Part of the “Come, Follow Me” scriptures we have been studying this week come from Doctrine and Covenants 124. It’s a long section — 145 verses. At that length, it isn’t a section you want to put off until the end of the day if you are thinking about reading an entire section before going to bed.
When I was a teenager, one of my seminary teachers taught me to replace an individual’s name with my own when the Lord is giving counsel in the scriptures. Sometimes this works better than others. This week, two verses stood out to me when doing what I learned from that teacher 25 years ago.
“Therefore, let my servant (Ryan) put his trust in me, and cease to fear concerning his family,” the Lord said in verse 87.
In verse 89, I included my name again, and I also included that of President Russell M. Nelson, the President of the Church, in place of Joseph Smith’s.
“If (Ryan) will do my will let him from henceforth hearken to the counsel of my servant (Russell M. Nelson).”
In a video released this week, Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles described a similar experience of feeling the words of a scripture were for him.
If you haven’t done this exercise before, give it a try before the end of the year. Doctrine and Covenants is full of opportunities to learn from personal counsel given by the Lord that you may find applies to you in the same way I have.
As we seek to do Heavenly Father’s will, we should follow the counsel of President Nelson. He, like Joseph Smith, leads the Church as God’s servant.
If we do, we may receive the blessings outlined in verse 90.
“If (you) will do this I will bless (you) with a multiplicity of blessings, that (you) shall not be forsaken.”
