Without Revelation You Won't Survive

In Institute class this week, we discussed the importance of being able to receive, recognize, and act on revelation. In the December 2005 Commencement at BYU-Hawaii, President Boyd K. Packer said:

Now, you won't survive spiritually unless you know how to receive revelation...Now I don't know whether you know how to receive revelation, but you won't survive without it...Well now, it's a noisy world, and you're going to have to learn personally, and privately and individually that revelation will come when the Lord can speak to our feelings.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with the apostles, I've learned this: the pattern of our receiving revelation is no different than the pattern I had when I was a father teaching seminary - a pattern that is available to you.

Revelation is the great mystery of the Restored Church. It leads the whole Church and individuals. Revelation drives the hierarchical structure of the Church and supports individual freedom and agency. Revelation inspires missionaries in their labor and converts who choose to join the Saints.

There are several keys to receiving personal revelation. Obedience to the commandments, hearkening to the counsels of modern prophets, and practice at listening to promptings of the Spirit all make it easier to hear and recognize inspiration in the future.

One thing my Institute instructor has repeated several times is: never suppress a generous thought. That is one of the most common ways revelation will come: as generous thoughts to serve and bless those around us. Nurturing those generous thoughts - to forgive, to love, to give of time or means, to speak well of others, to share the gospel, or to serve in the temple - will be the key to spiritual survival as the last days become increasingly tumultuous.