Dean of Marriott School of Management teaches BYU-Idaho students about hearing the voice of the Spirit

Ned Hill, dean of the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University, taught Brigham Young University-Idaho students how to listen to the voice of the Spirit in a devotional address given Tuesday, March 11.

Hill described the help God has given men through the Holy Ghost, a member of the Godhead who has the responsibility "to teach, testify, recall to remembrance, comfort, buoy up, and bring peace to our souls." Hill then outlined nine guidelines for becoming more receptive to the voice of the Spirit.

The first is "do your homework." Hill explained how he and his wife worked to make an educated decision about the path his life should take. "We realized that doing our homework was a vital part of the process-we could not fairly expect heaven to answer our prayers if we didn't do our part first. We then made a tentative decision based on our best judgment. Then we set a time for us to fast together. During our fast, we prayed earnestly, asking Heavenly Father for divine confirmation of our tentative decision," he said.

The second guideline is to "tune your spiritual receiver." "While I don't pretend to understand the physiological mechanism, there is a spiritual ‘receiver' within our souls where promptings of the Spirit are felt," Hill said. "Sin makes our hearts less receptive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost."

The third guideline is that we should minimize competition with the voice of the Spirit, including the spirit of contention, gossiping, criticizing others, loud and profane talk or music-and anything else that draws us away from the Spirit. 

Hill's fourth guideline is to seek out places where the Spirit is more likely. "You will find that you can hear the ‘still, small voice' more easily if you spend more time in quiet, contemplative, peaceful surroundings than in the harsh, loud, contentious environment so often present in the world," he said.

Guideline five, Hill taught, is to practice listening to the Spirit's voice by serving others. He encouraged students to follow promptings to serve those around them, promising an increase in their ability to hear and understand the voice of the Spirit. "If we respond to those quiet promptings that come to us, I promise we will find that our ability to feel the voice of the Spirit will increase and it will come with more frequency. On the other hand, I fear that if we ignore the promptings, the Spirit will withdraw and prompt us less and less often," he said.

The sixth guideline is that the voice of the Spirit is often heard through the voice of God's anointed prophets.  He reminded students that reading the scriptures, listening carefully to the prophets and apostles, and writing down the promptings received are some of the best ways for God to communicate with man. "If we notice promptings of the Spirit by writing them down, these promptings will come more often and we will improve our ability to recognize them," he said.

Guideline seven is the importance of listening carefully and weeding out those who attempt to impersonate the Spirit. "I suspect we sometimes may be confused because the Spirit's voice often touches our emotions-sometimes very powerfully. However, not all strongly felt emotions are the voice of the Spirit. Sometimes our fears, our excitement, our pride, our greed, our feelings of infatuation may be construed as promptings of the Spirit," he said.

Hill then reminded students that guideline eight, boasting about Spiritual matters, often has more effect on hearing the voice of the Spirit than members of the Church realize. "I don't believe the Lord is pleased when we boast about our spiritual promptings or share them inappropriately...Perhaps we should take a lesson from Mary, the mother of the Savior, who, rather than boasting of her remarkable experiences, ‘...kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart,'" he said.

Hill's final guideline deals with unexpected answers to prayers. "Many times, Heavenly Father chooses not to answer our prayers or He gives us an answer that is at variance with what we expected. If He were to answer every prayer, remove every pain, cure every illness, forestall every death, and make every decision for us, He would thwart the very purpose of our existence," he said.

Next week's devotional speaker will be Earl S. Swain, CES Area Director. Devotionals are held every Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the Hart Auditorium with additional seating in the Hinckley Chapel, Taylor Chapel and Kirkham Auditorium.  Devotionals are broadcast on KBYI-FM 100.5 at 2 p.m. and rebroadcast Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m.