8.14.15

2 Ne 11:8 And now I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men. Now these are the words, and ye may liken them unto you and unto all men.
12:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

*I'm in the Isaiah chapters and I'm so confused. BUT I read this about the temple. We go to be taught HIS ways.

8.13.15

2 Ne 9:50 Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
51 Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.

*This scripture points out exactly what we need to focus on. Turn to Him, and all will be provided. I need to remember this. Always.

8.12.15

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.
16 Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.

*I've been reading the BOM daily and trying to journal about everything too. Some days it's lots, some it's not. But I do write something every day. I'm trying to delight in and ponder the scriptures more.

8.11.15

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.

*I love this whole chapter, the promises made, the explanations given, awesome. I know that if we are faithful, He shall consecrate our afflictions for our gain. I know He doesn't give us afflictions, but He allows challenges into our lives that make us stronger, that benefit us, His work and others.

8.10.15

1 Nephi 22:26 And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth.

*I look forward to the time when Satan is bound. But I also know, he can be banned from my home and myself if I am righteous. I choose who I let in my home. I need to keep a better eye on who I let in, and get better at keeping him out. I need to focus on dwelling in righteousness.

8.9.15

1 Ne 20:10 For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
11 For mine own sake, yea, for mine own sake will I do this, for I will not suffer my name to be polluted, and I will not give my glory unto another.

*The Lord has chosen YOU for your path. He has refined you, purified you in the furnace of affliction. He has done this because He needs YOU at your strongest, He needs the Warrior He knows you to be, He needs the Warrior who was chosen in Heaven to show the world His glory. Only YOU can walk the path He has put you on.

8.8.15

1 Nephi 17:50 And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.

*Oh how I admire the faith of Nephi! I need to stand firm in my testimony of God's commandments. He has commanded us to have families, and to raise them in righteousness (Proclamation of the Family) and how on Earth can I think for 1 minute that He wouldn't have a way for me to follow His commandments?

8.7.15

1 Nephi 15:3 For he truly spake many great things unto them, which were hard to be understood, save a man should inquire of the Lord;

*When the Prophets speak to us, in conference or in the scriptures, if we ever have any questions, or don't understand something, we can ALWAYS ask the Lord. He wants us to ask Him, to turn to Him. He will always answer you. Seek Him.

8.6.15

1 Nephi 14:14 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.

*This is us! We are the saints, the covenant people! So often we see covenant and think only temple, but we make covenants at baptism! This power of God in great glory is for all! And it is ours! We are glorious!

8.5.15

1 Nephi 11:20-23
23 And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.

25 I also beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of God.

*I instantly thought of FAMILY TREE. Our families represent the love of God, shown unto us in the flesh, for us to see and hold EVERY DAY!

Boom! Mind blown!

8.4.15

1 Ne. 8: 12 And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit.

* I know that I need to be better at holding to the rod when it gets dark and dreary, and when the mists roll in. The building was seen from everywhere, even when they couldn't see horizontally thru the mist, they could see the building above them. Sometimes we just need to close our eyes and just hold to the rod.

8.3.15

1 Nephi 3:7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

*Tonight's question to ponder was : Why did Laman and Lemuel murmur? A thought hit me : Nephi was a daddy's boy, he did whatever Lehi asked, I can see them reading thru the plates together. If Nephi was my brother, I'd be annoyed and think, "Even if I do good, I'll never be as good as Nephi, the Lord chose him to rule over me." I know their choices made a huge difference, but Nephi loved them and forgave them every time they beat him. Sometimes you have to look past the bad and see there might be a possibility for good, that's faith.

8.2.15

1 Ne 1:20 But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.

*We are the chosen ones, we fought for Him, we chose this path, and we have been faithful. He will make us mighty to continue the fight.

Bednar : the Lord’s tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord. Truly, the Lord suits his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men.

8.2.15

*BONUS*

Bednar. Seek learning by faith. Liahona 9/07

This is absolutely amazing, and it opened my eyes and heart with a greater understanding of my role as a child of God. I need to be actively preparing myself for what the Holy Spirit teaches.

"In our personal lives, in our families, and in the Church, we can and will receive the blessings of spiritual strength, direction, and protection as we seek by faith to obtain and apply spiritual knowledge."

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2007/09/seek-learning-by-faith?lang=eng

8.1.15

I'm reading the BOM. From the Introduction :
Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”
*I love rereading this book, and hope I've picked a challenge that will help me study it better.
This is the 100 Day Challenge I'm doing :
http://www.mormonshare.com/lds-clipart/100-day-book-of-mormon-reading-chart