3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. 4 Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark. 2 Nephi 32:3-4
After pondering this scripture the thought came to me that the voice of angels, the voice of the Holy Ghost, and the voice of Christ all sound the same and can be accessed in the same way. It is through the scriptures. There are some who think that “knocking” only involves praying. While that is certainly a part of it, this scripture seems clear that we must "feast upon the words of Christ”. When we are asked to knock, he is asking us to read our scriptures.
The “words of Christ” are the scriptures and include both the standard works as well as the words of the words of the living prophets (D&C 68:4). The meaning of verse 4 becomes more clear when you read the story in 1 Nephi 15:2-10. Laman and Lemuel could not understand the things that their father had told them. Why? First, they didn’t inquire of the Lord. Second, their hearts were hard. Third, they didn’t look to the Lord as they ought. They seemed to expect an answer to their questions without following the pattern of revelation. This pattern of revelation begins with one very important element. That is faith. You must have faith, or firmly believe that the last phrase of verse 3 is true. That is, “the words of Christ will tell you all things what you should do.”
When come to believe that the Holy Ghost has the power to tell us what we should do, and that we are entitled to the revelation within our stewardship, then we will be able to hear the words of Christ and we will know what we should do. Many of our challenges with person revelation come because we do not understand the process. Have faith, study the scriptures, pray, listen, and then act.
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We need not live in fear of the future. We have every reason to rejoice and little reason to fear. If we follow the promptings of the Spirit, we will be safe, whatever the future holds. We will be shown what to do. Christ promised that “the Father, [would send] another Comforter, … (John 14:16)
I fear this supernal gift is being obscured by programs and activities and schedules and so many meetings. There are so many places to go, so many things to do in this noisy world. We can be too busy to pay attention to the promptings of the Spirit.
The voice of the Spirit is a still, small voice—a voice that is felt rather than heard. It is a spiritual voice that comes into the mind as a thought put into your heart. (Boyd K. Packer, “The Cloven Tongues of Fire”, LDS General Conference April 2000)
Cross References
2 Nephi 9:51
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