"...They that are wise and have received the truth, ...have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide..." (D&C 45:57)

I just put some banana bread in the oven, turned around and saw that my microwave was blinking at me with the message, "enjoy your meal". It hit me...I had forgotten to put the butter in the bread. There will be no oil in this bread. This led me to thinking about the importance of oil and how we must put oil in our food to make it not only taste good, but there must be some oil in our foods to keep us healthy. The Lord does exactly the same thing with our spirit.  He wants us to get oil for our spirit. What exactly is this oil?

Oil is used a lot in the scriptures. "Usually olive oil is meant when oil is mentioned in the scriptures. From Old Testament times, olive oil has been used for temple and tabernacle rites, for anointings, for burning in lamps, and for food. Olive oil is sometimes a symbol for purity and for the Holy Spirit and its influence" (Guide to the Scriptures). We need to remember to add the oil of the Spirit to our lives daily, sometimes minute to minute.

Christ teaches us this beautiful principle of taking the Spirit as our guide in a parable of the Ten Virgins found in Matthew 25:1-13. The ten virgins are waiting for the bridegroom with their lamps. "And five of them were wise, and five were foolish" (Matthew 25:2). Why were they foolish and why were they considered wise? Because the "foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps" (Matthew 25:3-4). We have been blessed to learn through modern revelation what the oil means. In the Doctrine and Covenants we are taught that "they that are wise and have received the truth, ...have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived" (D&C 45:57). We must take the Holy Spirit as our guide every day. We must remember on the bad days as well as the good days. The more we practice listening and doing, the more we are filled with this oil and we will have enough light to guide us when the dark comes.

The light by which wise women and men "heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them" (Matthew 7:24) is the Light of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost. We get to choose every day whether or not we will follow the light that is given to us, if we will actually "hear and do". Notice, it is not just hearing the word, but we must also act on the word that makes us wise. The more we follow or act in this Light, the more oil -or Spirit and truth is given to us and our lamp is filled. "For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit" (D&C 84:45-46).

We can be wise women and men who remember the oil for our lamps, the very vessels of our souls. We can be filled with light and truth as we "fear not...[and] go and do" (1 Kings 17:13) "...the things the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save He shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which He commandeth them" (1 Nephi 3:7). As we listen and do, the way will be lightened...by the Holy Ghost. This I testify.