While visiting the 17-year-old Prophet Joseph Smith on Sept. 21, 1823, the Angel Moroni quoted several Old Testament passages (see Joseph Smith — History 1:36). Among them was Joel 2:28-32. Two of those verses read as follows:

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

"And also upon the servants and the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit."

The passage is repeated in the New Testament, as Peter quoted it to the Jews at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:16-21).

Moroni, citing this passage as he did at the dawn of the Restoration, left no doubt that it applies in our latter-day dispensation, just as it did in ancient times. Yet the wording of the passage from Joel is so dramatic, we as Latter-day Saints might be prone to view it with a sense of detachment: Does it really pertain to us?

The passage, of course, is referring to personal revelation, a spiritual gift and privilege available to any worthy person on whom our Father in Heaven sees fit to bestow it. At any given moment today, we have a prophet who leads the Church of Jesus Christ and whose role is to speak the mind and will of God as it pertains to the Church and Kingdom of God and to mortal beings generally. However, each individual is entitled to receive revelation concerning his or her own life and personal sphere of responsibility.

The Book of Mormon prophet Alma spoke of the universal scope of personal revelation and seemed to echo the prophecy in Joel when he said of the Lord, "And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned" (Alma 32:23).

Moroni's quotation of Joel must have had great meaning to the young Joseph Smith as he, himself, so recently had experienced the verity of those words. Desiring to know which among the competing churches of the day was right, and led by the admonition in James 1:5 to "ask of God," he sought the Lord in prayer. He received not just an answer to his prayer, but a glorious theophany, one that opened the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.

Moreover, at that moment Moroni's visit to Joseph was itself a manifestation of the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy that "your young men shall see visions."

All of this occurred in an age when religionists were teaching, as many do today, "that there were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the apostles, and that there would never be any more of them" (Joseph Smith — History 1:21). On the contrary, Joseph had learned through personal experience the truth taught in Jesus' analogy about a father not giving a stone to a son who asks for bread. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7:11).

Personal revelation, of course, need not be in the form of a divine visitation, vision or dream. It can come — and most often does — as the "still small voice" experienced by the prophet Elijah (see 1 Kings 19:12). Joseph Smith taught: "A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus" (History of the Church, 3:381; from a discourse given by Joseph Smith on June 27, 1839, in Commerce, Illinois; reported by Willard Richards).

Personal revelation can be so subtle, in fact, that we might not view it in the moment as revelation and only recognize it as such upon retrospective reflection. It can come as bits of insight that occur to the mind as one reads the scriptures or listens to an inspiring sermon. One man had developed the habit of making marginal notations in his personal copy of the scriptures to record insights that occurred to him as he read. He was amazed to encounter the notations as he subsequently re-read his copy, insights he had forgotten but which he now recognized in retrospect had come to him by way of personal revelation.

Scriptural accounts allude to persons who experience a manifestation of the Spirit without immediately recognizing it. The resurrected Christ in His visit to the Nephites spoke of the Lamanites who, "because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not" (3 Nephi 9:20). Some may be like Amulek, who, speaking of his past, acknowledged, "I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I went on rebelling against God" (Alma 10:5).

We might ask, given the promised availability of the Spirit of God, why we individually do not experience personal revelation more often. Are there things we can do to open the channels of heaven, as it were, and individually receive light?

"Ask, and it shall be given unto you," the Lord promised (Matthew 7:7). The scriptures show repeatedly that marvelous manifestations follow sincere prayers on specific matters and that study and pondering can be a catalyst for revelation. And they are clear on the necessity of faith that one may receive it.

Finally, the attitude with which we approach Deity in seeking personal revelation increases the likelihood of our receiving it. As with readers of the Book of Mormon seeking to know of its truth, those who ask with "a sincere heart" and "real intent" will find the truth manifest to them by the power of the Holy Ghost.