The ultimate thrust of all God’s purposes is for His children to feel the Spirit.  If we don’t home teach, attend Sunday School, sing the hymns, go to church, or hold Family Home Evening we don’t feel the Spirit that those activities would otherwise make us open to.  The best way of all for me to feel the Spirit is to be in the temple.  If I don’t go, I miss the opportunity to feel the Spirit.  The second best way for me personally to feel and hear the Spirit is to ponder, pray and write.  When I’m studying a subject to the extent of having to organize my thoughts into a coherent article or talk, the Spirit always teaches me.  I learn as I write.

If I ignore any of these activities, I bypass an opportunity for the Holy Ghost to speak to me.  The secret to an abundant, peace-filled, contented, joyful life is to daily provide a setting wherein the Holy Ghost can speak to you.

Very rarely does the Holy Ghost speak in audible tones.  The Holy Ghost speaks to us through another channel that touches our feelings.  It’s as gentle as the softest breeze, and quieter than the merest whisper.  It’s so soft and gentle that you normally won’t know that it’s even there unless you’re looking for it and trying to hear and feel it.  For one who has been baptized and confirmed it is always there.  It’s always helping, always directing, always correcting, always testifying, always urging us toward all good.  It’s always peaceful.  As we surround ourselves with stress and strife and strident sounds we drown out those peaceful whisperings and make it difficult for the Spirit to touch our strings.

In a very real way the channel through which the Holy Ghost works is a sixth sense.  It’s more subtle than the other senses, but more sure and more accurate when one learns how to use it.  Our eyes may deceive us.  We may hear things wrongly and misunderstand them.  The orange tastes or smells that we perceive might actually be strawberries.  Our sense of touch might be the most unreliable of all.

But the Holy Ghost is never wrong.  Once the Holy Ghost speaks to you, you know that thing more surely than if you’d seen it.  That’s why Laman and Lemuel could see an angel, hear the voice of the Lord, and still fall away; while Nephi, whose knowledge came through the Spirit, remained firm and steadfast.  Nephi upbraided his brothers, telling them, “Ye are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God.  Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words…”  (1 Ne. 17:45).

Notice in that verse that Nephi didn’t say “ye could not hear his words,” but rather “ye could not feel his words.”  “Feel” is the better word to describe the messages that come from the Holy Ghost.

Unfortunately the channel through which the Holy Ghost accesses our souls is also apparently open to the use of the adversary—and he uses it.  He uses it all the time, and most often, without our being aware of it.  Fortunately, however, if we’re aware of those two competing voices, we can tell the difference 100% of the time.  The Holy Ghost always leads us to do good.  The adversary never does.  The Holy Ghost is always accompanied by peace and light.  Messages from the adversary are accompanied by fear, doubt, indolence and darkness.  His purpose is to keep us from feeling the Spirit.

The Savior said, “For, behold, it is I that speak; behold, I am the light which shineth in darkness, and by my power I give these words unto thee.

“And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy.”  (D&C 11:11-13).

Through Ether the Lord said, “…Whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me…”  (Ether 4:12).

Mormon said, “For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

“But whatsoever thing persuadeth to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.”  (Moroni 7:16, 17).

Now for some examples:

Lucy Mack Smith, before the birth of her son, Joseph, became concerned about her husband’s lack of desire to continue to attend Methodist meetings with her.  He “said that he considered it hardly worth (their) while to attend the meetings any longer as it would prove of but little advantage to (them); besides this, it gave (his brother Jesse) such disagreeable feelings.”  (History of Joseph Smith, by His Mother, Lucy Mack Smith, pg. 43).

“I was considerably hurt by this,” she said, but made no reply.”  Instead, she retired to a grove of trees and prayed for him.  She prayed that the true gospel might be presented to him, and that his heart might be softened.  That night she had a dream:

“I thought that I stood in a large and beautiful meadow, which lay a short distance from the house in which we lived, and that everything around me wore an aspect of peculiar pleasantness.  The first thing that attracted my special attention in this magnificent meadow, was a very pure and clear stream of water, which ran through the midst of it; and as I traced this stream, I discovered two trees standing upon its margin, both of which were on the same side of the stream.  These trees were very beautiful, they were well proportioned, and towered with majestic beauty to a great height.  Their branches, which added to their symmetry and glory, commenced near the top, and spread themselves in luxurious grandeur around.  I gazed upon them with wonder and admiration; and after beholding them a short time, I saw one of them was surrounded with a bright belt, that shone like burnished gold, but far more brilliantly.  Presently, a gentle breeze passed by, and the tree encircled with this golden zone, bent gracefully before the wind, and waved its beautiful branches in the light air.  As the wind increased, this tree assumed the most lively and animated appearance, and seemed to express in its motions the utmost joy and happiness.  If it had been an intelligent creature, it could not have conveyed, by the power of language, the idea of joy and gratitude so perfectly as it did; and even the stream that rolled beneath it, shared, apparently, every sensation felt by the tree, for, as the branches danced over the stream, it would swell gently, then recede again with a motion as soft as the breathing of an infant, but as lively as the dancing of a sunbeam.  The belt also partook of the same influence, and, as it moved in unison with the motion of the stream and of the tree, it increased continually in refulgence and magnitude, until it became exceedingly glorious.

“I turned my eyes upon its fellow, which stood opposite; but it was not surrounded with the belt of light as the former, and it stood erect and fixed as a pillar of marble.  No matter how strong the wind blew over it, not a leaf was stirred, not a bough was bent; but obstinately stiff it stood, scorning alike the zephyr’s breath, or the power of the mighty storm.

“I wondered at what I saw, and said in my heart, What can be the meaning of all this?  And the interpretation given me was, that these personated my husband and his oldest brother, Jesse Smith; that the stubborn and unyielding tree was like Jesse; that the other, more pliant and flexible, was like Joseph, my husband; that the breath of heaven, which passed over them, was the pure and undefiled gospel of the Son of God, which gospel Jesse would always resist, but which Joseph, when he was more advanced in life, would hear and receive with his whole heart, and rejoice therein; and unto him would be added intelligence, happiness, glory, and everlasting life.”  (Ibid. pp. 43-45).

I’ve looked upon that very scene as I’ve had opportunity to lead music in sacrament meetings these many years.  In my mind’s eye I see a woman intent upon her singing who suddenly stops, chokes back tears and a sob, is silent for a few moments, and then continues to sing the words while very obviously feeling them as well.  This same woman told me that the first time she went to church choir practice as a girl, the choir learned the hymn, “Before Thee, Lord, I Bow My Head” (Hymn #158).  She said, “I remember walking to school the next day singing that song and crying.”

Again in my mind’s eye, as the congregation sings the sacrament hymn, I see a man sitting stiff and erect and fixed as a pillar of marble, as Lucy Mack Smith described the unfeeling tree.  He doesn’t open his mouth.  He never did, to my knowledge.  “Not a leaf was stirred, not a bough was bent; but obstinately stiff (he sat).”  I looked over at his son sitting with the deacons at the sacrament table.  All but one of the deacons were singing the hymn.  The one was looking straight ahead as stiff and immovable as his father.

Which of these three people felt the Spirit?  Which went away feeling glad they’d come?

Shortly after the dedication of the Logan Temple, in the early 1890s, the president of the temple, Marriner Wood Merrill, had an encounter with the devil in which Satan told him to stop the work in the temple.  President Merrill refused.  Satan said, “If you refuse to stop it, I will tell you what I propose to do.  I will scatter (my people) throughout these valleys, and we will keep people from coming to the temple.  We will whisper in their ears and discourage them from attending the temple.  This will stop your temple work.”

President Merrill dismissed the adversary by the power of the priesthood, but for the next 10 or 12 years the temple might as well have been closed.  Only 5000 endowments were done in a year, whereas later the temple would do over 3000 in one day.  Twenty-thousand total ordinances were done in one year, compared to 1.8 million a short time later.

Christian L. Olsen lived a half mile from the temple.  He soon learned to never announce that he intended to go to the temple.  If he did, things happened to prevent his going.  The cows would be out when he went to milk them, the horses would be gone, or his machinery would be broken down.  “Anytime I wanted to go to the temple,” he said, “I soon learned that I could not say it out loud.  I got up, milked my cows, set the bucket down and ran.  And then I could get there without any trouble.”  (Logan Temple, the First 100 Years, by Nolan P. Olsen, pp. 165-167).

Hardly anyone went to the Logan Temple for 10 or 12 years.  Everyone in the Logan area was a good member of the Church.  How upset would all of those good members of the Church have been to know that the reason they weren’t going to the temple was because the adversary was whispering in their ears?  Like us, they thought that they just didn’t feel like going this month, or that they were too busy.  Like us, before they knew it a year had gone by, and they hadn’t been to the temple.

How many times have you told yourself that you’ll go home teaching or visiting teaching next week when you feel more like it and when you won’t have so many things to do?  Have you ever been whispered to by the adversary?  I think we all have.  Is any thought more chilling than that?

On the other hand do you ever remember returning from home or visiting teaching wishing you hadn’t gone?  No, you’re usually glowing inside.  You feel good, you’ve been obedient, you’ve done your duty, and you’ve blessed lives.  That good feeling is the Holy Ghost.  Contrast that with how you feel when you’ve successfully put off going until the month is over and the chance is gone.  You’ve missed an opportunity to feel the Spirit.

Prayer is another opportunity to feel the Spirit.  When I was bishop a sister came to counsel with me.  She was feeling very low.  She was depressed, and nothing was going right in her life.  I listened while she talked.  I prayed for direction as she unloaded her problems.  Finally I asked a 3-word question.  I asked, “Are you praying?”

She answered, “Bishop, I haven’t prayed for three months.”

As she said that the lights came on for us both.  I gave her a challenge to pray, she accepted, and the next time I saw her she was all smiles.  Prayer and the Spirit were part of her life again; and not coincidentally, life was good again.  She had reopened the channels through which the Holy Ghost could speak to her, guide her and comfort her.

Those channels were previously being used by the adversary, telling her not to pray.  The difference was easy to see when the problem was pointed out.  One message was accompanied by darkness and depression.  The other came with hope, joy and light.  Remember Mormon’s words, “…wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.”  (Moroni 7:16).

We’re going to get messages, both good and bad.  That’s part of mortality.  We can accurately sort them out as to their sources.  The bad messages come uninvited.  The good messages often need to be sought.  We ought to regularly ask ourselves, “Will I be more likely to feel the Spirit while sitting in the foyer or clerk’s office, or by attending my Sunday School class?”

“Will the Spirit be more likely to speak to me while doing my home teaching or while reading the evening paper?”

“Will the Spirit be more likely to bless my home if I attempt to hold a Family Home Evening or if I just skip it this week?”

“Will I be more likely to feel the Spirit if I join the congregation in singing this hymn, or if I sit here and try to sort out today’s problem?”

“Will I feel the Spirit more by attending church today, or by going to the mountains?”

“Will I be more likely to feel the Spirit while reading the scriptures for these 15 minutes, or while reading my new Time magazine?”

“Will the Spirit be more likely to speak to me while I wind down from my day by playing my favorite video game, or if I interact with my wife and give her some help?”

The ultimate thrust of all God’s purposes is for His children to feel the Spirit.  If we’re wise, we’ll put ourselves in the positions where we’ll be most likely to regularly have its influence.