Enos – The Wrestle Before God

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The Atonement of Jesus Christ is personal. Enos learned that as he prayed “all the day long” and into the night for a remission of his sins. When he received the promise that his sins were forgiven, he immediately began to pray for others: his own people and their enemies the Lamanites. His heart was filled with joy, and he wanted to share it.

Chapter Outline

  1. Enos prays for a remission of his sins (v. 1-8)
  2. He prays for the welfare of his people (v. 9-10)
  3. He prays for the Lamanites (v. 11-18)
  4. Enos’s ministry (v. 19-24)
  5. Enos looks forward to being with the Savior (v. 25-27)

My Takeaways

  1. Effective parents persistently teach true principles.
  2. Some blessings only come after we exercise faith.
  3. We should pray for the people around us. Salvation is both an individual and a collective endeavor.
  4. Our return to the presence of God can be a happy and a peaceful experience.

Featured Blog Posts

❖ Enos prays for a remission of his sins – Enos 1:1-8

The Nurture and Admonition of the Lord – Enos 1:1

1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Enos, knowing my father that he was a just man—for he taught me in his language, and also in the nurture and admonition of the Lord—and blessed be the name of my God for it— (Enos 1:1) Today, I’m pondering a phrase Enos used to describe the…

“The Words Which I Had Often Heard”

Nephi and Jacob taught the next generation by speaking frequently of Christ. Enos tells us that these words eventually sunk in, but the process took some time. We need to keep teaching, even when we don’t see the results we hoped for right away.

The Joy of the Saints

Enos prayed all day long because of his father’s words about “the joy of the saints.” He must have detected a gap between that description and his own experience. God created us to be joyful, and His gospel can bring the greatest happiness into our lives.

My Soul Hungered – Enos 1:3-4

3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart. 4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer…

Thy Faith Hath Made Thee Whole – Enos 1:5-8

5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed. 6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away. 7 And I said: Lord, how is it done? 8 And he said unto me: Because of thy faith…

Wrestling, Struggling, Laboring – Enos 1:2, 10-12

The Bible Dictionary says, “Prayer is a form of work.” I’ve been thinking today about the level of effort that we can and should put into our communication with God. Enos describes all three parts of his prayer in terms of hard work: He had a “wrestle…before God” when he pleaded for a remission of…

❖ Enos prays for his people – Enos 1:9-10

“I Did Pour Out My Whole Soul” – Enos 1:9

“Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him” (Psalm 62:8). After Enos prayed for his own soul and received forgiveness from God, his thoughts turned to his people. He says, “I did pour out my whole soul unto God for them” (Enos 1:9). What does it mean to pour…

❖ Enos prays for the Lamanites – Enos 1:11-18

My Faith Began to Be Unshaken – Enos 1:11-12

11 And after I, Enos, had heard these words, my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord; and I prayed unto him with many long strugglings for my brethren, the Lamanites. 12 And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will…

Thy Fathers Have Also Required of Me This Thing – Enos 1:16-18

16 And I had faith, and I did cry unto God that he would preserve the records; and he covenanted with me that he would bring them forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time. 17 And I, Enos, knew it would be according to the covenant which he had made; wherefore my soul…

What Does It Mean for a Soul to Rest?

We all need a break sometimes. We talk about needing to recharge our battery, unwind, get some R&R, or have some downtime. We have many ways of describing this, but the core reality is universal: we can’t drive full-speed all the time without burning ourselves out. If we want to stay at peak performance, we…

❖ Enos’s ministry – Enos 1:19-24

“At the Present Our Strugglings Were Vain” – Enos 1:20

Enos wanted to preach the gospel to the Lamanites. Who were they? His cousins. They were descendants of his father’s older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, and of his father’s sisters who had married the sons of Ishmael. They were family, and Enos wanted to help them live more happily. They had no interest in his…

“There Was Nothing Short of These Things…” – Enos 1:23

“He’s a hard worker, and he will follow the rules—as long as you remind him constantly and give him occasional severe warnings.” That’s not exactly a resounding endorsement, but it’s pretty much the characterization of the Nephites provided by Enos and by his son Jarom. I love very long sentences with a punchline at the…

❖ Enos looks forward to his reunion with God – Enos 1:25-27

Then Shall I See His Face with Pleasure – Enos 1:27

27 And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say…

Old Testament Foundations

Wrestling

As Jacob prepared to meet his estranged brother the next day, he spent the night alone. The biblical record says that he wrestled with a man all night and persisted even when his thigh was knocked out of joint. At daybreak, he told the man he would not let him go until he received a…

Rachel Weeping

In the middle of a message of hope and optimism, Jeremiah pauses to paint a picture of a devastated mother observing the suffering of her children: Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Jeremiah 31:15 Ramah was a…

Multigenerational Promises

God keeps His promises—even over long time horizons. Enos made a very specific request of God. If his people, the Nephites were to be destroyed at some point in the future (as his uncle Nephi had seen in a vision), would God preserve their records for the benefit of their enemies, the Lamanites? This event…

Poured Out

As Jacob traveled to Padan-aram to live with his uncle, he had a dream in which the Lord renewed the promise He had made to Jacob’s father and grandfather. Waking the next morning, Jacob built a stone pillar and poured oil on it as a form of worship. (See Genesis 28:18.) Years later, after Jacob…

“Be Still”

Near the end of the 46th psalm, there is a curious sentence. The rest of the psalm is narrated by a person who reassures us that God is has all power. Even though terrible things might happen—”the earth be removed,” “mountains be carried into the midst of the sea,” “the heathen [rage],” and “kingdoms [be]…

Rest

The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years before they were ready to enter the promised land. God was ready to help them enter that land long before they were ready to receive His assistance. One of the psalms quotes God looking back on that time: Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people…

New Testament Parallels

Nurture

The word “nurture” appears twice in the scriptures: once in the New Testament and once in the Book of Mormon. The apostle Paul wrote: Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4 And the prophet Enos used the same phrase to describe his own upbringing: Behold,…

What Is a “Remission” of Your Sins?

The word aphesis (ἄφεσις) appears 17 times in the Greek New Testament. It literally means “letting go” or “setting at liberty.” When Jesus reads the prophecy from Isaiah 61 that the Messiah would “preach deliverance to the captives, and…set at liberty them that are bruised,” He used the word aphesis twice. (See Luke 4:18 on biblehub.com.)…

Why Are Some Blessings Conditional on Our Faith?

During the Savior’s mortal ministry, He frequently urged His disciples to develop greater faith. He asked the terrified disciples on the ship In the storm, “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25) When Peter began to sink after walking on the water, He asked, “Wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:31) He told his disciples how pleased…

Church History Connections

“My Soul Did Rest” – Enos 1:17

Faith in God can help us manage anxiety and recover from discouragement. When Enos prayed all day and into the night, the Lord answered him with the assurance that his sins were forgiven. Enos said, “I knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away” (Enos 1:6). Notice that his trust in…

“Generations Yet to Be”

Enos prayed for people who would live in the distant future. The Lord answered his prayer, in part, by bringing us the Book of Mormon thousands of years later. As we grow closer to God, our thoughts and prayers turn not only to our ancestors but also to our descendants: “generations yet to be.”

Pray Vocally

The Lord instructed Martin Harris, “Pray vocally as well as in thy heart.” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has encouraged us to pray out loud whenever possible, even when we are alone. He said, “I think this process is basic to how God communicates with us and how He intends for us to communicate with Him.”

Weeping for Zion

An essential characteristic of a Christlike leader is love for those they serve. God explained that He called Joseph Smith to establish His church because of his “weeping for Zion,” praying with diligence and with deep desire for the eternal welfare of others.

All Posts Referencing Enos

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