Hearing the Voice of the Lord: Principles and Patterns of Personal Revelation

This book is an extremely comprehensive and detailed book on receiving personal revelation from Heavenly Father. Every detailed area that is discussed is later exponentially divided into even smaller detailed areas. For example one sentence in one chapter will have an entire chapter devoted to it later in the book. The author has an extensive background professionally as an educational curriculum writer for colleges and religious educational programs and it shows it in this book as the book is very accessible and easy to read and grasp all its concepts, even if you have no prior knowledge of what the Holy Ghost/Spirit even is. Gerald N. Lund has the gift of knowing how to teach and making information accessible to all audiences. The author does not editorialize the facts in this book, but backs up everything with scriptures and quotes from prophets and other authorities. The book is also filled with real life anecdotes from the author, religious leaders, and common men and women experiencing personal revelation in their everyday lives that further makes the concepts understandable and relateable to everybody. Though this book is easy to understand and an enjoyable read, it is still very profound. I consider it like a reference book that I plan on going back to highlight marker sections and scribble notes about.

I love everything about this book. I have been buying it for my closest friends.

My wife got me this book and it really helped me pay more attention to the Holy Ghost and how he works and can work in my life. Great inspired material that took a lot of thought and prayer and I really appreciated his noble effort to address the vital subject of personal revelation. Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge with us.

Gerald Lund is probably best known for his fiction series, "The Work and the Glory," but he has also written many other books, both fiction and nonfiction. Besides writing books, he has worked in the Church Educational System for many years, has served as a bishop and a stake president, and is now a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy. He draws on his life experience for this latest book, on the subject of revelation. The book is organized into logical sections, covering subjects such as what revelation is, how it is received, and how to tell the difference between true and counterfeit revelation, as well as ways to know that thoughts and feelings that originate with us are being mistaken as communication from the Spirit. It ends by giving suggestions to improve our ability to receive revelation and reminding us that "we cannot live on borrowed light." The way the book is written makes it read more like correspondence from a friend than a technical essay, which should help make it approachable for any reader. It uses scriptures, quotes from Church leaders, and stories that Lund has gathered over the years, along with thorough (and sometimes somewhat repetitive) explanations to assist us in understanding the concepts covered. Lund attempts to cover every question someone might have about revelation, and he does a pretty good job of it. He introduces "a continuum of revelation," that goes from the less direct to the more direct forms, beginning with the light of Christ and ending with visions and visitations. (He freely admits to having not experienced the most direct forms.) He explains how seeking revelation can be helpful in making important decisions, and gives his opinion of what it means to have a "stupor of thought." I found it interesting that Lund feels that the phrase "burning in the bosom" is not to be taken literally. I assume that this is because he has not experienced it. He also quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as saying he hasn't. I have actually felt it many times in my life. However, I have not experienced some of the other types of revelation that Elder Lund says he has, so I suppose that different people tend to receive revelation differently. Still, I think it is unfortunate that he fails to consider the possibility that it could be literal. One of the more interesting examples of revelation that he gives is an explanation of how stake presidencies are chosen. He also gives a humorous example of false revelation, stating that a female BYU student came home from her first semester and told her parents that eight different men had received a revelation that she should marry them. (Elder Lund actually goes into some depth explaining how revelation can be used to help choose a mate, something that should be helpful for singles.) Divine intervention is discussed, which I wouldn't have thought of as a type of revelation, and advice is given on how to know whether it is truly divine intervention, or just a coincidence. It is a