It’s not what it seems
The current prophet, President Russel M Nelson, encourages you to find a quiet place and seek the Lord, call out his name and listen, write down what appears in your mind, and then follow through with it.
This seems simple enough to connect with God the Father or His Son; this all seems well and good, who wouldn't want to have some extra help or reassurance with the problems and fears you are facing today? But there are also many who esteem this as a way to communicate with spirit guides, angels or those gone ahead into another realm. This is the very same instruction that is given to people seeking instruction from angels though "Channelling" or automatic writing. These guides basically break this down into 5 easy steps:
- Think about what you want guidance about
- Relax your mind
- Enter a gentle trance
- Allow for the inflow of information
- Interpret the information
These 5 steps are essentially what Nelson has instructed you to do.
There's just one problem, you are guaranteed to meet with someone this way, but it's far more sinister than you would be led to believe. Emptying your mind and allowing any influence to connect with you does not usher God in your presence, it invites anything (and "anything" will take every chance it gets). Not to mention that it is pretty presumptuous to assume that you can invite the creator into your presence.
Purified water is good to drink because of what has been kept out, pond water makes poor drinking water because anything has been let in. Just think about that.
Followers of Christ are called to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), to put on the full armour of God (Ephesians 6:10), that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) and to test all spirits (1 John 4:1-6). Feelings are fading, deceitful and inconsistent, trusting feelings is foolish and poor advice.
These verses state that there is a battleground for your mind, a war is being raged. There is no time or space for random "inflows of information".
Want to really hear from God?
- Take some quiet time and ask him to show you what he wants to speak to you (Matthew 7:8)
- Open a Bible, read, and ask Him his truth through His word. (Hebrews 4:12)
- (further to this, the Bible is the best commentary on itself, if you are unsure about what it may be saying, pray for further clarification and look for other verses that speak on the same topic)
- Be in regular contact with those that do the same. (Proverbs 27:17)
God revealing himself through His word is not the same as an inflow of information.
God does love you and wants you to know him, and he shows us how. Remember, he extended his hand to us because mankind trusted the wrong source in the past.