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Monday, July 15, 2013

03. Rising Above Spiritual Mediocrity

Note: This is one of a series of posts devoted to the study of D&C 93:1, and the third examining the phrase "calleth on my name".


Years ago, I watched kind of a corny movie named The Singles Ward.  In it, one of the secondary characters always carried around a planner.  I wouldn't be surprised if he took it into the shower with him.  To give him credit, though, he did seem impeccably organized.

When it comes to spiritual development, I've always been a big proponent of throwing away the planner.  Planners seem so..."Mosiac".  As Christians, we can and ought to do better.

Instead, you should be asking the Holy Ghost what your top "spiritual development" priority should be.  Sometimes, I'm told a priority I hadn't even considered that would never have made it into my virtual (or even literal) to-do list.

So, I invite you -- today -- to do something simple:
  1. Just find a quiet time and place sometime, and say a prayer.  Ask God for one word or phrase -- just one -- that summarizes your top spiritual development priority. 
  2. Next, study the story of the Brother of Jared (Ether 2-3) as well as D&C 9:7-9.  Develop a plan to turn that weakness into a strength.  Note: Your plan doesn't need to be perfect, but should reflect the best you can devise.
  3. Pray again.  Present your plan to God.  Listen to what He says about it.
  4. Finally, write down your impressions.  
"As we seek answers from God, we feel the still, small voice whisper to our spirits. These feelings—these impressions—are so natural and so subtle that we may overlook them or attribute them to reason or intuition. These individualized messages testify of God’s personal love and concern for each of His children and their personal mortal missions. Daily reflecting upon and recording the impressions that come from the Spirit serve the dual purposes of helping us (1) to recognize our personal encounters with the divine and (2) to preserve them for ourselves and our posterity." (Paul B. Pieper, "To Hold Sacred," April 2012 General Conference).

I believe that the process of awaking and arising to a level where you're aligned with your privileges (with respect to the Holy Ghost) is simple; it's we mortals who do a bang up job of complicating it. 

Proceed simply.  Confidently.

And feel free to let us know how your session went, either by posting a comment (below) or anonymously (here).

In my next post, we'll talk about one of the greatest ways to spiritually awake and arise (with the influence of the Holy Ghost being fully utilized) that you've probably seldom heard of, nor even utilized.



4 comments:

  1. I did what you suggested, asking the Lord for my #1 priority.

    I prayed first to clear my mind that I might hear HIS voice. What I received was that I am already doing it - I am already carrying out the plan, which is:

    1) Learn to love people more unconditionally.
    2) Take care of my family as much as they will allow.
    3) Begin reading the scriptures during the time I've been spending reading other people's books, because I need to start learning what "I" need to learn, not what others would teach me.
    4) Step out and become a prime teacher, not just a repeater of others' learning. I have things to teach and to share, and those things are going to come though personal revelation and through scripture, not through anyone else's books.

    I hope I'm not just being prideful in saying these things. I just need to follow this path until I'm told to stop. I step out in complete faith and with a humble heart.

    Thank you for this advice, because it helped me receive yet another witness that this is what I'm supposed to do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I tried your experiment yesterday and my answer was… FORGIVENESS.

    I didn’t even realize that I needed to forgive. But the Spirit told me who and I’m so grateful that I’m no longer holding that burden.

    Wow! So powerful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Please keep this going. I really am enjoying what you are teaching us. It's so inspiring and uplifting!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I asked yestereday and received this: "relax and have confidence that the Lord will bless in due time. continue to pray, but be diligent in getting ready for the upcoming trip. do anything you can to help everyone else get ready as well." This week I have been fasting and praying for greater spirituality, and so the "relax" part is significant as it means that I need to be relax my efforts a bit and not neglect the demands of life and serving others.

    ReplyDelete