Episode 118: What it Takes to Become a Divine Receiver and Not a Natural Man Doer of the Gospel

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These last couple months I have been releasing a second podcast episode every week called the Divine Receiver Series. These episodes are women who have learned mental health skills through a spiritual lens to become divine receivers. Their interviews outline the transformations that were made in their lives. Be sure to check some of those out to see what your life could be like when you become a divine receiver as well. 

I have recorded many podcasts on the natural man and how it affects your mental health so I am not going to dive into that part of the equation much. I will link those episodes in the show notes and you can go back and listen to those if you missed them. What I want to cover today is what it is like when you AREN’T being influenced by the natural man. What does it take to not be influenced by the natural man and what are you able to do once you are there.

I’ve actually coined the term "Divine Receiver" as the state you are in when you are not being influenced by the natural man. Before I dive into what it takes to become a divine receiver, I want to outline a couple things about being in the natural man doer state. 

When you have painful or disappointing experiences in your life the natural man inside of you will tempt you to build barricades around your heart and not return back to your true divine receiver state. I believe these are your mental roadblocks that keep you from receiving revelation and feeling God in your life daily. As you go through life, your natural man oftentimes builds roadblocks between ourselves and heaven with our thoughts and feelings. Which can then lead to feelings of anxiety, overwhelm, fear, guilt, inadequacy, lack of trust and insecurities.

The key is to recognize what is happening with your thoughts and mind and use tools to return back to your true divine receiving state where you can receive Christ’s energy, time, help and peace. If you don’t you will start acting in the natural man doer mentality which reacts and responds in a way that isn’t very helpful and creates more chaos in your life. Which makes it more difficult to hear the Savior and access His power. I love what Elder Katcher says about being in this natural man doer state.

“An overdependence on ourselves can impede our ability to access the powers of heaven. But as we move toward true faith in Jesus Christ, our mindset begins to change.”

An overdependence on ourselves IS the natural man doer state because we are without God in that state. We are doing everything on our own and ONLY relying on ourselves. Therefore we CANNOT hear Him from that state and that is what is impeding our ability to access the powers of heaven and receive the energy, time, help and peace we need in this world from our Savior.

 So the state you want to return to is your divine receiving state.  After you have achieved your goal of becoming a divine receiver and can hear Him in the chaos and will be able to receive power beyond your own from the Savior. This is because His atonement provides an enabling power to deal with the effects of a fallen world. That is the state you want to be in so you can receive what God can provide for these chaotic times we live in. There are actually 4 major benefits of being a Divine Receiver.

The first benefit of being a divine receiver is to receive access to His enabling power of time beyond your own. If you have time beyond your own from Christ, you can accomplish more in less time because He can help you:

• Stay focused on a task to completion
• Go to sleep at night feeling accomplished with your todo list
• Have clarity in your mind to Solve problems simply 

The ability to have these results has been backed up by prophets and apostles for years. Essentially accessing Him in the chaos of life and receiving what He knows you need. Those are some pretty big powers in your life if you become a divine receiver right? Elder Richard G. Scott said, “As you walk to the boundary of your understanding into the twilight of uncertainty, exercising faith, you will be led to find solutions you would not obtain otherwise.” And Elder Meredith III said, “Focusing on Christ can simplify our decisions and provide a guide for how we can best spend our time and resources.”

 The second benefit of being a divine receiver is receiving power beyond your own from His enabling power. You will have more energy because you are connecting with your divine DNA inside of you and yoking to the Saviors abilities. If you have energy beyond your own from Him you will be able to:

• Relax and take care of your needs
• Have strength to Get things off your list that have been there for months
• Be connected to and serve the people you love

President Nelson has talked about energy beyond our own too. He said, “The truth is that it is much more exhausting to seek happiness where you can never find it! But yoking yourself with the Savior means you have access to His strength and redeeming power.”

The third benefit of being a divine receiver is receiving His enabling power of help beyond your own. You will be receiving divine help because you are becoming a vessel for the Savior and helping your loved ones with information from a source that knows their unique circumstances and how to help them better than they know how to help themselves. If you have His divine help you will be able to:

• Patiently allow others to use their agency to grow and develop
• Use empathy to see others as Christ sees them
• Courage to say the words the Savior needs you to say

And I love what Dale G. renlund says about divine help. “By acknowledging that every good thing comes from Jesus Christ, we will communicate our faith more effectively to others. We will have courage when confronted with seemingly impossible tasks and circumstances. We will strengthen our resolve to keep the covenants we have made to follow the Savior. We will be filled with the love of God, want to help those in need without being judgmental, love our children and raise them in righteousness, retain a remission of our sins, and always rejoice.These are the remarkable fruits of remembering God’s goodness and mercy.”

The fourth benefit of becoming a divine receiver is receiving His peace beyond your own. That is the ability to feel peace in the unpeacefulness of life by accessing the saviors enabling power to deal with living in a fallen world, with fallen bodies with people using their agency unrighteously. If you have His peace beyond your own you will be able to:

• Rest and sleep even in life’s storms
• Have discernment to make decisions in stressful situations
• Forgive yourself and others when things go wrong

President Nelson spoke about peace beyond your own when he said, “You can overcome the spiritually and emotionally exhausting plagues of the world, including arrogance, pride, anger, immorality, hatred, greed, jealousy, and fear. Despite the distractions and distortions that swirl around us, you can find true rest—meaning relief and peace—even amid your most vexing problems.”

Now that we know what the benefits are of becoming a divine receiver let’s talk about what tools it takes to become a divine receiver. I loved what Elder Kopischke said in the 2021 October Conference about tools.

“Challenges often indicate a need for additional tools and support and are not a character defect. We will experience stress and turmoil because we live in a fallen world with a fallen body. These all-too-often invisible challenges can affect anyone, and when we are facing them, they appear insurmountable. Regardless of our mental and emotional well-being, focusing on growth is healthier than obsessing about our shortcomings.”

Staying in the perspective of the natural man doer state is what keeps you in the obsessing thoughts of your shortcomings. Repenting and returning to your divine receiver state is what shifts your perspective to grow towards becoming more like the Savior. I love what he says about this not being a character defect, it’s just what we experience from being in a fallen world with fallen bodies, we just need mental health tools to deal with them right?

That is the exact reason I felt God pulling me to this work to teach women these mental health skills through a spiritual lens. So let’s talk about how to use mental health tools to put the natural man doer state to sleep and experience your divine receiver state so you can receive Time, energy, help and peace beyond your own.

There are actually 4 vital tools to removing those internal roadblocks so you can move from being a natural man doer into a divine receiver and hear and recognize him in your life.  It’s important to not only know these tools but be implementing them in your life daily so that you can receive what God knows you need for any circumstance. 

The first tool to removing roadblocks to revelation and becoming a divine receiver is to Calm Cluttered and Chaotic Thoughts. When you can calm your cluttered thoughts, you can hear Him and Stop wasting time and getting distracted so you can accomplish more in less time by receiving time beyond your own and start feeling focused, accomplished and have clarity in your thoughts. President Eyring says,

“The still, small voice—which is real—is clear and discernible in my mind when I feel an internal quiet.”

How else are you going to hear that still small voice if you don’t learn the mental health skills that create an internal peace and quiet? You have a resource at your fingertips that can help you know which daily decisions will save you the most time so you can stop wasting your time and focus on the things that matter most if you have the tools to quiet your mind so you can hear that still small voice directing you.

The second mental health tool to remove internal roadblocks to revelation and become a vessel for the Savior to know the exact way to help your loved ones is to Defuse Triggering thoughts. When the natural man is out of the equation because you were able to defuse your triggering thoughts it created you can feel relaxed, strengthened and connect better with others.

The third mental health tool to remove your internal roadblocks to revelation and connect to your divine spiritual DNA to get more done than you can do on your own is to Interrupt Your Inner Critic. This allows you to access Christ’s power for your day so you can feel patience, empathy and courage. Elder Renlund has said,

“Contention is spiritually unhealthy for us as individuals. We are robbed of peace, joy, and rest, and our ability to feel the Spirit is compromised.” 

The inner critic is the cause of  internal contention that is unhealthy for us. The inner critic robs us of patience, empathy and courage because the inner critic is literally the natural man’s job description. The natural man is the opposite of God so you will never feel satisfied. You will never feel caught up. You will feel like there’s always more to be done and the more you do the worse things get. Which all zaps your energy and doesn’t allow you do get more done. Can you relate to that feeling?

The last mental health tool you need to remove internal roadblocks to revelation and feel peace in the unpeaceful so you can go to sleep when life is not how you want  is to Build Mental Fortifications. Think about it, if the natural man is our enemy then what would it be like to go behind enemy lines and see what the tactics your enemy is going to use against you then build fortifications for each of those tactics. Then when the enemy comes to attack, they aren’t really that powerful because you have built up fortifications to each of their tactics.

I work with so many women who simply try to do more and more to build a life that never gets attacked in the first place. This is a losing battle because the natural man is going to attack no matter what. It’s part of the plan. So why not get behind enemy lines and be prepared for those inevitable attacks.

 Elder Bednar said, “Understanding the intent of an enemy is vital to effective preparation for possible attacks.” Do you see that important word, prepare? Your job is not to try to build a life that doesn’t get attacked, Your job is to prepare for the inevitable attacks of the natural man.

At this point you are probably thinking that you want all the benefits of becoming a divine receiver and the tools to get there. And I want to teach you! Right now The Removing Roadblocks to Revelation Group Coaching Program is open and you can get started today. This is an 8 week virtual group coaching program. We will meet each week and I will be teaching you the tools you need to:

• Calm your thoughts, stop wasting time and getting distracted so you can accomplish more in less time

• Defuse triggering thoughts and become a vessel for the Savior to know the exact way to help your loved ones

• Interrupt your inner critic and connect to your divine spiritual DNA  to get more done than you can do on your own

• Build mental Fortifications and feel peace in the unpeaceful so you can go to sleep when life is not how you want