Jesus Christ wants nothing more than for us to turn to Him so that He can heal us. Just has he caused the deaf to hear, the blind to see and rose the dead to life, He can heal our spiritual blindness and let us see His love, He can help us hear His word, and He can raise us to life eternal.

This verse talks about the joy that the adversary feels as he is successful in luring us away from the path of Christ. But the truth is, you and I have everything we need to overcome the temptations of the adversary, and as we rely on the grace of Christ, we will be victorious. 

In these verses Mormon speaks of things to come as if they are a guarantee. He has so much faith hope and assurance in the Lord's word that there is zero doubt of what will be. Mormon has that kind of confidence because he has had experiences with the Lord. What experiences have you had that make you confident in God's promises?  

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and how can we pay the price of discipleship? 

To prepare for battle the converted Lamanites and Nephites gathered everything together and were prepared temporally, and it sustained them and that was important. But what they did SPIRITUALLY is what ultimately SAVED them.  

The Laminites and the Nephites joined together for physical safety and survival, but the Lord also commands us in our day to be one. Our unity and our oneness is just as vital to our spiritual survival as the Nephites and Laminites unity was to their physical survival.

Heavenly Father is actively involved in our lives. We each experience miracles and tender mercies, but as it says in this chapter, Satan is anxious to lie to us about those experiences, so that our hearts will be hardened and we will see them as coincidences rather than miracles. As we recognize the miracles and show our Father in Heaven that we see them and value them our conversion becomes cemented in our hearts. 

In the mist of Nephi's biggest trial the Lord's response was to "Be of good cheer." This wasn't a trite, "Keep your chin up pal," It was the knowledge that in, and through and because of Christ, we can find joy and hope even in the hard things.

Have you ever wondered why the process of receiving revelation wasn't quicker or easier??? Take comfort my friends, it wasn't easy for most of the Book of Mormon prophets either. But while receiving revelation can require work on our part, it is one of the greatest gifts of God to His children. 

Samuel talked until he was blue in the face about the signs and wonders that would proceed Christ's birth, but even still only "most believing part of them" were paying attention and believed. We must learn from this chapter to be vigilant in watching for the signs of Christ's coming and diligent in hearing and heeding God's word.