This weekend members of the church have the privilege of hearing from the Lord’s chosen leaders for this day and time. Each of them has certainly invested a great deal of effort in prayer and preparation as they have selected their various messages to present in conference.
Wisdom would suggest that we as listeners should also invest in prayer and preparation to hear their messages. One way to do this would be to invite the Holy Ghost to be with the speakers and with us as a listener.
This morning as I read the Church News online I came across a comment President Monson shared about “promptings”. As I read the following comment I couldn’t help but think that “promptings” come from or through the gift of Holy Ghost and are the one thing that makes us different from all other churches. Without the gift of the Holy Ghost we would be an institution of men and women upholding high moral ideals, but would have no claim to the things of the spirit, but we do have the gifts and powers as the Lord revealed:
…I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments… whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same. D & C 1: 17 & 38
President Monson related the following:
I don’t know what prompts others, but I know what prompts me. When I get a feeling that I need to be somewhere and be doing something, whether it sounds plausible to me or not, I go. And I find that the thought came because the Lord knew that He didn’t need to give Brother Monson a lot of advance notice. It makes me feel so good inside to think that I would get the call, or the inspiration, that the Lord knows who I am and that He knows that I will go.
President Monson explained that sometimes promptings come to his wife, Frances Johnson Monson. She has encouraged him to make many visits to people in need, and has accompanied him on those visits, as she did one day when they were busy with other activities. Sister Monson told him that they should leave immediately and go to a local hospital to visit an acquaintance. They arrived just in time for President Monson to offer words of comfort to his acquaintance and administer to him before the man passed away.
President Monson said he is blessed as he reaches out to bless others. He learns and is edified in every encounter… LDS Church News April 5, 2008, P. 5.