Episode #262 - Why We Don't Receive Revelation - Laying Aside Sin

There exist many good reasons why our communication with our Father and Savior gets interrupted.   Yes sin is always a hinderance.  But there exist many other good reasons why we are not hearing the voice of the Lord.

Transcript

1)      Haven’t done the research D&C 9:7-9 “You supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.” – Choosing a school or a career.  The Lord expects us to use our intellect to research and then come to him with an answer.  Choosing a companion.

2)      Independence:  Letting Go Of the Bike – Sometimes we need to understand that the Lord has to let go of the bicycle seat.  We are to become independent Gods and sometimes we need to move forward without Father and the Savior pushing us from behind.  We should do many good things of our own free will.  The Savior also lost his connection to the Father on the cross so that the son could fully state that he had completed the atonement by his own will.

3)      Timing: Sometimes it is timing – For instance, think of Acts 3 where the apostles healed a man who was crippled from birth.  How long did he wait for his revelation and healing.  It is likely the Savior even passed him by at the gate without healing him.  That is because the event was to take place with Peter & John.  Even with Abraham timing was important to his revelation.  Think of the first revelation to sacrifice his son.  It was likely that he receive no other revelation until he had completed the sacrifice.  What if the revealing angel was too late or too early.  It would have changed the entire story.

4)      Agency of Another – the Rules of agency.  We cannot ask the Lord the break the rules of agency and force a wayward child home.  We cannot ask the Lord to simply force Laban to give the plates.  The Lord will not break the agency rule.  When the Lord gives us revelation to help others this agency rule is also inherent in the revelation.

5)      Need to always be Ready: Revelation comes at various times no just during prayer or a temple visit – Story of our daughters

6)      Obvious Answers:  If the answer is obvious you may or may not get an answer – The Lord is not going to tell us to break the commandments or to go outside of the commandments.  We should not need to pray about tithing.  It is a commandment and the Lord may not give us an answer as to whether we should pay tithing because we already know we should.  How much based on the definition of the word “increase” might be a prayerful conversation.

7)      Getting it wrong Paralysis:  What if I get it wrong – First of all, we all do and the Lord expects it.  We shouldn’t fret if we are doing our best to honor the revelations of the Lord and we get something wrong.  Getting things wrong is part of the process.  Frustrating yes but part of the process of learning.  We should fear it but move forward.  We will learn far more by moving forward than waiting for an answer.  We should move forward with the best information.  

8)      Step into the Darkness: Sometimes we need to move forward to a certain point before the Lord will reveal to us his will.  We at times will need to step into portions of the path that are obscured by the mists of darkness.  Sometimes we need to step forward to know that the path is there and prepared for us.  Without this faith promoting step we will likely never progress.  This is one of the main pathways the Lord has used for me in my life.  I think this happens more often to those who suffer with mental and emotional illness

9)      Wrong Question: Sometimes we are asking the wrong questions.  Such as did Joseph Smith really live?  You can find that out yourself.  Was he a prophet is going to require some research and then a question.  Sometimes we need to be more detailed in our question.  Vague questions often get vague answers and specific questions specific answers.

10)   Emotionally Attached: Often we are emotionally attached to an answer.  That makes it hard to hear anything else.  For instance, when we are the innocent victim of another’s sin.  How hard is it to hear forgiving revelation.  Time is often a cure for this problem.  When I am emotionally connected to an answer, I wait for the Lord to respond in his way and often my emotions need to settle and then the Lord provide several answers to me.

11)   Preferences: Sometimes it just doesn’t matter such as what color do I paint my house.  Other than offending the neighbors with neon green, I think that the Lord probably doesn’t care.

12)   Waiting for a Witness: Sometimes we are waiting for a particular type of answer such as a powerful witness.  Those are rare.  Most often it is going to come like a lightbulb moment but very subtly to the point you might ask, is this the Lord or just me.  Or it is going to dawn upon you like the sunrise.  You can’t tell exactly when the sun has risen when it is cloudy but you know it has.

13)   Sometimes we are not ready for the revelation.  The Lord needs us prepared so that we act in accordance with his will, not our own.  We find this difficulty within the church early in its infancy in Nauvoo when plural marriage was introduced.  Individuals had a difficult time accepting the revelation because they were not ready for it.  They had not progressed spiritually enough for the revelation.  The Lord can only give us what we can understand and use in our lives.  It is damning to give someone revelation they cannot accept as it causes them to commit a violation of their covenants.

14)   Different methods – Often the Lord uses a variety of methods to teach us and we should not limit his revelation to one particular method or source.  For instance, he often uses the light up a phrase revelation for me.  During a talk or even a good Instagram message, the Lord can highlight a phrase for us to see and cause a witness to occur.  He also uses repetition due to my mental health concerns.  He knows that I struggle with my emotions so he often uses other sources to help me.

15)   Keep at it – Elder Holland stated.  If it were once true then it is true now.  Remember that Nephi had to fail twice before accomplishing what he knew to be true.  Sometimes we do give up too soon.

16)   We should do many things of our own free will.  If it is a good thing to do, why question whether it is from the Lord.  Sis. Hinckley – Never suppress a generous thought.  The Lord can help us choose between two good alternatives.

17)   Revelation Preparation:

a.       Prayer

b.       Spiritual Patterns

c.       Consistent communication

d.       How you treat others

e.       Forgiveness of others

f.        Service to others – That is why the temple is so powerful in our lives – Service to those who cannot complete the covenants for themselves.

g.       Faith

h.       Acceptance

i.         Willingness to act

j.         Learn the voice