Seeking Inspiration

Seeking Inspiration
June 27, 2010 – PV1 Ward
Tim Morrison


Ten days ago, my son Davey, his wife Bianca, and I visited Nauvoo and Carthage, Illinois. As we listened to senior missionaries and tour guides recount stories of the early days and people in Church history, my testimony was strengthened again. 166 years ago today Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred by mobsters in the Carthage jail. I am grateful for Joseph’s work of restoration and bear testimony that he was chosen by God to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth once more.
My parents joined the Church in Washington State as a young married couple with an infant son. My dad had known some fellow soldiers who were LDS when they served together during the Korean War, and he had been impressed with them. So when the missionaries later came tracting, my parents were willing to listen. My mother told me that she had a difficult time accepting as true the experiences of Joseph Smith—the First Vision, his translation of the Book of Mormon, the restoration of the priesthood, and so on. I am grateful for the patience of the young missionaries who were willing to continue over a period of months to teach and work with this young couple. I am grateful that the Spirit whispered to my mom, assuring her that Joseph was a prophet and that the Church he established was founded on eternal truths. Her conversion has established a firm foundation for my brothers and me, and for our families. I am grateful for “Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, [who] has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in the world, than any other man that ever lived in it “ (D&C 135:3).
Joseph Smith was once asked what differentiated this church from others. His response was the Holy Ghost. One major blessing of the Holy Ghost is His role as a revelator. One of our Articles of Faith states: “We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” This belief in specific revelation for the Church as a whole that comes through a prophet was a new understanding at that time among most faith traditions. For many of them, revelation was considered to be much more general and mysterious than the type of literal revelation proposed by Joseph. However, Joseph was not satisfied with revelation for the church only. He also emphasized the idea that personal revelation was not only possible for each one of us, but was also expected of us. Each of us can receive guidance from the Spirit in our daily lives.
This topic of revelation and inspiration is very fundamental to Mormon thought and practice. It reaches into almost every aspect of our lives as Latter-day Saints. Although there is much that can be said about inspiration, I have chosen to speak today about four principles of inspiration—first, that inspiration can come to us without specifically asking for it; second, we should actively seek inspiration; third, not all inspiration is specific, but is sometimes more general in nature; and fourth, inspiration at times comes to us very specifically. All four of these principles are founded on the understanding that whenever we receive inspiration, we should recognize that the Spirit is speaking to us, acknowledge the source of the prompting, and act on it immediately.
Sometimes inspiration comes to us without asking or seeking. Although we may ask for guidance in daily prayers, specific inspiration may come to us without asking for explicit help in particular circumstances. Today, as we do each Sunday, we partook of the sacrament. In doing so, we renewed covenants with promised blessings. We promised to be “willing to take upon [us] the name of [Jesus Christ], and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given [us]; that [we] may always have his Spirit to be [us].” This blessing of this Spirit can give us help in our lives. One example of such inspiration comes from my wife’s extended family.
During World War II, my father-in-law, Clayton Sonderegger, was assigned to the 288th Field Artillery Observation Battalion and saw action in Germany, along the Siegfried Line. He was a 20-year-old young man who was leader of a group of soldiers who were assigned to pick out observation points where they could look out into enemy territory and identify targets to shoot at. They would radio the coordinates to the artillery command and rounds would fire at the targets they had identified. After observing where the shells hit, they would give more precise coordinates so that subsequent shells would hit closer to the intended targets.
On one occasion, his group was asked to drive to a specific site to begin initial surveying of the location of the German troops. After driving a distance toward their lookout point, they saw that the road branched into two directions. The branch they were supposed to use had clearly been used more frequently than the other, so the driver began to drive that way. However, young Clayton felt a prompting of the Spirit to have the driver back up and drive along the less-used road. Although the road had not been frequently used and the snow made the driving difficult, they finally made it safely to their destination. After accomplishing their assigned task, they returned to camp by the same route.
Upon their return, before they could even get out of their vehicle, they were met by their commander and fellow soldiers. One lieutenant came to the driver side, opened the door, and asked, “Are you okay?” Then he went to the other side and asked, “Are you okay?” After repeating this again on both sides of the vehicle, he told them that soon after they had left, word had reached them that the road they were headed down had German soldiers hiding in wait for enemy soldiers. One truck with other American soldiers had been ambushed and all of them had been killed.
Now, whenever Grandpa Sonderegger tells this story (he is now 85 years old), his eyes fill with tears and his voice falters as he testifies of the safety that came to him and to his fellow soldiers that day because he followed the promptings of the Spirit. The Spirit does speak to us at times even when we do not specifically seek His help, but His Spirit can always be with us.
[I first sustained President Monson as the new President of the Church at a ward conference on the BYU campus in a young single adult ward sacrament meeting. This ward conference occurred prior to the general conference where a solemn assembly was held for the entire Church to sustain him. As a member of the stake presidency asked for a sustaining vote, I felt he Spirit witness to me unmistakenly that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet. I did not specifically seek this inspiration—it just was a gift from the Spirit on that occasion].
Sometimes the whisperings of the Spirit come as a result of prayer and seeking. We should actively seek inspiration and be prepared to receive our own confirmation from the Spirit. One example of this came when President Kimball was seeking revelation about extending the blessings of the priesthood to all worthy male Church members. While President Kimball’s fervent searching and then receiving answers to his prayers are well known, President Romney, then second counselor in the First Presidency, also received inspiration.
During this time, President Romney seemed content to leave the long-standing policy alone with no change. He wrote, “I knew President Kimball was searching for an answer and whenever we discussed the question, I told him, ‘If you get an answer, I will support you with all my strength,’ but I did not expect him to get an answer. This had been going on for months, at least . . . We as his counselors encouraged him to get it off his mind, to rest.’” But President Kimball wasn’t satisfied that President Romney just support him—he wanted President Romney to receive his own inspiration.
President Romney wrote, “The idea of change was new to me. I had gone 80 years defending the Church position. I am a Romney, you see, a stubborn man. I was personally slow to accept change. I prayed hard that the Lord would give the president the right answer, but I did not presume to urge that the answer be yes or no. I was most interested that he be sure.
“If the decision had been left to me, I would have felt that we’ve always had that policy and we would stick to it no matter what the opposition. I resisted change in my feelings, but I came to accept it slowly.”
President Romney prayed fervently to receive his own confirmation from the Spirit. In his words, he said, “I have now changed my position 180 degrees. I am not just a supporter of this decision. I am an advocate. When the revelation came, I knew the mind and the will of the Lord had been made manifest.”
[After teaching elementary school in Idaho for one year, my wife and I wondered what we should do next. I felt that I wanted to return to school to earn a master’s degree, but I also felt that I should continue teaching to gain more experience. I had received offers for several teaching positions—in fact, my wife, Carol, and I had both been offered teaching positions in one school district—but we were still unsure of what to do. We sought the direction from the Lord and were told that we should return to BYU so I could study in the master’s degree program there].
At times, we may receive specific inspiration regarding issues in our lives, but at other times and in some instances, the answers we receive are more general in nature. At those times, we should press forward the best we can with the guidance we receive. However, we are assured that we can receive direction from the Spirit. An example of general guidance from the Spirit comes from the very large and active Parley P. Pratt Family Organization is.
In 2007, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Parley was commemorated. As part of the celebration, an acquaintance of mine, Paul DeBry, was asked to produce a DVD to honor the lives of some of the Pratt family. In a fireside I attended, he told of the life of Parley P. Pratt and related an interesting account of Parley’s burial. He said that Parley was killed as he served a mission in Arkansas and was buried in the family graveyard of the local blacksmith who had witnessed the murder, despite his wish to be buried back home in Utah. While it has been known for years where that burial ground was located, it had not been known the exact spot of his burial. The Pratt family had tried to find the location without success, but had identified a plot of ground that was the likely spot.
Finally, they asked President Hinckley to seek inspiration regarding the location. Instead of obtaining a specific response to prayer, he was told to advise the Pratt family group to obtain the identified land, plus another ten feet in all directions surrounding it. Sometimes the promptings we receive from the Spirit are more general in nature than we would prefer.
[We followed the general answer to return to BYU, but we had to make many decisions on our own regarding what specific program to enter, what to study, and so on].
Sometimes the whisperings of the Spirit are vey specific. In the Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants we read, “These sacred revelations were received in answer to prayer, in times of need, and came out of real-life situations involving real people. The Prophet and his associates sought for divine guidance, and these revelations certify that they received it.” We, too, can receive guidance in our real-life situations. In the most recent General Conference Priesthood Session, Elder Rasband told of his experience with President Eyring in assigning missionaries to their fields of labor.
“I joined Elder Eyring early one morning in a room where several large computer screens had been prepared for the session. There was also a staff member from the Missionary Department who had been assigned to assist us that day.
“First, we knelt together in prayer. I remember Elder Eyring using very sincere words, asking the Lord to bless him to know ‘perfectly’ where the missionaries should be assigned. The word ‘perfectly’ said much about the faith that Elder Eyring exhibited that day.
“As the process began, a picture of the missionary to be assigned would come up on one of the computer screens. As each picture appeared, to me it was as if the missionary were in the room with us. Elder Eyring would then greet the missionary with his kind and endearing voice: ‘Good morning, Elder Reier or Sister Yang. How are you today?’
“He then referred to another screen which displayed areas and missions across the world. Finally, as he was prompted by the Spirit, he would assign the missionary to his or her field of labor.
“After assigning a few missionaries, Elder Eyring turned to me as he pondered one particular missionary and said, ‘So, Brother Rasband, where do you think this missionary should go?’ I was startled! I quietly suggested to Elder Eyring that I did not know and that I did not know I could know! He looked at me directly and simply said, ‘Brother Rasband, pay closer attention and you too can know!’ With that, I pulled my chair a little closer to Elder Eyring and the computer screen, and I did pay much closer attention!
“A couple of other times as the process moved along, Elder Eyring would turn to me and say, ‘Well, Brother Rasband, where do you feel this missionary should go?’ I would name a particular mission, and Elder Eyring would look at me thoughtfully and say, ‘No, that’s not it!’ He would then continue to assign the missionaries where he had felt prompted.
“As we were nearing the completion of that assignment meeting, a picture of a certain missionary appeared on the screen. I had the strongest prompting, the strongest of the morning, that the missionary we had before us was to be assigned to Japan. I did not know that Elder Eyring was going to ask me on this one, but amazingly he did. I rather tentatively and humbly said to him, ‘Japan?’ Elder Eyring responded immediately, ‘Yes, let’s go there.’ And up on the computer screen the missions of Japan appeared. I instantly knew that the missionary was to go to the Japan Sapporo Mission. Elder Eyring did not ask me the exact name of the mission, but he did assign that missionary to the Japan Sapporo Mission.
“Privately in my heart I was deeply touched and sincerely grateful to the Lord for allowing me to experience the prompting to know where that missionary should go . . . That whispering of the Spirit is an example of how the call comes to servants of the Lord to send missionaries to their fields of labor.”
In the case of assigning missionaries to specific areas for service very specific inspiration is required. However, not all inspiration is so specific, even when we wish it to be so. We may wish to have the Lord tell us specifically what our profession should be, whom we should marry, where we should live or move our families, and so on.
[Recently, my wife and I were talking about how to help our family remain close to one another even though we live so far from one another. We lamented the fact that some of our children and grandchildren live so far from us, but one specific answer came to Carol as we drove together in the car one day—create a family blog. This is an unlikely idea to come to two digital immigrants. But when we suggested it to our digital native children and their spouses, it was met with enthusiasm. And the blog is a blessing to our entire family. The Lord can give us specific direction in our real-life situations].
Inspiration can come to each of us, whether we actively seek it or not. It will come to us as specific answers or the impressions may be more general, but the Spirit will speak to our minds and hearts. When the Spirit does speak to us, we need to do three things: First, recognize that it is the Spirit whispering to us. Second, acknowledge that the source of the inspiration is divine. Third, we need to act on the inspiration we receive. When we do, we will receive one of the great blessings of being a member of the Church—we will “always have His Spirit to be with [us].”