Helaman 5

The beginning of Helaman 5 is counsel that Helaman gave to his son's Lehi and Nephi, As I was reading through his counsel, I wondered what my counsel would be if I were teaching my kids for the last time. His counsel was as follows:

Vs 6: Keep the Commandments; Preach the People; Remember Who You Are; Be Like the Lehi and Nephi You are Named For

Vs 7: Do Good

Vs 8: Do Not Do Good So That You Can Boast, But Do Them for Treasures in Heaven;

Vs. 9: Remember that is only Through Jesus Christ that we Can be Saved

Vs. 10: Remember the Teachings of Alma and Amulek about How the Lord comes to Redeem their People--Not in Their Sins, but From their Sins

Vs. 11: We can Be Redeemed Through Repentance

...and my favorite counsel of all

Vs. 12: "And now, my sons, remember, remember that is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation wheron if men build they cannot fall."

This is my favorite verse of all time. It speaks to my heart. It gives me a formula for how to live, and my mind loves formulas. It also offers me promises if I go and do! If I build my life around Christ, Satan can have no power over me. This is the desire of my heart. First, to build my life around Chris; and second, to keep clear of Satan in my life.

I love how the rests of this chapter is how Lehi, and Nephi did exactly as they were counseled. They did "go and do" the things that the Lord had commanded. They were tools of bringing hundreds of people to the truth. (Can you imagine baptizing hundreds on a mission?) 

Towards the end of the chapter, we learn qualities our Heavenly Father. Lehi and Nephi while preaching the word, are thrown into prison, and as they are about to be harmed, the Lord encircles them with fire. The people then hear the voice of the Father. His voice is described as a still voice of perfect mildness (vs. 30). And then in verse 46 it is described as a pleasant voice, a whisper. Because this voice is described in the scriptures, it causes me to think we should emulate this voice in our lives.