Editor’s note: “The Spoken Word” is shared by Derrick Porter each Sunday during the weekly Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square broadcast. This will be given Sunday, April 26, 2026. This week is No. 5,041 of the broadcast. Please note that beginning Sunday, May 17, 2026, reservations will be needed to attend “Music & the Spoken Word” in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Find out more about how to make reservations here.
Saul was a man who sought to imprison and punish those who followed Christ (see Acts 8:3; 9:1-2). But later, through repentance, good works and faith, he became a new creature in Christ — the apostle Paul (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).
Paul’s writings reveal God’s influence working deep within him — shaping him into the servant the Lord knew he could become, helping him discern what to do and guiding him throughout his ministry. He wrote, “For it is God which worketh in you but to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
Like Paul, God also desires to work within each of us. One way He does so is through feelings and impressions — communications felt in the heart and recognized in the mind (see Doctrine and Covenants 8:2). God may not always remove life’s challenges, but He does send promptings that can help us know what to do next and how to move forward.
Promptings from heaven may warn of a need for change, but they never demean. They do not foster doubt; instead, they invite faith. They encourage us to move forward instead of anchoring us forever in the past. And they inspire righteous action — whether that means stepping ahead or, at times, accepting the invitation to “be still” and “wait upon the Lord” (Psalm 46:10 and Isaiah 40:31).
Paul’s apostolic example offers a pattern we each can follow: work to listen, pay heed to what you feel in your heart and sense in your mind, act in faith — and then entrust the outcome to God.
The scriptures record that Paul prayed regularly even while in prison (see Acts 16:25). He received impressions from the Spirit as he traveled from place to place (see Acts 16:6-10). He walked by faith as he went to Jerusalem, “bound in the spirit,” not knowing what would befall him there (Acts 20:22). He experienced miracles — even as he accepted the Lord’s will not to remove some of his own personal suffering and challenges (see Acts 14:8-10 and 2 Corinthians 11:23-27; 12:7-9).
Thousands of years later, Paul’s pattern remains true. As we learn to listen carefully to heaven’s voice, we too can receive divine influence from the Spirit of God — guidance that helps us move forward in faith, trusting both the outcome and the timing to Him. And as we do, heaven’s quiet impressions can shape our lives, and like Paul, we can become new creatures in Christ.
Tuning in …
The “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast is available on KSL-TV, KSL News Radio 1160AM/102.7FM, KSL.com, BYUtv, BYUradio, Dish and DirecTV, SiriusXM (Ch. 143), tabernaclechoir.org, youtube.com/TheTabernacleChoir and Amazon Alexa (must enable skill). The program is aired live on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time on these outlets. Look up broadcast information by state and city at musicandthespokenword.com/viewers-listeners/airing-schedules.
