Flooding My Life with the Book of Mormon 2.0

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. 

2 Nephi 4:27 And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy? Sin destroys peace. Disobedience puts me in conflict with God. Conflict is the opposite of peace. As long as I sustain conflict, I cannot know peace.  Repentance and forgiveness restore peace. When I am in harmony with God, I cannot be in serious conflict with man. Others may be in conflict with me, but I do not have to be in conflict with them. My peace can disarm others' conflicts with me. The best way to keep Satan out of my heart is to fill it with the love of God and my neighbors so Satan can find no room in my heart for him. He is anxious to fill any void he can find in me. I must offer him no open space in my life and my heart for him to get a handhold.  The only way to ensure I have no holes for Satan to enter is to fill every inch of my heart a...

2 Nephi 4:15 And upon these I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children. Nephi pondered the scriptures not just with his mind but with his heart. Understanding the scriptures was more than a mental exercise for Nephi; it was an exercise of faith. He not only wanted to know the scriptures, but he also wanted to feel them, or rather, he wanted to feel God's power and blessing through them. He wanted to go beyond the words on the plates to the deeper spiritual meanings. Nephi wanted not only to understand the words of God but also to understand the mind of God. He wanted to know not just the writings but the Author. The phrase "learning and profit" appears in various forms in several places. It seems that learning is important, but more so when it yields a profit, meaning when it is p...

2 Nephi 3:15 And his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation The value of the Book of Mormon is its ability to bring us unto salvation by establishing and enriching our faith in Christ. Not even the Bible has the power to bring us to Christ the way the Book of Mormon can.  The Book of Mormon was not an afterthought, a Plan B, when God saw that the Bible created more division than unity. The Book of Mormon, predating by nearly seven hundred years the authoring of the New Testament, was always in God's plan for the saving of His children in the last days.

2 Nephi 3:5 Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; A promise is God's half of a covenant. I make the covenant, and God makes the promise. My covenants are always based on faithfulness, but God's promises are sure. Or rather, His promises are also based on my faithfulness. God's promises never fail, but if I fail in keeping my covenants, God may withdraw His promises.

2 Nephi 3:1 And now I speak unto you, Joseph, my last-born. Thou wast born in the wilderness of mine afflictions; yea, in the days of my greatest sorrow did thy mother bear thee. In speaking to his son, Joseph, Lehi reveals an intimate truth. The journey in the wilderness was no piece of cake for Lehi. He received revelation that Laman and Lemuel would reject salvation. He saw Nephi suffer greatly at the hands of his older brothers. He saw his older sons attempt murder and lie and deny that they had seen an angel and heard the voice of God. Their constant murmuring made his life miserable.  The contention his older sons and the sons of Ishmael brought into the family caused Lehi to despair of life as they crossed the ocean under what, even in the best circumstances, must have been very trying conditions. Lehi had been hungry and fatigued right along with the rest of his family. Despite marvelous revelations, glorious visions, and the miracle of the Liahona, Lehi had not escaped the...

2 Nephi 2:27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland once said that Lucifer is a miserable man. He is eternally unhappy that he lost his station in the premortal world and lost the war in heaven. He was not satisfied with the third of the spirits who chose to follow him. He wanted every spirit to be his.  He wanted God's throne. In fact, he could have had it through obedience leading to salvation and exaltation, but he forfeited it because he was not willing to share it with the rest of us. He wanted to be the only exalted being. And because of his selfish pride, he will never be exalted. Instead, he faces eternity in outer darkness.  Out of spit...