Day 68: Helaman 12-13

Hello Dear Reading Friends!

I hope you are all having a FABULOUS day!  I'm excited to share some thoughts from my reading today.  I wanted to start off with this Daily Bread video from mormon.org.  I felt that this kind of went along with the first part of Helaman 12 today.



Helaman 12:1-3

1 And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.

 2 Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of  precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.

 3 And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.

We now go on to one of a scripture that has so much meaning to us in these last days.

Helaman 12:5
5 Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom’s paths!

The following is a WONDERFUL talk written by President Benson but read by President Gordon B. Hinckley.



This talk was written for me.  I have so many things that I can learn and work on,  I pray that you feel the Spirit speak to you also as you listen to the talk.  I am so excited for General Conference in just two weeks from now.

Elder Joe J. Christensen of the Seventy taught that pride leads to unrighteous comparisons and also may lead to our downfall:

“Pride causes us to become overly concerned, as we compare ourselves with others, about how intelligent we think we are, the brand of our jeans or other clothing—the ‘costly apparel’ we wear, to what organizations we belong, on which side of town we live, how much money we have, what our race or nationality is, what kind of car we drive, even to what church we belong, how much education we have been privileged to acquire, and on and on and on.

“In the scriptures there are many indications that pride has risen to destroy individuals, nations, and in some cases even the Church itself. …

“It has been calculated that no fewer than thirty times throughout the Book of Mormon the cycles of prosperity and peace were destroyed, principally by the effects of human pride”.

Helaman 12:24
 24 And may God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works.

Elder Gene R. Cook of the Seventy discussed the personal nature of the Savior’s grace:

“The grace of the Lord through the Atonement can both cleanse us of sin and assist us in perfecting ourselves through our trials, sicknesses, and even character defects. … Christ can repair our flaws and failings that otherwise are not repairable.

“That great truth ought to fill us all with hope, as long as we are quick to remember that the effect of grace in our lives is conditioned upon repenting of our sins. …

“A repentant heart and good works are the very conditions required to have grace restored to us. When someone pleads fervently in prayer for an answer, the answer may be more conditioned on repentance of personal sins than on any other factor.

“To obtain grace, one does not have to be perfect, but he does have to be trying to keep the commandments the best that he can. Then the Lord will allow him to receive that power” .

We now move on to Chapter 13. If you read the first verse you see that the Lamanites are now more righteous than the Nephites.

Helaman 13:1
 1 And now it came to pass in the eighty and sixth year, the Nephites did still remain in wickedness, yea, in great wickedness, while the Lamanites did observe strictly to keep the commandments of God, according to the law of Moses.

We then read in verse 2 about Samuel the Lamanite.  Here is the story in simple terms.

Chapter 13 is so full of great scriptures.  I hope you will highlight your favorites and journal how you feel about them.  Samuel the Lamanite inspires me so much.  What a great example of courage, faith, and obedience he is to me.  

I hope you all have a fabulous day!  I will chat with you soon!

Hugs,
Robyn