In Your Mind and in Your Heart
"...I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
John 8:12
This morning as I was getting ready for church, I decided to play some reverent music and I felt it again. I felt the familiar spirit that I have felt off and on for years. I felt it when I was baptized, I felt it when I entered the mission field, even stronger when I returned home, and I felt it several times in between. I have felt it many times since then, sometimes the experiences are further apart and sometimes they are very near to each other. Sometimes, they are far apart enough to make me sit down and analyze my life, but they have always been there when I needed them.
The feelings that the Holy Spirit bring cannot be perfectly conveyed in words. Galatians describes the feelings as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. These words all portray great feelings and come close to an accurate description, but the Holy Spirit feels different for everyone and the feelings can be so rich and deep that no words feel adequate.
As I have grown older, I have begun to feel these feelings more than ever. I can feel them in the scriptures, in music, in the words of modern prophets, in my prayers, and I have found that I usually feel them whenever I look for Him. As I have begun to look for Christ more, I have found Him everywhere. I see Him in the kindness of others, in the goodness of little children, and even in the little miracles in my life. He is there in the details of our lives.
I see Him there and I feel Him there. In Doctrine and Covenants Section 2, the Lord says to Oliver Cowdery,
"1 ...verily, verily, I say unto you, that assuredly as the Lord liveth, who is your God and your Redeemer, even so surely shall you receive a knowledge of whatsoever things you shall ask in faith, with an honest heart, believing that you shall receive a knowledge concerning the engravings of old records, which are ancient, which contain those parts of my scripture of which has been spoken by the manifestation of my Spirit.
2 Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.
3 Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground."
This revelation can apply to all of us. Matthew 7:7-8 states, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." God answers our prayers and He gives us answers through our minds and our hearts. We both know the answers in our minds and feel them in our hearts. We can feel the truthfulness of the words of God, in a much more real sense than knowing them only in our minds. Just as many things in the Gospel, it can sound absurd, until you experience it.
I am so grateful for God and the gifts that He gives us, one of them being the gift of the Holy Spirit. What a beautiful gift that blesses our lives in so many ways. God lives and He speaks to us today. He speaks to us through His prophets and to all of us individually, through the Holy Spirit, but we must look for it. If you have never felt that before, ask for it and look for it, and if you have felt it before, ask yourself as Alma asked his people, "If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" If the answer is no, as it is sometimes for all of us, there is only one source to look to and He will never let you down, if you simply turn to Him.
John 8:12
This morning as I was getting ready for church, I decided to play some reverent music and I felt it again. I felt the familiar spirit that I have felt off and on for years. I felt it when I was baptized, I felt it when I entered the mission field, even stronger when I returned home, and I felt it several times in between. I have felt it many times since then, sometimes the experiences are further apart and sometimes they are very near to each other. Sometimes, they are far apart enough to make me sit down and analyze my life, but they have always been there when I needed them.
The feelings that the Holy Spirit bring cannot be perfectly conveyed in words. Galatians describes the feelings as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. These words all portray great feelings and come close to an accurate description, but the Holy Spirit feels different for everyone and the feelings can be so rich and deep that no words feel adequate.As I have grown older, I have begun to feel these feelings more than ever. I can feel them in the scriptures, in music, in the words of modern prophets, in my prayers, and I have found that I usually feel them whenever I look for Him. As I have begun to look for Christ more, I have found Him everywhere. I see Him in the kindness of others, in the goodness of little children, and even in the little miracles in my life. He is there in the details of our lives.
I see Him there and I feel Him there. In Doctrine and Covenants Section 2, the Lord says to Oliver Cowdery,
"1 ...verily, verily, I say unto you, that assuredly as the Lord liveth, who is your God and your Redeemer, even so surely shall you receive a knowledge of whatsoever things you shall ask in faith, with an honest heart, believing that you shall receive a knowledge concerning the engravings of old records, which are ancient, which contain those parts of my scripture of which has been spoken by the manifestation of my Spirit.
2 Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.
3 Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground."
This revelation can apply to all of us. Matthew 7:7-8 states, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." God answers our prayers and He gives us answers through our minds and our hearts. We both know the answers in our minds and feel them in our hearts. We can feel the truthfulness of the words of God, in a much more real sense than knowing them only in our minds. Just as many things in the Gospel, it can sound absurd, until you experience it.I am so grateful for God and the gifts that He gives us, one of them being the gift of the Holy Spirit. What a beautiful gift that blesses our lives in so many ways. God lives and He speaks to us today. He speaks to us through His prophets and to all of us individually, through the Holy Spirit, but we must look for it. If you have never felt that before, ask for it and look for it, and if you have felt it before, ask yourself as Alma asked his people, "If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" If the answer is no, as it is sometimes for all of us, there is only one source to look to and He will never let you down, if you simply turn to Him.
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