11 And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read.
12 And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
I’m thinking today about how the different channels of communication from God reinforce and support each other. In the first chapter of the Book of Mormon, Lehi receives revelation in a number of different ways in rapid succession:
- He hears prophets warning the people of his city that they need to repent.
- As he prays for his people, he sees (and hears) a vision.
- Because of the amazing things in the vision, he is “overcome with the Spirit.”
- While he is feeling the power of the Spirit so strongly, he sees another vision.
- In the vision, a heavenly messenger gives Lehi a book and instructs him to read.
- As he reads the words of the book, he is again filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
- After reading the book, he bears his testimony of the “power, and goodness, and mercy” of God.
I’m impressed with the variety of ways God communicated with Lehi: through mortal prophets, through visions and angels, through scripture, through the power of the Holy Ghost, and even through Lehi’s own inspired testimony. Each of these sources of heavenly knowledge added to Lehi’s understanding and confirmed the validity of the others, like multiple witnesses. Taken together, they gave him clarity and power to do what God wanted him to do.
Today, I will take advantage of the numerous sources of spiritual knowledge available to me, including prayer, the scriptures, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the teachings of living prophets.