I feel very humble being in your presence this morning. I’m deeply grateful for our association with Elder and Sister Bateman and for the wonderful leadership they are providing for this great institution. I would like to speak a few minutes this morning reviewing some of the sacred principles that apply to receiving personal revelations. I will rely very heavily on the scriptures and the words of the prophets, seers, and revelators. After we experienced our spiritual birth, Heavenly Father counseled and corrected us, and we were instructed, enlightened, and edified in his holy presence. Now that we have experienced our physical birth in mortality, he desires to continue to communicate with us and to give us counsel and direction. He does this through prayer and personal revelation. This is one of the greatest gifts and blessings that we have received. When we speak to Heavenly Father, we do so by means of prayer. When he speaks to us, he does so by means of personal revelation. This two-way divine communication is critically important to our success, to our sense of well-being, to our feelings of security, and to our spiritual salvation. It is imperative that we understand the process of receiving personal revelation. We always pray to our Father in Heaven, and to him alone. Our prayers are rendered in the name of the Son and communicated by the power of the Holy Ghost. We do not pray to the Savior or to anyone else. To do so would be disrespectful of Heavenly Father and an indication that we do not properly understand the relationship of the members of the Godhead. The Savior and the Holy Ghost have important roles to play in the process of personal revelation. Role of the Savior We pray in the name and by the authority of the Savior. Elder Bruce R. McConkie gave instruction about the role of the Savior in personal revelation: “We pray to the Father, not the Son; but according to the laws of intercession, advocacy, and mediation, our answers come from the Son” (The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1978], p. 335). It is the Savior who pleads our cause with the Father. It is he who intercedes and is our advocate with the Father (see D&C 29:5 and D&C 45:3). Role of the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost is involved not only in the process of petitioning Heavenly Father through prayer but also in the process of receiving answers from God by means of personal revelation. Prayer. The Holy Ghost will prompt us to pray. Nephi counseled, “For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray” (2 Nephi 32:8). Heavenly Father knows the things we need even before we ask him (see 3 Nephi 13:8). If we follow the promptings of the Spirit, we will then know what to ask for. The Savior promised, “He that asketh in the Spirit […]