As Abraham traveled from Haran to Canaan, he and his family camped in tents. He later described the experience in these words: "Eternity was our covering and our rock and our salvation, as we journeyed" (Abraham 2:16). Elder Dale G. Renlund quoted this passage as he taught students how to deal with anxiety about an... Continue Reading →
Glory
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.Psalm 24:9-10 What is glory? The word appears 225 times in the King James Version of the Old Testament,... Continue Reading →
The Healer
During the Savior's mortal ministry, He was known as a miraculous healer. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:Matthew 15:30 Jesus also healed unseen wounds. To the man who was paralyzed, He first said,... Continue Reading →
Spirit
Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.Luke 24:39 Thousands of years before the birth of Jesus Christ, a prophet known as the brother of Jared saw and spoke with Him. After pointing out that He looked like a human being, Jesus explained: Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man... Continue Reading →
Angels
An angel is a messenger. The Greek word aggelos (ἄγγελος) is probably derived from the verb agó (ἄγω) which means "to bring," so an angel is someone who brings a message from God. Near the beginning of the Book of Mormon, Nephi sees an expansive vision narrated by an angel. (See 1 Nephi 11-14.) Jacob... Continue Reading →
Rolling Waters
In his epistle from Liberty Jail, Joseph Smith used the imagery of moving water to illustrate the principle that continuous revelation helps the gospel remain current and relevant in our lives. "How long can rolling waters remain impure?" he asked. "What power shall stay the heavens?" Then he went on to compare the powerful current of... Continue Reading →
Ascension, Descension, and Comprehension
In the sixty-eighth psalm, King David offers the following words of praise to God: Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.Psalm 68:18-19 Verse 19 is somewhat ambiguous in the original Hebrew. It... Continue Reading →
Living Water
The ancient prophet Jeremiah bemoaned the spiritual state of his people, which he attributed to two poor decisions: Forsaking "the fountain of living waters"Building for themselves "cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13, Jeremiah 17:13) Lehi, who was a contemporary of Jeremiah, had a dream in which he saw the tree of... Continue Reading →
“I Know” / “I Know Not”
Recognizing the boundaries of our knowledge is an important element of self-awareness and a prerequisite to wise decision-making. Nephi opens the Book of Mormon with a testimony of its truthfulness: I know that the record which I make is true; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge.1... Continue Reading →
“The Greatest of All the Gifts of God” – 1 Nephi 15:36
The central symbol in Lehi's dream was "a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy" (1 Nephi 8:10) After eating some of the fruit, his greatest desire after that was to help others experience that same joy, beginning with his own family. When one of Lehi's sons, Nephi, prayed to understand his father's dream, he experienced a... Continue Reading →