Flooding My Life with the Book of Mormon 2.0

1 Nephi 20:16 Come ye near unto me; I have not spoken in secret; from the beginning, from the time that it was declared have I spoken; and the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. God communicates with me most often through His Spirit, the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost not only bears testimony to me but gives me instructions and directions. Once I started listening to the Holy Ghost regularly and asking for instructions, He has directed me to do many things that I would not have considered on my own.

1 Nephi 20:10 For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. We all get to experience the furnace of affliction and the refiner's fire, but God does not choose us all. Just because we suffer does not qualify us to be God's chosen people.  It is only when I allow the fire to work properly in my life that God chooses me. Only when I am truly refined will I come into God's presence.  On the other hand, I can simply burn to a cinder, leaving nothing redeemable in the ashes of my afflictions except bitterness and anger. God doesn't choose bitter, angry people. He chooses the brilliant, priceless nuggets that He can pull from the ashes to make up His jewels.  I don't get to choose the furnace in which I am fired, but I get to choose the resulting product.  God will choose me when I choose Him over the empty coals of a blasted life. When I want what God wants, He can do marvelous things with me. The hotter the fire, the faster and more t...

1 Nephi 20:5 And I have even from the beginning declared to thee; before it came to pass I showed them thee; and I showed them for fear lest thou shouldst say—Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them. People must sometimes work hard to create their idols. Images of stone require expert carving with hammers and chisels. They can take a long time to take a recognizable shape, and the carving process makes quite a mess. Statues of metal require intense heat and a great deal of hammering to form them.  Idols do not just pop into existence and grab people by the collar and haul them in. They must be carefully and painstakingly fashioned. Idols do not come about by accident, but only through careful planning, persistence, and practiced workmanship. No wonder they are so hard to cast away when the true God invites people to worship Him. My idols have been years in the making. Some I inherited, others have been transmitted to me through my cult...

1 Nephi 20:1 Hearken and hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel , and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, or out of the waters of baptism, who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, yet they swear not in truth nor in righteousness. The ancient Hebrews identified with the name of Israel. The name was a unifying characteristic. When God wanted to call His people together, He could simply call for Israel, and every Israelite knew they were included. King Benjamin gave his righteous people a new name by which they should be called, namely, Jesus Christ. We likewise take upon us the name of Christ through baptism, the sacrament, and in the temple. This is the name by which we should be known.  We keep our individual names, just as the Israelites and Benjamin's people kept their individual names. But when God calls for Christians, we should recognize that name and know that we are included. 

1 Nephi 19:17 Yea, and all the earth shall see the salvation of the Lord, saith the prophet; every nation, kindred, tongue and people shall be blessed. To "see the salvation of the Lord" is to witness and experience it. After the gathering of Israel, in the Millennium, when the wicked have been destroyed, and only the righteous are left to inhabit the earth, all will indeed experience the saving power of Christ and His atonement, for only those who are willing to accept Christ will be left alive. Not everyone must be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at least not at first, but all must be willing to accept Christ as their Savior and the rightful Ruler of the earth.

1 Nephi 19:16 Yea, then will he remember the isles of the sea; yea, and all the people who are of the house of Israel, will I gather in, saith the Lord, according to the words of the prophet Zenos, from the four quarters of the earth. From the isles of the sea and the four quarters of the earth--no matter how lost I am and how far away I have drifted, Christ can find me and lead me back to God. There is no place I can hide, no isle I can escape to, no corner of the earth so remote that Christ cannot find me if I am willing to be found. No sin is so deep and so dark that Jesus cannot penetrate the darkness and shine His light and lift me up.