Personal Revelation Pt. 3: What is it and why do we need it?

Jesus Christ taught us in His Intersessory Prayer that, "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3)

Joseph Smith the prophet taught us that "the first principle of revealed religion is to know the character of God."

We need to understand the character of God in order to become like Him. But how can we know our Father? How can we really find out who He is? How do we know what He wants for us? How can we know what His voice sounds like?

Jacob of the Book of Mormon taught us that "no man knoweth of his ways save it were revealed unto him" (Jacob 4:8). Just as prayer is "the appointed means for obtaining the highest of blessings," and is the way that we (as children of God) communicate to our Father, revelation is "the communication from God to His children." (Bible Dictionary). We receive revelation in many different ways and is often very personal, but it is always necessary to know spiritual truth.

Revelation is indespensible to spiritual progression. Without it, we can never know of spiritual truths, nor can we know who our Father is. So it becomes our duty to develop a relationship with Him through prayer. In my own experience, I was not sure of what my Father wanted for me because I had not yet developed a relationship with Him. I didn't understand Him because I hadn't spent time with Him. But, "If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal" (D&C 42:61).

So the first thing I learned from my experience with personal revelation, and the point of this post, is that we need to first spend time with our Heavenly Father before we expect great truths to be given to us. And my exhortation to anyone reading this blog is to pray. Pray your soul out, and seek for a testimony to be given to you from the Holy Ghost, because "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 12:3). Be like Peter, who said to Jesus, "thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." He received this testimony not by intellectual guesswork, but by pure, uncontaminated truth from heaven. "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 16:16-17).

It is my testimony that we all can receive spiritual confirmation of Gospel truths, and that we all can be brought to a knowledge of the divine Sonship of our Savior Jesus Christ. And I know for a fact that time spent in prayer is sacred and is essential. I testify that as we spend time with our Father, He will commune with us, for "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power" (Ephesians 1:17-19). God lives. He loves us. He will speak to us.