"The Gift of the Holy Ghost
God comforts, guides and strengthens us through the Holy Ghost.
When Jesus was on the earth, He told a man named Nicodemus, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). After we are "born of water," or baptized, we can be "born […] of the Spirit" by receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. A person with God's authority puts his hands on our heads and gives us the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:17). This ceremony is known as confirmation. The Holy Ghost is a Spirit. He is the third member of the Godhead, along with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. When we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and walk humbly before God He can always be with us. We call it a gift because the Holy Ghost is given to us from God to guide us as we face difficult decisions, comfort us when we are sad, influence our minds and feelings, and help us recognize when something is true. This kind of divine help reminds us that God loves each one of us and wants to help us through the difficulties of our lives."
I love the Holy Ghost! He has helped me so much in my life. Learning to recognize his promptings is something that I am still learning. One of the first times I remember witnessing the power of the Holy Ghost when I was about 14-15. I don't remember quite how old I was. Anyway, this was a time that I truly had a desire to know if the things I had been taught about God, Christ, The Restoration of the Gospel, and the Book of Mormon were true. There is a promise in the Book of Mormon made to all people. It's in Moroni 10: 4-5. The last prophet in the Book of Mormon states:
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not btrue; and if ye shall ask with a csincere heart, with dreal intent, having efaith in Christ, he will fmanifest the gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
I decided to test this promise and ask God if Joseph Smith was a true prophet and if the Book of Mormon was true. I knelt down by my bed one night and prayed. I asked God if these thing were true. At first I felt nothing. I was kind of doubting that I would recieve any kind of answer. I then remembered the scripture in James 1:6 that says, "6 But let him aask in bfaith, nothing cwavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."
I realized that in order for me to recieve an answer that I needed to not doubt and truly believe that I would indeed recieve an answer. My prayer and intent changed and I soon felt a warmth and a light all around me. A sweet peaceful feeling enveloped me. It was as if I was being hugged in a warm, loving, embrace. The thought came to me that yes indeed these things were true. Because I recieved this witness from the Holy Ghost, I felt that I must live my life according to what I now knew to be true. I truly had a desire to live God's commandments and live the gospel of Jesus Christ restored through Joseph Smith.
In Galatians 5: 22-23 it talks about the fruits of the Spirit. Ways that we recognize the Holy Ghost in our lives: "22 But the afruit of the bSpirit is clove, djoy, epeace, flongsuffering, ggentleness, goodness, hfaith,
After we have been baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by those with the priesthood authority we are confirmed as members of the Church and recieve the GIFT of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority. We are able to have the Holy Ghost with us as a constant companion if we keep God's commandments. I'm thankful for this gift in my life. As I said before, learning to recognize his promptings is something I'm still trying to do. I have realized that his promptings most often, for me, come as quiet thoughts in my mind. I have had some experience where I have had quiet thoughts and just shrugged them off as if they were my own thoughts and I'm just being silly. Here are a couple of examples:
When I was single I lived in an apartment complex in a college town. We had some underground parking which was nice in the winter time, which it happened to be at the time of this learning experience. I had got done hanging out with some friends and was on my way home when it started snowing. I was soon to arrive at my complex and was planning on parking in the underground parking. I had a thought come to me that I should not park there that night. I argued with that thought saying that if I did park in the underground parking that I wouldn't have to shovel snow off the car. So not realizing this was a prompting from the Holy Ghost at the time, I ignored the thought and started for the underground parking. I got in and could not find a place to park and felt deflated and headed back outside. Just before the exit there was one last spot. I took it. Though the lot was lit it was still dim and as I left my car I felt that something wasn't quite right and that I should maybe get my keys out to perhaps use them to protect myself if I needed to. As I approached the staircase I saw that there was a man. The light was dim and I couldn't make out details so I proceeded thinking that I was just being overly paranoid. When I got within about 7 feet of the man I realized that he was completely naked and doing some not very nice things to himself. Terrified, I screamed and ran out of the parking lot and also looked back to see him coming towards me yelling, "Wait, I just want some..." This experience shook me up pretty bad and left me terrified and paranoid to leave my apartment for a long time. If only I had recognized that quiet thought from the Holy Ghost to not park in the underground parking lot. I would have been spared such a frightening experience.
There was another time I remember specifically recieving a thought and not recognizing it as the Holy Ghost. It was a Sunday and I woke up not feeling very well. I had the thought that I should just stay at home. Again, I argued with the thought thinking that I was going to miss out on some great lessons in church. So, I went. After church was over my cousin was meeting with the Bishop for something and I had a thought to stay and wait for her. Again, I did not obey this thought. So, I got in my car and headed home. On the way home I was hit on the drivers side by a car that ran a stop sign. Totalled my car. Luckily I was being watched over and recieved no serious injury, but had I listened to those thoughts from the Holy Ghost I would have been spared the accident altogether.
Now, I try to remember that when I recieve a thought in my mind that I should just do it. Don't argue. This past week I had a couple of thoughts to do two things. One was to go talk to an elderly lady in our neighborhood that I have never talked to before and the other was to take a meal to our next door neighbor. I acted on these promptings from the Holy Ghost and I don't know what the purpose for them were but I did it and it felt good!! Maybe the purpose was for the sole intention of bringing ME joy! Another thought was to start this blog...ha ha!
The Holy Ghost is also a comforter (John 14:26) and has been such to me many times in my life. Of course the most recent is this past year. There was a few days soon after we had moved to Idaho that I was feeling apprehensive and scared about what life was going to be like in our future. At night my heart would pound hard and fast as I struggled with the weight that I felt as the sole caregiver and provider for our family, now. One morning the burden seemed heavy and I prayed and asked God to take this burden from me. It was more than I could bear alone. The Holy Ghost spoke peace to my heart. Through Christ the burden was lifted. The Holy Ghost continues to speak peace and comfort to my heart daily for which I'm truly grateful.
I'm also grateful for the Holy Ghost that witnesses to me of my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ. He witnesses to me when I hear the truth's of the gospel. I love that Father in Heaven has given us a way to not be left in the dark. We have a way to be led to the truth. We can count on the Holy Ghost to witness the truth to us when we hear it or read it.
I really hope that I can recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost and act as I should. Again, I am sure grateful for the companionship of the Holy Ghost in my life and I hope I will always live so that I'm worthy of this wonderful blessing in my life.
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