goal.

In closing, Michelle shared her testimony with us. She told us how grateful she is for the promise that we can have the Spirit with us always. She hopes that through our trials we can get closer to the Savior, and eventually grow to be grateful for the pain we experience.

SWK #6: Discovering the Scriptures for Ourselves, Part III

As promised, here is the third and final post on last week's lesson. Our discussion was about personal revelation. To remind us of the importance of following the Spirit's guidance in our individual lives, Lea cited the story of Nephi killing Laban to obtain the brass plates (1 Nephi 4). Nephi did not want to take Laban's life. He knew that God's law prohibited this. And yet, he could not deny that this was what God wanted him to do. If he had refused, his people would not have had the scriptures to guide them in the promised land, and they would have dwindled in unbelief. Lea told the story of a friend who felt prompted one day on his way home from work to enter a night club. This was not something he would normally have done, and it took several repetitions of the prompting before he was ready to comply. Entering the bar, he ordered a soda and sat down, waiting to see why he was there. Soon he saw an old friend and they were able to have an important talk. It was good that he was willing to follow this prompting although it seemed like a strange thing to do.

I was concerned that someone might take the idea of following personal revelation too far, and let themselves be deceived into thinking that a prompting to go against church doctrine was coming from God, when it was actually coming from the Adversary. As Linda Johnson pointed out, many of the groups that have left the church have justified their actions as being dictated by personal revelation, in spite of the fact that they are in direct opposition to truths revealed by living prophets.

It has been one week since Lea's lesson. Today I had a good talk in the library with her about it. She told me that she wished she had mentioned a talk by Elder Melvin J. Ballard about personal revelation. In this talk, Elder Ballard explained that the leaders of the church must speak in generalities to the church as a whole. Individual members, therefore, must turn to the Spirit to find guidance for their personal situations. He warned, however, that the Adversary can deceive us if we are not careful, and that there is such thing as false or counterfeit revelation.

I left the lesson last Sunday with many questions. In my own research during the week, I found several talks that make similar points to the ones Lea told me about today. If anyone is interested, they can find and read these talks on the Church website (www.lds.org):

1. "I Have a Question" Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign Sep. 1976
2. "When Shall these things be?" Elder Ballard, Ensign Dec. 1996
3. "Is it Revelation?" Elder Lund, New Era Jul. 2004
4. "Recognizing Personal Revelation" Preparing for Exaltation: Teacher's Manual Lesson 15
5. "Personal Revelation" Elder Packer, Ensign Nov. 1994
6. "I Have a Question" Rodney Turner, Ensign Feb. 1996

SWK #6: Discovering the Scriptures for Ourselves, Part II

Part two of the lesson began with this question: Can an every-day member of the church have the same level of spirituality as the president of the church? In answer, Lea referred us to these statements:

1) "One cannot receive eternal life without becoming a 'doer of the word' (see James 1:22) and being valiant in obedience to the Lord's commandments. And one cannot become a 'doer of the word' without first becoming a 'hearer.' And to become a 'hearer' is not simply to stand idly by and wait for chance bits of information; it is to seek out and study and pray and comprehend. Therefore the Lord said, 'Whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me'(D&C 84:52)." (SWK 66)

2) "Every member of this Church in his place has as much right as the President of the Church to have knowledge from God...If all would do this, then the Church would be easily guided because the people would know for themselves and would be of one heart and mind and understand alike...There is not that amount of revelation enjoyed by us which there should be...Now, if we live as we should, there is no event of any importance that could occur but we would have some intimation respecting it; we would be prepared for it." (Gospel Truth, Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, by George Q. Cannon & Jerreld L. Newquist, chapter 22)

3) "And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" (Numbers 11:29)

L. said the strength of the church lies in the individual testimonies of the members. Kathy said that it is so easy for us to live below our privileges. Lea reminded us that the Holy Ghost will not override our agency. J. remembered the scripture pray always. Lea told a story about having to come to the church Saturday morning to open the library for the Single Adult conference. She had gone through the ward list trying to think of someone that would be there anyway who could do it for her, but couldn't think of anyone. When she arrived, her fellow librarian, O., was there for the conference. On her way home, frustrated, Lea asked herself why the Lord didn't reminder her that O. would be there? The answer she came up with was that she had forgotten to ask the Lord.

The second question for discussion was this: Can an every-day member of the church have something revealed to her that has not been revealed to the prophet? The simple answer to this question was yes, the prophet receives guidance for the church as a whole, but we receive guidance for our own individual lives. I added a caveat--we will not receive personal revelation from God which contradicts what the prophet has revealed to the church as a whole. This led to an exciting and rather lengthy discussion, which will be the subject of the third and final post on this lesson.

Lea closed with her favorite quote of all those Tammy had put together on the class handout: "In 1906 Elder B.H. Roberts of the First Council of the Seventy declared that the 'crying need' of Mormonism is, 'For thoughtful disciples who will not be content with merely repeating some of its truths, but will develop its truths; and enlarge it by that development. Not half--not one-hundredth part--not a thousandth part of that which Joseph Smith revealed to the Church has yet been unfolded, either to the Church or to the world. The work of the expounder has scarcely begun. The Prophet planted the germ-truths of the great dispensation of the fullness of times. The watering and the weeding is going on, and God is giving the increase, and will give it more abundantly in the future as more intelligent discipleship shall obtain. The disciples of 'Mormonism', growing discontented with the necessarily primitive methods which have hitherto prevailed in sustaining the doctrine, will yet take profounder and broader views of the great doctrines committed to the Church; and departing from mere repetition, will cast them in new formulas; cooperating in the works of the spirit, until they help to give to the truths received a more forceful expression, and carry it beyond the earlier and cruder stages of its development." (Improvement Era. Volume 9: 712-173).

SWK #6: Discovering the Scriptures for Ourselves, Part I

Today's lesson was prepared by Tammy Stafford, but she wasn't feeling well, and so her mother, Lea, presented it to us. It was chapter 6 in the Spencer W. Kimball manual: Discovering the Scriptures for Ourselves. The lesson was divided into two main parts: 1) how scripture study helps individuals progress and 2) how the growth of individual members helps the church as a whole progress. The first part of the lesson covered five reasons that God wants us to read the scriptures, with quotes to back up each:

1) To get answers to prayer or personal revelation: "The years have taught me that if we will energetically pursue this worthy personal goal [to study the scriptures] in a determined and conscientious manner, we shall indeed find answers to our problems and peace in our hearts" (SWK 66).

2) To increase our knowledge and peace: "[When we read the scriptures] we shall experience the Holy Ghost broadening our understanding, find new insights, witness an unfolding pattern of all scripture; and the doctrines of the Lord shall come to have more meaning to us than we ever thought possible. As a consequence, we shall have greater wisdom with which to guide ourselves and our families" (SWK 66). "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee" (Hosea 4:6)

3) To keep our connection to God: "I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns...the scriptures are available to nearly every soul, and, through them, men can become intimately acquainted with their Heavenly Father, his Son Jesus Christ" (SWK 67).

4) To gain power against temptation and adversity: Matthew 4:1-11, especially note how the Savior himself used/ quoted scripture when tempted.

5) To strengthen our faith and testimony: "I find that all I need to do to increase my love for my Maker and the gospel and the Church and my brethren is to read the scriptures. I have spent many hours in the scriptures...I cannot see how anyone can read the scriptures and not develop a testimony of their divinity and of the divinity of the work of the Lord, who is the spokesman in the scriptures" (SWK 67).

When Lea asked us to share additional ideas on why God wants us to read the scriptures, here are some of the things that were said. Someone (I can't remember who) said that according to Elder Packer, if we want to talk to God, we pray. If we want God to talk to us, we read the scriptures. A. said that reading the scriptures helps her gain confidence in her standing before God. R. said that we learn in the first book of Nephi how important scriptures are in preventing us from dwindling in unbelief. E. said that she'd heard that even with a living prophet we would dwindle in unbelief without scriptures. T. said that by reading the scriptures, we can see things that we want to imitate or avoid in the lives recorded there, without having to learn those things from personal experience.

This is the end of part one of the lesson. I'll post part two soon.

Welcome

My favorite part of church is usually attending Relief Society. I often feel the Spirit's presence most clearly during that last hour. Maybe that is because my children are not with me and I can concentrate. Maybe it is because of the special bond I feel with my sisters. Recently I was thinking about sisters who cannot attend Relief Society for one reason or another. The thought came to me that those of us who attended the lesson could share our thoughts on it with those of us who were unable to be there. This blog can be a place to continue the discussion that was cut short by the bell (and by the primary children banging down the door), and expand it to anyone who wasn't there but wished they could be. I will try to post something each Sunday after church. I hope you will add your comments.