Day 5: Asking Good Questions

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1 Nephi 13

In 1 Nephi 13, Nephi continues to describe his visions. I feel awestruck every time I read these chapters given how Nephi came to have this experience. First, his father was granted a vision of the Tree of Life which he then related to his family. Then, Nephi asked God to let him see the same vision. Nephi’s faith is so inspiring! So many times in my life I have been given information––like Lehi gave his family information about his vision––and I accept it without any action. Nephi not only believed and accepted his father’s vision as truly from God and true, but he also asked to actively participate in that experience! And not only did he have the same vision as his father but he also got to converse with an angel and see/learn even more. Asking good questions strikes me as the take-away insight here. Choose to believe and ask God good questions.

Day 4: Thoughts on Authority

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1 Nephi 10:17, 22

I’m going to share a thought on authority since Nephi brings it up in 1 Nephi 10:22. While reading this verse I was struck by the thought that Nephi probably had the priesthood. Actually, he definitely had the priesthood or he wouldn’t have been a prophet. But when Nephi writes, “And the Holy Ghost giveth authority that I should speak these things,” it seems that Nephi is offering his conviction that what he has just recorded is important, NOT because he has the priesthood, but because the Holy Ghost has inspired his words and confirmed their truthfulness. Everyone who has been baptized and confirmed has the gift of the Holy Ghost. Everyone who has the gift of the Holy Ghost has access to the power of the Holy Ghost (see 1 Nephi 10:17). You don’t have to have the priesthood to speak with authority by the power of the Holy Ghost.

You can read more about my thoughts on women and the priesthood in my essay Honoring the Title of “Sister.”

Day 3: Redeemer of the World

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1 Nephi 10:17-19

While reading 1 Nephi 10:17-19 I was struck for the first time by how Nephi clarifies that the God He worships and to whom he makes reference in his writings IS the pre-mortal Jesus Christ. Prior to these verses he has used the titles “Lord” and “God” but in verse 17 he describes how he and his father have accessed and received power from God, specifically to have visions and speak as prophets. Nephi writes that this power is granted “by faith on the Son of God––and the Son of God was the Messiah who should come.” So the essential ingredient to their callings as prophets is faith on a divinity who is the Son of God, the Messiah to come.

Nephi then further describes the “power,” that it is the “power of the Holy Ghost.” This power is a “gift of God.” Note the use of “God” here and how Nephi continues to identify who this God is: the power of the Holy Ghost is a gift offered to mankind from the beginning of time through to the future when God will “manifest himself unto the children of men.” Nephi has already told the reader that the Son of God, the Messiah, will come to earth so I can only conclude that he is tying all our concepts of deity together. The Son of God and Messiah are also God.

Then in verse 18 Nephi Nephi further illuminates God’s character using the pronoun “he” to tie the description into the God of verse 17. God “is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” All people are invited to follow “the way” by repenting and coming unto him––God, Son of God, Messiah.

Finally, Nephi ties up the remaining loose end of God’s identity: Lord. Nephi has also used this title in the previous chapters to identify deity but here he seems to deliberately tie the title into our fuller conception of God. He does this by invoking the language of the previous two verses using the phrases “power of the Holy Ghost” and “as well in times of old as in times to come” which draw together “Son of God,” “Messiah,” and “God.” The closing phrase has a beautiful double significance: “the course of the Lord is one eternal round” both attaches the title “Lord” to the one deity Nephi has been describing AND definitively concludes that the God he worships is an eternal being with power, knowledge, foresight, and a plan.

Jesus Christ is the God of this world.

Day 2: Blessings of Being Stubborn

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1 Nephi 3:14-16, 28 and
1 Nephi 7:6-17

The dramatic account of Nephi standing up to his brothers never fails to awe me. He relentlessly testifies of truth and courageously withstands their mocking, doubting, mumbling, and beatings. I have reflected off and on the last few months that it takes a certain level of stubbornness for a person to remain active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There will always be nay-sayers and even active attempts by others to pull down one’s faith. Nephi stubbornly refuses to give in to his brothers’ pessimism or their encouragement to disobey. He stubbornly insists on the primacy of God’s commandments and the need for obedience. It takes a stubborn person to say, “Nothing is working out, this seems impossible, everything is pointing away from God, but I’m going to believe and press forward anyway.”

Day 1: God and His Prophets

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1 Nephi 1:8-9, 14, 19

I love these initial chapters of the Book of Mormon where we first learn about Lehi’s family and his calling as a prophet. Highlighting all mentions of God and Lord as suggested by President Nelson helped me identify the ways in which God reveals Himself and what He is like. Lehi identifies the “luster” of God’s appearance (v. 9) as well as His magnificence (see v. 8). I love that the attributes “power, and goodness, and mercy” are singled out in verse 14. God’s core characteristics, His unchanging perfection, are captured here: He is all-powerful, perfectly good, and merciful.

Lehi’s calling as a prophet couldn’t be more plainly identified than in verse 19. Lehi calls the people to repentance, prophesies of Jesus Christ, and testifies of “the redemption of the world.”