Receiving Inspiration and Revelation

“Communication with our Father in Heaven is not a trivial matter. It is a sacred privilege. It is based upon eternal, unchanging principles. We receive help from our Father in Heaven in response to our faith, obedience, and the proper use of agency.”
Elder Richard G. Scott, How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Personal Life, April 2012 General Conference

“Revelation is communication from God to man. It can occur in many different ways. Some prophets, like Moses and , Joseph Smith have talked with God face to face. Some persons have had personal communication with angels. Other revelations have come, as Elder James E. Talmage (1862–1933) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles described it, “through the dreams of sleep or in waking visions of the mind.”
In its more familiar forms, revelation or inspiration comes by means of words or thoughts communicated to the mind (see Enos 1:10; D&C 8:2–3), by sudden enlightenment (see D&C 6:14–15), by positive or negative feelings about proposed courses of action, or even by inspiring performances, as in the performing arts. As President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has stated, ‘Inspiration comes more as a feeling than as a sound.’ ”
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Eight Ways God Can Speak to You, BYU Devotional 29 September 1981

“Praying, studying, gathering, worshiping, serving, and obeying are not isolated and independent items on a lengthy gospel checklist of things to do. Rather, each of these righteous practices is an important element in an overarching spiritual quest to fulfill the mandate to receive the Holy Ghost. The commandments from God we obey and the inspired counsel from Church leaders we follow principally focus upon obtaining the companionship of the Spirit. Fundamentally, all gospel teachings and activities are centered on coming unto Christ by receiving the Holy Ghost in our lives.”
Elder David A. Bednar, Receive the Holy Ghost, October 2010 General Conference

“One of the great lessons that each of us needs to learn is to ask. Why does the Lord want us to pray to Him and to ask? Because that is how revelation is received.
When I am faced with a very difficult matter, this is how I try to understand what to do. I fast. I pray to find and understand scriptures that will be helpful. That process is cyclical. I start reading a passage of scripture; I ponder what the verse means and pray for inspiration. I then ponder and pray to know if I have captured all the Lord wants me to do. Often more impressions come with increased understanding of doctrine. I have found that pattern to be a good way to learn from the scriptures.”
Elder Richard G. Scott, How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Personal Life, April 2012 General Conference

“You must begin where you are. Pray, even if you are like the prophet Alma when he was young and wayward, or if you are like Amulek, of the closed mind, who ‘knew concerning these things, yet … would not know.’ ”
Prayer is your personal key to heaven. The lock is on your side of the veil.
President Boyd K. Packer, Personal Revelation: The Gift, the Test and the Promise, Ensign November 1994

“When it is for the Lord’s purposes, He can bring anything to our remembrance. That should not weaken our determination to record impressions of the Spirit. Inspiration carefully recorded shows God that His communications are sacred to us. Recording will also enhance our ability to recall revelation. Such recording of direction of the Spirit should be protected from loss or intrusion by others.”
Elder Richard G. Scott, How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Personal Life, April 2012 General Conference

“The flow of revelation depends on your faith. You exercise faith by causing, or by making, your mind accept or believe as truth that which you cannot, by reason alone, prove for certainty.
The first exercising of your faith should be your acceptance of Christ and His atonement.
As you test gospel principles by believing without knowing, the Spirit will begin to teach you. Gradually your faith will be replaced with knowledge.
You will be able to discern, or to see, with spiritual eyes.
Be believing and your faith will be constantly replenished, your knowledge of the truth increased, and your testimony of the Redeemer, of the Resurrection, of the Restoration will be as ‘a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life.’ You may then receive guidance on practical decisions in everyday life.”
President Boyd K. Packer, Personal Revelation: The Gift, the Test and the Promise, Ensign November 1994

“Some guidelines and rules are necessary if one is to be the recipient of revelation and inspiration. They include (1) to try honestly and sincerely to keep God’s commandments; (2) to be spiritually attuned as a receiver of a divine message; (3) to ask God in humble, fervent prayer; and (4) to seek answers with unwavering faith.”
President James E. Faust, Communion With the Holy Spirit, Ensign March 2002

“A sure testimony of Jesus Christ and of His restored gospel takes more than knowledge—it requires personal revelation, confirmed through honest and dedicated application of gospel principles.”
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Your Potential, Your Privilege”, April 2011 General Priesthood Meeting

“Do we . . . remember to pray earnestly and consistently for that which we should most desire, even the Holy Ghost? Or do we become distracted by the cares of the world and the routine of daily living and take for granted or even neglect this most valuable of all gifts? Receiving the Holy Ghost starts with our sincere and constant desire for His companionship in our lives.

We more readily receive and recognize the Spirit of the Lord as we appropriately invite Him into our lives. We cannot compel, coerce, or command the Holy Ghost. Rather, we should invite Him into our lives with the same gentleness and tenderness by which He entreats us (see D&C 42:14).

Our invitations for the companionship of the Holy Ghost occur in many ways: through the making and keeping of covenants; by praying sincerely as individuals and families; by searching the scriptures diligently; through strengthening appropriate relationships with family members and friends; by seeking after virtuous thoughts, actions, and language; and by worshiping in our homes, in the holy temple, and at church.”
Elder David A. Bednar, Receive the Holy Ghost, October 2010 General Conference