How to tell if you are being "moved upon by the Holy Ghost"

[JaredAlmond]

Quiet down. When you think you have quieted down... Quiet down further!! There is a Holy of Holies in your temple.

[Cookies]

According to the scriptures (summarizing) the way you will know if the Holy Ghost is moving upon you is because the Holy Ghost will be moving upon you.
That is circular reasoning right?

interestingly enough, I had a sort of similar circular thought. It went like this-
If the only way for me to tell when somebody else is being "moved upon by the Holy Ghost"- is if I am being moved upon myself,
then to find out weather I am being moved upon or not, I must be able to tell when somebody else is being moved upon. Ha ha!

[Cookies]

Quiet down. When you think you have quieted down... Quiet down further!! There is a Holy of Holies in your temple.

My dear, dear, JaredAlmond, you and your annoyingly vague comment got me thinking and wondering what the heck you meant by it...

"Quiet the outer world, so that the inner world can bring you sight. IN-sight."

*Edit to add reference for quote- http://www.universe-people.com/english/ ... _god_1.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I've totally done that before! It was awesome! I can't believe I forgot!?

[JaredAlmond]

Quiet down. When you think you have quieted down... Quiet down further!! There is a Holy of Holies in your temple.

My dear, dear, JaredAlmond, you and your annoyingly vague comment got me thinking and wondering what the heck you meant by it...

"Quiet the outer world, so that the inner world can bring you sight. IN-sight."

I've totally done that before! It was awesome! I can't believe I forgot!?

You're funny cookies.

I like that quote

This is Jesus speaking to the Pharisees-
"Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God iswithin you.Mark 17:21"

These guys weren't righteous dudes. If the kingdom of God is within them, then it would be within me.

[andsmith0723]

It comes to me in flashes of information and assurance. I don't mean information like taking a class and digesting a text book, I mean like a deep sense of knowing where something just "is". It's the light of Christ.

[JaredAlmond]

It comes to me in flashes of information and assurance. I don't mean information like taking a class and digesting a text book, I mean like a deep sense of knowing where something just "is". It's the light of Christ.

What you might be describing is the affect of storing "present knowledge". It's an interesting statement that Joseph uses when explaining the Holy Ghost and to help identify it...

"This first Comforter or Holy Ghost has no other effect than pure intelligence. It is more powerful in expanding the mind, enlightening the understanding, and storing the intellect with present knowledge," JS

[deep water]

Nephi; and I was led by the spirit not knowing beforehand the things I should do---I was constrained by the spirit that I should slay Laban

Enos; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life and the joy of the saints sunk deep into my heart And my soul hungered

Is this a subject that no hard and fast rule fits all experiences? Two different experiences told from two different people. Were both the effect of the HG? Or was it the light of Christ acting upon Enos ? Also JS having the desire to pray that very day, a day special to Jewish tradition. Coincidence or was he led to pray that day? Or are the differences just the difference the people who are being moved upon? The difference of their personal righteousness?

Enos and JS were not prepared to receive in the same amount as Nephi was. Nephi had already been through what Enos and JS were about to go through. Like Christ spoke three times to the most righteous people left when he appeared here in america before they could understand. I believe that the HG is always there and speaking, always communicating truth and knowledge to us, Its just that we have not prepared ourselfs to hear him.

It is the same with translated beings. Most would walk right by them not noticing them in the least. Nephi would have recognized them on the spot. Like the Bro of Jarad. He had advanced to the point that the lords finger was visible. Then he advanced again he seen the Lord. Then again and the Lord could not keep him out of heaven.

I believe that someone who thinks they are righteous, yet do not experience the things Nephi, or even Enos did, make up a false HG to believe in, or sell, so that their lie is complete.

[Bree]

I am grateful for this topic. There are many people that have shared what they have learned and experienced.

I used to get commandments, for the lack of a better word, telling me to go here or there.
The fruits were just as Robert shared and Coach.

Usually had something to do with my physical safety,or the safety of others. I have been lost in a town which happens a lot to me even now with a GPS. I was told go right or left etc until I arrived at the place I was to be.

While listening to talks, I am led to different scriptures. Which have added deeper understanding of the principle the speaker was sharing.

I have felt the burning in my bosom and have given my testimony of the spirit working in my life and then individuals would share with me privately they also felt the fire.

I felt it almost every day in my prayers ,with others.
Then there have been seasons, now particularly, where I feel a drought. I don't know why.

I get answers and directed and see fruits from obedience to the prompting, but I have not felt the burning, just a knowing.

With all of these experiences there has been new insight, information I needed or searched for, growth, warned of impending danger and individuals. There has been times prepared ahead of time (ex) making a dinner and add to it, then later that evening the Elders came by had not been fed but thanks to the Holy ghost they were.

One of my favorite primary songs is Listen Listen to the Holy ghost. I would put it here. But I am doing good enough typing this much. Lol

I know I have been blessed numerous times because I listened and obeyed and there are many times I have suffered and regretted greatly go not listening to it.

[Elizabeth]

Be ever on guard lest you be deceived by inspiration from an unworthy source. You can be given false spiritual messages. There are counterfeit spirits just as there are counterfeit angels. (See Moro. 7:17.) Be careful lest you be deceived, for the devil may come disguised as an angel of light.

The spiritual part of us and the emotional part of us are so closely linked that 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.

Avoid like a plague those who claim that some great spiritual experience authorizes them to challenge the constituted priesthood authority in the Church. Do not be unsettled if you cannot explain every insinuation of the apostate or every challenge from the enemies who attack the Lord’s church. And we now face a tidal wave of that. In due time you will be able to confound the wicked and inspire the honest in heart.
Boyd K Packer

[minorityofone]

Be ever on guard lest you be deceived by inspiration from an unworthy source. You can be given false spiritual messages. There are counterfeit spirits just as there are counterfeit angels. (See Moro. 7:17.) Be careful lest you be deceived, for the devil may come disguised as an angel of light.

The spiritual part of us and the emotional part of us are so closely linked that 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.

Avoid like a plague those who claim that some great spiritual experience authorizes them to challenge the constituted priesthood authority in the Church. Do not be unsettled if you cannot explain every insinuation of the apostate or every challenge from the enemies who attack the Lord’s church. And we now face a tidal wave of that. In due time you will be able to confound the wicked and inspire the honest in heart.
Boyd K Packer

The beautiful thing again is that if you are being moved upon by the Holy Ghost you will KNOW. The plan is not as difficult as everyone makes it. The problem is that so many people that have never experienced the Holy Ghost continue to preach what it is like. Do you think the apostles on the day of Pentecost were worried about being deceived? Or did they just KNOW what was happening because of the power of God that was upon then? I promise you all can have day of Pentecost experiences, and then have them again, and again and endlessly. Do you believe you can? Do you believe anyone can? If not you may have pinpointed a big part of the problem.

[kenh]

One more added note ...
“: ...too much of the literature used, seen, and quoted in the Church today is just sentimental trash which is designed to pull our heart strings or to moisten our eyes—but it is not born of true spiritual experience. The tendency of our youth to use sentimental stories in Church talks creates a culture of spiritual misunderstanding in which thinking and learning are discouraged. Because our youth often respond positively to sentimentalism, there is a danger that we might cater to that in the Church instruction more generally.... It [emotional sentimentalism] should never be leaned upon as a substitute for spirituality. Reliance on sentimentality will stunt our own spiritual growth by misleading us and filling our understanding with false experiences.
Reason and Revelation, Noel B. Reynolds, Academic Vice-President, BYU, Summer 1981

What Brother Reynolds was saying is if you feel a flush of warm fuzzy emotional energy and your eyes, as a result, form tears that IS NOT the Holy Ghost! That would be your own hyper sensitive emotional state.

The Holy Ghost speaks to us in our hearts and in our minds in complete sentences the mind and will of the Lord. The still small voice within maybe accompanied by a burning in our bosoms and/or a sense of peace and calmness. These spiritual experiences are the signs that God has communicated directly to us through the voice of the Holy Ghost. We are commanded not to seek for a sign as a communication from God. Asking for a burning in our bosoms is asking for a sign. We desire that the Holy Ghost speak to our souls and reveal to us the will of the Father.

[isaacs2066]

The way I understand it is ideas come from the spirit, words come from the Lord himself.

Every time someone in the scriptures hears a voice, audibly or in their heads it always says it is the Lord who is speaking.

Whereas the spirit is always described as resting on a person right before and during some action.

In Nephis case when he rebuked his brothers, in Samsons case when he killed 2,000 philitines with the jaw bone of an @#$.

[Desert Roses]

Here is a great article to consider: Feeling, and Fooling, the Spirit

I think this author is speaking of his own experience. While what he says is true (the intelligence we receive, the light, etc.) saying that we are misled by feelings is not accurate. For me, as an intellectually driven person, the one way I tell the difference between my own ideas and that given by God is by my feelings about the idea. If it is from the Spirit I feel calm, focused, and at peace. I call it my "rebar in concrete" feeling--a core, a certainty of safety and peace. If it is my own idea (or from another source) I might feel agitated, anxious, restless. The fact that I can differentiate the "intelligence" by the feeling that accompanies it is the Spirit's way of communicating with me. Each of us is fortunate enough to get taught and spoken to in a way that we can understand--our own personal experience and "language".