Flooding My Life with the Book of Mormon 2.0

2 Nephi 2:5 And men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil. And the law is given unto men. And by the law no flesh is justified; or, by the law men are cut off. Yea, by the temporal law they were cut off; and also, by the spiritual law they perish from that which is good, and become miserable forever. To be miserable is to be wretchedly unhappy. Those who reject God and His gospel and refuse to repent will be eternally unhappy. They will miss all the joy God has to offer. They will ultimately be dissatisfied with the life they have chosen, but they will have put themselves beyond God's help.

2 Nephi 2:3 Wherefore, thy soul shall be blessed, and thou shalt dwell safely with thy brother, Nephi; and thy days shall be spent in the service of thy God. Wherefore, I know that thou art redeemed, because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer; for thou hast beheld that in the fulness of time he cometh to bring salvation unto men. Lehi knew his son had been redeemed because of a vision Jacob had while he was still young. The boy had been visited by Christ, and only a redeemed and sanctified person could receive such a visitation. Thus, Lehi was assured of Jacob's redemption and standing with God.  I am redeemed by Christ, not by my own efforts. I have to do my best, but only Christ can make it happen. My righteousness is always insufficient. Christ's infinite righteousness is always required.

2 Nephi 2:2 Nevertheless, Jacob, my firstborn in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain. Having a testimony does not protect me from afflictions, but afflictions can be for my good. Faith makes the difference between growth and misery, drowning and walking on water.

2 Nephi 1:26 And ye have murmured because he hath been plain unto you. Ye say that he hath used sharpness; ye say that he hath been angry with you; but behold, his sharpness was the sharpness of the power of the word of God, which was in him; and that which ye call anger was the truth, according to that which is in God, which he could not restrain, manifesting boldly concerning your iniquities. When teaching those who need to repent, I should follow Nephi's example. I should be clear and straightforward about the commandments and laws of God, sharply focused on the behaviors and beliefs that need to be corrected. I must be assertive and not apologetic about the things I teach. When I teach the truth, I should not water it down or make excuses.  Most of all, though, I must speak from love. Those I teach may misinterpret my love and perceive my teaching as anger, piety, and self-righteousness, but if I give it in love and they accept it in the right spirit, such teaching can create a...

2 Nephi 1:23 Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust. To put on the armor of righteousness is to clothe myself in godliness, that is, to put on Christ. Thus, I take on His attributes, which I learn in Ephesians 6:13-17 include faith, righteousness, the law of the gospel, salvation, truth, and the Spirit The verbs in this verse are active. The armor of righteousness doesn't fall on us; we must pick it up and put it on. The chains don't shake themselves loose; we must shake them off. We don't float out of obscurity and darkness; we must exert our strength to arise. Action denotes choice, decision, and agency. God will help us, but we must begin our own effort, arising from righteous choices 

2 Nephi 1:15 But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love. I want the same confidence that Lehi had. I don't have to know that I will be exalted in the resurrection. Still, I want to know at least that I have been redeemed, that my repentance has been sufficient to allow Jesus to wash my garments in His blood. Hence, they are spotless and white, and I shall find myself in paradise and not spirit prison, that I will be a teacher of the gospel and not a prisoner who must still be taught.  I assume I will be in paradise, for I have received the ordinances and covenants that satisfy the performances of the law, but assuming is not enough. I believe my actions, at least here at the end, are sufficiently pleasing to God, but believing isn't enough. I want to know of my standing before God. If I am still not right before Him, I want to know what I can do better to please Him.   I cannot...

2 Nephi 1:10 But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them. This land of the Western Hemisphere was precious to the Nephites because it was a place to start over, free from the wickedness of apostate Israel, and build a society dedicated to God and looking forward to the coming of the Messiah.  This land is precious to us today because it is where the gospel could be restored, a...