If a prophet of God says, “in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without …” well, our ears should definitely perk up and we should listen carefully and do something about whatever comes after that “without”.

Likewise, if that same prophet of God comes back a year later and shares a topic pressing upon his mind and then says, “This is the only way you will keep yourself and your family spiritually safe in the challenging days ahead,” we should take notice.

What it is that President Russell M. Nelson has focused on so much in recent general conferences? It is this: we need to get and keep the Holy Ghost in our lives. And we need to know how to get the Holy Ghost’s companionship back quickly when we lose it.

It was in the April 2018 General Conference that Russell M. Nelson said: “in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”

Today, I’d like to focus on a couple foundational practices that are absolutely necessary on at least a daily basis if we would like to have “the guiding, directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”

In both 2006 and 2010, Elder David A. Bednar gave talks focused on the Holy Ghost..

In his October 2010 message, “Receive the Holy Ghost,” he said: “Consider the reasons we pray and study the scriptures. Yes, we yearn to communicate in prayer with Heavenly Father in the name of His Son. And yes, we desire to obtain the light and knowledge available in the standard works. But please remember that these holy habits primarily are ways whereby we always remember Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son and are prerequisites to the ongoing companionship of the Holy Ghost” (October 2010 General Conference).

So if you want to have the Holy Ghost in your life, you have to have Holy Habits in place in your life. The Holy Habits of prayer and scripture study help us keep the covenant to always remember Him, by putting Him at the forefront of our minds. And we can’t truly be in the process of coming unto Christ if he is “far from the thoughts and intents” of our hearts (see Mosiah 5:13).

Holy Habits like prayer and scripture study build faith. And faith leads to repentance. In fact, the scriptures repeatedly invite us to have “faith unto repentance” (Alma 34: 15-17). Hebrews tells us faith comes by hearing (or reading) the word of God. And Helaman 15:7 makes the connection even clearer:

“The holy scriptures, yea, the prophecies of the holy prophets, … leadeth them to faith on the Lord, and unto repentance, which faith and repentance bringeth a change of heart unto them.”

In one of his last messages to the Church before his passing, Richard G. Scott said these powerful words: “Don’t yield to Satan’s lie that you don’t have time to study the scriptures. Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!”

President Nelson recently said “I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation” (April 2018 General Conference). How do we do that? Scripture study is one way. As Bruce R. McConkie taught, “One of the best-kept secrets of the kingdom is that the scriptures open the door to the receipt of revelation” (Doctrines of the Restoration).

In the April 2019 priesthood session Russell M. Nelson invited us to add another daily Holy Habit to our lives. He said,

“Make your focus on daily repentance so integral to your life that you can exercise the priesthood with greater power than ever before. This is the only way you will keep yourself and your family spiritually safe in the challenging days ahead.”