Book of Mormon 2020 - Enos to Words of Mormon

What a feast of scriptures from Enos through to the Words of Mormon. These scriptures cover 350 years of Nephite history, from the record of Enos which began at the death of Jacob (about 500 B.C.) to when the last scribe, Amaleki, gave the records to Benjamin (about 145 B.C.). I first wrote about these scriptures in 2016. For this blog post, please see: https://gospeldoctrine2016.blogspot.com/2016/05/book-of-mormon-14-for-wise-purpose.html. This blog post is deeply personal. I was able to record an event where I was able to pour out my heart and soul to the Lord, I knew I was heard, and my prayers answered.

The Prayer of Enos by Brian Hailes

Prayer is the greatest tool we have to stay close to the Lord, to gain hope and guidance, and to ‘wrestle for a remission of sins’, as did Enos. Brother Steve Scott suggested that we look for patterns when we read the scriptures. He outlined a pattern, made clear in Enos, for obtaining a remission of our sins. In Enos 1:1, we read, “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”. Brother Scott stated that the first part of this pattern is honouring your parents and abiding by their teachings. Not everyone is fortunate to have righteous parents. Like Enos, I had parents who raised me in the church and for that I will be eternally grateful. We need to find our own testimonies. We cannot survive on our parents’ testimonies. The pattern for obtaining a remission of our sins will also lead us towards our own personal testimonies. I love the statement by Brother Scott, “They (parents) started the spark but couldn’t create a fire.”

Secondly, we need to recognise the Spirit. In verse 3, Enos says, “the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.” And, later, in verse 10, “while I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind”. What an awesome experience! The Spirit speaks to us in two ways: in our heart as a feeling and in our mind as a thought or a still, small voice.

Thirdly, In Enos 1:4 it states that Enos’s soul ‘hungered’ to know the truth. He prayed with his heart, his soul, and he prayed for a very long time, until his prayer reached the heavens. The fourth part of the pattern is seen when Enos states, “I did pour out my whole soul unto God” (Enos 1:9) and, this led to, “my faith…unshaken in the Lord” (Enos 1:11).

Enos is forgiven of his sins. He hears the voice of the Lord saying, “thy faith hath made thee whole” (verse 8). The final part of the pattern is when Enos prays firstly for his brethren the Nephites, and then for his enemies, the Lamanites. We need to pray continually and have charity for others. The pattern explained by Brother Scott is shown in the diagram below.

I have always had a testimony of prayer. There have been many, many times in my life, where my prayers have been answered powerfully. I love being able to pray. I feel that, in the current situation where we are in lock-down with the Covid 19 pandemic, prayer is the way to reach the heavens. 

I remember a little incident that occurred when my youngest son was only in Year 7 at school. I always picked up the youngest three children from school. The first pick-up was my middle son, who was then at Papatoetoe Intermediate School, and the my youngest two from Papatoetoe East Primary School. My youngest was most upset when I picked him up. He was wearing his new glasses but the right lens was missing. He did not see where it had dropped out. As soon as I picked the children up, we decided to go for a quick snack at Burger King, just around the corner from the school. As we sat there, eating out burgers, I asked my son if he had prayed to find the lens. He hadn’t and expressed his doubt over whether the missing lens was important enough to mention in a prayer. It was a good opportunity to tell him that he could pray about any concerns. The Lord would always be listening. We left Burger King and went back to the primary school. As we pulled up at the carpark entrance, my boy was keen to jump out of the car and start searching. He yelled out, “I can see it!” Imagine my surprise, with only one lens, he was convinced he could see a small, transparent lens! He rushed over to the driveway with the rest of us following closely. Sure enough, right there in the middle of the driveway was his missing lens! I was amazed but very grateful that our prayers had been answered. Can you imagine? Firstly, my very short-sighted son had ‘seen’ the lens. Secondly, it was in the middle of a busy driveway that had been travelled on by hundreds of students and several cars belonging to teachers heading home. Yet, the lens was in perfect condition, without a scratch!

I truly love this little story, originally published in The Friend magazine, about an answer to prayer.

While President Thomas S. Monson was serving as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he spoke to a gathering of Primary children in a Samoan village. Afterward, he was prompted to personally greet each of the 247 children who attended. However, he realized he would not have time; he tried to put the thought of greeting the children out of his mind but could not.

He finally turned to the children’s teacher and said, “I would so much like to shake the hand of each boy and each girl. Would this be possible?”

The teacher smiled and spoke to the children in Samoan. They nodded their heads eagerly in response. The teacher then told Elder Monson that when he had learned that one of the Twelve Apostles was to visit Samoa, he had promised the children that if they would pray sincerely and have faith, Elder Monson would visit their village and would be prompted by the Holy Ghost to shake the hand of every child (see Thomas S. Monson, Friend to Friend: Talofa Lava, May 1972, pp. 12–13).

In Jarom 1:4 we read, “And there are many among us who have many revelations, for they are not all stiffnecked. And as many as are not stiffnecked and have faith, have communion with the Holy Spirit”. It was for this reason that the Lord protected the people and strengthened them from the attacks of the Lamanites. Jarom 1:11 is a delightful verse, with a wonderful insight and strategy we can use to stay close to the path of righteousness. It states, “…exhorting with all long-suffering the people to diligence… persuading them to look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already was.” Isn’t that a wonderful idea? We should learn to live as if the Lord had already come. I am sure we would be better people in all ways!

The Second Coming

I enjoyed dwelling on the insights in Words or Mormon. In verse 7 it states, “And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.” I have experienced the Lord working through me. One instance occurred several years ago. There was a sister in our ward, much younger than I was. We never really spoke or had much contact. I was sitting in Sacrament and had a strong feeling that I should talk to her. This was such a strong feeling, that after the closing prayer I sought her out. I mentioned how pretty she looked and how nice it was to see her at Sacrament. I moved wards shortly afterwards and I thought nothing further about those few minutes of time. Six months later, I saw this sister again at a Stake meeting. She came up to me with tears in her eyes and thanked me. She said that on that Sunday she had decided to stop attending church. She felt there was no hope and had considered taking her own life. When I spoke to her, she felt that someone cared. Someone had noticed her and even made her feel good about herself for a small moment. It was enough. When she went home, she got on her knees and asked her Heavenly Father for help. She was so grateful to me. Yet, I had done little more then offer a few words of kindness and encouragement.

I would like to end with a thought taken from Don’t miss this in the Book of Mormon by Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler.

Michelangelo had a talent for taking a block of marble and chiselling away the unnecessary while keeping the form until he had finally exposed the beauty within. He once said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free…

Perhaps this is a good analogy for how the Lord works in our lives. He sees what we can become, He knows our gifts and our possibilities, and He knows just what it will take to help us reach our potential…We are the work of His hand, His finest creation, a masterpiece.

I love how Mormon reminds us that the Lord works in us, because sometimes we forget. We forget He is the master of creation. The author and finisher of our stories. The one who knows all things, including all the things He has in mind for us to do and to become.