The Power of the Holy Ghost

Lehi’s teachings that Nephi recorded in 1 Nephi 10 focus on the coming of the Savior, and I’m impressed by how many different times and different names the prophet referred to Him in this chapter.  He spoke of “a Messiah, or, in other words, a Savior of the world” and of “this Messiah… this Redeemer of the world.”  He testified that “all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer.”  Lehi also prophesied of how John would “prepare the way of the Lord” and “baptize with water; even that he should baptize the Messiah with water” and that John would proclaim that “he had baptized the Lamb of God, who should take away the sins of the world.”  In a day far distant from Lehi’s, “the remnants of the house of Israel, should be grafted in, or come to the knowledge of the true Messiah, their Lord and their Redeemer.”  Nephi also added that his father had “faith on the Son of God—and the Son of God was the Messiah who should come” (v4-17).  Lehi and Nephi powerfully testified of all these titles of Jesus Christ: the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer, the Redeemer of the world, the Lamb of God, the Son of God.

               The other theme in this chapter is that of the Holy Ghost.  Three times Nephi referred to the “power of the Holy Ghost” and gave important lessons about that power.  In verse 17 he taught two ways that we gain the power of the Holy Ghost.  First, his father “spake by the power of the Holy Ghost, which power he received by faith on the Son of God.”  We receive power from the Holy Ghost as we strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ.  Mormon also linked the Holy Ghost with faith in the Savior: “The Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in their hearts” (Moroni 7:32).  Moroni similarly made this connection: “If ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost” (Moroni 10:4).  The second way Nephi taught about gaining the power of the Holy Ghost in verse 17 was this: “I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him.”  We gain the power of the Holy Ghost by real seeking and desiring the Savior.  

In the next chapter Nephi showed powerfully that faith in the Savior and diligent seeking indeed bring the Holy Ghost.  He recorded, “After I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord” (1 Nephi 11:1).  Sincere desire and belief in the Lord brought the Spirit of the Lord to him, and surely those are key steps for all of us as we seek to hear the voice of the Lord.