Flooding My Life with the Book of Mormon 2.0

2 Nephi 6:10 And after they have hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks against the Holy One of Israel, behold, the judgments of the Holy One of Israel shall come upon them. And the day cometh that they shall be smitten and afflicted. A hard heart and stiff neck are the results of choices I make. God wants me to have a soft heart on which He can easily write His law and a supple neck that easily bows in humility. God's preferred tools are soft whispers that can be absorbed only by soft, fleshy tablets of the heart. He does not want to do harm to my heart. He wants to penetrate it to the center with lovingkindness.  A hard, stony heart, on the other hand, repels God's soft words. If God has to use a chisel or a pickaxe to get through the hard outer shell I have built up around my heart, it's going to be painful. When a whisper won't do, an earthquake and a tornado, war and famine become the jackhammers that God uses to chip away at the rock-hard hearts his recal...

2 Nephi 4:32 May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite! O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, that I may walk in the path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road! If I want the gates of hell closed to me, I need a broken heart and a contrite spirit. C.S. Lewis says that the gates of hell are locked from the inside. God doesn't lock hell's doors; the residents do.  Hell is outer darkness, the abode of fallen angels and the sons of perdition, and they do not want to be disturbed. 

1 Nephi 8:28 And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost. Peer pressure can be totally destructive to our spiritual health. Satan knows how our pride works, and he uses others to wound our pride. It is not easy to remain steadfast in the face of criticism and mocking. Humility and meekness are the antidotes to the poison of pride and humiliation. We must fear God more than we fear man. 

1 Nephi 2:19 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart. "Lowliness of heart" is a synonym for humility. God loves humility, and He responds readily to it. When we are humble, we are teachable, and God loves to teach. A humble person is malleable, and God is anxious to change us. One who is humble is willing to listen, and God has much to say to us. Humility opens the doors to all of God's blessings.