Until a few days ago, I had never actually looked up the talk that this came from. Turns out it was from a BYU Devotional in 1996, Unleashing the Dormant Spirit. I've been studying it over the past week, and wanted to share some of the thoughts I've learned.
First, "nothing really matters unless we take the Holy Spirit as our guide and avoid being deceived. " This is, or ought to be, a guiding principle in our lives: unless we can discern between the Holy Ghost and Satan (Good and Evil), we really have no solid foundation for our actions.
So how do we make this judgement? Elder Busche recommends that we apply Luke 14:33. (Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.) In his own words, Elder Busche suggests that if we can reply according to the following, we know we are following the Holy Spirit: "Yes. I am a disciple of Christ. I'm willing to sacrifice my own will, my habits, attitudes, and selfish desires, and endure the hurt and pain that such reflections cause, and bring to him as a sacrifice a broken heart and meek spirit."
Once we have figured out how to discern the Spirit, Elder Busche reminds us of the importance of being under its influence. "None of us has enough wisdom, enough intelligence, enough knowledge, enough skills, or enough courage, by ourselves, to master our lives and even to succeed in life unless we learn what it means to surrender ourselves into the arms of the Lord and be filled with the Spirit. He wants to empower us with the gifts that he has promised to give to each of his disciples who has made sacred covenants with him."
One of the beautiful aspects of the Spirit is that is changes not only what we do, but how we do it. "...under the influence of the Spirit we act in wisdom. We see the complexity of a problem in its simple parts, and we see the possible solutions unfolding in front of our eyes- to our own surprise. ...Our creativity is developed and multiplied. That which is a burden without it becomes a privilege when we are under the influence of the Holy Ghost."
A bit later on in the devotional, Elder Busche makes a connection between the Holy Spirit and humility that was especially striking to me. He explains that, essentially, sin is any time that we are not acting under the complete influence of the Spirit- which is something that happens every day! So, when we recognize our potential, our responsibility, as disciples of Christ to be under the constant guidance of the Spirit, and then recognize that we cannot possibly attain that on our own, we are able to cultivate humility: a recognition of our weaknesses and a beautiful and bright hope in the redeeming power of grace. As he says, "Seeing ourselves in our full responsibility means also seeing ourselves in our weakness, in our lost opportunities, in our failures- which makes us humble and meek. We see the necessity to enter into a covenant with the author of life, to activate the atoning blood of Christ to wash us clean, and to embrace, gratefully, the gracious gifts of the Holy Ghost for our essential empowerment."
After we recognize the deep need we have for the influence of the Spirit in our lives, Elder Busche discusses why we don't always have it's companionship. Ultimately, it comes down to one thing: desire. "All of our life's actions are the result of our desires." We must desire- more than anything, more than life itself -to be under the complete influence of the Spirit. Elder Busche counsels that we must organize and categorize our desires in our prayers in order for the Spirit to take us seriously.
I love his words near the end: "When the Light of Christ is able to penetrate our hearts, prompted by the enlightened testimony of truth by a focused teacher, it will cause in us an awakening, an awakening of the real me, the child of God, so that we can learn to channel our desires to focus on our true needs."
Our true needs. Our innermost desires to return to and become like our Heavenly Father, and to feel of his constant peace and love. When I am closest to my Heavenly Father, this is what I desire more than anything. I don't always feel it as strongly as I would like, but I relish in the moments that I do.
It reminds me of when the Savior came to visit the Nephites. The account tells that the people prayed for what they "most desired"- that the Holy Ghost should be given to them.
Our physical wants and needs often get in the way of this- as does our laziness, apathy, and pride. But when it comes down to it, I sincerely hope that I can be humble enough, aware enough of who I truly am, to counsel with my Heavenly Father, heed his Holy Spirit, and rejoice in the glory of the Atonement that allows me to become so much more perfect than I could ever be on my own.
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