Where is thy faith?

I’ve been studying a lot about faith recently and I’ve discovered a fresh perspective on having Faith in Jesus Christ that I’d like to share.

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we should be experts on the subject of faith. We can quote scriptures to describe it, such as:

Hebrews 11:1

“…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Ether 12:6

“…faith is things which are hoped for and not seen…”

Alma 32:21

“faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”

Joseph Smith, the latter-day prophet described faith as a

“principle of power, the moving cause of all action.”

Another writer in the early 1900s named Napolean Hill who spent 30 years studying the most successful people in America, said,

“Faith is the only agency through which the power of God can be harnessed and used by man” (T&GR)

We are constantly told we need be in possession of this stuff called “faith” and that we should be striving to develop and increase it…, but do we really understand what it is? Why is faith a principle of power, and exactly how do we go about getting it?

The standard primary answers (read the scriptures, pray, attend church) don’t explain why those activities can lead to faith and those activities don’t always lead to increased faith if we don’t understand the principle at work.

Let’s first ask ourselves, why do we want faith in the first place? It is because the promises of Jesus and His prophets are so great that we want them to be true, even though we don’t have hard evidence. We all innately feel a sense of longing for more than what the world offers; we feel a sense to break free from some invisible chains that hold us down. We want to believe in something that can help deliver us from these unseen bonds.

Nephi tells us that

“the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.” (1 Nephi 1:20)

We learn from Enos that

“Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive, in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.” (Enos 1:15)

Also, Moroni, after giving his famous promise that we can know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, warns us to

“deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.” (Moroni 10:7)

Moroni later reminds us that Christ said

“If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me.” (Moroni 10:23)

You see, with faith we can be free to do anything through God’s power…. But, how is faith built, increased and sustained?

In the book of Luke, the 12 apostles asked Jesus to “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). Jesus explained through parable that humble obedience is one way.

Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy explained in the April 2009 General Conference that

“desire, hope, and belief are forms of faith, but faith as a principle of power comes from a consistent pattern of obedient behavior and attitudes.”

Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught that

“faith is a gift of God bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness. It is always given when righteousness is present and the greater the measure of obedience to God’s laws the greater will be the endowment of faith” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 264).

Personal obedience is an excellent way to increase our faith. However, often our pattern of obedience is cyclical, driven by an excited emotion from a motivating or spiritual experience and then wanes until the next motivating experience. If we rely on external influences, even the church, to provide these motivating or spiritual experiences to recharge our desire for obedience, our faith will waiver and we become as James described:

“he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord” (James 1:6-7)

We can develop and maintain a pattern of obedience and faith that doesn’t depend on constant recharges that are out of our control. Let’s see how.

We know that faith has been compared to a seed by Alma. (Alma 32) Our desire to know and have faith is what motivates us to plant the seed, and, when tended and given sufficient time, that seed of desire can grow and bear fruit, from which we can determine if the seed or desire was good. And what fruit should we look for? The fruit of the Spirit, which is

“love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Once your faith has bloomed into a fruitful tree – it now bears thousands of new seeds from that one small initial seed, which are ready to be planted in the hearts of others. So long as you tend to your tree, you’ll have an unlimited supply to share.

You may say to yourself, “How can I have more faith in my current situation? Haven’t I already done all I can?” Remember that you cannot define who you are by what you see now. What you see now is a result and reflection of the sum of your past decisions… but your past decisions are not who you are. Who you are is what you decide to do now. It is true that your environment matters, so change that if you can, and after you’ve changed your environment as best you can, bloom where your are planted – choose to start now!

The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans

“… faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

Regarding that, Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles said:

“The very fact that you are [here at church] means that you are hearing God’s word. The first step to finding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is to let His word…touch your heart. But it is not enough merely to let those words wash over you, as if they alone could transform you. We must do our part. Or as the Savior Himself said, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” In other words, hearing requires an active effort. “Faith without works is dead.” It means taking seriously what is taught, considering it carefully, studying it out in our minds. As the prophet Enos learned, it means letting others’ testimonies of the gospel “[sink] deep into [our] heart[s].”

Everything begins as a thought. Enos had, no doubt, heard his father many, many times speak of the Savior and His gospel. Enos’ faith came from hearing the word and as he was thinking about what he had heard, he had a desire to know for himself; a desire for remission of his sins. When his sins were forgiven and his guilt was washed away, he asked “Lord, how is it done”? The Lord replied,

“Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen.” (Enos 1:8)

The lessons that Enos received from his father, repeated time and time again, seeded his thoughts until he developed sufficient faith. Stated another way,

“faith is a state of mind that may be induced or created by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind through the principle of auto-suggestion.” The repetition of affirmations is like giving orders to your subconscious mind and it is the only known method of voluntary development of faith – absolute belief that you can do something.” T&GR (Napolean Hill)

The church provides much in terms of facilitating our “hearing the word” and then helping us act on our knowledge. The church has numerous programs including Primary, Sunday School, Relief Society, Quorum and class instruction, study guides, scriptures, ward, stake and general conferences, magazines and special broadcasts to name some. These “programs” of the church are designed to provide these repeated instructions to our minds and the resulting actions based on those thoughts that will provide us with sufficient faith to save us. The church helps us develop a paradigm in our lives.

A paradigm is a system of beliefs (or a multitude of habits) that govern how we define ourselves and program our lives. Like a computer program that tells a computer how to operate, we have programs that govern how we operate our lives. We call these programs habits. Some are good programs and some are bad but they are all created by repeated exposure and practice. The church seeks to help us install good programs into our personal paradigm – hence the programs of the church that seemingly repeat the same (or similar) material year after year. These programs of the church help install faith in us. They start with a thought, usually through instruction, and then they invite us to act. If we let the program become a habit in us by engaging the thoughts with emotionalized action, we can develop the faith necessary to change our lives, change our personal paradigms, and begin perfecting ourselves – becoming more like the Savior.

Napolean Hill wrote that

“All thoughts that have been emotionalized (given feeling) and mixed with faith (absolute belief in your ability), begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent or counterpart. However, this is not only true of thought impulses that have been mixed with faith, but it is true with any emotion – including negative emotions.” (T&GR)

Hence, we can develop bad or weak paradigms (groups of habits) if we don’t fully accept the programming or with repeated exposure to negative influences, both of which are a detriment to our faith in Jesus Christ.

Case in point: some of Jesus’ disciples, tried to exercise their new but weak faith by casting out a devil from a possessed boy, but were unable. Jesus cured him with no trouble. When the disciples asked why they were not able, Jesus said

“Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew 17:20)

Jesus went further to explain that fasting and prayer can strengthen our faith to be able to accomplish difficult tasks.

Henry Ford once said

“Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right”,

which sums up the experience of those disciples.

Developing a strong faith, one that will constantly motivate us to do good, and help us obtain our righteous desires, can be done. Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy said,

“We get what we focus on consistently.”

Hence the encouragement to have daily scripture study, daily prayer weekly church attendance and other frequent spiritual activities. The Savior encouraged us to have a prayer in our heart always. How’s that for constant focus? Having a prayer in our heart means to be on task, in alignment with our beliefs and acting on what we believe. When we mix in strong emotion, even passion with consistent focus on the attainment of a goal or desire, our faith is strong enough to make it happen. Imagine your prayers as a radio signal being sent heavenward. Until you get passionate about what you are asking about, the signal isn’t going to be very strong, perhaps not strong enough to reach its destination and therefore will be lost into the ether. The system that God has put in place to respond to our faith responds best to strong faith.

Strong faith is best obtained by believing and acting as though you already have the object of your prayers. James teaches us that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). We have to act like we already have what we are asking for, otherwise, our faith won’t be strong enough.

Think of the miracles of healing that Jesus performed. The people that came to be healed truly believed they would be healed. They had absolute faith and were totally committed to the idea that Christ would heal them. And what did Christ say to them? “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” The last time you asked for a priesthood blessing – did you have faith like that? Or did you ask for a blessing of health, but still plan to take the next day off work to recuperate?

If you feel overcome by fear to start acting this way – it may be that you are addicted to fear. Addicted to fear? Yes, that’s right – a habit of choosing to give in to fear instead of choosing the path of faith can be considered an addiction. One of the best ways to overcome fear is to use a higher brain function trick which will give control back to the reasoning part of your brain instead of the fight or flight part, which is what actually causes fear. Here’s the trick. As soon as you feel yourself begin to feel fear, close your eyes and for about 1 minute focus on being genuinely grateful for something really meaningful to you. I imagine each of my kids smiling and making a silly face and I really feel over my whole person the love I have for them. Almost immediately you’ll find the feeling of fear subsiding and your ability to reason has returned. Now you can reason with your fear. You can verbally re-affirm your path of faith to yourself and reason with your fear about how irrational it is. State to yourself how you will feel once you’ve made this right decision. Try the following:

I am so happy and grateful now that ___________________

Also be sure to pray for what you want, not what you don’t want – and truly feel how it is to have the thing you want. In the book of Mark, the Savior said:

“Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” (Mark 11:22-24)

Even the use of the word “try” is warned against because it gives the suggestion to our minds of an ongoing effort. The concept of “trying” implies an ongoing effort. You don’t want to try – you want to succeed. If you pray that you may have success in trying, the Lord may do just that – help you try, but may prevent you from succeeding, because if you did succeed, then He could no longer help you try – which is what you asked to do. Robin would tell you to use “faith language” and completely remove the word try from your vocabulary.

There are numerous other examples I might have used and numerous other practical ways to help develop strong faith. Remember that faith is the beginning and must be maintained and nurtured. Peter tells us that to our faith we should add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity. (2 Peter 1:5-7) In fact, when we do these things diligently, surviving trials of our faith, Peter tells us that we will make our calling and election sure and that

“if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (2 Peter 1:10)

Now, we’ve covered a lot of material on faith, but still we’ve only scratched the surface of a deeper understanding. What you’ve done now is heard the word. Now it’s up to you to study for yourself, internalize and get passionate about your faith in Christ and what you can accomplish with it.

I know for my part, that despite the downturned economies of the world, the prevalence of sin and apathy around us and despite the challenges that surely lay ahead of me and my family – I have never before in my life been so confident that God will take care of me and my family’s needs as I continue to do my best – and as I align myself to the principle of faith. It is my faith which gives me this confidence. I know by sure and tested experience, that anyone who wishes this same optimism can obtain it. This principle can guide your life – it will feed you, sustain you, bring you happiness and lead you to have all that you need even to eternal life. That is what I know for sure.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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Book of Mormon Reading Chart

I created this Book of Mormon Reading Chart to help my family track our progress as we meet our Bishop’s challenge this year to read the whole Book of Mormon. Normally this is an easy goal, but doing it together as a family, with young children, is a much greater challenge. We’re going to be reading 1 chapter every night, which should give us plenty of time to complete it in time.

I also occasionally use to use a variation on this chart – a chronological reading of the Book of Mormon.

We post this up in our main family room so it serves 2 purposes:

1. It is a visual reminder to do our daily reading and show where we are and
2. Its also a missionary tool… lots who come in ask about it and its a good opportunity for us introduce the Book of Mormon to people.

UPDATE: A graphic designer in my ward, Jason Sturgeon, spiced up my original format and made it into a bookmark-ish size. I’ve updated this post with his improvement. Here’s the original full-page format.

What techniques do you use to keep your family motivated in scripture reading?

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"...touch me not, for I am filled with the power of God..."

“Behold, my soul is rent with anguish because of you, and my heart is pained; I fear lest ye shall be cast off forever. Behold, I am full of the Spirit of God, insomuch that my frame has no strength.
And now it came to pass that when I had spoken these words they were angry with me, and were desirous to throw me into the depths of the sea; and as they came forth to lay their hands upon me I spake unto them, saying: In the name of the Almighty God, I command you that ye touch me not, for I am filled with the power of God, even unto the consuming of my flesh; and whoso shall lay his hands upon me shall wither even as a dried reed; and he shall be as naught before the power of God, for God shall smite him.
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto them that they should murmur no more against their father; neither should they withhold their labor from me, for God had commanded me that I should build a ship.”

There are a few examples in scripture where being so consumed by the Spirit of God causes people to lose their natural strength. Think of Lehi who after his first vision was so exhausted, he “cast himself upon his bed” (1 Nephi 1:6-7). Think also of they Ammon was teaching King Limhi and when he prayed, the King fell as if he were dead and they even considered burying him (Alma 18:40-42). There are other examples, but suffice it to say that the power of God can have a great effect on a human body. This coupled with the anguish and emotional stress Nephi was feel about his own brothers surely caused him to feel very physically weak. Laman and Lemuel apparently saw this opportunity to overpower him and be rid of his chastisement by drowning him, but Nephi called upon that same power that had weakened him to protect him. While threatening his brethren with sudden death by the power of God should they try to touch him, he commanded them to shape up so they could all ship out (pun intended).

I remember as a Bishop being so worried about some of the members in my congregation for various reasons that I actually felt sick and weak. I admit that at times when praying for them, or in counsel with my counselors about them, I’ve become overcome by the Spirit with concern for them and felt weakened. I’m sure Bishops all over the world have similar experiences. Now I try to think,

“Am I being like Laman and Lemuel?”

“Do I desire to destroy my Bishop by undermining him, mocking or making light of his suggestions?”

“Am I guilty of withholding my labor or murmuring?”

Think about the last candid talk your Bishop gave. I think its pretty rare to hear a Bishop speak on a topic for no reason, just to fill time. Bishop generally speak with purpose, so listen up when they speak. When they speak about the importance of tithing or fast offerings, consider where you stand in those matters. Consider how you can serve others to make their burdens lighter. We know that time is money… so giving of your time can be a hard thing to do. In fact, whenever I go out with the missionaries to a scheduled appointment it feels like we are always stood up — people just aren’t there. I never consider this a waste of my time however, believing that the Lord pays hourly, not on commission. Giving freely of your time, talents and labor is generally a good thing. Lets listen to our leaders pleadings with us. Its unlikely they will threaten us like Nephi had to, but they will chastise, warn, prod and encourage us to do better. Don’t resent it, take it as a blessing that someone is looking out for you and cares enough to correct you before you become like Laman and Lemuel… it happens to too many of us.

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"but time and chance happeneth to them all"

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

The bible dictionary explains that the first verse in this citation is not a doctrinal pronouncement that after death there is nothing –rather, this is a worldly view – people “under the sun” believe that.

This scripture tells us that whatever vocation we choose (whatever we do with our hands) we should do our best, and put our energies into it. It also explains that no matter how smart you may be, how hard or fast your work, no matter how skilled or what brilliant ideas you may have, success comes and goes as a matter of chance. A friend of mine believes that wealth is a blessing of the Lord that is given to certain individuals and not to others, whether you strive for it or not. He explains how some wealthy, with the craziest bumbling ideas you can imagine, seem to make a tidy fortune despite themselves. alternatively, I’m sure we all know others who seems to have brilliant ideas and excellent work ethic, but never quite attain to any financial success – and teeter on the edge of poverty for their whole lives.

I personally agree with this line of thought to the extent that the Lord does bless some of us with wealth and other not. I believe that as we are obedient, more often than not, the Lord does bless us with prosperity, which often manifests itself as financial success, but this is not a hard and fast rule. In the general this applies, but specifically the case may be different, depending on what the Lord has planned for you.

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The Book of Mormon Game interface

Today I launched the Book of Mormon Game (http://bookofmormongame.com), a new, completely free, online audio scripture chase game.

It’s a fun and competitive game which reads the Book of Mormon to you from a random place and you have to find where its reading from and race against a timer. Your scores will show along with ward/stake members. This game can help you become more familiar with the Book of Mormon and is a fun way to get in your daily scripture “reading”.

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"...he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder..."

“Ye are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God. Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder.
And ye also know that by the power of his almighty word he can cause the earth that it shall pass away; yea, and ye know that by his word he can cause the rough places to be made smooth, and smooth places shall be broken up. O, then, why is it, that ye can be so hard in your hearts?”

Nephi is speaking to his brothers. He and his brothers are Jews, part of the chosen people. We should liken this to the Prophet of our day speaking to us, members of the church. Probably we have not seen an angel, but today, more than ever, we do hear the voice of God and His servants often, through conferences, magazines, scriptures, internet and at church. But, have we become desensitized?

Its interesting to note that thunder is caused by a bolt of lightning. The heat from the lightning forces the air away from the source, then when it is gone, those masses of air rush back together and we hear the CLAP of lightning as these air masses crash into each other from all directions. When the Lord shares His light with us, by speaking to us, hopefully we see the light. But if we don’t notice (are past feeling), the thunder will surely get our attention.

Having the wrong balance when it comes to money is always a curse to our spirituality. If we perceive ourselves as having too little money, this can become an obsession. We look at everything as an opportunity for income, not necessarily for intrinsic value. Service can diminish into jobs, and the constant “worry state” can cause us to ignore or not be able to feel the promptings of the Spirit. If we have a lot of wealth and perceive ourselves as totally self-sufficient, we no longer see a need for God to care for us, since we seem to be doing such a good job “on our own”. If a sentiment like this overtakes us, pursuit of Spiritual things will end, we will not be motivated to serve God and again, the Spirit will not reach our ears as readily.

In both of these scenarios, it is not the amount of money that affects us, but how we perceive our situation about money. If we have a proper balance in our minds, it will change our entire outlook and actions, and can allow us to be receptive to the promptings of the Spirit. If we are “past feeling”, the Lord sometimes will speak to us “like unto the voice of thunder” so He can get through to us. But, if we don’t change our ways one of two things may happen.

1. Like a person who requires strong medication, the body adapts to the medication, and stronger and stronger doses are needed to do the same job. If we ignore or don’t change our thinking and actions, the Lord may speak “like unto the voice of thunder”, then move to earthquakes, and then worse to get our attention. Consider the amount of natural disasters that have been increasing in magnitude and frequency around us. Surely we, as a society, have need to be humbled.
2. He may stop speaking to us altogether. If we are so past feeling, sometimes, by our agency, we no longer want to hear the Lord or His Spirit and He will simply give us that wish. This is truly a tough place because then typically the Lord speaks to others on our behalf to try and help… to get us back. Faithful home teachers, friends, Bishops often fall into this category.

Application of these ideas is not solely fitted to money of course, but I think you can see how it clearly does apply to how we think about money. Let us keep our hearts and minds soft so we do not require the Lord to take drastic measures to communicate with us. Whether rich or poor, keep a balance regarding how you think about money, and in the long term, the Lord will bless you with what you need.

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“Wherefore, the Lord commanded my father that he should depart into the wilderness; and the Jews also sought to take away his life; yea, and ye also have sought to take away his life; wherefore, ye are murderers in your hearts and ye are like unto them.”

Quick recap:

1. The people in Jerusalem had become wicked and were about to be destroyed because the Lord would not protect them.
2. Laman and Lemuel are like the people in Jerusalem.

Sometimes the bad comes with the good.

But… Laman and Lemuel were not destroyed. Instead, they were given the opportunity to go along with the righteous (kicking and screaming) to the promised land. Sure, they had moments of repentance, but, in the end, always showed their true colors of jealousy, pride and selfishness. They didn’t merit their opportunity. They merited destruction like the rest in Jerusalem. However, because they were related to some righteous people, they were granted something they didn’t deserve. Even if their hearts were in the right place at the beginning, they quickly became “murders in their hearts”, but still managed to ride the coat-tails of the righteous part of Lehi’s family.

How often have you seen this? A righteous wife who is struggling to do her best with a lazy, disobedient or half-hearted husband who just slides by. A husband who is trying to balance his job, calling and role as parent, trying to honor his priesthood, but his wife just doesn’t try to do her part, doesn’t support him, and complains about the time he takes to serve others. A family who has a rebellious son or daughter who pulls the whole family unit down or makes it very difficult to do what’s right. I’m sure you can name examples like this fitting each of these and more scenarios.

The same happens in money related scenarios. Some employees are hard-working and others just do the bare minimum, and do a poor job at it. Sometimes in a marriage, one spouse is trying to balance the budget while the other spends uncontrollably with reckless regard to the family finances.

Why are the less righteous or wicked permitted to do this? Well, father Lehi teaches us that there is “opposition in all things“, which makes part of our testing ground here in mortality. The Book of Mormon also teaches us that the Lord permits the righteous to go through strife, adversity and even death at the hands of the wicked, in order that the wicked may be justly judged. This of course requires an eternal perspective to understand and appreciate.

We know the Lord wishes us to be prosperous as we obey His will. Sometimes our righteous agency will bring the disobedient to prosperity. Sometimes the unrighteous agency of people will bring us to poverty. But, in the grand scheme of things, on a societal basis and not necessarily on an individual basis, the Lord prospers the righteous. Financial safety comes with obedience to the gospel, along with all other attendant (and more important) blessings. Don’t worry about the justice of the disobedient who seems to prosper. They will have their reward. Rather, focus on your obedience, service and love for the Lord and His children, and you will find all your needs met and prosperity more likely to greet you.

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Jerusalem Falls

“And now, after all these things, the time has come that they have become wicked, yea, nearly unto ripeness; and I know not but they are at this day about to be destroyed; for I know that the day must surely come that they must be destroyed, save a few only, who shall be led away into captivity.”

Nephi, writing this at about 591BC, is very close regarding the Babylonian Captivity, which occurred at 586BC – just 5 years later (remember time counts towards 0 on the BC scale). As we can recall, this captivity was the reason Lehi and his family left Jerusalem. Lehi tells us this destruction and captivity was due to the wickedness of the people. Nephi reminds us about this prophecy here. There are some interesting reasons we can review (after the fact) about why the Lord spared Lehi and his family from the captivity and brought them to the promised land in the Americas.

1. The captivity lasted quite a while (until 537BC – a total of 49 years). It wasn’t until Persia overthrew Babylonia that the Jews were given permission to return to Jerusalem. Over this period of time, many of the Jews intermingled with the locals; traditions changed, even the religion changed somewhat. When they returned to Jerusalem almost 50 years later, 2 generations had passed and they had a really hard time restoring things back to the way they were. In fact, things were never quite the same, as much of the traditions evolved while in Babylonian captivity. Lehi’s family were removed from this situation and continued their religious worship unblemished by the captivity.
2. When the captivity happened, many were killed and the rest were taken to Babylon. The Jews did not bring their homes and riches with them. They were captive, not treated quite as a traditional slaves, but they certainly had their wealth taken from them with no promise of that status changing any time soon. Lehi’s family, on the other hand, left their wealth voluntarily, being led towards a promised land. They were not captives; they were free. While there is no doubt they toiled on their journeyings they were never slaves and they all had hope that the promised land was coming.

Lehi’s family, by heeding the commandments of the Lord were spared the great toils of captivity. Even Laman and Lemuel, who pushed back so many times, were spared captivity. We too can be spared many pitfalls in life by heeding the commandments. Many of the things we’ll be spared will be spiritual challenges, but also many things we can be spared from are physical things, enabling us to obtain our promised land in due time.

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Moses' Brazen Serpent

1 Nephi 17:41-42

“And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.
And they did harden their hearts from time to time, and they did revile against Moses, and also against God; nevertheless, ye know that they were led forth by his matchless power into the land of promise.”

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Debt is slavery

1 Nephi 17:40

“And he loveth those who will have him to be their God. Behold, he loved our fathers, and he covenanted with them, yea, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and he remembered the covenants which he had made; wherefore, he did bring them out of the land of Egypt.”

Some historical refresher… Before the Exodus, the Israelites had been in Egypt for 400 years after Joseph had Jacob’s family move in. At some point during that time, the Israelites became slaves to the Egyptians. Many believe the Israelite “slavery” was not nearly as bad as is commonly depicted in major motion pictures. How did they turn into slaves? Among the reasons, debt is high in the list.Interestingly, modern-day prophets refer to debt as slavery – even the Lord refers to this as he instructs Martin Harris to “Pay thy debt… Release thself from bondage” D&C 19:35.

The evocation of the Moses story was a powerful lesson to Nephi’s family – to any family, even in our day. We will do well to remember that the Lord will deliver us from bondage and slavery as we are consistently loyal and obedient to him. We need to be careful about our debts, yes; but sometimes we fall into financial bondage without much choice in the matter. We can be delivered from our debts, but in the Lord’s time. The scripture says the Lord “remembered the convenants” he made. Clearly he didn’t forget, but they were fulfilled unto the Israelites after many years of slavery and unanswered prayers. We too many need to spend time, even years at a time in our personal bondages, even in debt, before we too are delivered. Our delivery will likely be less miraculous than a deliverer bringing us on an Exodus from our debtors. Rather, small graces must be taken advantage of. Rather than spending unexpected income on frivilous items, pay down your debts. Over time, the Lords tender mercies will add up to our deliverance.

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