Living Prophets and Modern-day Revelation

Mormons believe that the heavens are open and God still speaks. That is one of the fundamental differences between the LDS church and other branches of Christianity. We believe in a continuous line of modern-day prophets, starting with Joseph Smith and continuing through the decades to Thomas S. Monson today. I am now realizing that I never actually put up the story of Joseph Smith on here, so I'll have to do that in a future post, but that's not what this post is about. 

As a Church with Prophets and revelation, it would be silly if we didn't take time to gather and listen to our general church leaders every once in a while. So we have what we call General Conference every 6 months. We gather to listen to the Prophet and other church leaders including Apostles and Auxiliary leaders.  (Note -- The links that I add go to more information on the word/topic on LDS.org) Come listen in next weekend if you want to. I promise that if you listen with an open heart, you will hear something that touches your soul. 

Because I have the opportunity to listen to these men and women every 6 months, I have grown to know and love them. I have my favorites, that I always look forward to hearing from, but each conference I find that some of the most powerful talks are given by leaders that I am not very familiar with yet. 

So why do we believe in modern revelation? Well, I could ramble on for a while, trying to put my understanding of it into words, or I could let you listen to one of my favorite Apostles, Elder Jeffry R. Holland explain it. In short, we have modern revelation because God still lives, He is still involved in our lives, and navigating this changing world required continuous inspiration from Him. 

So the Prophet is the only one who has the authority or right to receive revelation for the church as a whole. However, we are each entitled to seek for and receive personal revelation. I pray for personal revelation all the time. I prayed for it when I was trying to decide what college to attend, what major to choose, and if I should marry my husband. It's not like I just pray and get answers to all my questions without any consideration on my part. The link I placed back there is a talk that addresses how we can receive personal revelation. I seek personal revelation and comfort when I feel sad. I pray all the time to know how to prepare for motherhood and other changes that are coming in my life. I pray to know what educational path is right for me and my family. Our Heavenly Father is invested in us. He wants us to be happy and he will help us find the path to get there if we ask Him to. Some of that path will be personal, but some of it is not so individualized. The parts that pertain to everybody are revealed through the prophets, old and current.