Holy Places, Holy People, Holy Truths
Stand in Holy Places
Elder Stevenson speaks of holy places, “Our temples and homes are the most sacred of these dedicated spaces. In them we more easily invite and recognize the Spirit.”
It is easy for most of us to recognize the touch of the Holy Ghost while we are in the temple. When I enter the doors of the temple, not only is it beautiful, but a peace surrounds me. The very air is different because it is filled with the Spirit.
As much as it would be wonderful to dwell in the temple, it is only a place we visit. Our homes, the place where we live daily is and should be a holy place. Just as we are told our bodies are temples, our homes shelter and protect our bodies.
Elder Stevenson mentioned dedicated places. Have we dedicated our home to the Lord? It is a simple but profound thing to do.
Making our homes holy places is within our hands. It is found and created by the way we treat one another, how we speak, what language we choose to use. It is created by what we invite inside our homes. This is not simply other people and the influences and attitudes and behaviors they bring, but also in the music, movies, podcasts, social media that we allow to enter our homes and that we feed our souls with.
As children of God, we are blessed with the gift of creation. We can create places where the Spirit can dwell. We do this when we build temples and meetinghouses. More importantly we do this when we build where we live, our homes. Our homes are sacred places. They are meant to be a sanctuary and refuge from the world. Places of peace and rest. Places where we can hear, feel, recognize, seek, and counsel with the Spirit.
Is your home a place of refuge? Is it a sanctuary? If it isn’t, what is it lacking or in need of to make it one? I have found that making my home a refuge and a sanctuary can be a challenge, especially when more than just you live there. As a mother of four children, all of whom are now young adults, I have found that getting everyone to agree on the boundaries and behaviors that create a holy place is a great challenge.
Whether your family is large or small, many or few creating a home as a holy place can be challenging. Some things I have done is have pictures of Christ in each part of the house. This serves as a reminder of what I am trying to do and to whom I look for guidance and direction in my life. I listen to gospel related music in the morning as this sets the tone for my day. As a family we do prayer and scripture reading at the end of the day. There are any number of ideas or things we can each do to make our home a holy place. What they are will depend on each of us as individuals and how we recognize the Spirit and how we draw it close to us.
You could start by asking and answering some questions. Where are we when we feel the Spirit the strongest? Are there things that I can bring into my home that emulate that place? I once painted my home the beautiful cream color that the celestial room of the Dallas temple was as a reminder of what I was trying to become. Some of my greatest spiritual moments have come in nature. Having a garden or plants and animals could also be a reminder.
How do we create space for the Spirit to dwell with us? My eldest son said that a home is a holy place when holy principles are taught and lived there. This is especially important as parents, for we are teaching by what we say and do what is holy, acceptable, and good to our children who are still learning. Those who dwell within the walls of a home make it holy when they do their best to try to make it so.
How do we have the space in our lives for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost? None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes, missteps, and really bad falls at times in the choices that we make. Having the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost does not demand perfection. It requires effort. We are required to do our best to keep the commandments, and keep and live our covenants. We do that to the best of our fallen mortal ability. We are greatly aided when we recognize, listen, and follow the promptings, inspiration, and revelation that we receive through the Holy Ghost.
Stand with Holy People
Who do you surround yourself with? How do you feel in their presence? Do they energize you? Do you feel peace when you are with them? Conversely do you feel drained or angry, sad or depressed?
Who we surround ourselves with matters a great deal. When I lived in Texas I made good friends and found some family as well. Two sisters in my ward became sisters of the heart to me. We could talk about our lives, challenges, doubts, concerns, hopes and dreams. Always we talked of God. I could always feel the Spirit when I was with them. It didn’t matter if we were in the temple or in Olive Garden for a girl’s night.
When you find people that you can connect with on a spiritual level, who live with the Holy Ghost as their companion, you need to nurture and recognize that. Be grateful for it. I am deeply grateful for their presence in my life. Though I have moved they are still who I call for council, kindness, or just to keep in touch.
Elder Stevenson states, “The Spirit cannot be restrained from attending a gathering of holy people.” Part of why we gather together on Sunday is to be with, and worship with holy people. I know, I know I don’t always think of myself as a holy person either. I try to be though. I know that the rest of the people I go to church with try as well. They each have different challenges and are in different places on the path back to our heavenly home, but each is trying. It is the effort the Lord wants. We consecrate our efforts to Him and He sanctifies them. That is how we become holy people.
Testify of Holy Truths
Elder Stevenson said, “…testify of holy truths as often as you can. The Comforter always shares His voice when we testify with our voice. The Spirit bears witness to the speaker and listener alike.”
This doesn’t have to be — and often isn’t — a grandiose thing. Testifying of truth often comes in my experience in small, quiet moments that we share with someone we care about. I homeschooled for a number of years. My most precious memories are the small conversations I had with my kids individually and together where we spoke of truth and I testified of my witness to its truth.
Sometimes they are little moments where our testimony is what we do instead of what we say. I remember a time I was sitting in relief society and a sister left crying. I distinctly heard the words “follow her”. I did, and I listened as she talked of the challenge she was facing. I counseled her to talk to the bishop after church that day and that he would help her. She was worried about her two small children and I said that I would sit with them while she talked with the bishop. I did. I couldn’t fix her problem. But in following the Spirit I testified to her by my actions that I loved her and God knew her and what she needed. Sometimes it is what we do and not what we say that bears testimony.
Listening to the Holy Spirit
Listening and hearing are two different things. We may recognize and hear the Holy Ghost but not listen to it.
When I was in college I took an interpersonal communication class. There I learned about active listening. Some of the same principles that I learned there can be applied to listening to the Holy Ghost.
Here are 10 of the principles that I learned and how they can apply to listening to the Spirit.
Stop Talking
Have you ever been in a conversation where the other person kept cutting you off or kept talking over you? It can be insanely frustrating. Imagine now how the Holy Ghost must feel. Infinitely patient though He is. The first thing in both listening to the Spirit and active listening is to Stop Talking. Stop what you are doing if you can (obviously don’t get in an accident if you are driving). Stop what you are thinking. Pause. Be still. Focus only on Him and listen.
Prepare Yourself to Listen
This may seem to be in the wrong place, but it really isn’t. It isn’t about what to do before the Holy Ghost talks to you, but what you do after He starts talking to you. After you stop. The next step is to focus. Clear your mind. We are so easily distracted. Thinking about what we need to do, the problems we are facing, or a loved one who is struggling. None are bad things in and of themselves. However when the Holy Ghost is talking to you nothing else should be in your mind.
Preparing yourself to listen is clearing your mind, focusing it only on what He has to say.
Put the Speaker at Ease
This goes back to creating space for the Holy Ghost in our lives. Creating those moments when He can more comfortably speak to you. When He speaks it becomes about what He has to say, not what you want to hear, or even what you wish He would say.
Remove Distractions
Is your phone ringing? Is the TV on? Were you in the middle of trying to do something? Remove the distractions whatever they may be. Turn the TV off, silence your phone, your to-do list can wait. Clear the distractions away so that in that moment what the Holy Ghost is telling you is the most important thing.
Empathise
I wondered about this for a bit. Then I thought what a tough job it must be to be God’s messenger. How many people ignore you to their own detriment. How many times does He needs someone’s help and it isn’t given? Years and years, millenia pass and He still speaks. He still teaches. He still encourages. He still asks.
If we can keep that in mind, if we can feel a tiny portion of what He endures and deals with, maybe we can begin to empathize with the Holy Ghost. Maybe it will change not just how we see Him, but more importantly how we listen to Him.
Be Patient
This can sometimes be a hard one. The Spirit speaks, teaches, and asks on God’s timetable, not ours. As such we need to be patient in waiting for a response, or seeking clarification on something we were told.
I was struggling with how to help my family financially. Weeks went by where every job I applied for either rejected me or ghosted me. I was so frustrated. I went to the temple and was finally given clarification. I had already been given the answer. I didn’t recognize it because it wasn’t what I thought it should be. Be patient. Answers do come. Realize though they may not be what or how you think they should be. This leads into the next step.
Avoid Personal Prejudice / Agendas
Oftentimes we use the Holy Ghost to seek approval for choices or courses of action that we have decided to take. We all have the gift of agency. The responsibility to learn to choose wisely. It is not entirely inappropriate to do this. In D&C 9: 7-9 we are told,
“7 Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.
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.”
This scripture tells us that whether the answer is positive or negative the Holy Ghost will speak to us. We will have an answer to the question we are seeking. It also tells us that we have a part to play because of agency in thinking things through, making a plan and then seeking approval to see if this is what the Lord would have us do. The scripture gives us the pattern to follow in how we are to pray for, seek, and recognize answers to our questions.
It is not meant as a rubber stamp on any plans we make. More often than not for me, my plans were changed because what the Lord wanted for my life wasn’t in line with what I thought. It was up to me to adjust to His plans, not wait for Him to adjust to mine. What the Lord sees for me stretches into the eternities. I see a small moment.
One instance of this is in college I was deciding what I would study. I love the law, the ins and outs, how it works. I wanted to be a lawyer. My associates degree is in criminal justice and I enjoyed learning about how our system of law works, falls short, and should work. After finishing my associates degree though, I came to a realization in seeking to continue my education for a bachelor’s degree. I realized after completing my bachelor’s degree it would take four more years to get my law degree and then practicing as an associate before hopefully making partner. It was a very long road.
I was a mother to four small children. I realized if I took this path I would not get to raise them, someone else would. That broke my heart. After a great many prayers I was told it was my choice. It was, however, a choice with eternal consequences, consequences I couldn’t fully know at the time.
I had wanted to be a mother since I was little. It was the world for me. I chose to be a mother instead of a lawyer. It was a hard choice. I don’t regret it. It was the right choice. I had to adjust my agenda. I did so with the Lord’s blessing. I have never regretted it. I did get a bachelor’s degree just not in anything related to the law. Education is important for all of God’s children. It is after all why we are here. To learn, to grow, to become like our Heavenly Parents.
Put away your preconceived ideas, all of the wrong things we learned, and our personal agendas when you listen to the Holy Ghost.
Listen to the Tone
This is an important one, whether it’s with the Holy Ghost or with people. Tone can tell you so much. With the Holy Ghost, tone can be urgent. It can be patient, as you would hear when a parent is teaching a child. It can be kind in moments of reassurance and love. It can be stern when it is being used to chastise after misbehavior or sin. Or it can be urgent in times of danger and warning.
Listen to the tone the Holy Ghost is using. You will know if you are actively listening to it. You will feel it, as well as hear it.
Listen for Ideas, Not Just Words
Sometimes it is just impressions from the Holy Ghost. Sometimes a person’s name pops into your head, followed closely by the idea to call them. Ideas are just as important as direction and words.
Often when I write, I know where I want to start but I never really know where it will go. This is because my writing is driven by the Spirit. Scriptures, concepts, memories, experiences, all come to mind. I follow where they take me. I never know at the start where I will end up.
Generally by the end of writing I have learned, cried, laughed, and rejoiced in gratitude for the opportunity to share what I have been given.
Listen for the ideas, not just the words. There are no coincidences in our lives. There are tender mercies of the Lord and the miracles and blessings that He provides.
Wait and Watch for Non Verbal Communication
In part, this one is hard to do with the Holy Ghost. In people, non verbal communication is really important. A person’s facial expressions, attention, eye direction, body language, and tone can tell you alot. They are an important part of understanding what a person is trying to communicate. Truly people say more with non verbal communication then they do with words.
With the Holy Ghost though, we can do the first instruction, wait. Wait not just for a prompting, or the approval of what you plan to do. Wait for your opportunity to learn more about how He speaks to you. Wait for the peace that you are seeking. Wait while you feel like you are wandering the wilderness. All parts of our mortal journey will have a time where we will have to wait. How we choose to wait is up to us.
Action is Often Required
This is my personal addition, and is more for the Holy Ghost than for people.
In my experience, the Holy Ghost does not just download instructions and expect us to go “Wow that’s cool!” He expects us to do something with what we are given.
Whether that is to call a friend, do your calling, or build a blog. Big or small action is expected and required. The more we respond with action, the more we receive. The reverse is also true the less we respond with action, the less we are given.
Actively listen to the Holy Ghost and act on what you are given. Simple and direct, but I will never say it is easy. I do encourage you to do it though. My life has been blessed by actively listening to the Holy Ghost.
So stand in holy places, create holy homes, stand with holy people, testify of truth, and listen to the Holy Ghost. These may not be easy for you to do. They may seem daunting at this point in your life. I promise if you choose to do them they will change your life, and change you into the person the Lord knows you can become.
Words of Caution
Are you following or simply being led?
Elder Stevenson offered some words of caution.
“Confirm your spiritual impressions. For example, impressions from the Spirit will align with the scriptures and the teachings of the living prophets.
Be certain that the feelings you receive are consistent with your assignment. Unless you are called by proper authority, impressions of the Spirit are not given for you to counsel or correct others.
Spiritual matters cannot be forced. You can cultivate an attitude and an environment that invites the Spirit, and you can prepare yourself, but you cannot dictate how or when inspiration comes. Be patient and trust that you will receive what you need when the time is right.
Use your own best judgment. Sometimes we want to be led by the Spirit in all things. However, often the Lord wants us to use our God-given intelligence and act in ways that are consistent with our best understanding.
President Dallin H. Oaks taught: “A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices….Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it….
We should study things out in our minds…. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it…. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgment.”
Through these actions and considerations, we can move closer to where our Heavenly Parents want us to be, where they can give us further guidance, strength, and support. We can move closer to who They know we can become. The Holy Ghost is a gift and a blessing in our lives. It is up to us to choose to recognize, listen, and follow it.
