Hey there everybody welcome out to another episode of Redeemed Through His Blood, Scott and David Durfey here. What's up? Oh, such a great weekend Scott, you know we enjoyed conference huh? Holy cow, it was just absolutely amazing for me. So Deb and I got to spend the conference weekend down at her brother's house in St. George and he just moved back from Texas so it's been, that was wonderful.
So it was really cool, you know we got to be with her family and their spouses and we even got to FaceTime her mom for a minute who's in a, you know, a facility here in Linden Utah so anyway that yeah it was just amazing how did you enjoy it? Yeah, you know, conference is a little different when your kids are raised and gone and you're not worried about them fighting over the M&Ms on being a play car.
You get them all for yourself or you know trying to take care of their needs while you listen to conference you know. Which is, which are great days and I actually miss some of that but when it's just you and your sweetheart it can be such a blessing just to listen and enjoy that. Well, were there any impressions you got? Oh, lots. Anything just stuck out? I have a couple of quotes here.
I won't go through all of them but a couple of these really stood out to me and so much of it, well all of it is pretty much in alignment with the stuff that we've been talking about. Yeah, I noticed a lot of it was as well. Elder Brooke Kells, he talked about mortality, mortality works. Despite the changes, challenges rather are loving, wise and perfect. Heavenly Father has designed the plan of happiness such that we are not destined to fail. I loved his talk.
I really did but I kept waiting for him to talk about the doctrine of the fall. He never got into that but I loved his talk and powerful really in the stories that he shared. Yeah. Yeah, I really loved that. Yeah. Which really was a talk on the fall even though he didn't mention it. Right. I think we should talk about that. I think that's like our second or third episode each season is the effects of the fall and we actually talk about mortality and how that we should celebrate the fall.
When's the last time you thank God for the fall? Right. When's the last time you thank God that you were fallen? Yeah, exactly. You know that's all part of his plan. I don't know why we want to fight that or reject that or think that we're beyond that because as long as we're in mortality the fall is going to affect us. According to Brigham Young, we're never going to completely overcome the fall in this life.
You know, we're never going to ever be considered beyond the fall or temptations or sins of this world. It's not possible as long as you live in a telestial world and you have a telestial body and you have all these telestial beings surrounding you and especially in our world today. I was thinking about that getting gas this morning driving over here, Scott. Even stuff on the... You know, they had some screen on the gas station as I was pumping it, you know, full of inappropriate material.
And you know what? I mean, you know, not terrible, but just... Negative. Yeah. Just anyway, you can't avoid not feeling the effects of the fall every day. I think that our listeners just need to really be thankful for the fall, need to be more aware of it and not take it so personal or beat themselves up over being fallen. Yeah. Well, and according to Elder Hales here, right? Mortality works. It works. It just works.
Exactly. And I think that part, you know, the Heavenly Father has designed the plan of happiness such that we are not destined to fail. Yeah. We're not destined to fail. I love that. Maybe two more. Sister Yee, Christian M. Yee. That was a good talk. Our need for healing and help is not a burden to the Lord, but the very reason He came. I loved her talk. You know, she's very accomplished. She did a BYU devotional a year or so ago, which I really have listened to multiple times.
I really like the way she thinks and communicates. And I know she's had her challenges and troubles in her life with some relationships, in some relationships, which she makes some reference to in her BYU devotional. So I really, as soon as she starts speaking, actually, I told my sweetheart, Chris, I said, you're we're going to like this talk. Yeah. So that was great. I loved all the sisters talks. I thought sister Freeman did a great job. Yeah. Yeah, I did too. I did too.
All the sisters that spoke. It was, I can remember Scott, my dad, your grandpa. Later years of his life and sometimes being over there with my kids, you know, on a Sunday afternoon and everything else. And after the conference is over, he says, wow, I think that's the best conference we've ever had. And he said that every year for like 10 consecutive years when I would be over there on a Sunday afternoon watching maybe the last session of conference with him and mom.
I kind of relate now to what he was feeling. Yeah. Because I think the older I get, the more I love and appreciate the conference talks. So best one yet. Yeah. Yeah. One last one. And this is one that was for me extremely important. They all were, but this is from one of our prophets. This is from Elder Holland. He says Christ's charity persisted and continues to persist, especially through the darkest and most difficult days.
You know, and I think Elder Holland's been acquainted with dark and difficult days recently over the last few years. Everybody thought that when he said it too, I think. Yeah. Yeah. He's really been through a lot and is going through a steal. Right. And prophets do. They do. Well, they're subject to the effects of the fall. They all feel the effect of it and mortality works for them too. And I think some of them have some of the greatest trials.
Yeah. Prophet Joseph Smith and Liberty Jail and all the other jails and hard experiences he had in his short 39 years leading up to his martyrdom. You know, prophets have bad days too. Yeah. And they know from experience what they teach. Right. So yeah, I loved I loved conference on our podcast recently. Scott, we've been talking about revelation. And you know, I think for me, I spent an afternoon with the Bishop Budge. He's a counselor in the presiding bishop.
And he spoke and he's the one that did the Japanese figure. Yeah. And the right calligraphy and showed some of that and and talked about the Japanese language and and how that stillness is not necessarily a waste of time. It doesn't have to be a waste of time. That that being still and slowing down and all of that can be such a blessing in our lives. I thought I thought that was really a profound talk on on kind of what we've been trying to say a little bit.
We talked about slowing down actually the last podcast. We did. Yeah. And, you know, slowing down doesn't mean you do less. It just means that you're more contemplative, which which takes work too. Meditation takes work and meditation and pondering and being still and connecting with God requires effort and intention. And anyway, I just thought his talk was really profound on what we're trying to say.
I loved, you know, sweet President Nelson in his hour of need and no doubt difficulty with his big smile and joy in any circumstance, which was, I think quoted maybe more than any, I don't know. I didn't a lot. Yeah. There was a lot of joy in the circumstance. And him just sitting under smiling in his wheelchair. And I just, I think all the prophets got are had their strengths and their weaknesses.
And but his strength is just his joy, which he just not only feels, but which he shares with everyone else that sees him. Yeah. It's pretty, pretty profound. I'll say. Anyway, so as we finish our course on, on Revelation Scott, let's talk about the last few, this, this next, this number nine, I think we're on number nine. Yeah, we're on nine. You want to read it? Yeah. Number nine. I really got this from Elder Scott. Elder Scott gave a talk years ago. Sorry.
I don't have the reference right here in front of me about some of the keys of Revelation. And this really comes from Elder Scott. Take good care of your body and understand how the body is an instrument of Revelation. Exercise eat well, develop discipline, deep and, and deep spirituality. So develop discipline and deep spirituality. Keep your environment clean and healthy. Scott, I, I'm not a really organized sort of guy.
That's not one of my strengths, but I know it makes a difference when my life is in order. And I know that it makes a difference when things are in place. I know it makes a difference when I take care of myself. I know it makes a difference when I exercise, when I eat well, when I choose not to give in to the appetites and passions that we all feel is mortal. You know, it really makes a difference in my spirituality.
And this goes back to, I think, the fundamentally, the, the definition of spirituality that President McKay gave us years ago. And the actual quote here looks like is the consciousness of victory over self and the communion with the infinite. Yeah, that was President McKay's definition of spirituality. Consciousness of victory over self. I think that's another way of saying that is mind over mattress. You know, that, that we, that we are controlling our body, our desires, our passions.
That's what victory consciousness of victory over self, that we are not just going with every whim and desire and appetite. Yeah. I mean, you know, that's President McKay. Also, this was, somebody touched on the three temptations of, of Jesus, the temptations of Jesus. I can't remember who gave touched on that in conference this weekend, but the different temptations, it was one of the 70. You know, it went to turn the rocks into bread when you're starving to death.
The, some of those things, the very temptations really that we experience on a daily basis is to take care of the flesh, but taking care of the flesh appropriately is or inappropriately is the key to feeling the Holy Ghost or not feeling the Holy Ghost.
If we could see our bodies as instruments of revelation and that what we take in and what, what, how we, the choices that we make, the sleep that we receive, the, the kind of the schedule that we follow, the, the food that we eat, the exercise that we experience, all of those things affect how we feel about ourselves and affects our spirituality. Really the, the, the body is a temple of God and it is the house in which the spirit resides.
And if we don't take good care of our bodies, it's really hard for our spirits to, to thrive like they could have, should have, would have if we, if we would make better choices. Yeah, yeah, you know, this is, this is pretty commonly, I think, understood. I think it is.
But at the same time, this is one of those things that though probably most of us understand the relationship between our health and our ability to, or our state of wellbeing, even it's not necessarily just our health, but our state of wellbeing, which is also part of the whole mortal body experience, right?
But I think that we all know that if we're healthy, if we're not tired and run down and groggy and if our mental state is alert and more alert than it would be otherwise, if we weren't taking care of our body and getting proper sleep, that we are just pretty much shut off. And not only are we shut off, David, but, but there are times when that can make us susceptible to feeling more, well, that, that maybe I, maybe I put it this way.
That may open the door for the accuser and his followers to enter into our lives when we're tired and he can start telling us, he can start telling us how bad we are, how we failed and I mean, you know, those, those kinds of situations when we are in that situation, that really creates a, a, a devil friendly environment, I guess is the way I could put it. I, Vince Lombardi was onto something when he said fatigue makes cowards of us all.
It's true, not, not only in football, but it's true in, in church and spiritual matters that if we're not rested, if we're fatigued, if our bodies are run down, if we're not feeling well, it, it does open some doors to at least sometimes dark gloomy thoughts and maybe even the door to, to Satan and his followers. So we, we need to do all that we can.
I know that there's sickness and there's disease and other things that we can't control, but I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can compensate us in those, in those times.
And I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers us in those times and sometimes with a ravished body of cancer or whatever, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the, the hope of eternal life and the, the Holy Ghost as our Comforter, that people actually can feel pure revelation and closer to God than ever before. So we're not talking about those experiences.
We're just talking about people not taking good care of themselves, making bad choices, bad decisions, taking things into their body, staying up to night, watching things that they shouldn't be watching, taking things into their mind, into their body that are going to negatively affect their ability to receive and to be a receptacle of the Holy Ghost and the Spirit that resides in them. It would definitely dull our spiritual senses, right?
And actually not taking care of your bodies and making bad choices can, can put you in a state of being past feeling. Yeah. Where you, you can't even feel the Holy Ghost. Yeah. That's why addiction is so bad, Scott, right? This is. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Addictions on our bodies keeps us from really having the spiritual experiences that we could be having. And it really is just our lack of connection. And and Satan knows that. Yeah, of course.
And if he can cause us to experience shoes, I think it's choice. Yeah. Right. It is a choice. Yeah. Addiction. Initially, yeah. Initially. And even, you know what? I have not been able to get off my mind what you, what you taught us a week or two ago, which is rock bottom is a decision. It's not a destination. Yeah. What did you say? It's not a destination. No, it's not a destination. So yeah, it's really true.
You know, when we, when we talk about rock bottom and rock bottom is something I think that most people see and you can call it whatever you want, but it is a choice. It's not a destination just because I went to jail and I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking hypothetically, but because just because a person goes to jail, that doesn't necessarily make it their rock bottom just because a person goes through divorce. That doesn't necessarily make that their rock bottom.
Their rock bottom has to be just a point in time where decision, we just make a decision to turn our will in our life over to the care of God, understanding. And that's done with that period. And, and, but it's not just I'm done with that. It goes beyond that. It goes to I can't. I got to be done with it. Yeah. I can't do it alone. Yeah. Yeah. He can. And so I'm going to help. I'm going to let him by aligning my will with his and in one blinding moment with by the grace of God. There you are.
Yeah. It can be changed. It can be changed. And one blinding moment. It can be changed. And with maintenance, and this is important to point out with maintenance, it can stay changed. Anyway, I am going to get that off my mind. I'm grateful that you that you taught us that. But but addictions, whether they be from from substances, whether they be how I'm so concerned about the effects of gambling on people these days, because it's now just so open and so rampant.
And yeah, you know, Scott, I have I have when I was a bishop, one of the real we in Minnesota, where they have casinos on on the Native American reservations. And such a sweet couple of family from Utah that moved to Minnesota and and had the greatest family children and everything else.
And the dad goes starts going to the casino and and pretty soon he is so addicted that all of his money is gone and the church is supporting his family and he loses his wife because of divorce and loses his family and and it leads to other substance abuse. And so it's substance, it's it's it's gambling, it's sexual addictions that are so so rampant.
And if if if people cannot control their their bodies, their what they take into their bodies, how they use their bodies, their time, if you can't control your time and what you watch and what you do with your money. I'm telling you, personal revelation is going to be hard to come by. And those are important that you point out those types of addictions. Those are the types of addictions where we engage in some activity, right? Yeah. And and those are prevalent.
And when we think of addiction, that's what we think of most prevalently is those types of addictions, gambling, drugs, alcohol, sexual behaviors, pornography, all kinds of stuff, you know, even even some behavioral addictions. So, you know, which and I'm not a nice psychologist and I don't want your emails telling me that I'm wrong on this and all that.
But you know, we can even look at things like bulimia and we can even look at things that you know, that have a that have a kind of an emotional and physical combination. But here's some of the addictions, David, and I don't want to get into a long list. And this isn't the podcast on addiction today, but here's some of the addictions today that will backdoor us. In other words, they will sneak in the backdoor on us. One of them is being a victim.
I, a person I can become addicted to being a victim because of the payoffs around being a victim and because of and one of those big payoffs is the removal of seemingly removal of responsibility around my life. Right.
So, you know, we have all kinds of emotional addictions like that anger, you know, which has has an outward manifestation too, but it's more of an emotional type of addiction, fear, all kinds of things that, you know, we as humans as fallen people engage in and it can really consume our lives. Yeah. Emotional, physical, mental, chemical, chemical, sexual, behavioral addictions can keep us from feeling the spirit of the Lord and can can really affect the growth and progress of our spirit. Right.
And you say, you say can affect us. I will. Exactly. I think we should be that bold. Right. It will definitely affect us. So, just the simple thing of exercise. I don't know, Scott, how, how to help people. But I know again, it goes back to small, simple things on overcoming, you know, some of the habits, bad habits, let alone addictions that we fall into.
But I'm, I just really want to testify to my family and those who are listening to this podcast that small, simple choices to make sure that your spirit is in control of your body is critical to one's connection with God, the Savior and receiving the Holy Ghost in their life. And just the simple choice to, I'm going to make my body do something that my body doesn't want to do.
And that may be five pushups or that may be 10 setups or that may be something I'm telling you, Scott, there is power when one is in control of their body and when their body is strong, when their body is rested, when their, when their body, when their spirit is in control of their body, you know, Paul, the apostle Paul. The flesh is weak, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And we have to do all that we can to make sure that our spirit is in control of our body.
That is key to receiving revelation. I agree. So that requires discipline. Discipline creates discipleship. And it's, it's kind of tricky, Scott, because, you know, so many people can go, here's a principle that, that is true for all of these keys to receiving revelation and to all things that we do in life and in the gospel of Jesus Christ is that if Satan cannot, if he cannot get us to go short, he'll get us to go long.
And if he can get us to go long on some of these ideas and principles, it will be just as effective and maybe even more damning than if he gets us to go short. For example, if he can't get us to not exercise, right, he'll get us to overdo it and to become fanatical about exercise. If he can't get us to eat right, you know, he'll get us to eat so that we're, we're crazy about what we eat and obsessed and, and that it affects every little thing that we do.
I just, people have to just stay in the, in the zone and the sweet spot and not go too far one way or the other. It's just amazing to me that how some people just become fanatical about some of these things too, Scott. I love that you brought that up. I hadn't thought of that. But now that you bring that up, that makes perfect sense, you know, and, and if you think about it, you know, because we all know people and maybe we've even been that person.
I know I have where I have over rotated to the, you know, instead of sloth being overzealous about something to the point where it becomes, you know, it's kind of a form of idolatry. Yeah. And, and it definitely pulls us away from the one needful thing. There's just absolutely no question because we start seeing our, our efforts and maybe even our achievements. We will, we'll start to really glorify them or make a bigger or whatever. And, and all of them become self-righteous.
Yeah. We become really proud. We become, this is the way this is my way is the way. Yeah, exactly. And everybody else is slothful. And we become judgmental. And besides that, I know people who ridiculously run and exercise until it begins to actually hurt their body. And when they're not doing it, they can't feel the spirit of the Lord. So it's just, we cannot. We don't want to be, we don't want Satan to, to hold us back.
But honestly, if, if we go too far the other way, then we're in his controls, God. So it's just really critical that we find balance. Exactly. In all of these things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. So that's the ninth key. It's really control your physical body, your physical activities and make sure that you're as healthy and strong as you can, as you can possibly be without, without going to any extremes. Yeah. I think we, and it's important without going to any extreme.
And I think we need to know our bodies well enough and not compare ourselves to the way somebody else is doing it and the way somebody else looks and the way that we perceive somebody else's physical nature is or has become because of their own efforts or whatever. We got to stay out of that. It's important that we just for ourselves use ourselves and compare us against us. Let the spirit guide us. We shouldn't, we shouldn't compare ourselves to anybody else. We should compare ourselves to us.
Where am I today and make an assessment? And if there is lack, where do I need to improve it? If I have over-rotated and there is too much zeal, where can I temper it and so that I can be more susceptible to the spirit in my life? Right. Okay. It's all connected, Scott. 100%. It's all connected. The body, the spirit, the mind, the soul of the soul. That's right. It's all connected. That's right. We can't neglect any part of it.
We didn't even talk about I think the power of the mental in the mind. Yeah, we probably should for a second too. Just know that the learning, new principles, the power of learning and feeling our minds full of good things. You know, the effect that that can have on our spirit. I just think that's really critical to revelation is to make sure that we're exercising our mind as well as our body so that our spirit can thrive. It's all connected. Just know that.
Well, so you just talk about exercise our mind and that really kind of rolls into key number 10, right? Which is record impressions and act on the promptings and revelations you receive. Yeah. I'm not great at this. I'm not terrible at it, but I'm not great at this. And I need to be better. But I know it's really powerful and I have lots of things recorded in my phone. But I need to go back and review them often.
I know that there's so many things, impressions that I've recorded in the notes on my phone. And oftentimes it is just so easy for us to neglect or forget them. And I need to be better at this one. I know that if we, this is the principle. And again, Elder Scott taught this powerfully when he had talked about acquiring spiritual knowledge. I think that was the talk that he gave. Everyone should look that up and read that about acquiring spiritual knowledge by Elder Richard G. Scott.
But he talks about that when you read your scriptures, you should have a pen or pencil in your hand. Be ready to number one mark what you read that impresses you. And just in that physical exercise, you might receive more revelation or a pen in your hand to record impressions, which is assigned to the Holy Ghost that you are not only ready to learn, but you are ready to capture what he is willing to give you.
And he shares his whole experience of being in Mexico City when he started to receive some impressions. And he started to write. And he wrote a page or two of impressions that he was having. And when he got done, he, before he put down his pen, he said, is there more? And more came and he started to write again. It's just so critical.
I know again that I've had some people come up to me and say that they're changing how they pray because they're starting to pray with notebooks because of what we taught a while ago about asking questions and pausing and listening, learn to listen when we pray and not to miss some of the impressions that our Heavenly Father would like to give us if we would listen.
And when he gives us those impressions, we should record them, even if it may be in the middle of a prayer, that when we're starting to receive impressions, we record them. I think this is, this is one of the more important principles that any person could learn in this life. And then to review them and be able to apply them, live them, put them to practice immediately. Do not let those words fall to the ground unheeded or not be acted upon.
So I, again, I'm not great at this, but I want to be better than I need to repent. So any, any other thoughts on that? Yeah, I'm not great at this either. I do sometimes record the impressions that I have as I'm praying or in meditation. I do that. I know many people who also do that. As a matter of fact, that's one of the things in Alcoholics Anonymous that as a sponsor, I encourage sponsors to participate in.
It's actually one of the steps sought through prayer and meditation to maintain conscious contact with God. We've talked about that praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out, right? And so I have done that and I encourage others sometimes to do it as well. I will tell you this, there's huge benefit. I have definitely felt the benefit in my life. It helps me to remember, to recall. It gives me resource when I, when I need it.
And when I say resource, I don't mean for other people. I mean for myself. It gives me valuable resource for my own, you know, personal study and my own personal approach to my life. One of the things that, you know, we do in Alcoholics Anonymous frequently though, is when those impressions are recorded, when appropriate, which is pretty frequently, we'll share them with somebody else. A sponsor, for example. Good idea. And as we share them with a sponsor, that does a couple of things.
And it helps us to be accountable to the impressions that we've had because we have a sort of an accountability partner built in that way. We don't necessarily call it that, but it serves as that effect anyway. So to share those with somebody, a trusted somebody, you know, some things would be inappropriately shared publicly. Some things would even be inappropriately shared with another individual.
So you know, as is in all things, you know, we don't want you to kneel down with every prayer with a notebook. That's not what we're saying. And we're not saying that every prayer should have these kinds of experiences that you want to, and we don't want you to ever feel like, if I'm not having those experiences, there must be something wrong in my life. Because that's not what we're saying.
But what we are saying is, is that when it is appropriate, when the time does come, and when you have made that alignment, and those impressions do come, and they surely will, as we align, that's a promise we can make, that as we align, we will surely receive those promises when it's appropriate, share it with your spouse perhaps or something.
It's good to share it with others, sometimes even with some trusted person in the church, friend or whatever, to just make sure you're not going over the top or being deceived. Yeah, that's true too. Because Scott, one thing I've learned is that Satan can surely give you revelation. Yeah. Man, I know we've talked about this before, but I've had too many experiences in my lifetime with apostates who are definitely getting revelation, but they aren't receiving it from the proper source.
And because of how they pray and because of their zeal, their being zealous, and they are fanatical, and almost this demand to receive something from God, it really opens them up to be deceived. And if God is trying to teach them something, whether that be patience or whether that to be humility or whatever that may be, if they're not willing to wait upon the Lord, Satan will fill in that gap really quickly and easily for them. And I just really want our listeners to know, we have this.
You know, Scott, I worry about this in the church a little bit because we talk a lot about revelation. We've done a whole course on it. And so many people know the importance of personal revelation. The first talk President Nelson gave as President of the Church was church revelation and personal revelation. It's an important principle in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But it's an occupational hazard that so many people take it to an extreme.
Too many people's expectations are so out of proportion and blown out of proportion that they begin to hear things and feel things that are not from God. And that's, I think, my biggest worry talking about this and doing a course on it is that people need to make sure that the impressions they receive, the revelations they receive are in accordance with the Word of God. Not, you know, the revelation is receiving the will of God. They need to make sure that it's according to his Word and his way.
And the only way they can do that is to make sure that it is consistent with the prophets and the holy scriptures. And when you start getting impressions that you may be a little off, it is so important that you may be shared those with the right person or persons who can maybe be a second witness for you on some of those impressions. I, you know, the dream, I've had some dreams and I didn't want to teach anything that was doctrinally inaccurate that I had learned from a dream.
So I shared that with a stake president who then said, well, your friends with Brother Matthews, why don't you talk to Brother Matthews about it? So I actually shared my dream with Brother Matthews and told him the impressions and thoughts and some of the doctrinal teachings that, by the way, I will not teach openly because some of those things are just personal. They're just for me. But anyway, he cautioned me about that, Brother Matthews. He told me how he believed that they were true.
That's how he saw it, but that we couldn't teach it because it had not been taught by the prophets. So there are just some revelations that even though you receive these impressions and revelations, it's sometimes good to share them with others you trust. And sometimes it's good to not share them at all because they're private and they're too sacred to share with anyone else.
And I think the Spirit will surely teach us and witness to us what can be shared with others and what cannot if we'll be in tune and if we'll be obedient. The witness test though being that it is consistent, that it is consistent with gospel teachings. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's in alignment with the prophets. It's in alignment. That's right. It's in alignment with the prophets and the scriptures. That is so critical.
Yeah. You know, we don't need to give any examples or bring up any names of apostates that I've known or others that the public know that when they start having weird stuff, you know, come into their mind that they're supposed to do this or they're supposed to do that. And it is so out there. Wow. That is so dangerous, Scott. Yeah. Literally. Yeah. This is so dangerous.
And Satan is more than willing to feel in the gap of revelation when we think that we either should be receiving more or, you know, I think the greatest danger that I've noticed is for some men and women. I know of women who've done this as well, who think that they should be in positions of power or they should have certain callings or they should be in certain places, you know, they're of prominence. Sure. And it just totally opens them up to be deceived.
I think it's just so important that when we pray, Scott, and let's just maybe conclude our course on revelation by talking about prayer in general, that when we pray, that we pray with such an honest heart, humble heart, that we have humility, that we pray sincerely, that we pray in faith. And we don't pray as we talked about this last week or the week before. We don't pray to get what we want. Prayer is not about faith. It's not about getting what we want.
Faith and prayer is about aligning our will to God's will and to be really humble about that. And to be patient in that, to be submissive, to be like a child praying to their father, submissive. You know, this is Mosiah 3.19, that we should be as a child. I think Elder Holland actually called this submissive, patient, meek, full of love, willing to submit to all things that the Father is. The eighth fit to inflict upon us. So, anyway, Scott, that's the attitude and the spirit of prayer.
I know people who pray and pray and they cry out and they cry out and they feel like they're not getting anything and they become disappointed and they give up the process because they feel like their prayers aren't being answered. I reviewed recently the screw tape letters, C.S. Lewis. And it's so fun. And I actually used A.I. Oh, did you? Yeah, to help me review it. And I remembered some of the things that screw tape, the kind of the one of the head devils, was trying to teach his understudy.
Understudy devils. His nephew Wormwood on how to become a devil. And he's telling Wormwood about how to get people not to pray or how to pray too much. Both work again. If you can't get, get us to go short, he'll get us to go long. But I think it was really interesting. The first thing that A.I. brought up, by the way, I love that the opening talk by Elder Gong on dad jokes and the A.I. dad jokes.
So here's what, here's, here's a few points of advice that screw tape gives Wormwood on how to get his, the, how to get his patient or man, as he calls him, the patient, to not pray. And number one is to focus on feelings rather than real prayer. To focus on feelings rather than real prayer.
Oh man, that is so good because it was, I prayed and sometimes when I don't feel like it, sometimes when I don't feel anything, all of a sudden I started thinking that my prayers are not valuable, that my prayers aren't of any use, that why am I praying, why am I doing this, I'm just going through them, you know, and so sometimes we all offer prayers when we don't feel anything. Prayer is not about feeling. Prayer is about worshiping. We should pray to worship. It doesn't matter how we feel.
What matters is, is that we are expressing to God how we feel towards him, not him feeling us. I mean, I, we've all had prayers where we've felt the spirit, where we receive revelation, but not every prayer we offer is going to, no, and it's important, it's going to feel good and prayer is an important component to feeling good and to revelation and prayer is work and that doesn't always feel good. Right. Prayer takes time. I know this is my mother's cousin.
My mother's cousin, I was in the car, I was an 18 year old kid, I was right in the back seat with her and we were driving down to Loa and Loa, Utah, I think it was Memorial Day weekend and I was alone, Louise was gone and, and sister Dill sitting in the back seat and telling my mom and dad that she had prayed nine years or something. I won't tell the whole story, but she had prayed every day for nine years and finally her prayer was answered.
Scott, if, if, if every time we prayed, we didn't feel anything and we just gave up, how many prayers have we missed out on being answered because we didn't, we just didn't feel it. We didn't, we didn't feel it. He didn't answer it immediately. So we just give up. You know, I have to admit, I've probably been that person sometimes. I have to. All of us have. I really have. All of us have, but I just, I think this is so great. I'm going to read what AI wrote here.
Screw tape encourages wormwood to make the human focus on his emotional state rather than genuine communication with God. Focus more on your emotional state on the human emotional state than you communicating or worshiping God. Wow. I think that's so because he says, if the person fixates on whether they feel in quotes, if on whether they feel like they're praying, then it can distract them from actually doing so. Yeah, I love that. So I, that's a great insight.
Yeah. That's just one caution is not, not be so focused on what we feel. Instead we should be more focused on him and what he feels. You know, we should be more focused on not, not so much on my will or what I want. We should be more focused upon God's will and what he wants. We shouldn't, we should be not so much focused on, on God blessing me, but on me worshiping him. I mean, that's the attitude of prayer.
Yeah. And the attitude of prayer affects whether we receive communication, whether we connect or not. Right. Going back to the 11th step, praying only for knowledge of his will for us and power to carry it out.
Yeah. The second, a second caution that screw tape gives a wormwood to get the patient or man not to pray is that he suggests that wormwood should make the human think of God as something vague or as a distorted version of himself rather than as the true transcendent sovereign being that God is. This can reduce the effectiveness of prayer by turning it into a mere psychological exercise rather than an encounter with the divine. An encounter with the divine.
That's, that's, that's a great definition of prayer. Instead of just a psychological mental exertion sort of things, God. And I know that faith can be mental exertion. Somebody used that quote in conference as well. I know that God works through mental exertion. He can work through mental exertion, but it's more than that. It's an encounter. It's an encounter with the divine. That's what prayer is. That's how we should see it.
And that's not just us laying in bed thinking thoughts and directing them to God, but really connecting with him and having an encounter with him. And I know that can happen any place, any time in any way. I am not, you know, it's really, I think some people's prayers in the cars really, they do encounter God, their eyes wide open and they're crying out and they're talking to God and, but again, even in those prayers, we should be more concerned about his feelings than our feelings.
Anyway, third is to make prayers vague in general. This is kind of the caution and the condemnation, well, the caution or the, the correction that Jesus gives on, don't say vein, trite, vein repetitions, right? In prayer and screw tape wants wormwood to promote vague general prayers that lacks sincerity or depth. These kinds of prayers he argues are less likely to result meaningful spiritual growth or divine intervention.
I think some, some prayers are much more effective when we prepare to pray rather than just kneel down and say the same things over and over and over again, which is not, I'm not criticizing that. We all do it. But if you want your prayers to be more effective generally, then maybe we should be more specific in our preparation to say our prayers.
So some preparation and to think about what we really want to pray and, and how we can connect with God and how can, what, what is an inspired question that I can take to my Heavenly Father? What are things that I'm really specific things, specific things that I'm really thankful for? I want to express my gratitude for things that I've never expressed my gratitude to God for before. I mean, those kinds of things can really make our prayers more effective.
And then the fourth thing that screw tape wants to teach wormwood about how to get patient, the human not to pray is to prevent prayers from affecting the will of man. So one of screw tapes key strategies is to make sure that humans prayers remain superficial and they do not lead to any real change in their behavior or desires. He advises wormwood to encourage prayers. I love this. He advises wormwood to encourage prayers that feel religious but have no lasting impact on the person's life.
Wow. Man, that's so, see as loose. I, I prayers aren't a checklist thing to do. I mean, there's no bad prayer. You can't say a bad prayer, but it's, it's not a checklist sort of thing. It's kind of an attitude really Scott and more of us need to live our prayers. We need to really live them. We should see our life as a prayer life. You know, I know a general authority that was always his question when interviewing potential brother and to be stake presidents.
He would say, tell me, describe to me your prayer life. And I think what he was really wanting to discern and ask were men not just praying, but were they living their prayers? I think that's what it means when it says pray always, pray always that you may overcome temptation. Pray always that you may overcome Satan that live your prayers. Be more holy. Act like you're praying even when you're living. That's kind of the idea.
Yeah. Yeah. And if we would, if we would pray like that and we would live like that, Scott, we, we could receive more communication and revelation from our heavenly Father. I love that you reminded us and, you know, through CS Lewis that prayer really is an encounter with the divine. And I think of my encounters, you know, I can encounter the divine and have it look a whole bunch of different ways. I can encounter the divine in the temple. I can encounter the divine in the whatever.
And so if I think of prayer as being an encounter with divine, that really just kind of helps put everything in summation for me, you know, because I know that I can have an encounter in various places and I know that those encounters can be have take on different forms and have different meaning and impact in my life and in the lives of those I love. I love that. Well, I, I think all the general talks, general conference talks that we're giving, I love them all.
I think it's the best conference we've ever had. Yeah. But I really loved and I just really loved Elder Gong's talk on holiness and that we just need to be more holy, which is really another way of saying we just need more humility. Yeah. And let's see who was it. It was Elder Bender. I loved his talk too, because he talked that we need to be more humble and he talked about the pride cycle in Heelman. The book of Heelman and President Benson and his amazing talk on pride.
Pride is such a enemy to encountering the divine. Pride keeps us from really having prayers answered from God. Pride can definitely answer our own prayers. I, I, I love the description that I think it was President Joseph F. Smith gave in, in his book, Gospel Doctrine and describing apostates and those who have, who are deceived. He said that they, they read the word of the Lord by the lamp of their self conceit. I've always loved that.
Yeah. Description of those who are deceived, those who pray and think that their prayers are answered in inappropriate, false ways, that they read the Holy Word of God or they read the words of the prophet by the lamp of their self conceit. I think we all just need to be more humble, more teachable, that we need to be knocking, we need to be seeking, we need to be asking specifically humbly, with real intent, with faith, with patience.
Oh, it may take years before some of our questions are answered and our prayers are answered. But it's, it's kind of, I guess, Scott, the, the attitude that we have when we pray that I think is the real key to, to receiving revelation. Well, and it's a real key to joy, right? Joy was just one of the themes. It seems like there's several themes in each conference and that was one of the themes this conference is right. Elder Gong talked about it. Elder Utdorf talked about it.
Elder Karen's talk on joy, you know, we are members of the Church of Joy, he even said. And, and I think that, and I think that that, I think that that joy comes, Dave, through what you just said, those encounters with the divine, you know, that, that, that we can know that our life and our, our, the way that our life is going is acceptable to the Lord. We, we know that as we do this, we're inspired and, and encouraged through the spirit to engage in our own repentance process and so on.
And it's so important that, that we kind of are in touch with our, our feelings and our emotions and, and that they're in alignment with the, the heart, mind and will and even emotions of God who has emotions. And joy is not necessarily exuberant. You know, people who receive false revelation and are deceived, they have this false sense of exuberance, overzealousness, fanatical ideas and feelings.
And joy is a, a serious, a long term, deep feeling of purpose and confidence and feeling that we are in the, where we need to be doing what we need to be doing all according to the will of God. I like to define joy as a peaceful assurance that my life is in alignment with God's will. A peaceful assurance that my life is in alignment with God's will. That's joy to me.
Yeah. And I, and I think, I know, and I testified that it's true that we learned that through conferences past weekend and I know that as we continue to seek that we will continue to learn and as we continue to seek that he will continue to provide all that we've talked about today. Do we have an invitation? We will. Yeah. Let's, let's all pray with, with greater humility and greater perseverance and in an attitude of real gratitude and worship.
And let's just kind of change our focus as I told someone recently, you know, who's, who's been crying out for answers, been crying out for directions and feels as though they have not received what they wanted and somewhat discouraged and, and struggling because of that. I think it's so important, Scott, that what it's our focus. Are we focused on what I want? Are we focused on my needs?
Or are we focused upon the plan of redemption, the will of God, the gift of his son, his love, his mercy, his grace, as well as his, the Lord's, the Savior, the Savior's suffering, his sacrifice. If, if, if that would be more of our focus instead of what I'm going through or what I need or what I want, if we could tap in more to what Jesus Christ feels, what Jesus Christ experienced, what through Jesus Christ we might be able to receive in our lives.
If our focus were more on him and less on us, Scott, it would definitely increase our encounters with the divine. But when we're so focused on ourselves, I think God has a hard time getting through all of that. And look unto me in every thought, doubt, not fear not, and, you know, and then, you know, I can't, I can't quote that without the rest of that. Behold the prince of the nails, behold the wounds in my side and the prince of the nails in my hands and feet.
Be faithful and keep my commandments and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. We can inherit the kingdom of heaven even in this life as we have those encounters with the divine. Well, Dave, thanks, that that concludes our series on the receiving personal revelation and revelation in our lives. We hope that that's been a benefit to you. As always, you know, provide us with your comments at he redeems us at gmail.com. Thanks Dave. Good to be with you today. Thank you, Scott.
Do you have any final thoughts or words? Okay. Well, folks, thanks again for being with us. We look forward to being with you again next week. And until then, be well.