1 Nephi 6

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Nephi tells us that it is his intent to “persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved” (verse 4). We know from reading and from The Plan of Salvation that the only way we can return to our Heavenly Father is to accept Him into our lives and do all that He has told us to do. Because of Christ, His only Begotten Son, we can be saved and return to Him. It is our job to make sure we try to give everyone a chance to accept God and follow the teachings of Christ. While we cannot force a person to do anything, we can ask them to pray and ask Heavenly Father with a sincere heard and real intent to know if these things are true. When they find for themselves that these things are true, we must hope that they will act on their findings. And though we cannot make anyone do anything, we can help guide them. Heavenly Father has promised us that if we look to Him for help, He will help us and will “make our paths straight.” Helping people and guiding them is the work of missionaries, but we have been told by Prophets and Apostles that even when we are not on a mission, we should always be doing missionary work and sharing the gospel with others.

Nephi also tells us in this chapter that he will only write about things which God tells him to. Nephi also tells us that what he writes will not be pleasing to us unless we want them to be.

Nephi also makes it clear that all of the words on these plates are useful to us. So we can trust that reading the Book of Mormon will help us and is not a waste of our time. I personally can say that each time I read my scriptures, it helps me to feel closer to my Heavenly Father. There are times in my life where my faith and trust in Heavenly Father is really tested. I have found that if I stop and read my scriptures during this time, I feel much more at ease and the trial seems easier to endure.