Flooding My Life with the Book of Mormon 2.0

1 Nephi 17:16 And it came to pass that I did make tools of the ore which I did molten out of the rock. God never does for me what I can do for myself. Lehi could not have made the Liahona, so the Lord made it for him. Nephi, however, had the skills to make his own tools. God could just as easily have dropped a hammer and saw into Nephi's lap as He dropped the Liahona in front of Lehi's tent, but He allowed Nephi to exercise his skills and solve as much of the problem as he could on his own. God likewise expects me to use my intelligence, ingenuity, and talents to solve as many of my problems as I can on my own. He knows every problem, trial, and challenge I face. He does not leave me alone or ignore me. His objective is not to solve every problem and provide me with a smooth and effortless path through life. The real problem He has to solve is how to bring me back to Him better, stronger, more patient and loving, and more like Christ, so that I am fully prepared to enter His ki...

1 Nephi 17:14 Yea, and the Lord said also that: After ye have arrived in the promised land, ye shall know that I, the Lord, am God; and that I, the Lord, did deliver you from destruction; yea, that I did bring you out of the land of Jerusalem. Seen in their proper perspective, the big trials in my life teach me and testify that God is at work in my life. From an eternal perspective, when I reach the promised land of exaltation, I will truly realize that it is only through the power of Christ because of His Atonement and the grace of God that I am saved and exalted.

1 Nephi 17:13 And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led. I need light in the wilderness because it is a dark and desolate place, cut off from my normal sources of artificial light. No electrical outlets, no way to recharge the batteries in my flashlight, no stores from which to buy oil for my lanterns or candles when the last burn down, no wood to gather to make a fire. As a human, I crave light. God has designed the dark wilderness, so I will search for light until I find His light. The whole purpose of the wilderness experiences in my life is to help me 1) come to myself so that I can 2) come to God and ultimately 3) come home to my heavenly home.  Keeping the commandments does not necessarily rescue me from the wilderness, but it makes the w...

1 Nephi 17:8 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters. It was Nephi's ship, but God used it to carry the people to the promised land. God could have simply picked them up and transported them across the ocean, just as he carried Nephi to the top of the mountain. But He wanted them to participate in their own salvation.  Thus, he says,  "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" ( Philippians 2:12 ). He expects me to do all I can with my agency and the power and gifts He has given me. Not that what I do is essential to Him, but it is essential to me to gain experience and help others along the way. Had Nephi not built the boat, his brothers would not have had the experiences they had with the power of God and the many calls to repentance during the building and on the water.  Nevertheless, it was not the boat that enabled Lehi...

1 Nephi 17:3 And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness. In Nephi's mind, there was no question about whether he would keep the commandments. He never had to weigh the alternatives and make a decision. He simply obeyed the commandments. When he combined his faith with his determination, he was unstoppable. Note that keeping the commandments did not change Nephi's circumstances. But he was changed and strengthened so he could deal with his circumstances. Sometimes I just have to go through things. But I don't have to suffer.

1 Nephi 16:9 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord spake unto my father by night, and commanded him that on the morrow he should take his journey into the wilderness. Different gifts for different people! Lehi's gift was to receive the word of the Lord in dreams. That is not my gift. I have plenty of bizarre dreams, but I cannot recall any that I thought came from the Lord.  Except perhaps one. In my senior year in high school, I experienced a nightmare in which Satan and his minions attacked me and tried to overcome me. Among those wicked servants of the devil were members of a rock band I had recently joined. The message to me was clear: quit the band and stop listening to that kind of music. I told the guys in the band I was quitting with no explanation or reason, and I dumped all my hard rock albums in the trash. But other than that one nightmare, my dreams have not been messages from God. On the other hand, my gift is hearing the word of the Lord in the scriptures. I ...

1 Nephi 16:5 And it came to pass that they did humble themselves before the Lord; insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness. I usually think of a single path of righteousness. The Lord provides only one way to come to Him, and that is through the ordinances and covenants of the priesthood. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leads to eternal life.  Yet, Nephi here employs the plural "paths." There is only one path to salvation, but can there be multiple paths to be righteous?   I believe the answer is yes, there are as many ways to approach a righteous life as there are individuals. We each have an individual relationship with the Father and the Son. We receive individualized communications through the Holy Ghost. In other words, we can come at the gate from any number of directions depending on our starting point. No path is wrong that leads us to Christ.