Do I receive prophecies? Shouldn't I write them if I do? 1 Nephi 19:1

Do I receive prophecies? Shouldn't I write them if I do? 1 Nephi 19:1

Nephi describes how he made the golden plates as a place to write the record of his people, including the record of his father, their journey in the wilderness, his father's prophecies, and his own prophecies. 

My 2018 reading of the Book of Mormon I decided that I would write down my questions as they came to me but not worry about answering them until later. I was impressed several times with the thought that later, when I had time to try to find answers to these questions, I should also find a way to record and share what I am learning in a place where people will be able to read it. After a lot of thought and deliberation in my mind, weighing of various online options, and some (but probably not enough...) prayer, I decided that I would write my answers on this blog which you are reading and then cross post a weekly post with links to all of that week's posts. The day I decided this, I counted the number of questions. There were exactly the number necessary to take me from that day through the end of 2019 if I answered one/day (but I don't...I chunk my time differently; but that's immaterial). I took that as a friendly nudge that yes, I'm in the right direction. Certainly, there would be no harm in trying this, so long as I remember that it's always a bit vulnerable to post personal feelings of faith and testimony in a public place. 

But I felt this feeling so strongly so many times, over and over again in fact, that until I came up with this plan, I felt a bit restless and antsy.

So back to the question. 

I feel like a whole lot of this life is just parsing of semantics. Like, so much nit-picking. What does x word mean. Is a prophecy the same thing as a revelation? Is it a sub-category under a big fat umbrella called "personal revelation"? Or is it something that only a prophet can do? Does it necessarily mean foretelling events that have not yet happened? 

Because I know what I meant when I asked the question, I will answer that one instead. I was referring to personal revelation. Revelation is communication from God to humans, his children. Do I receive revelation? Well, yes! Of course. It's not angels or anything like that. More like this: 

Most revelations to leaders and members of the Church come through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.

Quiet spiritual promptings may not seem as spectacular as visions or angelic visitations, but they are just as powerful and lasting and life changing. The witness of the Holy Ghost makes an impression on the soul that is more significant than anything we can see or hear. 

I firmly believe that personal revelation is real and members of the restored church definitely do not have a monopoly on it. Anybody can receive it. This is how you can qualify to receive revelation even if you are not a member of the church:

1. Pray for guidance. In other words, try to talk to God in the best way you know how.
2. Be reverent, not snarky.
3. Be humble. Humility is genuine and sincere. It is being honest with yourself.
4. Keep the commandments. Some of the very important ones that seem a bit difficult for the world to keep right now are the law of chastity (sexual abstinence before marriage, complete fidelity after) and perhaps also keeping clean language (avoiding profanity, swearing, taking the Lord's name in vain, etc.)
5. Study the scriptures every day. This is something anybody can do with a swipe of their finger and a few taps of their thumb. We have the most amazing library literally at our fingertips. 
6. Take time to ponder. <-- this is something I have been doing a lot more of with this quest to answer the questions. The pattern so far has been for me to read my questions at the beginning of the week, search for answers in many places (including secular places, asking people, using corpus linguistics tools, and definitely reading the scriptures), and spend some significant amount of time just thinking it over in my mind. Pondering can be fun, but it is also more frustrating than other routes of gaining empirical knowledge.
7. Patiently wait for answers. They will come in their own time.