How do I study effectively and stay on the path?

In the chapter titled "How Do I Study Effectively?" in Preach My Gospel, we read the statement:

"For you to grow in the gospel and stay on the path that leads to eternal life, you need to develop a habit of gospel study."

What does it mean to "stay on the path" through studying the gospel?

To begin the discussion, let us recognize that the path we are on is the path to repentance, humility, a broken heart and a contrite spirit, charity and discipleship. It is the path to Christ in a very literal sense.

The first milestone on this path is to receive the spirit of Elias, which is baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The next milestone is to receive the spirit of Elijah, which is the blessings of the temple, including the crowning blessing of being sealed up unto eternal life, or having our calling and election made sure. The final milestone is to receive the spirit of Messiah, which is the Second Comforter, which is the presence and personal ministration of Christ.

There are, of course, many small steps between these milestones. There is a great deal to learn, and there is much to do. We each have considerable growing to do, as discussed in the previous article in this series. Nevertheless, the path is not mysterious or mystical or hard to understand. However hard it may be to climb it, it is not hard to know the way and to recognize the critical milestones.

Scriptures

• Psalms 23:3 - The Lord "leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake."  If we diligently follow the Lord, we can be assured that we are on the right path.
  
• Psalms 25:4, Prov 3:6 - "Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths." "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." There is only one strait and narrow path that leads to God, but we may come at that path from many directions. Some come from a path of faith, others from a path of affliction; some come from paths of sorrow or poverty or sin. God wants everyone to get on his strait and narrow path, and he provides us with the experiences that we need to get from wherever we are to where he wants us to be to start the journey on the right path.
  
• 1 Nephi 8:21 - "And I saw numberless concourses of people, many of whom were pressing forward, that they might obtain the path which led unto the tree by which I stood." The Lord does not just pick us up and set us on the path to him. He must exert effort to find the path. We must press forward until we obtain the path.
  
• 1 Nephi 16:5 - "And it came to pass that they did humble themselves before the Lord; insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness." Once we obtain the path, we must walk it. It is not an escalator. We must be humble and exert more effort. It is even harder to walk the path than it was to find it in the first place.
  
• Heb 12:12-13 - "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." Once we are on the path, we are responsible to help others get on the path and stay on it. We must vigilantly watch our conduct and our conversation so that we do not create crooks and twists in others' paths.
  
• 2 Nephi 31:9 - "And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them." Christ is our example of how to walk the path. It is strait, meaning strict, and it is narrow, meaning there is no room for deviation. Yet everyone's path is not exactly the same. We must each traverse the strait and narrow path of the Savior, but we will not all step in exactly the same footprints of others. We each walk our own way.
  
• Mosiah 2:36-37 - "I say unto you, that the man that doeth this, the same cometh out in open rebellion against God; therefore he listeth to obey the evil spirit, and becometh an enemy to all righteousness; therefore, the Lord has no place in him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples. Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever." Our guide on the path is the Holy Ghost. He will lead us along wisdom's path as long as we obey him. But if we walk contrary to his guidance, we rebel against God, and the Spirit withdraws. We thus invite and spirit of the Adversary to become our guide, and he will quickly and surely lead us away from the strait and narrow path.

Examples

The General Authorities are all examples of people who have gotten on the path of righteousness, have stayed on the path, and have walked diligently in the right direction.

• Elder Bednar talks about wanting from an early age to "be a good boy".
  
• President Hinckley told of gaining his testimony as a young boy while sitting in the back of the chapel in a stake conference and singing a hymn.
  
• Elder Claudio Costa tells of how he gained his testimony as a young adult. His parents had joined the church after he was grown and had moved away from home. They invited him repeatedly to learn about the gospel, but he had no interest in religion, only in making money. One day when he was visiting in their home, his parents invited the missionaries to teach one of their investigators in their home. Claudio listened from the kitchen. He felt something. After the lesson, before the missionaries left, he asked them for something to read. They gave him the pamphlet of the Joseph Smith Story. He started reading it and stayed up all night, studying it and praying about it paragraph by paragraph. In the morning he had a certain witness that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he needed to be baptized immediately. He went to the missionaries' apartment and insisted that they had to baptize him that day. They got permission to teach him all seven discussions in two days and baptize him. It took him many years to find the path, but once he accept it, he jump on quickly and sprinted forward with great enthusiasm.

Studying the gospel is key to getting on and staying on the path that leads to Christ. Studying the gospel is more than just reading the scriptures and attending Sunday meetings. It requires faith and action. And it must become a habit, which we will discuss in the next article.

"Lord, I Believe"

Having just listened again to Elder Holland's talk from the last General Conference, I encourage you to read or listen to it one more time. Today in Sunday school class we discussed what it means to bear testimony. Elder Holland's talk is an excellent follow-up to our discussion. In this conclusion he offers to all of those who think their testimonies are not strong enough to lean on his. I commend his words to you as the words of a living witness and an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

Listen

Read

How do I study effectively and grow in the gospel?

This is the first of a series of articles that are inspired by studying the chapter called "How Do I Study Effectively?" in Preach My Gospel, pages 17-28.

As I read through this chapter, several statements stood out to me as essential elements of effectively studying the gospel to increase my conversion:

"For you to grow in the gospel and stay on the path that leads to eternal life, you need to develop a habit of gospel study."

"Study is an act of faith requiring the use of personal agency."

"Your gospel study is most effective when you are taught by the Holy Ghost."

"This kind of study prepares you for service, offers solace, resolves problems, and gives you the strength to endure to the end. Successful gospel study requires desire and action."

"Learning the gospel is also a process of receiving revelation."

"As you study, pay careful attention to ideas that come to your mind and feelings that come to your heart."

In this series of articles, I examine the key phrases in each of these statements. I explore the depth of their meaning and how I can apply them in my life to improve my ability to study the gospel. I testify that Preach My Gospel is an inspired book of instruction that can help all of us, whether or not we are missionaries, increase our conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ and enrich our lives in many ways. 

This first article addresses the topic of how studying the gospel can help us grow in the gospel.
"Grow in the Gospel"

To grow in the gospel is to

• grow in knowledge of principles and doctrine
• grow in the ability to keep the commandments
• grow in the ability to receive blessings and direction from Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost
• grow in "the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph 4:13).

The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith: "It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance" (D&C 131:6). It is impossible to be saved in ignorance of who God is, who Christ is, who we are, and who we may become, and that we are on the right course that surely leads to Christ and to exaltation.

Over the forty-five years that I have been a member of the Church, I can see periods in which I have grown and expanded my understanding and acceptance of the gospel. I can also see periods of stagnation when I have stunted my growth. Some examples of critical steps of my progression in the gospel include:

• When I first started with the missionary discussions when I was fifteen years old, I was pretty sure that God was an ethereal cloud of intelligent energy floating through space. A week later a knew that God was a perfected and glorious person of flesh and bones and that I could become like him. I do not recall how this change happened. I did not work at it. I did not even pray about it, since I was still resistant to the idea of prayer. But miraculously the Holy Ghost communicated the correct idea of God to my mind. Through the gift of a believing heart, I accepted it readily.
  
• My experience in seminary was a rapid period of growth in knowledge and understanding and conversion. I resisted early morning seminary during my sophomore year after I was baptized. By Fall of my junior year I decided to try seminary simply because all of the other kids in the ward were going. Once I attended a couple of classes and felt the Spirit, I loved seminary and could not wait for each day so I could soak up the gospel knowledge that was offered.
  
• After receiving my mission call, I realized in a dramatic way that I needed a sure testimony of the Book of Mormon. Through sincere prayer and study, I was granted the gift of a firm witness. That witness has sustained me for over forty years.
  
• My mission was not a time of growth for me, with one bright exception. During the hardest and most discouraging time of my mission, I received a stunning testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the First Vision. Prior to that moment, I had believed that Joseph was a prophet because I knew the Book of Mormon was true. Nevertheless, at a moment when I desperately needed to be strengthened, Heavenly Father revealed to me in my own sacred grove that he and his Son had indeed visited the fourteen-year-old Joseph in of grove of trees.
  
• I returned home from my mission and sat on a plateau for several more years. Then I had a Gospel Doctrine teacher who opened my eyes to the practice of searching and pondering the scriptures. I became not just a fan of the scriptures but a student as well. Even today I continue to grow in my ability to study and understand the scriptures by the Spirit because of what that teacher taught me.
  
• Among hundreds of sacrament meeting talks, one sticks out clearly in my mind. I do not remember the exact date, but somewhere during the late 1980s, more than ten years after my mission, a speaker talked about the role of Christ as the Savior and Redeemer. During that talk the Holy Ghost bore testimony to me that Christ is the very center of the gospel and the plan of salvation. For twenty years I had relegated Christ to a supporting role behind Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, the Word of Wisdom, the three degrees of glory, and most other doctrinal principles. But in that sacrament meeting, the Holy Ghost finally helped me to see Christ in his true role and position. Christ became primary, and everything else became secondary. The sacrament became meaningful. I began to have a true love for my Savior. I believed for the first time that he could actually save me, and that I did not have to try to save myself.
  
• Fast forward another ten years. Thanks to my high priest group in the Haight Bench Ward, I finally started to understand the significance of the temple and to appreciate the blessings that temple covenants and ordinances offer.
  
• As recently as a few months ago I attended a priesthood lesson in which a single word was spoken that is changing my life: charity. The Holy Ghost testified to me that now was the time for me to learn charity and to ask for that gift "with all energy of heart". In my slow and methodical way I am seeking opportunities daily to practice charity. I stumble and fail more often than I succeed, but the Spirit corrects me and teaches me and guides me when I take the time to listen.

I am happy to be able to look back on my life and recognize the growth that has occurred in my knowledge, my testimony, and my conversion. At the same time, I am unhappy to realize that I could have progressed so much faster had I been focused continually on the right things. I allowed myself to be distracted by too many meaningless things that robbed me of precious time. Had I condensed these marvelous moments of growth into twenty-five years instead of forty-five years, I could have been at this point in my spiritual maturity twenty years sooner. Add twenty more years of concentrated and purposeful effort, and I would be a different person at the ripe old age of 60 than I am today.

I am a living witness that the distractions of the world are very effective in stunting our spiritual growth. I thank the Lord that I can also be a witness that we can repent and make progress. He will help us wherever we are on the path. He is more interested in our direction than the particular point at which we have arrived. Mortal life truly is a journey and not a destination. Heavenly Father will help us and guide us if we ask him.

What does it mean to bear testimony?

A testimony is a spiritual witness, given by the Holy Ghost, of the truthfulness of the gospel. When we bear testimony, we declare to others what we know to be true by the power of the Spirit. The foundation of a testimony is the knowledge that Heavenly Father lives and loves us, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that His gospel has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Savior’s true Church.

As you prepare yourself spiritually for our next class, watch Elder Dallin H. Oaks' talk about Testimony from the April 2008 General Conference, and then read the following scriptures and think about how you would answer the questions below.

"Testimony", Elder Dallin H. Oaks, General Conference, April 2008

Alma 5:46-47

46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.

47 And moreover, I say unto you that it has thus been revealed unto me, that the words which have been spoken by our fathers are true, even so according to the spirit of prophecy which is in me, which is also by the manifestation of the Spirit of God.

How does a testimony come?
Of what should we have a testimony?


D&C 76:22-24

22 And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

23 For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—

24 That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.

This is the essence of pure testimony, for the Prophet describes what he saw. He was a witness, and he said what he saw. That is all the bearing testimony is - saying what we know for a fact to be true. Not speculating and sharing hearsay, but saying what we know for ourselves to be true.

Alma 4:18-20 "... seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them."

What effect can our testimonies have on others?
What does it mean to bear down in pure testimony?

What can I learn from President Monson about following the Spirit?

President Thomas S. Monson has said: “Not a day has gone by that I have not communicated with my Father in Heaven through prayer. It is a relationship I cherish—one I would literally be lost without. If you do not now have such a relationship with your Father in Heaven, I urge you to work toward that goal. As you do so, you will be entitled to His inspiration and guidance in your life—necessities for each of us if we are to survive spiritually during our sojourn here on earth. Such inspiration and guidance are gifts He freely gives if we but seek them. What treasures they are! I am always humbled and grateful when my Heavenly Father communicates with me through His inspiration. I have learned to recognize it, to trust it, and to follow it” (“Stand in Holy Places,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2011, 84).

President Monson is a marvelous example of one who follows the Spirit. He is worthy of our emulation. Here is his talk, called "Consider the Blessings", from General Conference in October 2012, in which he relates several experiences he has had in which the Holy Ghost has guided him and prompted him to serve and minister to others. He is an example of perfect charity because he practices charity every day.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/consider-the-blessings?lang=eng

How does reverence help me receive revelation?

When we are reverent, we show our love for God and are better able to receive personal revelation. A reverent attitude helps make us more sensitive to the still, small voice of the Spirit. If we treat sacred things with reverence, Heavenly Father will trust us and reveal to us additional truths.

Scriptures

3 Nephi 11:1-7
When the Savior came to the Nephites, the voice of the Father had to introduce his Son three times. Even though the people were gathered around the temple and discussing the coming of Christ, they were not listening to the Spirit. They were engrossed in their surroundings and their person conversations. They perceived that there was a sound, but they did not understand the source of the voice nor its meaning. Their conversation turned from the physical appearance of the temple to the sound they had just heard, but again, they were not listening, they were talking. The voice came a second time to disrupt their debates. They still did not understand it, but they began to recognize that something unique and marvelous was happening. They finally stopped talking and and started listening. They stopped looking at their surroundings and each other and looked instead toward heaven, the source of the voice. Finally the third time, when they were quiet and attentive, when the voice spoke the understood it and comprehended the words.

When we pray and ask for the Holy Ghost to enlighten us, do we ever stop to listen, or do we just monologue until the very end and then get off our knees and wonder why we never get an answer?


Psalms 46:10
To be still means more than to simply stop moving. It means to be quiet inside and out. It means to quiet not only our mouths and our movements, but our thoughts. It means to stop worrying and fretting and planning and scheming. It means to stop and give God a chance to do his peaceful work within us.

To know that God is God is to know his power and his love. It is to know that he loves us deeply and personally. It is to know that he will exercise his infinite power in our behalf, as weak and as imperfect and as unworthy as we are.

We have to be still to know God because he requires our undivided attention, just as he gives us his undivided attention. We are the most important thing in the universe to him. He ought to be the most important thing in the universe to us. He is a jealous God who does not want to have to compete with the noise and clamor of the world for our attention. To show our love for him, we must be willing to set aside all of our entertainments, our amusements, our passtimes, our work, our distractions and focus completely and devoted on him. Anything less than full devotion is not enough.


D&C 63:64
To speak of things "with care" to be careful about how we talk about sacred things. We should speak reverently about sacred things. We ought also to be careful not only about how we speak of sacred things but about the setting in which we talk of them and even about to whom we talk about them.

To be "constrained by the Spirit" is to be either constricted or compelled. These two opposite meanings are interesting. Sometimes the Spirit will stop us from speaking when the time, setting or audience is not right. Other times the Spirit will encourage us to speak when we are in the proper setting and the timing is right for those to whom we are speaking to hear our message. It is only by acting under the direction of the Spirit that we can teach properly and effectively.

We invite the Spirit to properly constrain us in either direction by asking for his guidance and then listening and responding to the promptings we receive.


D&C 84:54-57
We treat things lightly when we do not take them seriously. We may receive a beautiful gift from a parent or friend. We may even recognize it for the beauty and value that it has and the sacrifice that the giver experienced to provide us with the gift. But if we throw it in a drawer and never make use of it, we are treating it lightly.

The Lord accused the Saints of treating the Book of Mormon lightly because they did not read it regularly and use it in their missionary work. Because of their light-minded treatment of the Book of Mormon, the Lord placed the people under a curse. We can lift the curse from ourselves by taking the Book of Mormon seriously. We do so by studying it diligently, learning all we can from it, and the sharing it with others as the wonderful treasure that it is.


President Boyd K. Packer, "Reverence Invites Revelation" General Conference, October 1991

"A testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a witness that the Book of Mormon is true, comes in a delicate, refined spiritual communication. It is described in the scriptures as light, as burning in the bosom. It is best described as a feeling. No message appears in scripture more times, in more ways than, “Ask, and ye shall receive.” While we may invite this communication, it can never be forced! If we try to force it, we may be deceived. Unless you have experienced it, it is very difficult to describe that delicate process. If doctrines and behavior are measured by the intellect alone, the essential spiritual ingredient is missing, and we will be misled.A testimony is profoundly personal, and occurs in response to very private prayers and pleadings.

"Inspiration comes more easily in peaceful settings. Such words as quiet, still, peaceable, Comforter abound in the scriptures: “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Ps. 46:10; italics added.) And the promise, “You shall receive my Spirit, the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which shall teach you the peaceable things of the kingdom.” (D&C 36:2; italics added.)

"The world grows increasingly noisy. Clothing and grooming and conduct are looser and sloppier and more disheveled. Raucous music, with obscene lyrics blasted through amplifiers while lights flash psychedelic colors, characterizes the drug culture. Variations of these things are gaining wide acceptance and influence over our youth. This trend to more noise, more excitement, more contention, less restraint, less dignity, less formality is not coincidental nor innocent nor harmless.  The first order issued by a commander mounting a military invasion is the jamming of the channels of communication of those he intends to conquer. Irreverence suits the purposes of the adversary by obstructing the delicate channels of revelation in both mind and spirit.

"No one of us can survive in the world of today, much less in what it soon will become, without personal inspiration. The spirit of reverence can and should be evident in every organization in the Church and in the lives of every member. The spiritual power in the lives of each member and in the Church will increase. The Lord will pour out his Spirit upon us more abundantly. We will be less troubled, less confused. We will find revealed answers to personal and family problems without all the counseling which we seem now to need."

Elder Paul B. Pieper, "To Hold Sacred", General Conference, April 2012

"Our experiences with the divine may not be as direct or dramatic nor our challenges as daunting [as were the experiences of Moses, Alma, and Joseph Smith]. However, as with the prophets, our strength to endure faithfully depends upon recognizing, remembering, and holding sacred that which we receive from above. Our divine encounters will mostly involve the third member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost.

"As we seek answers from God, we feel the still, small voice whisper to our spirits. These feelings—these impressions—are so natural and so subtle that we may overlook them or attribute them to reason or intuition. These individualized messages testify of God’s personal love and concern for each of His children and their personal mortal missions. Daily reflecting upon and recording the impressions that come from the Spirit serve the dual purposes of helping us (1) to recognize our personal encounters with the divine and (2) to preserve them for ourselves and our posterity. Recording them is also a formal recognition and acknowledgment of our gratitude to God, for “in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things” (D&C 59:21).

"Light and knowledge from heaven is sacred. It is sacred because heaven is its source. Sacred means worthy of veneration and respect. By designating something as sacred, the Lord signals that it is of higher value and priority than other things. Sacred things are to be treated with more care, given greater deference, and regarded with deeper reverence. Sacred ranks high in the hierarchy of heavenly values.

"Today the struggle continues. Secular voices are growing in volume and intensity. They increasingly urge believers to abandon beliefs the world considers irrational and unreasonable. Because “we see through a glass, darkly” (1 Corinthians 13:12) and “do not know the meaning of all things” (1 Nephi 11:17), at times we may feel vulnerable and in need of greater spiritual assurances. The Lord told Oliver Cowdery:

“If you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things. Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?” (D&C 6:22–23).

"The Lord reminded Oliver and us to rely on sacred personal witnesses already received when our faith is challenged. Like Moses’s, Alma’s and Joseph’s before, these divine encounters serve as spiritual anchors to keep us safe and on course in times of trial."

Why do we sometimes miss the impressions of the still, small voice? Why does the lord give us sacred experiences? Why is it important to write down the sacred experiences and feelings we have?


True to the Faith, p. 145

"Reverence is profound respect and love. When you have a reverent attitude toward God, you honor Him, express your gratitude to Him, and obey His commandments.  You should be reverent in your behavior as well as your attitude. Reverent behavior includes prayer, scripture study, fasting, and payment of tithes and offerings. It includes wearing modest clothing and using clean, wholesome language. The depth of your reverence is evident in your choice of music and other entertainment, in the way you speak of sacred subjects, and in the way you dress and act when you attend church and the temple. You show your reverence for the Lord when you serve other people and treat them with kindness and respect.

"As you become more reverent, you will notice a quiet transformation in your life. The Lord will pour out His Spirit more abundantly on you. You will be less troubled and confused. You will be able to receive revelation to help you solve personal and family problems."

Define reverence. What does reverence feel like? What are examples of reverence? What are examples of irreverence?


True to the Faith, p. 140-4

According to your faithfulness, you can receive revelation to help you with your specific needs, responsibilities, and questions and to help you strengthen your testimony.

Quiet spiritual promptings may not seem as spectacular as visions or angelic visitations, but they are more powerful and lasting and life changing. The witness of the Holy Ghost
makes an impression on the soul that is more significant than anything you can see or hear. Through such revelations, you will receive lasting strength to stay true to the gospel and help others do the same.

The following counsel will help you prepare to receive promptings from the Holy Ghost:

• Pray for guidance.
• Be reverent.
• Be humble.
• Keep the commandments.
• Partake of the sacrament worthily.
• Study the scriptures every day.
• Take time to ponder.
• When seeking specific guidance, study the matter out in your mind.
• Patiently seek God’s will.

Amid the many noises and messengers in the world today, you must learn to recognize the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. Following are some of the principal ways the Holy Ghost communicates with us:

• He speaks to the mind and heart in a still, small voice.
• He prompts us through our feelings.
• He brings peace.

We need personal revelation in our lives every day. We are faced daily with decisions that require the guidance of the Spirit. There are people whom the Lord wants us to serve. Without the guidance of the Spirit through revelation, we will miss out on the opportunities to serve them and assist the Lord in his work. We must daily seek the direction of the Spirit. That means that at least some time every day we must be still. We must cultivate reverence in our daily walk and actions. That does not mean to be pious and sanctimonious. It means to be ever listening, vigilant, less caught up in our own worries and concerns and more involved in seeking the Lord's will. It is easier said than done. It takes practice and constant attention. With time and effort, we can learn to be like Nephi, to whom the Lord said that thou "hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever" (Alma 10:4-5).