You don’t know what to do. You’re in a dilemma. You open your scriptures with a prayer in your heart, and... voila! There is your answer!

You may be one of those who has had that experience. Whether you have or not, that experience is available over and over again to those seeking direction from Heavenly Father. Just as Lehi was able to look into the Liahona to find the direction he should travel in the wilderness, so we may look into our Liahona of the scriptures to find direction and understanding for our own personal lives.

Take, for instance, the young 21 year old sister who can’t decide what to do with her life. She opens her scriptures and is powerfully told to serve a mission. There is the concerned parent of a wayward daughter who opens the scriptures and learns that if she will continue faithful, her daughter will return to the fold. There is the Seminary teacher struggling with an inattentive class who opens the scriptures and finds she needs to be more accepting of the students. There is a missionary who opens to a verse that enlightens him as to why his investigator will not be baptized. In each instance, direction and understanding from Heavenly Father come, and the individual knows better the course he should follow.

As a stake president, councilor in a mission presidency, and as a bishop, I have seen that experience repeated thousands of times. My favorite way to give counsel is to hand the person a copy of the Book of Mormon, and say, “Let’s see what advice the scriptures will give you.” To the humble seeker of truth, an answer is always there.

I have called this method of seeking direction from Heavenly Father the Liahona Principle. Alma explained to his son Helaman that the Liahona was a “type” and “shadow” for the words of Christ and that “… it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ… as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass…” (Alma 37:44). In other words, it should be just as easy for us to find direction by looking in the words of Christ as it was for Lehi to find it by looking in the Liahona. The words of Christ are found in many different places, so answers may come in many different ways. But the Liahona, the compass that gives us the most direction, understanding, and help, would have to be the scriptures.

The Liahona Principle is simple. We just open the scriptures with a question, thought, or desire in mind. We then apply what we read to our personal situation. Experience has shown that the first verse read will usually have the answer, though reading more may give additional insight.

Elder Henry B. Eyring gave some great counsel and instruction on receiving personal revelation with a question in mind.

“Sometimes I go to the scriptures for doctrine. Sometimes I go to the scriptures for instruction. I go with a question, and the question usually is ‘What would God have me do?’ or ‘What would God have me feel?’ Invariably I find new ideas, thoughts I have never had before, and I receive inspiration and instruction and answers to my questions…

“Going to the scriptures to learn what to do makes all the difference. The Lord can teach us. When we come to a crisis in our life, such as losing a child or spouse, we should go looking in the scriptures for specific help. We will find answers in the scriptures. The Lord seemed to anticipate all of our problems and all of our needs, and He put help in the scriptures for us - if only we seek it.” (Henry B. Eyring, “A Discussion on Scripture Study,” Ensign, July 2005, 22-24)

Once again, the Liahona Principle is simple. It is as easy as looking into a compass. It is more about opening the scriptures than it is about opening to the right place in the scriptures. We just open the book and apply what we read. It is through the personal application of what we read that we receive our own inspired insight and direction.

If you would like to see how well this works, you can do so now. Just pick up your scriptures. Think of something that is of concern to you, or of a problem that you are struggling with. You might think of one of the questions Elder Eyring posed above, “What would God have me do?” or “What would God have me feel?” Then open your scriptures with that thought in mind, and a prayer in your heart. It doesn’t matter where you turn, just read the first verse your eyes rest on. Read that verse as if Heavenly Father is speaking directly to you. Apply it to your situation, or question. You might need to read a few other verses around it to better understand the context. But usually your answer will be in the very first verse you read.

There are two possible outcomes as you apply this principle. The first, and most common, is that you receive some good insight and understanding in answer to your question. Your Liahona is showing you a new direction, or giving you more understanding of God’s will. The second, and less common outcome, is that you don’t receive any additional insight or direction. That answer is okay too, as your Liahona is likely telling you to stay the course. The more you use your scriptures as a Liahona this way, the more you will experience God’s guiding hand in your life, and the more direction and understanding you will receive. Just as Lehi’s Liahona was intended to guide him through the wilderness, so our compass of the scriptures is intended to guide us on our journey through life.

There are many important and valuable insights a person can gain through his scriptural Liahona, but there are two I will emphasize. When the young Joseph Smith sought to know what church to join, he learned two important truths from the well-known verse he read in James - where he was at (that he lacked wisdom), and what he needed to do (ask of God). He said of his Liahona experience, “I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know... I at length came to the determination to “ask of God,” concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom...I might venture.”(JSH 1:12-13).

Where am I at? What do I do? Like Joseph, those are questions that often weigh upon us. Turning to our scriptures will often give us the insight we need to understand our situation, and to know how to proceed.

The Liahona Principle is one of the best “self-help” tools there is. As we apply it, we better see the hand of the Lord guiding us in our lives. We come to know Him better as He directs us on our journey, and as He gives us understanding concerning the things He would have us do.

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About the Author

Bradley R. Wilde was born and raised in Welling, Alberta, Canada, and has spent his career as a health care professional in Worland, Wyoming.

He has served in a variety of Church callings, including serving in two stake presidencies, and as a councilor in a mission presidency.

Brother Wilde is the author of It Pays to Understand the Book of Mormon, a children’s workbook, and I Make Me Sick, a book about how thoughts and feelings affect the body. He and his wife Debi have seven children.

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You can read more about using the scriptures as a Liahona in the author’s book, The Liahona Principle, available at LDS bookstores, or at www.liahonaprinciple.com.