Day 99: January 22, 2012

2 Nephi 31

Verse 3

Nephi talks about how he delights in plainness. The gospel of Jesus Christ is taught to us in plain and simple yet precious terms. The scripture says that Heavenly Father teaches his children in their language and according to their understanding. The Spirit is the perfect teacher. Each one of us feels the Spirit in a little different way and in ways that well help us individually to grow and understand the will of Heavenly Father. The way the Church is organized indicates to me the truth of this principle. Each organization in the Church is setup and taught according to the needs of those in those groups. Primary children learn things at a level that is good for their growing minds. Young Men and Young Women learn the same truths but at a level that will aid them as they mature into adulthood. The Relief Society is taught in a way that is helpful to the women of the Church and meets the needs of mothers and future mothers. And yet again the Priesthood is taught in a way that would prepare men to be Fathers and to lead the church. What a blessing! Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for each one of us and he makes sure that we can each receive it in a way that will best inspire us to change and to grow!

Verse 5

If the Son of God, who is perfect, had a need to be baptized how much more need do we have to be baptized. This verse is very special to me. When I was serving in Grand Prairie Texas we were teaching a man named Elias Diaz. He was an awesome man and we had tons of fun meeting with him. We could only go into his house if his girls were home or if we had a brother from the Ward go with us. If this wasn’t possible we would just meet with him at the back door for a few minutes giving him a new reading assignment. We had talked to him about being baptized in the past and he just didn’t feel like he needed to or that he wasn’t ready. One day I had studied this verse in my personal studies and felt that it was a section that needed to be an assignment for Elias. So we meet with him at the back door just prior to going home for the night. We left this verse with him and I told him I was going to call him before I went to bed that night to see how it went and how he felt about it. So we left, went and did our planning meeting and prepared for bed. Just before going to bed I called Elias and asked him about this verse. He said he understood what it meant and that he needed to be baptized. It was so amazing! He finally understood that it was something that each one of us needs, even our Savior. We helped prepare him for baptism and he was baptized. It was a great experience for me.

Verse 10:

Can we follow Jesus if we don’t keep Heavenly Father’s commandments? The Savior lived a perfect life. If we truly want to follow him that we need to strive daily to live the gospel and keep the commandments of God. And if we mess up, which we will do, we have the opportunity to repent. What a blessing.

Verse 20:

“Wherefore, we must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” What a powerful verse. I love these words. They show us what we need to do to return to our Father’s presence. I want to look up some of these words and change the verse just a little bit with other words that mean the same thing, just as another way to read the verse.

“Wherefore, we must [bear down, pushing with force] forward with a [constant, dedicated, allegiance] in Christ, having a [complete] [clarity] of [confidence] and a[n] [adoration] of God and all men. Wherefore, if we [bear down going] forward, [indulging] upon the word of Christ and [abide and brave] to the end, behold thus saith the Father: Ye shall [be exalted on high]. “

Verse 21:

The Savior and his gospel and atonement are the only way that we can live with our Heavenly Father again. Without this gift we would be stuck, with no hope for progression. We could never see our Father again. We could never live together with our Families forever. That would be tragic. But with the Savior all this is possible. With the Savior as our partner we can be perfected and we can live with our Father again. What an incredible blessing! How much love our Father in Heaven has for each individual one of us to send his son to the earth to suffer and die for us. What am I doing with this knowledge? Am I living worthy of this blessing? Do I live my life as a daughter whom my Father would sacrifice his son for? If not I need to change because my Brother came to this earth of ME! and I want to show him my gratitude by doing all I can to become more like him.