How Does the Holy Spirit Help Me?

So this week I want to focus on something I struggle with all the time: how the Holy Spirit interacts with us. To be honest, I’m hoping that writing this post will help me understand the relationship between us and the Holy Spirit better, but I hope to hear from some of you as well. Let’s start with the simplest and most straightforward things we know about the Holy Spirit.

Who is the Holy Spirit and What Does He Do?

The Holy Spirit interacts with each of us personally through personal revelation. He testifies of God the Father and of Jesus Christ and communicates this testimony to our hearts in a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:11-12, King James Version).

The Holy Spirit also:

• Is a distinct member of the Godhead with God the Father and Jesus Christ
• Testifies of truth
• Is a companion and guide to those who are baptized and receive him into their lives
• Protects us
• Helps us gain spiritual gifts such as testimony, patience, and charity
• Is sensitive to things that are offensive to God
• Does not have a tangible body like ours (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22)

There is a lot more that could be said about the Holy Spirit, but this list gives a good background of who he is and what role he plays in our lives.

I could write a whole post just about these things, and maybe I will one day. But today I want to focus on the role of the Spirit in personal revelation.

How Personal Revelation Can Come Through the Holy Spirit

I have to admit, I have no idea how many other religions believe in personal revelation or believe that it comes through the Holy Spirit. But in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that the Spirit helps to communicate God’s will to each of us individually.

I should point out that what we receive individually from God through the Holy Spirit is intended for us individually. Not for the world or the Church as a whole. We also believe that the only one with the authority from God to direct the Church as a whole is the current prophet and president of the church.

But we can receive personal revelation for our own lives through the Holy Spirit. To make the role of personal revelation more clear, I’m going to use the word “guidance” in place of it through the rest of the article.

Now, I believe these things about the Holy Spirit and his guidance completely. However, my experience receiving this guidance is more sketchy.

There may be several reasons for this. For one example, I might be doing things that don’t align with God’s will or commandments. As I mentioned above, the Holy Spirit is sensitive. If I do something that God would be offended by, I might not be able to interact with the Holy Spirit as well as I could if I didn’t offend God.

Even though God loves me whether I (and we) follow Him or not, following the commandments and doing things that invite the Holy Spirit into my life definitely help me to get the guidance I need.

There are various reasons we might struggle to receive the guidance we want or need from the Holy Spirit, including a lack of willingness to accept whatever answer is given, needing to wait on God’s timing, and so on. But even if it’s a struggle to receive that guidance, that doesn’t mean we will never receive the guidance we need.

Because there are times when I feel like I have received an answer. Times when I know exactly what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell me. That guidance doesn’t always come in the same way for me, and it’s possible, even likely, that your interactions with the Holy Spirit are completely different from mine.

Our experiences may be different, but I hope this helps you see how varied and personal the Holy Spirit is in his communications with us.

The “Gut Feeling”

Some might pass this off as intuition, but I believe there is more to it than that. There are times when things feel incredibly wrong, or absolutely right, and there is no logical reason behind it. This, to me, is the Holy Spirit.

I think I only have smaller examples of this one. A more trivial one I’m thinking of is online dating. I, personally, am not a fan of online dating because I don’t always trust that people are genuine on these apps and websites.

But I have recently started trying it out. Still not a fan, but in spite of this, there are feelings I have about certain people, like I should or shouldn’t try to match with this or another guy.

I don’t know why I shouldn’t, but I trust those feelings. I’ve had these feeling when traveling, when making major decisions, and in many other contexts. A lot of the time, I think they are feelings that protect me. I don’t know what would happen if I ignored the feelings, but I’ve never regretted listening to the Holy Spirit in this way.

Clear and Unique Thoughts

Often, when I’m praying for help or guidance, I have thoughts come to mind that don’t seem to be mine.

I don’t want this to be misunderstood. It isn’t like I’m hearing voices in my head. Not at all. But the thoughts are ones that I wouldn’t normally have.

This is a difficult one to explain, especially if you aren’t familiar with the Holy Spirit giving you guidance. When I mention this in Sunday School, people usually have an idea what I mean.

But if this is new to you, it might sound totally crazy. I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that.

The thing is, these thoughts do give me ideas, inspiration, and guidance that I wouldn’t come up with on my own. Sometimes the thoughts are strong, sometimes they’re subtle. But the more I pay attention to them, the more I think I recognize them for what they are.

Talents, Skills, Hobbies

It’s often said that the Spirit speaks to us in our own language. I think this goes beyond languages like English, Spanish, Tagalog, etc., and includes things that we have as strengths and interests.

For example, I love to write, and I’ve found that the Holy Spirit often speaks to me or teaches me when I write. I think that the process of writing, for me at least, is so different from my other usual thought processes that it opens me up to accepting new thoughts and ideas.

I also love reading. The number of times I’ve been taught by the Spirit while reading, even when I’m not reading scriptures, is beyond my ability to count.

I’ve heard of people who feel that the Spirit speaks to them when they are playing music or listening to music. Whatever skills and interests you have, I think the Spirit can find ways to communicate with you through those things. It might be worth pausing and thinking through the possibilities.

Assurance

I think this might actually be one of the most common ways that the Holy Spirit communicates with me, and possibly the one I’m least aware of.

There have been many times in my life when I have learned and accepted truth. Plenty of times when I’ve questioned those truths but still ended up believing and knowing those things. I think I’ve considered many potential reasons the gospel and Church may or may not be true, and I’ve heard lots of reasons to leave the Church.

Throughout all of this, even in moments of serious questioning, I’ve found simple, quiet assurance that I can trust the faith-affirming experiences I’ve had. That I can trust the Lord. That truth is always truth and I can hold onto it.

Assurance is absolutely a gift of the Spirit, and it’s such a gentle thing that I often don’t take much notice of the nudges of assurance the Spirit gives me in my day-to-day life. But sometimes I do notice, and I’m grateful to have that assurance and comfort in my life.

There are other ways to feel the Holy Spirit. Everyone is different after all. And since the Holy Spirit is sharing God’s will with us, he knows how to best communicate with us individually.

So, this week, I’d love to hear if anyone feels the Holy Spirit differently. Or if you have any experiences with the Holy Spirit that other people could learn from.

Let’s see if we can all figure out how to recognize guidance from the Holy Spirit a bit better this week.

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