Hearing the Voice of the Lord by Gerald N. Lund

Author:Gerald N. Lund [Lund, Gerald N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 2007-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

It Is Unwise to Demand Constant Direction from the Spirit

Though such extremes are not common, most of us know someone or other who tends to attribute almost everything they do to the Spirit. Their conversations are liberally sprinkled with expressions like, "The Spirit told me to do this," or "I can't do that, because I haven't had a spiritual confirmation yet." There is nothing wrong with those kinds of expressions in and of themselves, of course, but when they become a constant pattern it seems to be symptomatic of the misconception that we must be led in all things. Requiring a spiritual experience or a witness from the Spirit for every act of life is not pleasing to the Lord.

William E. Berrett was the administrator of Seminaries and Institutes (now called the Church Educational System) for many years. In a book on the Holy Spirit, he talked at some length about those who seem to want to credit everything in their lives to the Spirit. Elder Dallin H. Oaks shared Brother Berrett's counsel in an article in the Church magazines:

Those who pray that the Spirit might give them immediate guidance in every little thing throw themselves open to false spirits that seem ever ready to answer our pleas and confuse us. . . . The people I have found most confused in this Church are those who seek personal revelations on everything. They want the personal assurance from the Spirit from daylight to dark on everything they do. I say they are the most confused people I know because it appears sometimes that the answer comes from the wrong source. . . . There are great dangers associated with those who profess a constant outpouring of the spirit of revelation. Frequently, those so professing place themselves above the need to listen to the counsel and direction of their priesthood leaders. Often they are above correction. It is natural for those who suppose they are having regular conversations with angels and diverse exalted beings to be a little bemused at the counsel of bishops and stake presidents. With but a bit of polish, such an attitude ripens into the cultist's mentality in which one is above the laws of both church and state. 8

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