Prayer & Revelation

Latter-day Saints believe Heavenly Father hears sincere prayer and can give personal guidance through the Holy Ghost. They also believe spiritual impressions should be sought humbly, tested carefully, and kept within the responsibilities God has actually given a person.

Prayer Is Communication with Heavenly Father

Latter-day Saint prayer is directed to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. Prayer can include gratitude, confession, worship, requests for help, questions, and quiet listening. The purpose is not to force a preferred answer from God but to turn toward Him with sincerity and willingness to follow Him.

What Is Personal Revelation?

Personal revelation means divine guidance given to an individual for that person’s life, needs, relationships, and responsibilities. Latter-day Saints believe the Holy Ghost can bring peace, warning, understanding, remembrance, conviction, or quiet impressions. Revelation may come gradually rather than as a dramatic event.

Recognize and remember

Light Received Over Time

In Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer, Elder Richard G. Scott describes seeking answers through prayer, thought, work, and patient action. He explains that understanding may arrive in portions. He also describes peace as a confirming witness in his own experience. Read his account as a personal testimony while making room for the questions you are still working through.

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Conference video · 14:58

Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Read Doctrine and Covenants 6:22-23 alongside his teaching. The Lord reminds Oliver of peace connected with a particular question. As a personal reflection, write what you remember and what it helped you understand. Keep any unresolved question beside it. Remembering an experience does not require adding certainty about something it did not answer.

Watch and reflect: What have I already received that deserves patient attention?

How Can Someone Prepare to Receive Guidance?

Official Church teaching emphasizes prayer, scripture study, repentance, obedience, worship, and patient effort. A person may study a question, make a thoughtful decision, ask God for confirmation or correction, and remain open to an answer that differs from the original preference.

How Can Spiritual Impressions Be Discerned?

Latter-day Saints are taught not to treat every feeling as revelation. Genuine guidance should be consistent with God’s revealed commandments and the teachings of Jesus Christ. It should not authorize a person to control someone else’s agency or claim revelation for responsibilities that belong to another. Time, scripture, wise counsel, repeated impressions, and the fruits produced by a decision can help with discernment.

What If No Answer Comes?

Waiting for an answer can be lonely, especially when the question matters deeply. A quiet prayer or an uncertain feeling is not, by itself, a verdict on your faith. Latter-day Saint teaching makes room for guidance that comes gradually and for thoughtful decisions made without a detailed instruction. You can keep seeking, talk with someone you trust, and take time to gather what you need.

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Conference video · 12:41

A Framework for Personal Revelation

Official Church talk; original focusChrist artwork

Watch with a question: Elder Dale G. Renlund explains how personal revelation relates to scripture, commandments, and your own responsibility to choose. As you listen, identify what is yours to decide and what belongs to someone else. Use the discernment exercise below to consider a next step while remaining open to further guidance.

A Simple Place to Start

Read James 1:5-6, which invites those seeking wisdom to ask God. Doctrine and Covenants 8:2-3 describes guidance through the Holy Ghost in the mind and heart. You might name one question in your own words, spend a little time with the passage, and write down what you still need to understand. This is an invitation to pray, not a test of whether you feel something immediately.

When You Are Unsure Whether a Feeling Is Guidance

You can take an impression seriously while still considering it carefully. What does scripture teach about the decision? What information is missing? Does the choice respect another person's freedom? An urgent feeling alone does not settle those questions.

Listening with patience

One person listens while another shares a concern. Explore persuasion, gentleness and respect for another person’s agency.

Doctrine and Covenants 121:41–44

Read “Listening with patience” in Jesus Christ in the Restoration and Today →

In A Framework for Personal Revelation, Dale G. Renlund discusses scripture, personal responsibility, God's commandments, and openness to further guidance. His explanation is especially helpful when someone claims to know God's will for another person's major life decisions. Counsel can help you think; it does not remove your responsibility to choose.

If your concern is that answers seem slow, the Church's Recognize That Revelation Is a Process offers further study. You might return to one question over time, without treating each prayer as a deadline for certainty.

Discernment in an Ordinary Decision

Think of a moment like this: you feel drawn to contact a friend who has been distant. Elder Dale G. Renlund's framework directs attention to scripture, your responsibilities, God's commandments, and openness to further guidance. You can choose to offer a kind message. Your friend remains free to respond, decline, or ask for space. An impression to care for someone does not give you authority to decide their life.

Questions to consider before acting

Is this kind? Is it mine to decide? What information or consent do I need? These questions are personal reflection aids. They do not certify an impression as revelation. You can act thoughtfully while remaining willing to learn and change.

Three Passages for a More Thoughtful Prayer Life

Prayer without performance

Matthew 6:5-13 places Jesus's teaching on prayer beside cautions about public display and empty repetition. The prayer He teaches includes God's will, daily needs, forgiveness, and deliverance. Consider which part is closest to your concern. You can speak to God in your own words, even when it is hard to explain what you need.

Study and responsibility

Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-9 was addressed to Oliver Cowdery in connection with translation. It describes studying a matter and asking God. Keep that setting in view: the passage should not become a rule that every faithful person must experience the same physical sensation for every decision. Compare it with the broader discernment guidance linked above.

Faith can begin before certainty

Alma 32:21, 26-28 distinguishes faith from perfect knowledge and invites a willingness to begin. As a personal exercise, separate what you know, what you hope, and what you still need to learn. That can help you bring a more honest question to prayer without claiming certainty you do not have.

What should I write down?

Consider the question, information you have gathered, counsel you have received, and a possible next step within your responsibility. Revisit it as circumstances change. A journal can support reflection, but it does not turn every thought into revelation.

Turn to God before the day begins

A man pauses to pray before the day begins. Continue with an invitation to bring our concerns to the Father.

Matthew 6:6–8

Read “Turn to God before the day begins” in Jesus Christ →

Bring your own words to the Father

Matthew 6:9–13 includes reverence, daily need, forgiveness, and God’s will. You can use these themes to consider what you want to bring into a sincere prayer.

What do you need today?

Name an ordinary need as plainly as you can. What part of it can you act on, and what help could you ask another person to provide? Bring the whole concern to prayer, including the part you do not know how to resolve.

What would willingness sound like?

Consider a decision where you strongly prefer one answer. What information or wise counsel would help you remain teachable? Write a prayerful question that leaves room to learn without handing your responsibility to someone else.

Room to hear His words

Mary listens while Martha brings her concern to Jesus. Pause with them and hear His words.

Luke 10:38–42

Read “Room to hear His words” in Jesus Christ →

What deserves another look?

Return to a previous note about guidance. What remains clear, and what has changed as you learned more? Give thanks for what has helped, keep open questions visible, and choose a responsible next step within your own stewardship.

Official Sources and Further Study

• Prayer: Gospel Study Guide
• Revelation: Gospel Study Guide
• Holy Ghost: Gospel Study Guide