Well, hello everybody and welcome to Redeemed Through His Blood.
In this podcast we discuss hope, healing and redemption through the atonement of Jesus
Christ.
My name is Scott Durfey.
I want to be the first to welcome you out this morning.
And as always, it's my honor to welcome my partner in this project, my uncle, our amazing
teacher and all of our friend, Brother David Durfey.
Say hi, Dave.
Hey, Scott.
You know, coming over here today, we're doing this a little earlier than we normally do
it.
And I've been retired for a few years and I get on the freeway and I think, oh my goodness.
In some ways I miss it, some ways I don't.
But I think, wow, I forgot what it's like to get on the freeway at 830 in the morning.
You know, usually I don't, I stay home and enjoy life until about 10 a.m. and 10 a.m.
I'll go do something else.
I'll take back roads to do it.
But to get on the freeway, I had to get on the freeway to get over here.
And I thought, wow, this is such a rat race.
Unbelievable, isn't it?
And you know, in some ways I miss it.
Yeah.
Yeah, I can see that.
In some weird ways.
I can see that.
I kind of miss the thrill of it, but I also don't miss it.
You know, the hassle and the feeling and the jockeying for position and, you know, as these
cars are going back and forth between.
Anyway, it kind of renewed some good and bad memories for me.
Well, it's good to be here and I got here safely.
Yeah, you did.
And I'm glad you're here.
And I'm glad that you seem unscathed, at least in terms of your attitude and you seem
happy and ready to roll this morning.
It's good to be with you.
Yeah, it's good to have you too.
It's good to be with you.
We've had a fun conversation this morning talking about a lot of really important things
and some things that are just fun to talk about too.
That's one of the great things of doing this with somebody who's kind of been like my older
brother all my life.
It's really cool to do that.
Hey, before we get into our topic today, as we always do, I just want to take care of
a couple of things.
First off, thank you very much for your emails.
We've received quite a few emails.
We're going to try and incorporate the question or two from some of those today.
Many of them have just been experiences and insights that you've had that you would just
like to share with us and we encourage you to continue to do that.
You can send us emails at this email address.
It is heredeemsusatgmail.com.
I was telling Scott earlier today about being set apart again just recently as a patriarch
and how it kind of changes your approach to life, how it changes your perspective, how
it changes your efforts, your discipleship.
It's a little sad to me actually, Scott, that I have to be set apart as a patriarch for
that to happen.
At least that's true for me.
I hope that I can someday live that kind of a life without being anybody or without any
office or without any calling in the church.
It should be that way, I think.
I think you don't need a high calling in this church.
That's not pleasing, I don't think, to our Savior.
I know calling changes.
I know calling can up our game and raise our level of discipleship.
I've experienced that.
I think many of our listeners have experienced that for sure.
I wish it wasn't that way for me and I don't think it has to be that way for any of us.
But being set apart again as a patriarch and knowing the responsibility that comes with
receiving revelation for individuals who you've never before met, who you don't know anything
about, and to be able to try to tell them something about their past, pre-mortal past,
and to try to say something about their mortality and how they are related to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob by revelation to identify their lineage and what tribe of Israel they come
from, and then to try to say something about how God sees them and their future, and to
be able to give them some guidance and counsel and blessings in their life, it's really daunting.
I don't know, you can't describe it.
But it changes how I see things.
It changes how I have to live.
I told the General Authority this past Sunday as I was set apart that I have to give up
certain things in my life, simple, small things in my life, small things that make a great
difference in my life that I identified 11 or 12 years ago when I was first set apart
as a patriarch and ordained, and now again as I'm set apart to be activated as a stake
patriarch, it changes what I listen to.
I told I can't really listen to just sports radio anytime I want.
I can't watch commercials.
I can't do some, I have to be careful what I listen to.
I can't, cable news is so contentious that I can't really watch that because of the contention
that it raises.
And I just have to avoid anything that has anything inappropriate or contentious in it.
And I'm thankful to be able to, it says nothing about me as a person really, but I'm thankful
and grateful that I have been given this opportunity and responsibility, heavy responsibility really,
it's a burden.
And I know the Savior helps me carry it when He says, you know, my burden is light.
I think, wow, His burden is light.
Think of the burden the Savior had.
But He says it's light and it is a burden and it does become light as we trust in Him
and we rely on Him.
But I'm learning, relearning again, how to walk by the Spirit, how to live by the Spirit,
how to live and see things differently by the Spirit.
And I'm grateful for the chance we have today to talk about how to identify and recognize
the Spirit in our life, how to receive it in our life, how to respond to it and how
to retain a remission of sins by receiving the Holy Ghost in our life, how to receive
and retain a remission of sins.
So I hope that's kind of where we're going today.
Yeah, it is.
You know, while I'm sitting here listening to you talk about that, I'm amazed because
I know you and others who do know you will be also amazed that, you know, the comments
that you make about discipleship and consecration and all that.
Because, you know, here we are, we're learning the atonement of Jesus Christ.
And Dave, you've influenced countless numbers, probably, countless people in your institute
and seminary classes and in many, many, many other ways, your influence through that book
and so forth.
So you've had that, and I hear you talk about you're applying the atonement of Jesus Christ
in your approach on what you're doing now.
You know, so often, and I think so many of our listeners tune in and think, I need to
apply the atonement of Jesus Christ because of this terrible thing that's happened in
my life, either to me or that because of something I've done.
And that's true, we do need that for those types of things.
But it is so infinite and so overreaching and overarching everything in our lives that
even through our discipleship, we become deeper disciples and more consecrated also through
the atonement of Jesus Christ, Dave.
I have really enjoyed this past week studying President Nelson's talk on overcoming the
world through, see, I have it right here, overcoming the world and finding rest.
I just have really thrilled in that talk.
It's helped me in my preparation to begin to give patriarchal blessings again.
And I'm reading it with kind of a different set of eyes, and I'm outlining it, and I'm
seeing the doctrine and the promises and the principles that he teaches us in that great
talk and the invitations that he gives us, Scott.
And I just thrill at the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how we really can
obtain rest.
It does take work, it does take extreme effort in repenting and trying to live the gospel
to be able to overcome the world.
But we can overcome the world.
We've been commanded by Jesus Christ in the Doctrine and Covenants.
He refers to the Scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 64.
I will that ye should overcome the world.
That's what I say unto one, I say unto all, the Savior tells us in the Doctrine and Covenants.
And He's commanding all of us in the church that my will is that you should overcome the
world.
I know that we can all do better in that, Scott, in overcoming the world.
I've become so kind of super sensitized by all of the distractions of the world since
my again recent setting apart to be activated as a patriarch.
And there are just so many distractions and distortions that keep us from really feeling,
qualifying for and receiving, recognizing and responding, retaining the Holy Ghost in
our life.
And we all face those distractions and distortions regardless of where we are along the spiritual
path, right?
I know that in the beginning as I'm working with a few new folks in our addiction recovery
program, anonymous but common and well known, I'm experiencing the same stuff and noticing
that they're feeling many of these same things in terms of where we are in, I'm having a
difficult time I think articulating this, but what I mean by this is depending on where
we are on that spiritual path, whether we're just embarked on it or whether we're way down
that path and have had a lot of spiritual experiences and accountability and stewardship
put on us because of our discipleship, it doesn't matter where we are.
Our dependency on the atonement of Jesus Christ is equal for those just beginning as it is
for those who are way down that path and living a much higher and holier law already.
And there are dispersions and differences between people all along that path.
It's interesting to me though, Dave, how the redemption applies as equally to say me or
somebody very beginning on that spiritual path as opposed to, not as opposed to, but
in comparison to even a President Nelson.
The redemption is just as important for me or them as it is for him, or it's just as
important for him as it is for them.
And I love that because of the perfect love the Savior has for each of us, He has provided
for each of us, regardless of where we stand, an opportunity to be enlightened, to become
closer to Him, to have a deeper fulfillment of our spiritual desires and so forth, all
because of His atonement and all because we've already been renamed.
Amen to all that.
Amen to all of that, Scott.
In fact, in President Nelson's talk on overcoming the world, I like to, when I study conference
talks, I like to go through it and really write it.
I do better when I, well, I listen to them every night before I go to bed.
I try to choose and I circulate and I go through and recycle.
But I try to listen to the first presidency and their talks first, and I've been doing
this now for a few weeks since conference, right, or almost a month now.
And I listen to the first presidency and then I go in order of the twelve and I'll listen
to their talks at night as I lay down to sleep.
That's just kind of a great way for me to relax and focus on this.
It makes, I think, my dreams a little sweeter, Scott.
And I love listening to the voice of prophets.
I think their voice is powerful and the voice is important.
But I personally, I think, get more personal revelation out of studying the word in print.
And so I'll print their talks and I'm working on that now.
And I've started with President Nelson, printed his talk this week, and I love to identify
the doctrine, principles, invitations, and especially promises.
I'll also identify testimony.
I'll identify questions.
I'll circle question marks.
I'll circle exclamation marks.
When a prophet puts an exclamation mark in a sentence, that gets my attention.
I will also identify all the italicized words and I will write in the margin all of the
scripture references that they refer to, often in the footnotes, but I want them in the margin
so that as I study them.
And in the right side of the paper, I will write down personal revelation, promptings,
inspiration that I receive as I study these talks.
So maybe just, I guess I'm sharing that just as one idea, one way that we can make the
most out of the teachings and the prophetic words of prophets, seers, and revelators and
how to make the most out of the conference report.
So listening to President Nelson and then studying his talk, I picked up on a few things
that really relate to our podcast.
And I want to, this is I think my favorite promise.
I've put a box around this in his talk.
In about the middle of his talk, really, he says, Dear brothers and sisters, this is President
Russell M. Nelson.
My message to you today is that because Jesus Christ overcame this fallen world and because
he atoned for each of us, each of us, you too can overcome this sin saturated, self-centered
and often exhausting world.
I love that promise, a promise of a prophet.
This world really is exhausting, Scott.
It really is, and I know that we can obtain rest as we, it takes great work and effort
to really focus on Jesus Christ and to center our life on him and not center it on ourselves
and to be able to repent through his atoning sacrifice.
And then just one more paragraph.
He says, President Nelson, in the very next paragraph, because the Savior through his
infinite atonement redeemed each of us, redeemed each of us, Scott, now I believe that's past,
present and future.
We are redeemed, we have been redeemed, we were redeemed, and we will be redeemed.
I think so many in the church see redemption as something of a future event.
Yeah, kind of like a goal, right?
Yeah, well, Jesus redeemed us through immortality and eternal life.
There is so much more to the plan of redemption and the redemption of Jesus Christ and his
atonement than that.
He redeemed us in the pre-mortal existence.
It was through Jesus Christ that we overcame the dragon and Satan.
We learned that in Revelation.
We read that before, Revelation 12, 9 through 11.
It's through Christ we overcame Satan.
In the pre-mortal existence, it's through Christ that we were born innocent in the first
eight years or until we reach the age of accountability, whatever that is for individuals, and it may
be different for individuals depending on their mental, emotional capacities.
We've been redeemed, and we are redeemed as we are striving to follow Jesus Christ and
to be disciples of Jesus Christ and come unto him and turn to him, focus on him, remember
him.
We are redeemed, and we will be redeemed throughout the rest of our life and after we die because
of the resurrection and when we eventually obtain eternal life.
Redemption is past, present, and future.
So again, President Nelson says, because the Savior through his infinite atonement redeemed
each of us from weakness, mistakes, and sin, and because he experienced every—get this
doctrine—because he experienced every pain, worry, and burden you have ever had or will
ever have, then as you truly repent and seek his help, you can rise above this present,
precarious world.
What a promise of a prophet and also teaching the doctrine that anything that we ever suffer,
every negative, every negative as a result of the fall and living as a mortal in a fallen
world, Jesus suffered it.
Because of that, Scott, we have been redeemed, we are redeemed, we will be redeemed through
the blood and the atonement of Jesus Christ.
And that doctrine should give each of us such relief.
I mean, to know that I am redeemed now, right?
There's a lot of things in each of our lives, and I can safely, I think, say this because
we're all human, and part of the human condition requires us to go through things that are
going to require redemption from.
And those things can be physical, those things can be attitudes, those things can be experiences,
those things can be sin, those things can be things that have been sinned against us
or perpetuated against us through abuse, or could be stuff that we've perpetuated.
But all of that has already been redeemed.
And so as that redemption has taken place, and now as we've talked about in past episodes
how to know that that's taken place, how to recognize, how to retain, and how to receive
that coming into our lives, I think now we move into even a deeper discussion on those
types of things.
Dave, do we talk more now about how do we recognize it, how to retain that?
We notice that sometimes that redemption, and because of that, and as part of that redemption,
we do receive forgiveness of our sins.
And we receive a change in our lives that sins have been affected against us.
Also things in our lives that come about because of the fall of Adam and Eve, because of the
fall of us all.
Those things happen to us physically, the physical death we experience, things that
happen to us.
The spiritual death we experience, things that happen to us.
So how do we move more into those types of things?
Well one of my favorite chapters in Elder Anderson's book, The Divine Gift of Forgiveness,
is chapter 23.
And chapter 23 is such an important chapter, and I again am grateful for that experience
I had to work with Elder Anderson for some 18 months on the development of this.
And this chapter was really precious, and is precious.
And it talks, it's entitled, The Holy Ghost, A Messenger of Forgiveness.
Elder Anderson did a wonderful job capturing some of the things we discussed, and has written
a beautiful chapter here.
I'm so thankful for what he said about the Holy Ghost, and how we can receive forgiveness
through the Holy Ghost, really the Sanctifier in the Godhead.
The Holy Ghost is the Comforter and Sanctifier.
And he says a couple things that I want, in fact, Scott, I was grateful that he again,
in his conference talk, this past conference, quoted President Nelson again, and it's in
this chapter, where President Nelson, so this is Elder Anderson, a prophet, quoting President
Nelson, the prophet, when he said, In coming days it will not be possible to survive spiritually
without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence.
Constant influence, Scott, of the Holy Ghost.
Wow, what a prophecy, really.
That's a prophecy that in coming days it will not be possible to survive spiritually without
the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.
And so we need to talk about that, because all of us need to walk by the Holy Ghost,
as Paul gives us that injunction in the New Testament, and we need to live by the Holy
Ghost.
And Elder Anderson, in that point, says that believe in the Holy Ghost as surely as you
believe in the Father and the Son.
We need to have faith.
I referenced this, I think, in our last podcast, is the first question of the Temple Recommend
interview, is do you have faith in God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ, and in the
Holy Ghost?
I don't think we talk enough about having faith in the Holy Ghost.
No, I don't think many of us even really consider that.
We understand faith in Jesus Christ, and His redemption, and His atonement.
We talk about that all the time.
We understand faith in God as our Heavenly Father, and as His sons and daughters.
Okay, have we ever really talked about what it means to have faith in the Holy Ghost?
Yeah, I think that is something that not many of us really pay much time with, considering
that.
But, you know, I think it can make all the difference in the world to us.
So let's maybe talk a little bit about that, and about how we can receive Him.
When we are baptized and we're confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, we are commanded by these words in that confirmation and blessing, receive the
Holy Ghost.
Wow.
I don't think any eight-year-old really understands what's going on when they receive that when
they're baptized, or maybe even converts may not really understand or appreciate that.
But what a command, receive the Holy Ghost.
Yeah, a command and an invitation.
So let's talk about what does it take to receive the Holy Ghost.
Then let's talk about how we can recognize the Holy Ghost.
Let's take those two for right now, and what that means.
Over and over again, in the Scriptures, it talks about receiving, how to receive.
I think that means, at the basic level, that we can't earn it.
To receive something, it must be offered as a gift.
It must be offered as a gift.
You can't go out and earn it.
You can't manipulate it.
You can't go out and just obtain it.
You must receive it.
You must qualify for it.
And it comes to us as a gift.
So number one, that has to be our approach to receive it, is to recognize that it's a
gift, the gift of the Holy Ghost.
It really is a gift that we receive.
And it must be received by how we choose what we choose, the decisions and choices that
we make in our life, and how to live a life that qualifies us to receive the gift.
So as we consider that, again, my recent experience, I think, is being set apart again as a patriarch,
has brought to my attention an experience that I had, which I shared several episodes
ago, like 20 episodes ago.
I can't believe we've done that many episodes.
Unbelievable.
Right.
But some 20-something episodes ago, I shared the experience when I was first ordained and
set apart as a patriarch, and how I was filled with fear, Scott, and how I was attacked,
really.
I don't want to sensationalize that, but that's how I came to see it, is that I was attacked
by Satan.
And how Satan attacked me with all kinds of inappropriate thoughts and inappropriate emotions,
which really drove the Spirit from my life.
And so instead of living by the Spirit, walking by the Spirit, receiving the Spirit, I had
lost the Spirit.
This was just shortly after having been ordained and set apart as a patriarch.
And my wife called me out on it one day.
And she said, David, why are you so onery?
I mean, I was out of sorts.
I was not happy.
I was trying hard.
I was even reading the Scriptures and doing things, Scott, that I felt I should be doing,
but I wasn't feeling the Spirit.
And I was really struggling and wrestling with the world and my weaknesses and my mortal
propensities, which we all struggle with.
And I finally told my sweetheart, I got to go get away.
And I left.
And I didn't know if I was going to be gone for a day or two.
I just had to get away from it.
And I went out.
I drove, got in the car and drove away and drove around.
I ended up in some parking lot and weeping and praying.
And I felt this impression that my problem was that I was afraid.
And I turned to a Scripture and was led to this Scripture.
And this Scripture has really, I think, and there are many Scriptures.
We talked about, I think, Alma chapter 5 and the importance of reviewing that chapter from
time to time to see where we kind of, where we are spiritually speaking.
And it's a great chapter to kind of see what we need to do to qualify for the Spirit and
influence of the Holy Ghost.
But I was led to section 30 of the Doctrine and Covenants, verses 1 through 3.
Now as I read this, my name is David, of course, and this is a revelation given to David Whitmer.
And so it really got my attention when I read it.
I was sat in my car in a parking lot somewhere and it says,
Behold, I say unto you, David, that you have feared man and have not relied on me for strength as you ought.
I just, I knew he was talking to me as I read that.
This was a revelation to me personally.
But your mind has been on the things of the earth more than on the things of me, your maker.
And the ministry, whereunto you have been called.
We've all been called.
And you have not given heed unto my spirit and to those who were set over you,
but have been persuaded by those whom I have not commanded.
I can think about all the individuals and things in my life that have distracted me in the world.
Verse 3, Wherefore, you are left to inquire for yourself at my hand and ponder upon the things which you have received.
Wow.
So I sat there and I did inquire and I did ponder.
And many things came into my mind about things that I needed to eliminate from my life.
And things that I needed to do in my life.
And the one thing I needed to learn to do in my life was how to control my emotions.
And I really, I really know, Scott, I don't want to, I don't want this to come across as being overbearing or,
or I don't know, I don't know how to put this.
I don't know what our listeners think or feel.
And they're all on different levels.
But I, I just want to again bear witness that we have to not only be concerned about where we are spiritually,
but we have to pay more attention to how we're doing emotionally.
Because there is this connection between our spiritual well-being and our emotional well-being.
And if we have not learned, and I know that we don't have perfect control over this,
and I know there's some emotional states and some emotional challenges that individuals don't have control over
and need to seek professional help or other means to try to, to try to gain control over it.
But there is this connection.
And I learned by searching the Scriptures primarily and the words of the prophets,
that I was responsible for my emotional state and that my emotional state would affect my,
my ability to receive the Spirit and my spiritual state.
And interesting that in President Nelson's talk again that he just gave on overcoming the world,
listen to this paragraph in Promise.
He says, you can overcome the spiritually and emotionally.
Notice how he puts those two together.
That's not by, that's not by coincidence or mistake, because the prophets have learned this,
the connection between our spiritual state and our emotional state.
So let me start over.
You can overcome the spiritually and emotionally exhausting plagues of the world, including,
here's a list, Scott, of emotional plagues of the world and that we all suffer in our lives from time to time,
including arrogance, that's an emotional state of self-righteousness, pride, anger,
immorality, which is an emotional state of lust, hatred, greed, always wanting more and more and more and more,
always wanting to compare ourselves, always wanting to be somebody else.
That's an emotional state.
Jealousy and fear.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
That's such a big one for me, Scott.
Me too.
I have found that fear and pride and anger and insecurities are all connected.
In fact, all these inappropriate emotional plagues, which President Nelson calls them,
can really keep us from receiving the Holy Ghost in our lives.
And then he ends that paragraph by saying, despite the distractions and distortions that swirl around us,
you can find true rest, meaning relief and peace, even amid your vexing problems.
I've always thought when it comes to recognizing the Holy Ghost, there's one emotion that Satan cannot counterfeit,
and that's the emotion of peace.
I know peace.
I know when I am emotionally at peace.
And I know when I am, I am feeling the Holy Ghost.
And when I am feeling the Holy Ghost, I know I am receiving Him.
And I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is working in my life and that I'm being forgiven of my sins,
or I am retaining of forgiveness of my sins.
So it's all connected, Scott, our lives.
We can never compartmentalize our lives.
We must understand that our spiritual well-being and receiving the Holy Ghost is connected to our emotional well-being.
I would even say it's connected to our physical well-being.
It's connected to our mental well-being, our social well-being.
All of our life, Scott, must be examined, and we must understand the role that each part of our life plays in receiving,
in keeping the command to receive the Holy Ghost.
I invite all our listeners to examine their lives as Paul invites us to do,
to examine their lives and to see, as Elder Bednar has invited us to do,
to see what we need to stop doing or what we need to start doing to receive the Holy Ghost in our life.
Back episode 21, so several weeks ago, a couple months ago,
actually we did a complete podcast or an entire podcast on the emotions of fear and pride and how that can affect us,
how that can stop us from feeling the effects of the atonement in our lives.
And that's really what we're talking about, David, is you're reading this wonderful talk that President Nelson gave just recently in conference.
As we're reading that and you go through there and where it talks about, I lost it,
you can overcome the spiritual and emotional exhausting plagues.
He calls them plagues. You just read this, plagues of the world.
You know, when we think of plagues, I think back biblical, you know, back in the days of Moses, you know, those were plagues.
Yeah. And we have plagues that are very just as serious and in some ways maybe arguably even more serious.
And he lists those and I'm just going to read them again, including arrogance, pride, anger, immorality, hatred, greed, jealousy and fear.
And I'm sure it could go on and on in any extension of any of those.
Well, we talked in episode 21 about fear and anger and how really they're the primary emotions and all these other things really fall under that.
You just made a comment, though, that I think is so powerful and so beneficial and one in which that we one that one which we all need to grasp a hold of a deep understanding of this,
because this is the answer. You know, how do we know that we have received forgiveness?
How do we retain that forgiveness? How do we recognize all those things?
Well, in a word, peace, you know, you said it in its doctrine that Satan cannot he cannot duplicate or replicate that feeling in us.
And it's peace. And so any time that we're feeling peace, when we're feeling Heavenly Father's peace, when we're feeling the spirit,
we know that that peace is coming from the spirit. And we also know that the atonement is then working in our lives because it's being administered to us.
You we talked about having faith in the Holy Ghost. That's where that's going to come from.
That peace that we feel will come through the administration of the Holy Ghost administering the atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives.
And that's how we feel that that's how we come by it.
And I think that's what President Nelson's referring to when he talks about receiving rest.
The rest of the world, how to rest from the world is is to have that that feeling of of peace.
I've always loved the revelation given through the Prophet Joseph Smith to Oliver Cowdery, his newly acquired scribe.
This was given just a few days in April 1829 after Oliver Cowdery had made the journey,
the just over 100 mile journey from Palmyra down to Harmony, Pennsylvania, now called Oakland, Pennsylvania, to help the to learn for himself.
If Joseph Smith was a prophet, he had heard about all the all the rumors in Palmyra and he'd stayed a little bit with the Smith family.
And Oliver Cowdery was a school teacher and and he was interested in truth and he wanted to find out for himself.
And he prayed the night before he made that journey to Harmony.
He knelt down and prayed God fearing man.
And he had a witness. He felt peace.
And he knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet even before he made the journey down there to to meet him for the first time.
And he goes and he shared that, by the way, in a detailed letter to David Whitmer, his friend.
David Whitmer was a good friend of his and he David Whitmer had kind of told him about Joseph Smith a little bit about what was going on around Palmyra.
And and Oliver Cowdery said, well, I'm going to go meet him and I'll let you know what I find out.
And so he he offers that prayer, receives peace as an answer, goes down to meet Joseph Smith.
After being there for just a couple of days, he inquires if if Joseph Smith would let him receive or or
Oliver Cowdery requests Joseph Smith to pray and to find out the will of God for Oliver.
And Joseph Smith does so and receives this revelation in Doctrine and Covenants, Section 6.
And this is so, I think, enlightening and applicable for all of us.
And Joseph Smith says this in in what he he the revelation he received, starting with verse 14.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Oliver, blessed art thou for what thou hast done, for thou hast inquired of me.
And behold, as often as thou hast inquired, thou hast received instruction of my spirit.
Now, I don't know if Oliver always recognized that instruction of his spirit, but I think this is interesting.
And as often as you've inquired, I wonder if that's true for you and me and others, Scott, that as often as we inquire,
we should have, could have, would have received instruction of his spirit if we would have recognized it in our life.
He goes on, if it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time, to Harmony, Pennsylvania.
Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me, and I did enlighten thy mind.
One way to recognize the spirit. And now I tell thee these things, that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by the spirit of truth.
Yea, I tell thee that thou mayest know that there is none else save God, that knowest the thoughts and the intents of thy heart.
Then listen to verse 23.
Oh, I better read 22. Verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, meaning a further witness than I gave you the night before you came down here,
cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.
Verse 23. Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter?
What greater witness can you have than from God? End of quote.
Now, Scott, the way I read that and paraphrase that, the Lord is saying by revelation through Joseph Smith, a prophet to all of our country,
what greater witness can you have from the Holy Spirit than peace?
When we feel peace, we know that we're not only feeling the Holy Ghost, but the atonement of Jesus Christ is working in our life and we're being forgiven of our sins.
We're being sanctified, justified, that we're being redeemed as we have been redeemed and as we will be redeemed.
And it sounds like when he says, and what greater witness can you have than from God? He's talking about peace.
And so the greatest witness, according to the scripture, the greatest witness from God through the Holy Ghost is peace.
It's the only emotion that again, Satan can't counterfeit. Maybe he can't counterfeit joy.
True, true joy, Scott, true joy, I think if our listeners and if we individually can identify the difference between joy and exhilaration and happiness even,
and true, deep, serious spiritual joy is also, I know, an emotion that Satan can't counterfeit.
And sometimes that's harder for me to discern. I don't know if it's harder for me to discern, but I know when I feel peace.
And when I feel peace, I immediately, I think about receiving the Holy Ghost and receiving redemption in the atonement of Jesus Christ in my life.
I have an experience with peace on October 26, 1998. It was a rainy night. It was dark at 8pm. Darkish. It was dark at 8pm.
And I was at the end of my rope. I had had it. I was done. I needed a big change. I didn't know how that was going to happen.
I had received some direction from a loving stake president to go to an addiction recovery meeting, and I did.
And that night, Dave, when I walked in, and I'll never forget this, when I walk in, I've had other experiences.
I've had them in the church, too. But this one was a really a life changing experience for me as I walked in there that night.
It was my first meeting and it was an alcoholic synonymous meeting. I'll just say it.
And so when I went in there and I sat down, there was at the front of the room a facilitator and a chairperson and a co-chairperson.
Behind them were the steps and the traditions written on the wall. And there was a lot of things being said and a lot of laughter and a lot of confusion going on inside of me.
But what I did notice, and I don't remember one thing that was said that night, but I will never forget the peace that I felt inside of me that night.
And that was that peace was the Spirit of Heavenly Father. That was the Holy Ghost confirming to me in retrospect.
And I knew it then, too. But I know it deeper in retrospect as I look back on that. That was the Holy Ghost confirming to me, Scott, this is the beginning of your new path.
This is where we will be able to re-embark and bring everything back together for you.
But it was through and it was only through not the words I heard, not the inspiration I received, but the peace I felt that night.
And I have felt it since many, many, many, many times. But I will never forget the depth of that peace that night.
Yeah, that's really sweet. Thank you for sharing that.
So, to receive that peace and to receive the Holy Ghost, I just want to maybe identify and share with our listeners some ways that we can receive that.
We need to, maybe number one, identify our fears and other negative emotions and learn to replace them with faith and love.
I have learned that you cannot, as we discussed in the earlier podcast you referenced, you cannot stop negative emotions from coming into your life.
It's part of living in a fallen world and being mortal.
You have to learn how to replace them, how to choose to not be acted upon, but how to choose to act through the atonement of Jesus Christ.
And by praying with all energy of heart to be filled with His love, and you need to replace, learn how to replace negative emotions with the, and I believe these are emotions, faith and love.
So, that's number one.
Number two, many years ago, President Eyring gave a talk called, Pavilions. I can't remember the whole title of the talk.
But it was about pavilions that keep us. It's referencing when Joseph Smith was in Liberty Jail, and he cries out,
Where art thou, and where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? In other words, how come I can't feel your love?
This is Joseph Smith crying out in his pain and agony and suffering in Liberty Jail in the middle of the winter of 1838-1839, and he cries out,
Where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? In other words, what pavilions do we have in our life that keep us from feeling the presence and love of God in our life,
or in other words, from feeling the Holy Ghost? And President Eyring gave a wonderful talk on that.
And that talk was October 2012, and it is entitled, Where is the Pavilion?
Thank you. That talk, I still think about it, and invite our readers to, you gotta make a deep study of that sometime.
So, this is number two. Remove the pavilions of selfish, inappropriate motives and prideful desires by replacing them with not my will, but thine, be done.
So, number one, we can't stop, but we have to replace inappropriate emotions. Number two, we can't stop, but you have to learn how to replace inappropriate motivations, motives, selfish motives, by seeking the will of God and carrying it out.
That's real faith, Scott. Yeah, and that's actually, we talk about that as part of the broken heart and contrite spirit.
I mean, that is the alignment, or having our will swallowed up with his, or in his, and so that's where we're finding that.
Number three, in receiving the Holy Ghost, I refer to these as instruments of grace. Number three is learn to use the instruments of grace which God has given us, including repentance.
That's an instrument of how to receive grace in our life. Reading the Scriptures, prayer, sacred art and music, ordinances, especially the sacrament and going to the temple, fasting, magnifying callings, and rendering service.
I call those instruments of grace, and if we want to receive the Holy Ghost, we should use the instruments of grace which the Lord has offered us in receiving his Spirit.
We should really focus on that. I'm telling you, Scott, to prepare to give patriarchal blessings, I have to be careful what I look at, what I see, what I watch.
I can't watch commercials, I can't watch things that are inappropriate. It affects me, and my ability to receive the Spirit for maybe only a few moments or a few hours, or if it's bad enough, for a few days.
Or I have to really be careful what I listen to, what music I listen to. These are all instruments of grace, and if we want to receive the Spirit, we have to use the instruments of grace God has given us.
Number four, we have to eliminate distractions and distortions from our life by learning to focus on Jesus Christ and his Atonement.
So, I think part of this, Scott, is we need to become deprogrammed from some technology.
I know there are so many things that are distractions in our world, and I know the blessings and the power and gifts and good things that come out of technology.
But there is so much distraction and distortion in technology, and we need to learn to control that in our lives in order to receive the Spirit and gift of the Holy Ghost as our constant companion.
Dave, you talk about distraction and distortion, and in preparation for what we were going to talk about today, we did talk about this, and I asked you the question, and I think I'm going to ask it again, because if I wondered, I'm wondering if others may as well.
Distraction, I think, is fairly easy for us to wrap our heads around. What do you mean by distortion?
Well, all of the untruths, all of the lies in our life, not only that we hear or see, but the things I have taken into my life, such as false traditions, false practices, false routines that take me away from the Spirit.
Those are all distortions. Anything where it's living and making a lie, anything that keeps us from the truth, is a distortion.
There's lots of little distractions that aren't necessarily evil or a lie. Lots of those we need to eliminate, distortions as well.
And President Nelson talks about that. Did I read that? Did I share that with you?
I don't think we read that part.
Okay, well, let me just find that really quickly here. He says in here, I guess I added it, what does it mean to overcome the world?
And he responds to that, his own question, by saying, it means overcoming the temptation to care more about the things of this world than the things of God.
It means trusting the doctrine of Christ more than the philosophies of men.
It means delighting in truth, denouncing deception, and becoming humble followers of Jesus Christ.
It means choosing to refrain from anything that drives the Spirit away.
Well, I love that. And I know that it's true that the deceptions and distortions, I think that's maybe those are maybe two synonyms.
Yeah.
We need to eliminate those deceptions, distortions, and even distractions from our life.
Yeah, those distractions can create deceptions and distortions a lot of times in our lives too.
Absolutely.
Those distractions, if they own us enough, can definitely mold the way we see ourselves and others.
And I think one of the biggest distortions after we discussed that this morning, one of the biggest distortions that, and we dealt with this early in the podcast series, is how we see ourselves.
One of the great distortions that is happening among us now, perpetuated, propagated obviously by the enemy, is who are we? Who are we really?
And that distortion, that single distortion alone can derail us permanently if we were to allow it.
It's huge. Identity is everything.
Yeah, identity is our eternity.
Not only knowing who we are, but whose we are.
Right.
And that we've been purchased, not only that we are literally sons and daughters of God, but that we have been purchased by Jesus Christ, and that we are children of Christ as we have taken upon ourselves His name.
Well, I think fifth and finally, because of time, there are probably many, many points of doctrine here that could be discussed about how to receive the Spirit.
It would be wonderful to have a discussion about this with all of our listeners.
I'd love that.
But fifth and finally is we need to learn how to listen and to receive revelation.
I know that we don't spend enough time meditating and pondering upon the things of the Spirit, and we need to learn to know how by the Spirit to pray.
I've always loved the Scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants in describing the gifts of the Spirit in Doctrine and Covenants, Section 46.
By the way, Section 50 is also a wonderful revelation on about how to recognize the Spirit in our life, as well as Doctrine and Covenants, Section 11, Revelation given to Hiram Smith.
But and maybe I'll end by reading a verse from Section 11, but in Section 46, it says this at the end of this wonderful revelation on how to receive the gifts of the Spirit or the gifts of the Holy Ghost in its fullness.
Verse 30 says, He that asketh in the Spirit asketh according to the will of God, wherefore it is done even as he asketh.
And again I say unto you, all things must be done in the name of Christ whatsoever you do in the Spirit, and ye must give thanks unto God in the Spirit for whatsoever blessings ye are blessed with.
And ye must practice virtue and holiness before me continually.
I've always loved that injunction and principle taught in Doctrine and Covenants 46, verses 30 through 33 about how to receive the Spirit.
We need to ask in the Spirit. We need to learn how to listen by the Spirit. We need to learn to ponder what is the will of God.
What should I ask for? Learn to ask the right questions. Learn to, words are important and asking the right questions in our prayers is important in order to receive real revelation in our life.
So many people want forgiveness of their sins, but they've never confessed them out loud in prayer.
And they've never out loud pleaded and cried out for forgiveness.
It's amazing to me how many have never done that and the sanctifying experience that can result from that.
So I think it's just really critical that we ponder some of those principles about how to receive the Spirit, messenger of forgiveness in our lives.
And maybe I'll wait because I think we're out of time, but maybe we'll talk next time then, Scott, more about how to recognize.
We've talked today about how to receive the Holy Ghost and much more could be said about that.
But let's talk next time about how to better recognize that peace in our life, that joy in our life, and how to recognize revelation and the Holy Ghost in our life.
I think that's a good plan. I think that's exactly what we will do.
It's been a great podcast today, though, as we've talked about how to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
And so important because as we talked about the Atonement, remember our objective here is to help each of us to come more fully under the Savior through a deeper understanding and a real understanding of His Atonement administered through the Holy Ghost.
And as we understand better how to receive that Spirit in our lives, as we understand better what peace means and why that's so important to us in our lives, I think that we begin then to have a better experience with the Atonement of Jesus Christ as well.
Dave, do you have any final thoughts?
I just one more thing just comes to my mind, Scott, and as we will talk more about this in detail, but as we partake of the sacrament every Sunday, we're actually in the sacrament prayers.
If we listen carefully and we so we seek to apply those in our life.
And it's not just a priest right up there kneeling down, saying the prayer, but it's actually a prayer that we're offering in our hearts.
And as we listen carefully to the words, I mean, we really need to concentrate on the words of the sacrament prayers as they're being spoken by a 16 to 18 year old priest.
I think it's just really important that we feel it in our hearts as it's spoken.
We repeat it in our minds.
Right. I was going to say that repeating it in our minds really helps us to stay laser focused with that.
And in those prayers, it's a formula about how to receive his spirit to always be with us.
So listen, study, focus on the sacrament prayers as we partake of it to know how to receive the Holy Ghost to always be with us as a constant companion.
I think that's an important part of receiving the Holy Ghost.
And when we have that, then he fulfills one of his names, which is the Comforter.
We're comforted. We're comforted as we come more fully under unto him.
We're comforted in the effects of sin and the fall of Adam and Eve in our lives, whether they be spiritual or physical death types of experience, regardless of any of that.
Then we get to have the spirit and feel his peace.
We're justified. We're sanctified. We're we're forgiven.
Thanks for being with us.
We appreciate your listening and again invite you to invite others to do the same.
Please send us your experiences, your questions and so forth.
And as an invitation today, I just want to ask each of us if we'll just take a minute and maybe do this each day and kind of assess.
We talk so much in this podcast about personal inventories and taking an assessment or an inventory of where we currently are with certain things in our lives.
We don't need to wait till Sunday.
We don't need to wait till next conference.
We don't need to wait till any big event.
It is today that matters.
I invite each of us to get on our knees today to do a inventory of where we are in terms of how do I receive the gift of the Holy Ghost or the spirit of the Holy Ghost in my life so that I can feel the effects of the atonement in every aspect of my life is is our wish and desire for today.
May you all have a great week.
Remember that you have been redeemed through his blood and may God bless you.
We'll see you next week.