How does reverence help me receive revelation?
When we are reverent, we show our love for God and are better able to receive personal revelation. A reverent attitude helps make us more sensitive to the still, small voice of the Spirit. If we treat sacred things with reverence, Heavenly Father will trust us and reveal to us additional truths.
Prepare yourself spiritually
What does reverence mean to you? How has reverence helped you feel the Spirit? What experiences can you share with the youth?
What does reverence mean to the youth in your class? How can you help them see the connection between reverence and revelation?
Prayerfully study these scriptures and resources. What do you find that will help the youth develop a sense of reverence?
1 Kings 19:12; 3 Nephi 11:1–7 (God communicates through a still, small voice)
Psalm 46:10 (“Be still, and know that I am God”)
D&C 63:64; 84:54–57 (Treat sacred things with reverence)
Boyd K. Packer, “Reverence Invites Revelation,” Ensign, Nov. 1991, 21–23
Paul B. Pieper, “To Hold Sacred,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2012, 109–11
“Reverence,” True to the Faith (2003), 145
“Revelation,” True to the Faith, 140–44
Teaching in the Savior’s way
In every setting, the Savior was an example and mentor to His disciples. He prepared Himself to teach by spending time alone in prayer and fasting. Share with the youth how reverence helps you prepare to receive personal revelation. How can you encourage the youth to show respect for sacred things?
Make connections
During the first few minutes of every class, help the youth make connections between things they are learning in various settings (such as personal study, seminary, other Church classes, or experiences with their friends). How can you help them see the relevance of the gospel in daily living? The ideas below might help you:
-
Invite the youth to share any questions they have about things they’ve been learning in other classes.
-
Write on the board, “Reverence is .” Ask class members to come to the board and write their definitions of reverence. Invite the youth to add to these definitions as they learn about reverence in today’s lesson.
Learn together
Each of the activities below will help the youth understand the connection between reverence and revelation. Following the inspiration of the Spirit, select one or more that will work best for your class:
-
Ask the youth to read “Reverence” in True to the Faith or portions of Elder Paul B. Pieper’s talk “To Hold Sacred,” looking for answers to the question “How does reverence help me receive revelation?” Invite the youth to share what they find. What do the youth feel they can do to become more reverent?
-
Divide the class into small groups, and ask each group to study together one or two of the scriptures suggested in this outline. Invite the groups to discuss what they learn from these scriptures about the relationship between reverence and revelation. Ask each group to share with the rest of the class what they learn.
-
Invite the youth to search President Boyd K. Packer’s talk “Reverence Invites Revelation” and look for things we should do to invite revelation in our Church meetings. Ask them to share what they find and to suggest ways to apply President Packer’s counsel about reverence to other settings or sacred things (such as the temple, the scriptures, and so on).
Ask the youth to share what they learned today. Do they understand how reverence is related to revelation? What feelings or impressions do they have? Do they have any additional questions? Would it be worthwhile to spend more time on this topic?
Gospel study skills
Searching for doctrine. In the second activity in this section, the youth are invited to study and discuss scriptures about reverence and revelation. Invite them to ask themselves questions like these to help them search for doctrine in the scriptures: What doctrine is taught in these verses? What do I learn about the doctrine? Is it different from what I have thought or learned in the past? Does it inspire me to change anything in my life? Encourage the youth to use similar questions during their personal scripture study.
Video: “Inviting to Act”
Invite to act
Ask the youth what they have learned today about the importance of reverence in receiving revelation. How might they change their behavior or their surroundings in order to better receive personal revelation?