Prophets- Family Councilors from the Lord

                          What picture comes to mind when you think of the word "Prophets"? Old bearded men in robes, kindly pastors, or lightning bringers? Maybe something like this?

Would you consider going to someone like this for family advice?

                    Our Heavenly Father has organized the human race into family units. Our family will be the source of some of the greatest joy we will feel in our lives. That isn't to say that the they will be without their problems, but they have been divinely ordained to be the means through which we can grow and learn in a loving environment. 

                    There is safety in numbers. Since the beginning of time humans have found shared ideals and joined into societies and countries. At the foundation of every strong society there have been strong families. Happy families and peaceful societies are ideals, and despite the reality of trials in life they are achievable ideals. So how can we achieve this? We are ruled by simple laws of cause and effect. It is easy to determine some of them such as gravity because the effects from it are so immediate. It is more difficult to determine others such as the proper way to raise a child because it isn't until they are older that we see what worked.
 

                   To teach the harder-to-distinguish principles of happiness, The Lord provided two means of communication for us. The most readily accessible of the two is the Holy Ghost. Everyone has the potential to receive direction from the Holy Ghost if they will be humble and receptive to his inspiration. Consider the following verse:
                   "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26)
                   If you have a concern or question you can pray to our Father for guidance and He promises to provide it. The answers we receive from the Holy Ghost are firm, but gentle. Unfortunately, due to our nature of being "hard of heart"(Mark 10:5) we often miss those subtle promptings of the Holy Ghost. We shake off those little feelings and try to do things "our way" instead of the Lord's way. Our Father in Heaven knew we would need a plain and simple way to receive undeniable instructions from him and so he provided us with prophets.

                  This following verse,  found in Deuteronomy, is specifically about Jesus Christ, but it is instructive to help us understand what makes prophets special:
                  "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him" (Deut 18:18)
                  Prophets such as Moses, Abraham, and the 12 apostles are unique for the simple reason that they were chosen by God to be his mouth-piece. No one can simply choose to be a prophet; they need to receive that authority from the Father. (Heb 5:4). Prophets are righteous men who have developed great faith and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. They record scripture as dictated to them from God and teach the gospel to the world.

                    The Lord has always worked through his chosen servants and he continues to do so. (Amos 3:7). So how do we learn from the prophets? In biblical times, a prophet might travel from city to city or write epistles to the believers scattered thought the world. In our day, The Lord has instructed that twice a year, the Church should gather and hold a meeting for the world to learn from the prophets. This meeting is called General Conference. The most recent general conference (as of this post) occurred in the first week of October, but don't worry! Thanks to modern technology, we have the privilege of watching it over and over again! I will include a link to general conference at the end of this post, But before you run off to learn from messengers of the Lord I want to explain a few final things.
                      I started by talking about families. The reason for this is because prophets were not sent for any one country or type of religion or people. Everything God gives us is to strengthen the family. I testify that our Father in Heaven knows about the things that trouble us. He knows our fears and needs.  He has prepared the prophets to speak words of comfort and council.

                      In order to take advantage of this blessing I want to give a couple suggestion that will help you get as much as you can from this conference. The first suggestion is this; come with a question.

         For example
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-10-1020-ryan?lang=eng&category=topics/revelation&cid=HP_FR_9-18-2015_dPTH_fMLIB_xLIDyI-1_

                     Come with a question and actively seek your answers and you will find them. The second suggestion is after you have found your answer, pray to our Heavenly Father to confirm the answers through the Holy Ghost. You will know you have come to the right conclusion when you feel the Fruits of the Spirit "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Galatians5:22-23).

                     The link below will take you to the conference which took place over the space of three days. While I would encourage you to watch all the sessions you can also make your search for answers more specific by clicking on "Topics" which will help to narrow down your search. The talks sometimes have jargon unique to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, if you are ever confused by anything please leave a comment or message and we will try our best to answer and clarify.

           Come with an open mind and a humble heart and learn from the Lord's chosen servants

                                               ~~October 2015 General Conference~~
                      https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2015/10?lang=eng