Thursday, 2 August 2018

Temple & Family History - Week 2 Institute Class 390R

What are Spiritual Experiences?

A question posed to us to consider.....

My thoughts....

  • The Holy Ghost is present
  • They deepen your testimony
  • Life Changing experiences or Changes in your life and you can have a spiritual experience
  • Like a light bulb that is turned on. Feel light or understanding
  • Personal revelation
The last time I had a spiritual experience?

Sunday when I felt the power of fasting and my heart was full of gratitude, and my testimony strengthened.

This morning when I read Elder Dallin H. Oaks' talk "Reason & Revelation"
"In a recent talk at Brigham Young University, Elder Boyd K. Packer gave this perceptive characterization of reason and revelation in a university environment: "There are two opposing convictions in the university environment. On the one hand, 'seeing is believing'; on the other, 'believing is seeing.' Both are true! Each in its place. The combining of the two individually or institutionally is the challenge of life.... "Each of us must accommodate the mixture of reason and revelation in our lives. The gospel not only pen-nits but requires it. An individual who concentrates on either side solely and alone will lose both balance and perspective. History confirms that the university environment always favors reason, with the workings of the Spirit made to feel uncomfortable. I know of no examples to the contrary." Elder Packer then pleaded for "the fusion of reason and revelation [which] will produce a man and a woman of imperishable worth."

Tuesday - Attending the Temple

Read and ponder what do they see and learn?

Moses 1:1-4, 6, 27 - 28 
Ether 3:1, 6, 8-9, 13-16, 25-26
Abraham 3:11-12
Moses 7:3-4, 6-7
1 Nephi 11:1-2, 15-21

Why does the Lord give them these experiences?

What deeper "Mountainous" spiritual experience have you had?

Feeling the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life. Feeling forgiven, loved, and trusted to be given responsibilities to serve and to share the gospel. Receiving a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. My role as a mother continually gives me mountainous spiritual experiences positively to feel loved by my daughters, needed, and to try to be better.

What do we need to do to qualify for these Mountain top type of experiences? (Like in the scriptures?)
Be willing to do the spiritual work to receive revelation, and to be watchful of them. The Lord gives us opportunities to have spiritual experiences and we may need to be willing to change or repent to be more humble. Seek for spiritual experiences.

President Russell M. Nelson
"In like manner, what will your seeking open for you? What wisdom do you lack? What do you feel an urgent need to know or understand? Follow the example of the Prophet Joseph. Find a quiet place where you can regularly go. Humble yourself before God. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father. Turn to Him for answers and for comfort.

Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will “grow into the principle of revelation.”9

Does God really want to speak to you? Yes! 

I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that “if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.”12

Oh, there is so much more that your Father in Heaven wants you to know. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, “To those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, it is clear that the Father and the Son are giving away the secrets of the universe!”13

Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon,14 and regular time committed to temple and family history work.

To be sure, there may be times when you feel as though the heavens are closed. But I promise that as you continue to be obedient, expressing gratitude for every blessing the Lord gives you, and as you patiently honor the Lord’s timetable, you will be given the knowledge and understanding you seek. Every blessing the Lord has for you—even miracles—will follow. That is what personal revelation will do for you." Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives, April 2018

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