Ye Shall Have Power

One message from Helaman 10 that is important for us in our day is this: we obtain power from God through our covenants with Him. After Nephi was largely rejected by the people, he “went his way towards his own house, pondering upon the things which the Lord had shown unto him” (v2). As he pondered, the voice of the Lord came to him and commended him for his “unwearyingness” with which he declared the word of God to the people (v4). The Lord then made a covenant with Nephi: “And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will” (v5). He promised to make Nephi “mighty in word and in deed” because of Nephi’s faithfulness. The Lord continued with this covenantal language: “Behold, thou art Nephi, and I am God. Behold, I declare it unto thee in the presence of mine angels, that ye shall have power over this people, and shall smite the earth with famine, and with pestilence, and destruction, according to the wickedness of this people” (v6). He promised Nephi that he would have power, and He did it with angels as his witnesses. The Lord also gave Nephi the sealing power: “Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people” (v7). The Lord was covenanting with Nephi to give him great power, and Nephi’s responsibility was to “go and declare unto this people, that thus saith the Lord God, who is the Almighty: Except ye repent ye shall be smitten, even unto destruction” (v11). Nephi was quick to observe his part of the covenant: “And behold, now it came to pass that when the Lord had spoken these words unto Nephi, he did stop and did not go unto his own house, but did return unto the multitudes who were scattered about upon the face of the land, and began to declare unto them the word of the Lord which had been spoken unto him” (v12).

               The reaction of the people to Nephi’s words didn’t really change much after he had made this covenant with the Lord—they still rejected him. Mormon recorded, “They did still harden their hearts and would not hearken unto his words; therefore they did revile against him, and did seek to lay their hands upon him that they might cast him into prison” (v15). But what did change was the power that Nephi was given: “But behold, the power of God was with him, and they could not take him to cast him into prison, for he was taken by the Spirit and conveyed away out of the midst of them” (v16). So great was the power that he was given that Nephi was carried away by the Spirit out of their midst when he was in danger of being put in prison. Mormon continued, “And it came to pass that thus he did go forth in the Spirit, from multitude to multitude, declaring the word of God, even until he had declared it unto them all, or sent it forth among all the people” (v17). Despite the dangers he faced, Nephi was able to declare the word of God to all the people without being cast into prison. Because of his covenant with the Lord, Nephi had great power to overcome the world, just as President Nelson taught, “Each person who makes covenants in baptismal fonts and in temples—and keeps them—has increased access to the power of Jesus Christ. Please ponder that stunning truth! The reward for keeping covenants with God is heavenly power—power that strengthens us to withstand our trials, temptations, and heartaches better. This power eases our way. Those who live the higher laws of Jesus Christ have access to His higher power. Thus, covenant keepers are entitled to a special kind of rest that comes to them through their covenantal relationship with God.” Nephi’s story in Helaman 10 highlights the fact that our covenants with God do not cause our problems to go away or make everything easy for us; Nephi still had to face the difficult crowds who sought to stop his preaching. But his covenant gave him power over them all, and President Nelson could have been talking about Nephi’s story when he commented in the same talk: “Entering into a covenant relationship with God binds us to Him in a way that makes everything about life easier. Please do not misunderstand me: I did not say that making covenants makes life easy. In fact, expect opposition, because the adversary does not want you to discover the power of Jesus Christ. But yoking yourself with the Savior means you have access to His strength and redeeming power.” As we strive to keep our covenants we have made with the Lord through baptism and the temple, we have access to the strength and redeeming power of the Savior Jesus Christ just as Nephi of old.