"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit."
Joel 2:28-29
This is talking about the last days, which is approximately now, so I'm pretty sure that we are part of the people that God says that he will pour out his spirit upon. I like the idea that if we are in tune with the spirit on our side that amazing things can happen... dreams, visions, prophecy, and more. The Spirit is what grants us a portion of God's power in our lives, and there are several scriptures that explain additional gifts.
Moroni 10 tells us about gifts of wisdom, knowledge, teaching, faith, healing, miracles, and prophecy. It explains that the ability to see angels and ministering spirits is also a gift, as well as the gift of tongues (variously speaking/understanding another language without a translator), and the interpretation of languages (Moroni 10:9-17).
Doctrine and Covenants 46 mentions that a knowledge of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion for the sins of the world is a gift of the spirit as well. It is also a gift to believe the people who know. It is a gift to understand the differences of administration, diversities of operation, the words of wisdom and knowledge, faith to heal or to be healed, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking and interpeting tongues, and the gift to be able to discern all of these gifts in someone else when it is your calling to do so (D&C 46:10-26).
Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians that we can't even say that Jesus is the Lord except by the Holy Ghost... the Spirit is tied up in all of these things, and we are working with the power of God when we speak of our knowledge or testimony that we have recieved from the Lord. He also mentions all of these gifts as well. I like how he explains "there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. / And there are differences of administration, but the same Lord. / And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all" (1 Corinthians 12:4-6). I think this means that first of all, we aren't meant to be robots or clones... there are tons of different gifts that fit different situations and that can enhance our efforts and help us. We won't all be helped or inspired in the same way, and that is okay, and expected. One person might get inspiration about a job, another might be inspired to write to a friend, and a third might feel the need to go on a walk, and not discover the reason for that until they are outside and paying attention.
Today, let's remember that God is pouring out his spirit upon us. Let's be open to it, and stay in tune with God so that we can use that power to enhance our lives and the lives of the people around us, working to make everything better and better. Let's also remember that the Spirit can have different messages for different people, depending on their callings, influences, desires, and talents. This is not to say that God is a disorganized mess who is going to give a prophecy for the whole church to someone besides his chosen prophet, or tell someone that they just don't have to belong to the church at all and they can just do whatever. That of course would be chaos, and we have to beware of Satan trying to mimic the spirit and decieve us with too-easy lies, just like we have to be careful not to fall for a spam email. :) However, if God tells one person to go to college and another not, or inspires one person to get a government or political job and another one to avoid it entirely, these are individual things. College isn't inherently good or evil, and neither is the government, but there can be a best path for our individual lives, and God can lead us down it. Let's listen, and talk with the Lord, and practice hearing and acting on the Spirit so that we can be blessed and not led astray. :)
Amen and Amen. Thank you
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