Revelation in the Rough

This is Like a Health Cleanse So you know when you resolve to eat healthy food again and you start doing but don't feel any better? Sometimes you need some extra power to wash the muck away. One way to do that is a health cleanse. The technique I am about to teach you is like a health cleanse. It is a disciplined practice you do for 30 days and it can really reset or boost your spiritual system. Wendy Watson Nelson taught me this and it helps you to consistently practice receiving revelation in a grounded manner. Word of caution though - if you aren't trying to eat healthy and you go on a cleanse, it can mess up your systems. Then if you resume junk food right after, the cleanse didn't do you any good. This is the same thing. You should be practicing the basics we talked about in Blog Post 2 and Blog Post 3  and then you can engage this as a kata to help you get better. If you aren't doing the basics, I don't know if this will work that well for...

General Conference As most of you well know, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Two times each year we have a church wide conference that all who are members or not a member can go to! Obviously it isn't practical to get everyone to one room so it is also broadcast all over the world. It is so Awesome! Here are my favorite talks and thoughts from the two day conference. Most of this post is directly taken from the talks. Blogger didn't really like my copying and pasting, so sorry for the formatting issues. Remember to come for the teaching , not the robe and bowl ;) Michelle Craig (Spiritual Capacity) 1. Be Intentional about Creating Time and Space to Hear God's Voice      The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that most often God reveals Himself “to individuals in private, in their chamber; in the wilderness or fields, and that generally without noise or tumult.” 2. Act without Delay      When you receive prompt...

On Fallen Worlds I have a news alert! This just in! We live in a fallen world. :( A fallen world is a world generally separated from the divine by something. Well, take a look around you. We obviously have a pretty big separation going on. Once you feel inspiration of some sort, everything else looks even more drab. When Jesus came off the mount of transfiguration, it seems he was distraught at the lack of faith all around him. While some of this is unavoidable, I believe there is a way to surmount it. I believe there is a way to see everything as part of the divine plan, and see the divine plan in everything. The Theory The theory is that God created heavens and earth and everything that is in them. According to more oriental philosophy, there is a force, the Tao, the moves everything and upon which everything moves. So in theory, what we can do is look for this divine light in every situation, in every object, and in every person. I believe oriental religion...

Life is still Hard! What's up with That! There is a great Zen quote that I want to share: Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. Every time I feel like I'm more in tune, life gets harder. I feel better about myself but I hurt more as I face successive challenges. Sometimes I wonder why things don't just work out when I am doing the right thing. Unfortunately, I know I am not alone. I don't even have anything real to complain about compared to some of my friends. I can think of so many names in the United States and other countries who are doing good things every day but still just barely hanging on. Sadly, I don't understand why it is so hard. I don't know why the best people struggle so much. All I know is that I have received revelation in my life and I know it is the right way to go, regardless of the struggle. Many prophets, and God Himself, promise a state called "The rest of God" fo...

The Gospel of Jesus Christ The gospel of Jesus Christ is super simple at its core. Yes, I know the Bible teaches lots of things, many of which are important, but the core can be simplified into 4 parts 1. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ 2. Repentance (we have talked about this already) 3. Baptism as a symbol and promise to follow Jesus Christ 4. Receiving and being open to the gift of the Holy Ghost I look at the gospel of Jesus Christ as a guiding path to receive revelation. You will see that I used many of these principles in my previous blog posts. Let me show what I mean. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ In Blog post 2 - How to get revelation , I said walking the path of faith is doing what you know to be right according to your best knowledge every single day. It also means that you are continually seeking and asking for God to play a part in your path. I also introduced the idea of finding your true self in blog post 2. Almost 8 years ago, I talked with one of the t...

This is the Trickiest Topic of Them All This is seriously the hardest blog post to write in this mini-series. There are a lot of forces in this world and many of them use some truth and rightness, mixed with deception and darkness, to fool you into going down the wrong path.  Honestly, I think I've been deceived all the time. It is very difficult in this current world to understand things through God's eyes. The good news is that there are a few times in my life where I know that I was doing the right thing, or receiving a prompting from God. So I hang on to those as a base reference to help me understand better what to do. There are a couple other tricks that I would like to show you today. A Warning Before we Continue Just a warning, if you want these things to work in your life, you better be doing the things in blog post 2 - How to get revelation and blog post 3 - Rolling back the distractions Emphasis (and not for the last time!) on being true to yourself...