The apostles and prophets teach that acquiring the gift of the Holy Ghost is the most important thing we can do in life.[1] Some readers might not agree with this statement, saying that coming to Christ is more important.
If that is true, how would you answer this question: “How can we come to Christ without the Holy Ghost?”
One purpose of the Holy Ghost is to testify or reveal to men that Jesus Christ is the Son of God the Eternal Father (Matt. 16:16, 1 Corinthians 12:3). Without the Holy Ghost we cannot receive the necessary spiritual experiences to have a relationship with Christ.
We can study the scriptures, listen to the words of the living prophets, and thereby intellectually learn of Christ, but we won’t be able to experience Christ until we qualify for the Holy Ghost. Intellectual conversion to Christ is fragile, Spiritual conversion to Christ will ground and root us.
The challenge we have as followers of Christ is to diligently seek for the Holy Ghost, thereby fulfilling our baptism covenant. It’s not easy to acquire and maintain this gift, but the Lord is merciful to those who work at it.
The Lord reveals things about Himself through the gift of the Holy Ghost so that we can understand His dealings with men. He wants to be our friend, as well as our Savior.
Elder Henry B. Eyring said, “The problem for most human beings is that when things go well, we feel self-sufficient…[we] tend to seek the Holy Ghost most fervently when [we’re] humbled by difficult circumstances or life-changing decisions.” Raise the Bar, BYU January 25, 2005.
We live in a day abundance, a day of self-sufficiency. The consequence for too many church members is just as Elder Eyring indicated, a diminished gift of the Holy Ghost.
So my thought for this post is to diligently seek the Lord through our gift of the Holy Ghost, in times of peace, as well as in times of trouble. This is a sure way of becoming His friend.
One might ask: “how can I seek the Lord in times of peace?” Spend time with Him in earnest prayer asking to draw near to Him. Ask questions about those things in the scripture that you want to understand better.
My experience is that the Lord hears such prayers and will answer with a blessing, and as time goes on your faithfulness will be rewarded with increased manifestations of the Spirit that will provide you with a certainty of testimony.
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[1] “Men ought—above all things in this world—to seek for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing as important as having the companionship of the Holy Ghost.” Bruce R. McConkie, New Witness for the Articles of Faith, P. 253
“We worship the Father, in the name of the Son, by the power of the Holy Ghost.” The Promised Messiah, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1978, p. 13.
“I can say unto you that there is no greater gift, there is no greater blessing, there is no greater testimony given to any man on earth. You may have the administration of angels; you may see many miracles; you may see many wonders in the earth; but I claim that the gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest gift that can be bestowed upon man.” Wilford Woodruff, Deseret Weekly, April 6, 1889, 451.