If an angel came to you and told you to do something you would probably do it. If you knew for certain it was a messenger from God, you would probably not have any doubts. But, that is not the exercise with which most of us are involved. For us the exercise is recognizing the very still small voice and demonstrating that our desires and our virtue is in concert with what the Lord can work with.
Instead of a voice or an angel coming to us, we hear in our minds a very simple thought that seemingly comes out of the blue. We can dismiss that thought with a simple explanation that marks it as only a random thought of our own, or, we can test it out and follow its advice to ascertain the source. As we act upon these random and seemingly imaginary thoughts, that seem to come from nowhere, it will become easier to discern if these thoughts are genuine messages from the spiritual realm, or they are just random thoughts, or worse, influenced by the adversary.
As we pay attention to these random thoughts that pop up in our mind, we may find that they come more frequently, and that they do come from an external source. Discernment becomes more acute, and becoming attuned to the spiritual communication network becomes easier. But, this comes with a warning: If we don’t have a vigorous prayer and scripture study program in our life, we open ourselves up to receiving messages from a dark source. And unless there is experience and the gift of discernment, we can easily be deceived. I have no doubt that there are crowds of good, truth seeking people who have been led down crooked roads and darkened mists unknowingly, because they have listened to a lying spirit that has taken advantage of their lack of discernment mingled with ego issues.
At quiet times I sometimes talk to God in my thoughts. I like to think he is listening and the words that pop into my head are His responses to my questions. Some very profound and thoughtful ideas come to me this way. I want to share one of these “conversations” I had recently. Now, I am usually leery of accounts from people who claim to have talked to God and received messages from Him, so consider this as nothing more than a parable; a story with a moral attached to it.
I had been thinking that I needed to do more for the Lord, I needed to do better, be more active in helping others. Maybe there was something the Lord needed me to do. I realize now this is a very prideful way to think, but, being bold and sometimes presumptuous I ask away. Now, in my favor, I believe that all of us that are here in mortality have privileges that angels don’t have, such as asking stupid questions and being oblivious to how inappropriate they sometimes are. Thankfully, the Lord is gracious and forgiving of our precociousness. We are all five year-olds when it comes to our understanding of spiritually adult matters.
“Lord, how can I do better? Is there more I should be doing? I know we are supposed to sacrifice, what do you want me to sacrifice?” I am thinking I have to give up something big to be noticed, hoping He doesn’t ask me to sell my house and give it all to the poor, or something dramatic like that.
“No,” comes a response in my head, “just continue to study scriptures and pray.”
I think, well, I am already doing that. I ask, “What about the rich young man, you told him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor, then come and join You. Isn’t that something you require–give up everything and press forward feasting on your words and endure to the end?”
“My requirement is not to sacrifice everything, but be “willing” to sacrifice everything. For the rich young ruler it was a requirement in order for him to put the world behind him. He had been suckled on his mother’s love and his father’s money. He needed to be weaned off of those things. You on the other hand don’t have problems with those things; you have other issues. Continue to study and pray and the time will come when I WILL call upon you. You have to prepare for that.”
I realize this is a message for me and me alone, and doesn’t apply to anyone else.
Two things I need to note here. Sometimes the Lord doesn’t require big things of us. Its a big enough thing to be able to recognize when He is talking to us. Secondly, do I dismiss this out of hand because it was such a simple thing that didn’t require a big effort on my part?
So, how do I know that was a real conversation with the Lord? I have had a few conversations in the past where He has asked me to do things from time to time. Each time I was never 100% sure whether it was a random thought or a real message from God, but the Lord always provided unmistakable evidences, or witnesses, after I had done the things He had asked me to do. By receiving second witnesses I have learned to trust when the voice of the spirit comes to me. I won’t lie, there are times when I am not so sure and I have to test it out, sometimes getting it wrong, but I believe that I am getting better at discernment. I do have to own up to some missteps where I assumed I was getting a message from the Lord, but was actually acting on some ego-filled promptings from the adversary.
Joseph Smith wrote that faith is a substance, “Now faith is the substance (assurance) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We are all babes when we delve into the unseen realm of spiritual things. It is imperative that we test out “all things” like a child who makes all kinds of serious mistakes in learning how the world works. We know, for the most part, how the world works, but the vast majority of us are woefully ignorant of how the spirit world operates. Like a five year old, listening to our Heavenly Parents is the first step.
As I thought about this experience I was drawn to think about the story of the Rich Young Ruler. I realized there is another aspect to the story that was not obvious to me in earlier readings. When the rich man approached Jesus he asked, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Jesus answers him, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.“
Well now, if it were true that we could do some “good thing” to earn our way into heaven, then we don’t need Christ. But we know it is impossible to get to heaven without the atonement of the Savior and His grace, and you can’t earn His grace. There really is no “good thing” that you can do to earn eternal life. It comes down to this: by repenting and turning to Christ, we activate the power of His grace to intervene for us. How can the Lord give a gift that is rejected? Our baptism demonstrates our willingness to follow Him, to listen to His voice, and be obedient to what He asks us to do. Our good works will not save us; as James tells us: good works accompany and are evidence, not proof, of our spiritual state.
Jesus responds to the man saying, “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Even Jesus does nothing save His Father tells Him. (See John 8:44-50 (KJV)) All “good things” originate from the Father, through Christ. So, as even Christ doesn’t consider Himself to be good, receiving all instruction from His Father, how could any other man do any “good” deed?
By telling the young man to keep the commandments, he is only repeating what the Pharisees and priests teach the Jews–that keeping all the commandments is the only way to be righteous. We know it is impossible to keep all the commandments, but the young man doesn’t know that, he believes the doctrine of the priests and the Pharisees, so he asks, “which” ones am I missing? The Savior lays out six of the commandments the young man is familiar with. The young man responds, “All these things have I kept from my youth up, what lack I yet?” He lacks the same thing that most of us are short on, putting God first in our lives, living the most important commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Or as Jesus puts it in another place, “Love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:28-31)
The young man asks, “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?” The Savior responds, “If you will be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”
This test is not to obey every commandment, which is impossible. The test is whether we will do what the Lord asks us, personally. In order to do that we have to approach the Lord, as the Young man did, learn to hear/receive instruction, and then DO IT. The other thing I learned was that I can’t do anything “good” to earn God’s attention and love. I can only seek His voice, and upon finding Him, do what he suggests.