However, instead of being given the blessing to focus and concentrate immediately from the blessing, I was chastised in that blessing. I was, essentially, scolded for not doing my personal scripture study. I was promised that I would be able to have the energy, focus, and drive for school that I needed on the condition that I did my personal scripture study first.
The next morning, I got up early, went to the couch, and read my scriptures until Andrew's alarm went off (the one that I used to be getting up to). For the first time in a couple of weeks, I was alert, energetic, and had the ability to concentrate and work on my paper. I knew then and I know now that that was a direct result of my obedience to the chastisement and council that I received in that blessing.
This is just one of the many examples that I have had in my life that confirms to me that not only is The Book of Mormon the word of God, but that God blesses us when we are in them daily and studying from them.
In 1st Nephi 1:8-15, Lehi has a vision where the heavens open and he sees God sitting on His throne, surrounded by angels. Then, One descends from heaven, followed by twelve others, and gives Lehi a book, and asks him to read. As he is reading, he is filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and after he is done reading he exclaims praises unto the Lord, and his soul rejoices and his heart is filled because of the things he has seen.
Now, the important part that I want to get at is in verses 11-12. Lehi is given a book and bade to read. Likewise, we have received The Book of Mormon in our day, and God had communicated to us through His prophets that He wants us to study it. When we read The Book of Mormon, we too can be filled with the Spirit of the Lord. This is just one of the many blessings we have been promised if we study from The Book of Mormon.
President Ezra Taft Benson taught that “There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your
lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater
power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You
will find the power to stay on the straight and narrow path. The scriptures are
called “the words of life”, and nowhere is that more true than it is of the
Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will
find life in greater and greater abundance. These promises – increased love in
the home, greater respect between parent and child, increased spirituality and
righteousness – these are not idle promises, but exactly what the Prophet
Joseph Smith meant when he said the Book of Mormon will help us draw nearer to
God.”
I testify that these promises are real, and that God keeps His promises to His children. I know that The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that Joseph Smith acted as an instrument in The Lord's hands in helping to bring The Book of Mormon forth to us in these latter-days through his translation of the records. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that President Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet on the earth today. I urge you to read The Book of Mormon, and to receive for yourself the blessings promised to you by God if you will study with a sincere heart, with real intent, and with faith in Christ. I also urge you to take Moroni up on his promise found in Moroni 10:3-5, that after reading The Book of Mormon, that "if ye shall [pray] with a sincere heart, with real intent, and with faith in Christ, [God] will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer. Amen.
