hearing what we want to hear

When we ask for revelation about something for which God has already given clear direction, we open ourselves up to misinterpreting our feelings and hearing what we want to hear. A man once told me about his struggles to stabilize his family’s financial situation. He had the idea to embezzle funds as a solution, prayed about it, and felt he had received affirmative revelation to do so. I knew he had been deceived because he sought revelation contrary to a commandment of God. The Prophet Joseph Smith warned, “Nothing is a greater injury to the children of men than to be under the influence of a false spirit, when they think they have the Spirit of God.”

Some might point out that Nephi violated a commandment when he slew Laban. However, this exception does not negate the rule—the rule that personal revelation will be in harmony with God’s commandments. No simple explanation of this episode is completely satisfactory, but let me highlight some aspects. The episode did not begin with Nephi asking if he could slay Laban. It was not something he wanted to do. Killing Laban was not for Nephi’s personal benefit but to provide scriptures to a future nation and a covenant people. And Nephi was sure that it was revelation—in fact, in this case, it was a commandment from God.

Dale G. Renlund

"A Framework for Personal Revelation" General Conference October 2022

already answered our question

...Recognize what God has already revealed to you personally, while being open to further revelation from Him. If God has answered a question and the circumstances have not changed, why would we expect the answer to be different? Joseph Smith stumbled into this problematic scenario in 1828. The first portion of the Book of Mormon had been translated, when Martin Harris, a benefactor and early scribe, asked Joseph for permission to take the translated pages and show them to his wife. Unsure of what to do, Joseph prayed for guidance. The Lord told him not to let Martin take the pages.

Martin requested that Joseph ask God again. Joseph did so, and the answer was, not surprisingly, the same. But Martin begged Joseph to ask a third time, and Joseph did so. This time God did not say no. Instead, it was as though God said, “Joseph, you know how I feel about this, but you have your agency to choose.” Feeling himself relieved of the constraint, Joseph decided to allow Martin to take 116 manuscript pages and show them to a few family members. The translated pages were lost and never recovered. The Lord severely rebuked Joseph.

Joseph learned, as the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob taught: “Seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For … he counseleth in wisdom.” Jacob cautioned that unfortunate things happen when we ask for things we should not. He foretold that the people in Jerusalem would seek “for things that they could not understand,” look “beyond the mark,” and completely overlook the Savior of the world. They stumbled because they asked for things they would not and could not understand.

If we have received personal revelation for our situation and the circumstances have not changed, God has already answered our question. For example, we sometimes ask repeatedly for reassurance that we have been forgiven. If we have repented, been filled with joy and peace of conscience, and received a remission of our sins, we do not need to ask again but can trust the answer God has already given.

Dale G. Renlund

"A Framework for Personal Revelation" General Conference October 2022

swallowed up in the joy of Christ

Consecration is... both a principle and a process, and it is not tied to a single moment. Instead, it is freely given, drop by drop, until the cup of consecration brims and finally runs over.

...Jesus declared, we must “settle this in [our] hearts”: that we will do what He asks of us (JST, Luke 14:28). President Young further counseled us “to submit to the hand of the Lord, … and acknowledge his hand in all things, … then you will be exactly right; and until you come to that point, you cannot be entirely right. That is what we have to come to” (in Journal of Discourses, 5:352).

Thus, acknowledging God’s hand includes, in the words of the Prophet Joseph, trusting that God has made “ample provision” beforehand to achieve all His purposes, including His purposes in our lives (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1938], p. 220). Sometimes He clearly directs; other times it seems He merely permits some things to happen. Therefore, we will not always understand the role of God’s hand, but we know enough of His heart and mind to be submissive. Thus when we are perplexed and stressed, explanatory help is not always immediately forthcoming, but compensatory help will be. Thus our process of cognition gives way to our personal submission as we experience those moments when we learn to “be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).

Then the more one’s will is thus “swallowed up,” the more his afflictions, rather than necessarily being removed, will be “swallowed up in the joy of Christ” (Alma 31:38).

Neal A. Maxwell

“Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father”, General Conference October 1995

both receive and act upon an answer

I promise that individuals “who prayerfully study the message of the Restoration and act in faith will be blessed [through the power of the Holy Ghost] to gain their own witness of its divinity and of its purpose to prepare the world for the promised Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” As you pray earnestly with the expectation to both receive and act upon an answer from God, as did young Joseph Smith, your capacity to recognize and respond to that divine witness will be increased.

David A. Bednar

"The Times of Restitution of All Things", General Conference April 2025

so he could do what was right

In the spring of 1820, a young boy named Joseph Smith went into the woods near his home to pray. He had questions regarding the salvation of his soul, and he yearned “to know which of all the [churches] was right, that [he] might know which to join.” Joseph trusted that God would answer his prayer and direct him.

Please note that Joseph did not pray merely to know what was right. Rather, he prayed to know what was right so he could do what was right. Joseph asked in faith and was determined to act in accordance with the answers he received.

“In [response] to his [sincere] prayer, God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph and inaugurated the ‘restitution of all things’ (Acts 3:21) as foretold in the Bible. In this vision, he learned that following the death of the original Apostles, Christ’s New Testament Church was lost from the earth.” Joseph Smith would be instrumental in restoring once again the doctrine, the authority, and the covenants and ordinances of the Savior’s ancient Church.

David A. Bednar

"The Times of Restitution of All Things", General Conference April 2025

plea for mercy

I am grateful for the beautiful promise in section 110 that the Lord will manifest Himself in mercy in His temples. I am also grateful for what it reveals about how the Lord will manifest Himself in mercy whenever we, like Joseph, plead for mercy.

Joseph Smith’s plea for mercy in section 109 was not the first time his pleas for mercy prompted revelation. In the Sacred Grove, young Joseph prayed not just to know which Church was true, but he also said that he “cried unto the Lord for mercy, for there was none else to whom I could go [to] obtain mercy.” Somehow his recognition that he needed mercy that only the Lord could provide helped open the windows of heaven. Three years later the angel Moroni appeared, following what Joseph said was his “prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies.”

This pattern of revelation following a plea for mercy is a familiar one in the scriptures. Enos heard the voice of the Lord only after praying for forgiveness. King Lamoni’s father’s conversion begins with his prayer, “I will give away all my sins to know thee.” We may not be blessed with these same dramatic experiences, but for those who sometimes struggle to feel answers to prayer, seeking the Lord’s mercy is one of the most powerful ways to feel the witness of the Holy Ghost.

James R. Rasband

"The Plan of Mercy", General Conference April 2025

hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage

Elder George A. Smith, an Apostle, received counsel from the Prophet Joseph Smith at a time of great difficulty: “He told me I should never get discouraged, whatever difficulties might surround me. If I was sunk in the lowest pit of Nova Scotia and all the Rocky Mountains piled on top of me, I ought not to be discouraged but hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage and I should come out on the top of the heap at last.” (see Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2011), 235.)

How could the Prophet Joseph say that—to someone who was suffering? Because he knew it was true. He lived it. Joseph repeatedly experienced severe difficulties in his life. However, as he exercised faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement and just kept going, he overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Carl B. Cook

"Just Keep Going—with Faith," General Conference April 2023

build unto the Lord a house

What was the object of gathering the … people of God in any age of the world? … The main object was to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation; for there are certain ordinances and principles that, when they are taught and practiced, must be done in a place or house built for that purpose.

Joseph Smith

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith - Chapter 36 Receiving the Ordinances and Blessings of the Temple.  As found in "The Sealing Power," by D. Todd Christofferson. General Conference October 2023

stand with holy people

I will never forget participating in a devotional held in a popular sports arena. Usually, this arena was filled with raucous fans cheering their home team and perhaps even jeering their opponent. But on this night, the atmosphere was quite different. The arena was filled with thousands of young people assembled to honor and commemorate the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Their reverent, quiet tone; gratitude; and prayerful hearts filled the arena with the presence of the Holy Spirit. I could literally see it in their faces. It was the gift of the Holy Ghost in action, affirming the testimonies being borne of Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the gospel.

The Spirit cannot be restrained from attending a gathering of holy people. If you hope to feel the Spirit, be with people with whom the Spirit can easily dwell. The Savior said it this way: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” For young people, consider your gatherings of holy people: quorums and classes, FSY and seminary, ward and stake activities—even ward choirs. Choose to be with people and go to places where righteousness is found. Find your strength in numbers. Find good friends. Be good friends. Support one another wherever you are. Stand with holy people.

Gary E. Stevenson

"Promptings of the Spirit," General Conference October 2023

take them by the hand

Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin as to take them by the hand, and watch over them with tenderness. When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what power it has over my mind, while the opposite course has a tendency to harrow up all the harsh feelings and depress the human mind.... The nearer we get to our Heavenly Father the more are we disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls to take them upon our shoulders and cast their sins behind our back.

Joseph Smith

The Words of Joseph Smith, p.183 as quoted in Not My Will, but Thine by Neal A. Maxwell. 2008. Deseret Book. p. 87

the furious proceedings of the people

On our return, we resumed the subject of the massacre at Carthage, in which it will be remembered, Mr. John Taylor was severely wounded and escaped by a miracle as it were. I told him openly that there must have been some cause for the furious proceedings of the people in Illinois, Missouri, and other places against the Latter-Day Saints; that even those who had extended hospitality to them ended by hating and expelling them, and accusing them of all possible iniquities, especially of horse-thieving, forgery, larceny, and offences against property which on the border are never pardoned - was this smoke quite without fire? He heard me courteously and in perfect temper, replied that no one claimed immaculateness for the Mormons; that the net cast into the sea brought forth evil as well as good fish, and that the Prophet was one of the laborers sent into the vineyard at the eleventh hour. At the same time that when the New Faith was stoutly struggling into existence, it was the object of detraction, odium, persecution - so, said Mr. Taylor, were the Christians in the days of Nero - that the border ruffians, forgers, horse thieves, and other vile fellows followed the Mormons wherever they went; and finally that every fraud and crime was charged upon those whom the populace were disposed by desire for confiscation's sake to believe guilty. Besides the theologic odium there was also the political: the Saints would vote for their favorite candidates, consequently they were never without enemies. He quoted the Mormon rules: - 1. Worship what you like. 2. Leave your neighbor alone. 3. Vote for whom you please; and compared their troubles tot he Western, or, as it is popularly called the Whiskey insurrection in 1794, whose "dreadful night" is still remembered in Pennsylvania. Mr. Taylor remarked that the Saints had been treated by the United States as the colonies had been treated by the Crown.... I heard for the first time this view of the question, and subsequently obtained from the Apostle a manuscript account, written in extenso, of his experience and his sufferings. 

Richard F. Burton

Witness to the Martyrdom: John Taylor's Personal Account of the Last Days of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Edited by Mark H. Taylor. Deseret Book. 1999. p.14,15

it was too painful for Him

In the last revelation Joseph Smith received before he was permitted to organize Christ’s Church on the earth—in what was the capstone of Joseph Smith’s preparation to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ—the Lord gave the only first-person detailed account of the suffering He endured so that we would not need to suffer the full effects of our disobedience:

For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; . . .

Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink— [D&C 19:16, 18]

There is something curious about this narrative. Verse 18 ends with a dash. The Savior did not complete His thought. Why? I don’t know, but I am persuaded by the explanation that the Savior might have cut short His description of what He suffered because it was too painful for Him—some 1,800 years after the event—to complete the description (see Eugene England, The Quality of Mercy [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992], 52). Now what kind of a God do we worship? An awesome God who wants us to know that His love for us is infinite and eternal. A God who wants us to know that His love for us gave Him the strength to suffer for us. Knowing this ought to be enough to move us to submit our lives to Him in obedience and gratitude.

 
“The Very Root of Christian Doctrine” by Thomas B. Griffith (judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit when this devotional address was given on 14 March 2006). Speeches - Brigham Young University 2005-2006.

I never said why, nor where, nor what for

Philo Wells Austin wrote in his Reminiscences of Early Boyhood:

My dear, old grandfather, Philo Dibble, bore the most wonderful testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, for his testimony was sealed by the power of the Holy Ghost, for that eternal fire burned unto my very soul that he spoke the truth, that Joseph Smith was a mighty Prophet of God. He (Philo Dibble) said, The Prophet never uttered a word that I wasn't converted to before he said it. I never said why, nor where, nor what for, for I was always converted to him, being the mouthpiece of God, a Prophet in very deed, and I went and did what I was asked to do without a Question as to the outcome.

As quoted in PHILO DIBBLE'S REMINISCENCES OF EARLY CHURCH HISTORY AND THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH, Compiled by Marilyn A. Smith and Celia Smith, 1995.Reminiscences OT Early Boyhood: 

the champion of free worship

[Joseph Smith] did not intend to force his religion on anyone. He thought of himself as the champion of free worship. Nauvoo's ordinance for religious freedom listed a dozen religions allowed to practice in the city. Josiah Quincy was surprised to hear Joseph invite a Methodist to preach from a Mormon pulpit. The socialist John Finch noted that “Joe Smith was in the practice of inviting strangers who visited Nauvoo, of every shade of politics and religion, to lecture to his people.” Joseph could honestly say that “it is one of the first principles of my life and one that I have cultivated from my childhood, having been taught it of my father, to allow every one the liberty of conscience.” He made it an article of faith to allow people to “worship how, where, or what they may.” He declared, “I am an advocate of unadulterated freedom.”


Joseph Smith: rough stone rolling By Richard L. Bushman. Random House, Inc., 2005. p. 522, 523

in the company of plain men

Joseph was happiest in the company of plain men: “I love that man better who swears a stream as long as my arm and [is attentive to] administering to the poor and dividing his substance, than the long smoothed faced hypocrites.”


Joseph Smith: rough stone rolling By Richard L. Bushman. Random House, Inc., 2005. p.485

a “document of profound social protest”

Taken as a whole, the Book of Mormon can be read as a “document of profound social protest” against the dominant culture of Joseph Smith's time. That may not have been most readers' first impression. Many converts said it confirmed their old beliefs. The book read like the Bible to them; its gospel was standard Christianity. The book patriotically honored America by giving it a biblical history. And yet on closer reading, the Book of Mormon contests the amalgam of Enlightenment, republican, Protestant, capitalist, and nationalist values that constituted American culture. The combination is not working, the book says. America is too Gentile, too worldly, too hard-hearted. The Gentiles “put down the power and miracles of God, and preach up unto themselves, their own wisdom, and their own learning, that they may get gain, and grind upon the faces of the poor.” The nation must remember God and restore Israel – or be blasted.

The Book of Mormon proposes a new purpose for America: becoming a realm of righteousness rather than an empire of liberty. Against increasing wealth and inequality, the Book of Mormon advocates the cause of the poor. Against the subjection of the Indians, it promises the continent to rule by judges and kings under God's law. Against a closed-canon Bible and nonmiraculous religion, the Book of Mormon stands for ongoing revelation, miracles, and revelation to all nations. Against skepticism, it promotes belief; against nationalism, a universal Israel. It foresees disaster for the nation if the love of riches, resistance to revelation, and Gentile civilization prevail over righteousness, revelation, and Israel. Herman Melville said of Nathaniel Hawthorne, “He says NO! in thunder.” A NO can be heard in the Book of Mormon's condemnation of an America without righteousness.


Joseph Smith: rough stone rolling By Richard L. Bushman. Random House, Inc., 2005. p.104, 105

a pile of plates as much as two feet high

When Joseph got the plates, the angel instructed him to carry them back to the hill Cumorah, which he did. Oliver says that when Joseph and Oliver went there, the hill opened, and they walked into a cave, in which there was a large and spacious room. He says he did not think, at the time, whether they had the light of the sun, or artificial light; but it was just as light as day. They laid the plates on a table; it was a large table that stood in the room. Under this table there was a pile of plates as much as two feet high, and there were altogether in this room more plates than, probably, many wagon loads; they were piled up in the corners and along the walls. The first time they went there, the sword of Laban hung upon the wall; but when they went again, it had been taken down and laid upon the table across the gold plates; it was unsheathed, and on it were written these words, ‘This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and His Christ.’ I take the liberty of referring to those things so that they will not be forgotten and lost. Carlos Smith was a young man of as much veracity as any young man had, and he was a witness to these things. Samuel Smith saw some things, and Hyrum saw a good many things, but Joseph was the leader.


Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. XIX., p.38 as found in Doctrine and Covenants Commentary by Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl. Deseret Book. 1965. p.47

it still rolled on

D&C 9:12 For, do you not beold that I have given unto my servant Joseph sufficient strength, whereby it is made up? And neither of you have I condemned.

Oliver Cowdery needed to be reminded of this: for he was inclined, at least later, to regard himself as indispensable to the Church. President Brigham Young says:

“I have seen men who belonged to this kingdom, and who really thought that if they were not associated with it, it could not progress. One man especially, whom I now think of, was peculiarly gifted in self-reliance and general ability. He said as much to the Prophet Joseph, a number of times; as much as to say that if he left this kingdom, it could not progress any further. I speak of Oliver Cowdery. He forsook it, and it still rolled on and still triumphed over every opposing foe and bore off safely all those who clung to it” (Journal of Discourses, Vol. XI., p.252).

God does not need any one in particular. We need Him. Oliver Cowdery seems to have lacked humility until, after his experience outsie the Church, he returned to the fold. Then he was humble. To the special High Council that heard his case, in November, 1848, he said: “I am not a member of the Church, but I wish to become a member of it. I wish to come in at the door. I know the door. I have not come here to seek precedence. I come humbly and throw myself upon the decisions of this body, knowing as I do, that its decisions are right and should be obeyed” (Andrew Jenson, Historical Record, p.201).



Doctrine and Covenants Commentary by Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl. Deseret Book. 1965. p.46, 47

because it was God's work

About the time the Church of Jesus Christ was founded in the United States, Mr. Edward Irving, a gifted minister in London, constructed his church. He, too, appointed apostles, prophets, evangelists, “angels” or bishops, elders, and deacons. He, too, claimed that the spiritual gifts had been restored. He, too, preached the second coming of our Lord. The Irvingites gained adherents in Great Britain, the United States, and the European continent, and there was every prospect that they would bring forth a great and marvelous work. But where is that church today? Irving called it the Catholic Apostolic Church. Even the name is unknown to most Christians, while that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and, to a still greater extent, that of the Prophet Joseph, have become famous throughout the world. Mr. Irving was a clergyman, learned, eloquent and earnest. Joseph Smith was an unlettered, unknown youth, but his work stood the test, because it was God’s work. It has become great indeed.


Doctrine and Covenants Commentary by Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl. Deseret Book. 1965. p.33

almost as a necessity

It may well be that at some future day documents similar to the Dead Sea Scrolls will be discovered, which, when translated by competent non-LDS scholars, will speak of many of the same doctrines and historical events that are now known only in Joseph Smith’s New Translation. I see this not only as a natural possibility but almost as a necessity. Joseph Smith was the greatest seer and restorer of the things of God that the world has ever known. It might be expected that a work as extensive as his translation of the Bible would probably be attested to by documentary evidence in the due time of the Lord. The Lord always defends and supports his prophets, first by the testimony of the spirit to the hearts of the Saints and eventually by hard facts to the convincing of the world. As one writer a century ago observed, “Surely the facts are stubborn things. It will be as it ever has been, the world will prove Joseph Smith a true prophet by circumstantial evidence.” Although this quotation was written about secular proof for the Book of Mormon, the principle could apply also to the work of the Prophet with the translation of the Bible, since it too was a branch of his divine calling.


"A Plainer Translation": Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible, a History and commentary, by Robert J. Matthews. Brigham Young University Press. 1975. p.265, 266