How to Get Better Revelation Reception

By David Dickson

Church Magazines

Use this activity to see how we can get a clear signal for spiritual communication.

Do you ever stop and think about how many messages compete for your attention each day? And text messages are only the beginning. Add up every billboard, poster, TV commercial, online ad, etc., and soon you’re swimming in an ocean of competing voices, all crying out, “Hey, look over here!”

With all those messages swirling around, it can be easy to miss the “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). However, we can’t afford to miss those crucial pieces of revelation.

Object lesson time!

1. Preparation

Before the lesson, poke one small hole through the bottom of each cup. Insert the string through the holes and tie a large knot or tie to a paper clip. You need to be able to pull the two cups enough to tighten the string.

Set aside seven folded pieces of paper. You’re all set!

2. Message Blockers

Share the following quote from President Russell M. Nelson: “I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation.”¹

Discuss with your family some possible things that might interfere with our spiritual ability to receive revelation. Answers might include overscheduling our day, failing to pray, skipping scripture study, or making poor choices. You might write the answers on the seven folded pieces of paper.

3. Losing the Signal

Ask a family member to hold one of the cups. You’ll hold the other. Stretch them apart until the string is tight. Tell your family that you have an important message to share with them, such as the location of tonight’s FHE treat! But before speaking into the cup, place the seven folded pieces of paper at various places across the string. Tell your family that these represent those different ways that we might be blocking out revelation.

Speak your secret message quietly into the cup. Most likely, your other family member will not be able to understand you. But have no fear! All is not lost.

How do we get rid of such blocks to revelation? Discuss as many strategies as you can imagine. In addition, you might consider going over this five-part formula that President Nelson provided as a way to increase our ability to receive revelation.²

Increased purity
Exact obedience
Earnest seeking
Daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon
Regular time committed to temple and family history work

4. Crystal Clear

Never doubt that those still, small messages from the Holy Ghost can change your life. President James E. Faust (1920–2007), Second Counselor in the First Presidency, taught, “The still, small voice, though still and small, is very powerful.”³

Now that you’ve chatted about how to increase your ability to receive revelation, repeat the experiment. This time, first remove the strips of paper from the string.

With an open, tight string, repeat your message at the same low volume as before into your cup. This time your voice should come through clearly. And, if you’ve chosen to reveal the location of a treat, a high-speed search should soon commence.