Church Doctrine

How Can I Recognize the Holy Ghost?

Justin Baer

The Savior has promised that the Holy Ghost will “teach [us] all things.”1 Moroni taught that “by the power of the Holy Ghost [we] may know the truth of all things.”2 Nephi taught that the Holy Ghost “will tell [us] all things [that we] should do.”3

The Holy Ghost provides us with significant blessings, some of which I discuss in a prior post, “The Sacrament: the Promise of the Holy Ghost,” but how do we know if we’re experiencing the Spirit? How do we know whether what we think or feel is the influence of the Holy Ghost or just our own thoughts or feelings?

This is at the same time challenging and simple. That might seem like a contradiction, but promptings from the Holy Ghost are simple enough that a child can understand,4 and intricate enough to guide us through complex problems.5 As we learn and seek to live principles of revelation, we will better understand the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

Recognizing the Holy Ghost can be challenging

Trying to explain how the Holy Ghost communicates with us is not easy. Elder Boyd K. Packer explained:

“We do not have the words (even the scriptures do not have words) which perfectly describe the Spirit. The scriptures generally use the word voice, which does not exactly fit. These delicate, refined spiritual communications are not seen with our eyes, nor heard with our ears. And even though it is described as a voice, it is a voice that one feels, more than one hears.”6

Elijah said the Lord was not in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, but a “still small voice.”7 This “still small voice” requires effort to recognize and understand. When the Savior visited the Americas after his resurrection, the people heard a voice, but they couldn’t understand it the first time, or the second time (“it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center”).8 They had to focus and make an effort before they could understand.

In addition to the challenge of recognizing the Holy Ghost, there are other forces that seek to influence us, and we have to learn to distinguish those from the Holy Ghost. The Savior said, “[T]here are many spirits which are false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth, deceiving the world. . . . And then received ye spirits which ye could not understand, and received them to be of God.”9

Because there are other types of influences that work on us, we need to learn the difference between those promptings that come to us from the Holy Ghost, and those that come from other sources.

We need to distinguish between the influence of the Holy Ghost and other feelings or strong emotions

We often associate the Holy Ghost with “feelings,” and with good reason. When Nephi rebuked his brothers, he said that they were “past feeling,” so they couldn’t “feel his words” (meaning the words of the Holy Ghost).10 In his letter to the Galatians, Paul said that the fruit of the Spirit was “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.”11

Because of this, we often make a connection between our emotions and the Holy Ghost. But Church leaders have encouraged us to distinguish between strong emotions and the Holy Ghost. In his talk, “Candle of the Lord,” Elder Packer cautioned:

“The spiritual part of us and the emotional part of us are so closely linked that it is possible to mistake an emotional impulse for something spiritual. We occasionally find people who receive what they assume to be spiritual promptings from God, when those promptings are either centered in the emotions or are from the adversary.”12

President Howard W. Hunter provided a similar warning:

“Let me offer a word of caution. … I think if we are not careful … , we may begin to try to counterfeit the true influence of the Spirit of the Lord by unworthy and manipulative means. I get concerned when it appears that strong emotion or free-flowing tears are equated with the presence of the Spirit. Certainly the Spirit of the Lord can bring strong emotional feelings, including tears, but that outward manifestation ought not to be confused with the presence of the Spirit itself.”13

In other words, the Spirit can cause strong emotions, but not always, and not with everyone. Conversely, feeling strong emotions doesn’t necessarily mean that we are feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost. How can we tell the difference?

I have found that focusing on what I needed to do to invite the Spirit into my life helped significantly. Rather than fixate or worry about whether what I was feeling was the Holy Ghost, I changed focus, so my effort was in doing those things that ensured the Spirit was with me. That has helped me to more fully recognize the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is a language

In 2 Nephi 32, we read Nephi’s teachings that seem to describe the Holy Ghost as a language:

“Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?

“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.”14

I remember reading this as I was struggling with how to recognize the Holy Ghost, and it sounded to me like Nephi was comparing the Holy Ghost to a language. I served my mission in Chile, so I had to learn Spanish. After my mission, I attended BYU and got a job teaching at the MTC, where I taught Spanish to missionaries. Because of those experiences, I knew something about both learning and teaching a foreign language. During my years of teaching, I would sometimes have missionaries frustrated with their slow progress, and they would ask how they could learn Spanish faster. I would typically tell them that there was no magic solution. They had to do two things: they had to study the language, and they had to immerse themselves in the language.15

Study. Immersion. Those are the two best ways to learn a foreign language. As I thought about my experience learning and teaching Spanish, I compared that to learning the language of the Holy Ghost. I realized that my counsel to missionaries applied to my struggle to understand the Spirit. Rather than worrying about whether what I was thinking or feeling was the Holy Ghost, I would instead focus on studying the language of the Holy Ghost, and make an effort to immerse myself in that language.

How can we learn the language of the Holy Ghost?

Every language has rules. If we want to learn a language, we have to learn those rules. To learn Spanish, we need to memorize words, learn how to conjugate verbs, learn the parts of speech, and learn how to form sentences. Just like a foreign language, there are rules that apply to the language of the Holy Ghost.

These rules are often referred to as the “principles of revelation.” Joseph Smith taught, “No man can receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelations. The Holy Ghost is a revelator.”16 He also talked about “growing” into the principle of revelation:

“A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.”17

Just as it takes time to become proficient in a foreign language, it can take time to grow into the principle of revelation. President Nelson has referenced this quote many times, but particularly in his article, “Grow into the Principle of Revelation.”18 He said:

“Knowing how the Spirit speaks is essential today. To receive personal revelation, to find answers, and to receive protection and direction, we remember the pattern the Prophet Joseph Smith set for us.

“First, we immerse ourselves in the scriptures. . . . Next we pray. . . . Then we listen.

“If we will stay on our knees for a while after we finish our prayer, thoughts, feelings, and direction will come into our mind. Recording those impressions will help us remember what actions the Lord would have us take. As we repeat this process, we will, in the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, ‘grow into the principle of revelation.'”19

We learn the rules of the language of the Spirit as we learn the principles of revelation.

How can we immerse ourselves in the language of the Spirit?

When missionaries learn a language at the MTC, there comes a point (after just a couple of weeks) that we ask them to speak only their language. This is very challenging, as they have a limited vocabulary and they don’t have experience trying to speak that language. But it starts the process of language immersion.

We need to do the same with the Spirit. But how do we immerse ourselves in the language of the Spirit? It isn’t easy, but it is quite simple: we live the principles of revelation as we learn them.

For example, each week as we partake of the sacrament, we covenant that we are willing to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, always remember Him, and keep his commandments which He has given us.20 We are promised that as we strive to live those covenants, we “may always have his Spirit to be with us.”21 So, if we want the Spirit with us, we need to actively and intentionally live those covenants. As we conscientiously make the effort to live our covenants, we qualify to have the Holy Ghost with us, and by so doing we immerse ourselves in the language of the Holy Ghost. The more we make that effort, the more we will begin to understand the language of the Spirit, or, the more we will “grow into the principle of revelation.”

What are the principles of revelation?

The scriptures and the words of the prophets teach us principles of revelation. As we study the scriptures and live the principles we learn, we have experiences with the Spirit that help us understand those principles.

Learning the principles of revelation is a lifelong process. The Lord has told us to “seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”22 We need to study, but we also learn as we live the principles discovered through our study. Learning a language is only partially effective if we only study. To become proficient in a language, we must speak it. So it is with the language of the Holy Ghost: if we want to become proficient in the language of the Spirit, we must study, but we must also exercise faith to live those principles learned in our study.

Perhaps the most frequently shared scripture about learning from the Spirit is called “Moroni’s promise”: “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”23

For many years, I believed that meant that as we read the Book of Mormon, we should be able to pray and know it’s true. But I never had an experience like that.24 The lack of that type of experience caused me to question whether I could recognize the Holy Ghost; but I was ignoring the true meaning of a key phrase: “real intent,” which means acting on or living the truths we learn.

“Reading with real intent means being willing to act on the doctrine and incorporate it into daily life. Praying with real intent means being willing to act on the answers we receive from God.” (See Preach My Gospel: a Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Chapter 3: Lesson 1-The Message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, p. 44).

The key to seeking with “real intent” is being willing to act. It’s not enough to just know. So if we want to more fully recognize and understand the promptings of the Holy Ghost, we need to act in faith to do the things that the Spirit prompts us to do.

If we want to recognize and understand the Holy Ghost, we need to study the principles of revelation and live them. My recommendation would be to begin with the sacrament prayers, found in Doctrine and Covenants 20:77, 79. The next post, “Principles of Revelation,” provides a study guide with several scriptures that we can study to better understand how to recognize and understand the Holy Ghost.

References

  1. John 14:26. ↩︎
  2. Moroni 10:5. ↩︎
  3. 2 Nephi 32:3. ↩︎
  4. “Behold Your Little Ones,” Ensign, July 2016, “Children can recognize the influence of the Spirit. Teach them that the feelings of peace, love, and joy they have when they talk or sing about Jesus Christ and His gospel come from the Holy Ghost. Help them understand that these feelings are part of a testimony.” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2016/07/behold-your-little-ones-learning-to-teach-children?lang=eng&id=p5#p5. ↩︎
  5. Elder Richard G. Scott, “Learning to Recognize Answers to Prayers,” Ensign, November 1989, 32, “When we seek inspiration to help make decisions, the Lord gives gentle promptings. These require us to think, to exercise faith, to work, to struggle at times, and to act. Seldom does the whole answer to a decisively important matter or complex problem come all at once. More often, it comes a piece at a time, without the end in sight.” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1989/11/learning-to-recognize-answers-to-prayer?lang=eng&id=p40#p40. ↩︎
  6. Boyd K. Packer, “The Candle of the Lord,” Ensign, January 1983, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1983/01/the-candle-of-the-lord?lang=eng&id=p29#p29. ↩︎
  7. 1 Kings 19:11-12. ↩︎
  8. 3 Nephi 11:3-6. ↩︎
  9. Doctrine and Covenants 50:2, 15. ↩︎
  10. 1 Nephi 17:45. ↩︎
  11. Galatians 5:22. ↩︎
  12. Elder Packer, “The Candle of the Lord.” ↩︎
  13. Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, “Discern the True Influence of the Spirit,” Chapter 4, p. 109, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/preach-my-gospel-2023/12-chapter-4?lang=eng&id=p52#p52. ↩︎
  14. 2 Nephi 32:2-3. ↩︎
  15. I would also emphasize to them the gift of tongues, which is a gift of the Spirit. See Doctrine and Covenants 46:24-25. But as I will address in a subsequent post, one of the principles of revelation is work, and so if we want to have the gift of tongues, we need to do our part. But as we make that effort, the Lord will magnify the result, which is one reason missionaries learn their language so quickly. See, for example, “Lessons From The Language Boot Camp For Mormon Missionaries,” NPR, June 7, 2014, “[T]here’s a difference between training soldiers and training missionaries. To study Mandarin at the Defense Language Institute takes 64 weeks; missionaries leave the training center after just nine. Many institutions want to know the secret to that efficiency, not just the military. The MTC frequently hosts visitors from government, academia and business. But there’s something that can be hard to replicate outside of the church. It’s the thing that has these young adults smiling and bright as they spend every waking hour focused on their task. ‘Everything we do is trying to learn by and with the Spirit, so that’s really the only way you can … stand it here,’ says Benjamin Simpson. Many other students said the same thing in one way or another — and whether you share their faith or not, the results speak for themselves.” https://www.npr.org/2014/06/07/319805068/lessons-from-the-language-boot-camp-for-mormon-missionaries. The speed at which missionaries learn their language is the perfect example of living the principles of revelation and receiving the blessings of the Spirit, even if we don’t realize it’s happening. ↩︎
  16. Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, “Chapter 10: Prayer and Personal Revelation,” p. 132, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-joseph-smith/chapter-10?lang=eng&id=p26#p26. ↩︎
  17. Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, “Chapter 10: Prayer and Personal Revelation,” p. 133, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-joseph-smith/chapter-10?lang=eng&id=p24#p24. ↩︎
  18. Russell M. Nelson, “Grow into the Principle of Revelation,” Liahona, January 2021, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2021/01/grow-into-the-principle-of-revelation?lang=eng. ↩︎
  19. Nelson, “Grow into the Principle of Revelation,” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2021/01/grow-into-the-principle-of-revelation?lang=eng&id=p15-p22#p15. ↩︎
  20. Doctrine and Covenants 20:77. ↩︎
  21. D&C 20:77. ↩︎
  22. Doctrine and Covenants 88:118. ↩︎
  23. Moroni 10:4-5. ↩︎
  24. There are many who have had experiences where they read the Book of Mormon, and pray, and know that it’s true. For example, see Steven C. Harper, “Knowing is Nice but Not Enough,” Ensign, January 2020, “Shortly before leaving for my mission, I finished reading the Book of Mormon, then knelt and prayed simply but with real intent, a sincere heart, and faith in Jesus Christ (see Moroni 10:3–4). I felt a powerful impression that conveyed, “You already know it’s true.” It came with peace I have never desired to resist. I have known since then that the Book of Mormon is true.”). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2020/01/knowing-is-nice-but-not-enough?lang=eng&id=p25#p25. See also, Marcus B. Nash, “Book of Books,” New Era, October 2011, quoting from Parley P. Pratt’s autobiography: “For the first time, my eyes beheld the ‘BOOK OF MORMON’—that book of books. … I opened it with eagerness, and read its title page. I then read the testimony of several witnesses in relation to the manner of its being found and translated. After this I commenced its contents by course. I read all day; eating was a burden, I had no desire for food; sleep was a burden when the night came, for I preferred reading to sleep. As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true, as plainly and manifestly as a man comprehends and knows that he exists” (Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, ed. Parley P. Pratt Jr. [1938], 37).” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/2011/10/book-of-books?lang=eng&id=p15-p17#p15. ↩︎

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