Increasing Our Spiritual Fluency

It’s quite rare when I feel like I’m walking gracefully throughout life, doing exactly what God has asked me to do and actually succeeding in those efforts. Most days I feel like I’m stumbling along, tripping up the staircase, pulling at doors that are meant to be pushed, and taking directions from street signs that are written in a language I can’t understand.

It’s a shame really. How much time do I waste being disappointed in my own reflection? Far longer than I’d like to admit. I want to walk with grace and confidence each day. I want to have the ability to perfectly execute the actions God has asked me to take. I’d like to be some shining example of what it means to be a disciple of Christ, not because I need you to see me, but because I want Him to see me. I want Him to know how hard I’m trying to be like Him.

But here I am, stuck on a street corner, unable to read the signs all around me, praying for someone to come along and tell me where to go next.

Maybe if I spent less time praying to be rescued and more time learning this new language I’d get a little further. Maybe I’d be a little less lost.

The Language of the Lord

Communicating with heaven, seeing beyond the veil, and receiving personal revelation is one of the greatest powers we have access to. In my own life, this revelation has quite literally saved me physically, emotionally, and in some cases, spiritually. But learning to speak the language of the spirit takes work. A lot of work.

If we want to become fluent, we have to put in the proper time and energy into studying the language of the Lord. I can’t promise that you’ll feel connected to heaven overnight. I can’t even promise you’ll feel connected within the next few weeks. Sometimes it takes months or even years to become confident in your abilities and to realize that you aren’t just hearing and understanding the language of heaven, you’re speaking it too.

But like learning any language, there are things that we can do each day to increase our comprehension and communication skills. For the sake of time, I’m gonna focus on my top three habits, but if you’d like the rest of my thoughts, contact me on Instagram and I’ll DM the rest.

Syntax and Structure

In my study of both English and German, it has been the study of syntax and basic sentence structure that has helped me most in my ability to create sentences and stories of my very own. You have to learn the rules of rhetoric before you can ever use them effectively, let alone eloquently.

And so it is with the language of the Lord. You need to study the patterns in the way the Lord communicates. When does He speak? How does He speak? What does He require of us before He speaks?

Joseph Smith saw an angel of the Lord. Moroni appeared to him late in the night and spoke to him. Shortly after, the angel appeared again, repeating the words he had previously spoken before adding any additional information. Then once again, for a third time that night, the angel Moroni appeared, repeated his previous message and then added a little bit more information.

Did Joseph need to be visited so many times in one night? Didn’t he get tired of hearing the same message over and over again? I don’t know. But personally, I have experienced this type of communication from heaven. I get frustrated with the lack of new information at first. I don't understand why He won't tell me something new, something I've never heard before. But then I realize that the Lord is teaching me line upon line, and I’ll only receive new information once I’ve processed, internalized, and accepted the information I’ve already been given. (Read about Joseph's account here.)

But others did not receive repetitive visits from servants of the Lord.

Nephi was commanded to retrieve the plates of brass in order to preserve the records of his people. He wasn’t told how. He was just told to do it.

He tried, over and over again. And he failed, over and over again. And as he forced himself into the city yet again, risking his own life in the process, the Spirit finally gave him further instruction on how to proceed.

The instructions he received were difficult for him to accept. He resisted. He wrestled with his own mind and heart on the matter. But eventually, he acted on what he had been told.

The Book of Mormon doesn’t record the spirit telling Nephi to kill Laban, put on his armor and impersonate him in order to obtain the plates. But the record does indicate that Nephi was commanded to slay Laban in order to complete the work God needed him to do.

And so even after receiving a little more instruction from the Lord, Nephi still had to choose to be “led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which [he] should do.” He still had to come up with the rest of the plan to dress as Laban and impersonate him in his own house. (1 Nephi 4:6)

Because personal revelation is personal, the syntax rules and patterns of speech will be personal to you. God speaks to me in very different ways than He speaks to my siblings, friends, and parents. And of course He does! I’m not them. You’re not me. We don’t think and speak the same way. But God knows how to speak to us. We just need to look for the patterns.

Immersive Listening

When I was seventeen years old I moved to Germany and spent three months listening to the native speakers around me. I wasn’t confident enough, in the beginning, to speak to them in German, despite having studied it for four years prior to this move. And so I listened. I paid attention to how they pronounced the words I was unsure of. I listened to the inflection of their voices and found that it added so much to the meaning of their words. And as I spent months listening, I eventually felt brave enough to speak.

Do we listen to heaven when heaven calls our names? When we are prompted to text someone we haven’t spoken to lately, do we act? Or do we rationalize the thought away, telling ourselves it was an idea of our own making, and not really anything important or worthwhile?

If that’s you, don’t worry. That was me for a long time too. But at some point a good friend of mine called me out on it, reminding me that I should act on those good thoughts just in case they turn out to be real promptings.

It was difficult for months. I was pushing myself out of my comfort zone on an almost daily basis and I couldn’t see any indication that it was worth it. Listening to the messages I had thought I’d heard wasn’t doing me or anyone else any good.

The change came so subtly that I didn’t notice it at first. Finally, after months of acting on what felt like blind faith, I realized that I was beginning to separate my thoughts and feelings. I was beginning to be able to tell which thoughts were spiritual promptings, and which were just my own ideas.

Because these things felt and sounded so similar, I’m confident that it would have been almost impossible for me to differentiate them unless I had spent months listening to and subsequently acting upon what I’d heard. But the more I’ve listened, the greater my ability to understand has become.

Speak For Yourself

When I eventually forced myself to speak to the native speakers in Germany, I was terrified. And I was terrible at it. I can remember the amused smiles and coy chuckles that they reacted with when I tried to apply my limited knowledge of the language. I remember feeling embarrassed about the mistakes I was making in my grammar and pronunciation. I remember never wanting to speak in German again.

And yet, I kept speaking. I kept opening my mouth. I read books in German. I wrote down journal entries in German. I bore my testimony in German. And eventually, I became more confident in my ability to communicate.

Doesn’t Nephi encourage us to do this exact thing?

“And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies...” (2 Nephi 25:26)

As we speak with the Lord, and for Him as He directs us, our ability to hear the call of heaven will increase. As we open our mouths once again, even after teaching a lesson that didn’t go well, or getting ridiculed by an unbeliever, our ability to speak more clearly will be increased. As we write, post, and share our thoughts, impressions, and spiritual impressions (as appropriately prompted), our capacity to become missionaries for the Lord will be multiplied.

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If you want to walk with grace and poise, doing what is right and always succeeding in your efforts, I’m sorry to tell you that this may not happen. None of us are perfect all the time. None of our lives will let us walk away unscathed.

But if you want to walk confidently, sure of your own ability to speak with, and receive instruction from God of the heavens and earth, that is entirely attainable and sustainable. You can walk with the grace of Jesus Christ. You can speak with the humility of the spirit of God. You can be the disciple that you ultimately want to be because the Lord can multiply your efforts and abilities, helping you reach your ultimate potential line upon line.

It takes work. It takes time. It takes a conscious effort to forgive the mistakes of yourself and the people around you.

But it is attainable.

If you want to become fluent in the language of the Lord, start today. Heaven is eager to speak to you.