Today I was priviledged to attend the campus devotional. It was wonderful. The topic was none other than "Recieving and Recognizing the Holy Ghost". Talk about an answer to prayer! (see previous post)
The professor who spoke compared receiving and recognizing the spirit to the human endocrine system. This hit home for me. My brother and sister both have growth hormone deficiencies. My sister received growth hormone injection shots everyday from the time she was 3 until 15 years old. My brother started a little later and ended just after he started puberty. Any how...I have learned a great deal about how the body recieved hormones.
Here's a quick tutorial for those who may not be as familiar.
Only cell with a specific receptor may recieve a certain hormone. The receptor and hormone must match in a sense. Other cells without the matching receptor will not be affected by the hormones.
Now here is the professor's golden analogy.
Just as the cells receiving the hormones, we must be willing to receive the Holy Ghost when it comes to us. This means we must be prepared with the proper receptors.
Sometimes spiritual promptings come by and take no affect on us because we do not recognize them or receive them.
So then, how do we prepare our spiritual receptors to be keen to the promptings of the spirit when they come?
The professors response was obedience and a love of the Lord. We can develop those attributes through practice. We may show our love for the Lord by following Him in all things.
Sometimes, even when we are living righteous lives promptings still pass us by. This may be because of inexperience in recognizing the spirit, numbness to the Spirit(like Laman and Lemuel http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/16.20?lang=eng#19), or a lack of confidence in our personal ability to receive and follow spiritual promptings.
Do you ever find yourself doubting if a thought came from you or the spirit?
Here are some wonderful scriptural references the professor used to address how we can know if a prompting comes from Heavenly Father.
Doctrine &Covenants 6: 22-23
Doctrine &Covenants 8: 2
Doctrine &Covenants 9: 7-9
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