The Holy Ghost

Hello there!
It always feels good to be writing a blog post! :)
Today I wanted to post about another thing that I have certainly struggled with. And that is recognizing the Holy Ghost. This is like a part two to my post about Revelation, found here.
The first step in recognizing the Holy Ghost is knowing what His job is.
There are many scriptures that teach us about the duties of the Holy Ghost:
John 14:26 -- Comfort and remembrance
John 15:26 -- Comfort and to testify of Christ
John 16:23 -- Guides to truth
Galatians 5:22-23 -- Fruits of the Spirit
Mosiah 5:2 -- Change of heart
Doctrine and Covenants(D&C) 6:14-15 -- Enlightenment (answers to questions)
D&C 6:22-23 -- Peace, witness of truth
D&C 8:2-3 -- Spirit of Revelation, tells you in your heart and in your mind
D7C 9:8-9 -- Burning of the bosom(heart) or stupor of thought
D&C 11:12-13 -- Fill you with JOY!
D&C 50:17-23 -- Learning by the Spirit
WOW! There are sooo many! And these are only a few of them!!
I am always amazed at how many different ways the Spirit can speak to us individually. Yet, they are all very similar.
One of my favourite scriptures in the Book of Mormon regarding the Holy Ghost is found in Moroni 10:5 where it says, "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."
The Holy Ghost will teach us all truth. He will never lead us astray because He CAN'T. So we know that we can trust that any prompting that comes through the Holy Ghost is from God.
It takes time, effort, and practice in being able to recognize the Holy Ghost. Have patience with yourself. It will all work out in the end. Trust in yourself, and trust in God's timing. I promise you that as you do this you WILL be able to recognize the Holy Ghost and how He speaks to you.

Revelation: Help??

Hi-ya!
So this post doesn't really fit with the theme of faith that I've been doing for this month, but bear with me! :)
So a major question I've had or been asked is how do I tell if it is revelation or just my own thoughts. This question is so hard! We are told many times in the scriptures and through modern-day revelation that we need to pray about our questions and act upon the answers we receive.
But how do we know what those answers are?!? 
We learn in Doctrine and Covenants 9:8-9
"8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

 9 But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me."

So if we break this scripture down there are a couple of steps that we have to do. 

1.)

"Study it out in your mind" We have to search out the answers we are seeking for. We have to study the question out thoroughly and weigh the different options and consequences for the choices we make. We have to really search out for the answers we are seeking for. 

2.)

Next we have to choose!! This step is so important. All to often we search, ponder, and pray without ever making a decision. Verse 8 tells us that we have to ask if it is right, to be able to ask if it is right, we have to make a decision. 

3.)

Now we pray! This is were we kneel in humble prayer and ask for help and guidance. We ask to receive a confirmation of the Spirit that the choice that we made is right. 

4.)

This last step is so important. We now have to ACT on the decision that we have made. We've studied, pondered, and prayed. Now get to work! Do the best that you are able to do! We can't sit around singing "I'll go where you want me to go". We have to talk that first step and get to work. God will guide our footsteps if we allow Him too. 

I know how much work it is to be able to receive answers to prayers. And to be able to recognize them. But I can promise that through practice it becomes easier. Slowly you will be able to recognize the answers you receive faster. God answers prayers!! This I know! I know without a shadow of doubt, that He has heard and answered my prayers and He will answer yours. 

Love Part 2

Hey-o!
So Valentines Day is upon us tomorrow! There are two major times of the year when love is spoken of more than other times: Christmas and Valentines Day.
I've posted about Love once before and you can see that post here.
As we read in Matthew 22:36-39 
" 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 38 This is the first and great commandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
Love is the greatest commandment. If we truly love those around us then we will always see them the way that our Saviour and our Father in Heaven sees them. 

I think it was put best by President Thomas S. Monson in his talk in the April 2014 General Conference. His talk is titled: Love -- the Essence of the Gospel. 

I know that as I have shown greater love for those around me I have in turn felt greater love. The love of Christ is something so incredibly powerful. It has changed my life and I know it can change yours. 

Desire to Believe: The Beginning

Hello There!!
So I just wanted to talk a little about how Faith begins, and how we can develop that faith.
As we learn in Alma 32:21 " And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." Faith is not about knowing everything there is to know about something. 

Later on in that same chapter of Alma we read, " 27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words." To start out in finding faith we simply have to desire to believe. If we are earnestly seeking for truth and have a desire to follow Christ then we will receive answers to our questions. 
So let us 'experiment' upon the words of the prophets. Let us choose faith, and let us push onward.
If you would like to learn more about faith check out Mormon.org where you can chat with missionaries like me! 

Faith; My Little Seed.

Hi-ya!
Wow February already? The past month has flown by!!
So I wanted to talk this month about Faith: what it is, how we can grow our faith, and what can happen when we use our faith.
So what is faith? I talk about this a little bit in my other post Faith and Prayer.

Faith can be described as a variety of things. To put it simply it is a strong belief that causes us to act. We have faith in so many things each and everyday. We have faith that the light will go on when we flip the switch. We have faith in many material things every day.
Much more importantly than having faith in a light-switch is having faith in our Saviour, Jesus Christ and His Atonement. We have to put our trust in the Lord in all that we do.
We learn this principle in many different scripture verses one of my favourites is Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
Exercising faith everyday means putting our all in the Lord's hands everyday. Giving it all to Him and then getting to work. And trying our very best to do the work He would have us do.
I know for myself that understanding faith is difficult. But faith is a little seed that can grow into a tree that we can reap many rewards from. They least of which being a closer relationship with our Saviour.
I know that when we exercise our faith even a little bit that God will bless so very much!