Flooding My Life with the Book of Mormon 2.0

1 Nephi 13:13 And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters. Christopher Columbus was inspired by God to explore the ocean and discover the New World. Columbus was an imperfect man in many ways, but God was still able to work through him, just as He can work through me, though I am likewise imperfect. God can do great things with imperfect people.

1 Nephi 13:9 And also for the praise of the world do they destroy the saints of God, and bring them down into captivity. Satan wants to be loved, adored, and worshipped. He taps into those same natural-man tendencies in me. Praise and approval at any cost is his watchword. He plays to my pride until I want nothing more than to be recognized and accoladed by my peers. The professional media and social media feed on this insatiable pride and make it appear essential to happiness. But pride and self-gratification are hard masters that can ultimately destroy me, much to Satan's delight.

1 Nephi 12:2 And it came to pass that I beheld multitudes gathered together to battle, one against the other; and I beheld wars, and rumors of wars, and great slaughters with the sword among my people. The phrase "rumours of wars" appears many times in the scriptures. War is certainly a curse, but why are rumors of war a parallel problem? Because even when we may be experiencing local peace, reports of wars elsewhere remind us that our immediate peace is fragile.  The reports of war became prominent in the 1960's when the nightly news brought images of the Vietnam War into our living rooms. War was no longer a distant event about which we heard only delayed summaries. War in all its gory details was now in our homes on a regular basis.  And that trend continues as reporters with cameras and satellite links bring the horrors of war in real time to our television screens every day. The scenes of suffering and destruction shatter our illusions of proximate peace. We are at ...

1 Nephi 11:36 And it came to pass that I saw and bear record, that the great and spacious building was the pride of the world; and it fell, and the fall thereof was exceedingly great. And the angel of the Lord spake unto me again, saying: Thus shall be the destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that shall fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb. At the very outset of the establishment of the Nephite people, the first prophet warned them of pride. In Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life, the faithful seekers of the precious fruit of eternal life were not captured unawares by the great and spacious building of pride. They sought it out. They dropped the fruit and went to the building of their own volition.  Lehi knew a thousand years before the fact that pride would be the downfall of his people. Warnings against pride would become a major theme of the Book of Mormon. Lehi prophesied of the effects of pride, and Mormon witnessed firsthand the fulfillment of Leh...

1 Nephi 11:25 And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters, or to the tree of life; which waters are a representation of the love of God; and I also beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of God. We typically interpret the "word of God" to be the scriptures. In Lehi's dream, the rod led to the fountain or source of the living waters. Christ declared Himself to be the living waters. God the Father is the source of Christ's living waters. The Apostle John wrote that Christ is the Word of God. So, we could also interpret the iron rod to be Christ and His words, both in the scriptures and in personal revelation, which lead us to the Father. 

1 Nephi 11:23 And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul. Joyous means to be full of joy. To experience joy is to be in a state of sublimely satisfying pleasure. It is to feel good all the way into my soul, to be filled with profound delight.  Although joy and happiness are synonyms in the dictionary, I distinguish the two words philosophically as spiritual vs. temporal. I speak of joy as eternal and soul-satisfying, whereas happiness is more temporary and superficial. It is not a valid distinction, however, and I think I make too much of the difference. For example, I read in the Book of Mormon about the "plan of happiness" as a synonym for the plan of salvation. And when the Nephites were in their most righteous periods, they were said to be living "after the manner of happiness." Whether I call it joy or happiness, what I want is to be filled with the comfort, peace, and delight that God's love can bring me. And because God is eternal,...

1 Nephi 11:22 And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things. The love of God is the most desirable thing because it is the source of everything else. We exist because of the love of God. The earth was created, life was granted, families formed, the plan of salvation designed, commandments given, the atonement performed, repentance granted, resurrection, judgment, salvation, and exaltation--all because of the love of God. No wonder the Apostle John said that God is love. Everything he does is motivated by love, and everything we have and are comes from His love. If we think anything in the universe is more important or desirable than His love, we are sadly mistaken.

1 Nephi 11:11 And I said unto him: To know the interpretation thereof—for I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another. The Holy Spirit speaks my language. He communicates in a way that makes sense to me and that I can understand. His messages are as individualized and personalized as I am an individual and personal being with distinct intellect and experiences. He speaks differently to a child than to an adult and to a new convert than to a seasoned student of the gospel. It does not matter. He is the master communicator who knows how to deliver the right message in the right way every time.

1 Nephi 11:5 And I said: Yea, thou knowest that I believe all the words of my father. My willingness to believe is a grand key to accessing knowledge. When I am hard-hearted and challenge the Lord to prove things to me, I receive little, if anything, from Him. But when I open my heart and accept with faith the little I do know, God opens the windows of heaven to me.