Day 2 - LDS General Conference - Practical Suggestions for Preparing to Come and Listen to a Prophet's Voice

What a marvelous thing it is to have the blessing of listening live, or by delayed recording, to the refreshing word of God as delivered by His living prophet and apostles. Indeed it is wonderful! Think of it--we can listen to God's word, as if spoken by Him directly to us, from nearly anywhere in the world. How great is the need to listen to the inspired guidance and direction we'll receive, specially crafted by our loving Father, to help us to stand firmly upon the rock of Christ in these swirling times of challenge.

How I love the opportunity to come and to choose the better part, as did Mary of old, and sit, as it were, at the Saviors feet and hear His magnificent voice through the voice of His servants. How grateful I am for the enlightening revelation given to the prophet Joseph Smith in which the Lord said, as we find in Doctrine and Covenants 1:38, "...whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."

What will you do to ensure you are prepared with ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart and a mind to understand?

Here are a few things that I've found to be helpful:

• Prepare every day by doing spiritual calisthenics which encompasses mighty prayer, searching, pondering on, and applying what is learned from the scriptures, and looking for ways to share and serve others.
  • Doing so will helps you to be prepared at all times to receive the Lord's guidance, and so prepared to received it during General Conference.
• Plan ahead to watch every session if possible. It is very easy to find reasons not to watch or listen to the Saturday sessions. However, I've found that by careful planning, I can watch all the sessions and thereby be tremendously blessed.
• Dress for all sessions as if you were going to be at church. I've found that this helps me stay more focused on spiritual things.

• Consider fasting for 24 hours during the sessions. In my own life, this has helped me draw closer to Heavenly Father, and also opened my spirit up to greater sensitivity to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, which in turn has lead to greater penetration of the concepts and ideas shared and therefore greater understanding.
• To ensure those thoughts and ideas don't slip away, take notes throughout each talk during every session.
• Review your notes and use to help goals as to how you will apply what what you've learned. This has been a tremendous blessing for me and I've grown in my confidence and in my abilities to succeed an all aspects of my life.

What a joy to have this sacred opportunity. May the Lord bless you to take this opportunity and make the most of it.

May your weekend be truly...

WONDERFUL!