1 Nephi 17:45 Avoid putting yourself in spiritual dead spots with no service.

1 Nephi 17:45 President James E. Faust

“Cellular phones are used for much of the communication in our time. Occasionally, however, we find dead spots where the signal coming to a cell phone fails. This can happen when the cell phone user is in a tunnel or a canyon or when there is other interference.

“So it is with divine communication. … We often put ourselves in spiritual dead spots—places and situations that block out divine messages. Some of these dead spots include anger, pornography, transgression, selfishness, and other situations that offend the Spirit” (”Did You Get the Right Message?” Ensign or Liahona, May 2004, 67).

1 Nephi 16:28 - 3 Quotes about the Liahona

President Monson – Patriarchal Blessings

“The same Lord who provided a Liahona for Lehi provides for you and for me today a rare and valuable gift to give direction to our lives, to mark the hazards to our safety, and to chart the way, even safe passage—not to a promised land, but to our heavenly home. The gift to which I refer is known as your patriarchal blessing. …

“… Your blessing is not to be folded neatly and tucked away. It is not to be framed or published. Rather, it is to be read. It is to be loved. It is to be followed. Your patriarchal blessing will see you through the darkest night. It will guide you through life’s dangers. … Your patriarchal blessing is to you a personal Liahona to chart your course and guide your way” (Thomas S. Monson, “Your Patriarchal Blessing: A Liahona of Light,” Ensign, Nov. 1986, 65–66).

Elder W. Rolfe Kerr – The Scriptures

“The words of Christ can be a personal Liahona for each of us, showing us the way. Let us not be slothful because of the easiness of the way. Let us in faith take the words of Christ into our minds and into our hearts as they are recorded in sacred scripture and as they are uttered by living prophets, seers, and revelators. Let us with faith and diligence feast upon the words of Christ, for the words of Christ will be our spiritual Liahona telling us all things what we should do” (W. Rolfe Kerr, “The Words of Christ—Our Spiritual Liahona,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2004, 37).

Elder David A. Bednar – The Holy Ghost

“As we strive to align our attitudes and actions with righteousness, then the Holy Ghost becomes for us today what the Liahona was for Lehi and his family in their day. The very factors that caused the Liahona to work for Lehi will likewise invite the Holy Ghost into our lives. And the very factors that caused the Liahona not to work anciently will likewise cause us to withdraw ourselves from the Holy Ghost today” (David A. Bednar, “That We May Always Have His Spirit to Be with Us,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2006, 30).

1 Nephi 13:5-6. Satan wants to destroy you.

1 Nephi 13:5-6

When we rehearse the grandeur of Joseph Smith’s First Vision, we sometimes gloss over the menacing confrontation that came just prior to it, a confrontation intended to destroy the boy if possible but in any case to block the revelation that was to come. We don’t talk about the adversary any more than we have to, and I don’t like talking about him at all, but the experience of young Joseph reminds us of what every man, including every young man, in this audience needs to remember.

Number one, Satan, or Lucifer, or the father of lies--call him what you will--is real, the very personification of evil. His motives are in every case malicious, and he convulses at the appearance of redeeming light, at the very thought of truth. Number two, he is eternally opposed to the love of God, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the work of peace and salvation. He will fight against these whenever and wherever he can. He knows he will be defeated and cast out in the end, but he is determined to take down with him as many others as he possibly can.

So what are some of the devil’s tactics in this contest when eternal life is at stake? Here again the experience in the Sacred Grove is instructive. Joseph recorded that in an effort to oppose all that lay ahead, Lucifer exerted “such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak.”

As President Boyd K. Packer taught this morning, Satan cannot directly take a life. That is one of many things he cannot do. But apparently his effort to stop the work will be reasonably well served if he can just bind the tongue of the faithful. (Elder Hollalnd “We Are All Enlisted” Oct 211 General Conference)

1 Nephi 7:21 Happy families forgive each other

1 Ne 7:21

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“I have discovered one thing that most [happy families] have in common: they have a way of forgiving and forgetting the imperfections of others and of looking for the good.

“Those in unhappy families, on the other hand, often find fault, hold grudges, and can’t seem to let go of past offenses. …

“… As we accept [our Savior’s] ways and overcome our pride by softening our hearts, we can bring reconciliation and forgiveness into our families and our personal lives. God will help us to be more forgiving, … to be first to apologize even if something wasn’t our fault, to lay aside old grudges and nurture them no more” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “One Key to a Happy Family,” Ensign, Oct. 2012, 5, 6).

1 Nephi 3:7 Doing hard things that we have been commanded

1 Nephi 3:7         “In Brazil, I met Aroldo Cavalcante. He was baptized at age 21, the first member of the Church in his family. His faith burned brightly, and he immediately began preparing to serve a mission. Sadly, Aroldo’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. Three months later, only days before she died, she spoke to Aroldo of her greatest concern: There were no relatives to help. Aroldo would need to take full responsibility for his two younger sisters and his younger brother. He solemnly made this promise to his dying mother.

“By day he worked in a bank, and at night he attended the university. He continued to keep his baptismal covenants, but his hopes for a full-time mission were gone. …

“Months later … , Aroldo studied the words that Samuel reprovingly spoke to King Saul: ‘To obey,’ he read, ‘is better than [to] sacrifice’ (1 Samuel 15:22). Aroldo received the seemingly impossible impression that he needed to obey the prophet’s call to serve a mission”

“Undaunted by the obstacles before him, [Aroldo] moved forward with enormous faith.

“[To pay for his mission,] Aroldo saved every Brazilian cruzeiro he could. At age 23, he received his mission call. … Aroldo still did not have enough money to pay the full cost of his mission and the living expenses for his brother and sisters, but with faith he entered the MTC. A week later he received the first of many blessings. The bank that had employed Elder Cavalcante unexpectedly doubled the money he was to receive as he concluded his work. This miracle, along with others, provided the needed income for his mission and his family during his absence” (Neil L. Andersen, “Faith Is Not by Chance,” 65–66).

1 Nephi 2:11-13. Don't murmur against commandment.

1 Nephi 2:11-13 Elder H. Ross Workman

“Murmuring consists of three steps, each leading to the next in a descending path to disobedience.” First, people begin to question. They question “first in their own minds,” and then they plant questions “in the minds of others.” Second, those who murmur begin to “rationalize and excuse themselves from doing what they [have] been instructed to do. … Thus, they [make] an excuse for disobedience.” Their excuses lead to the third step: “Slothfulness in following the commandment of the Master. …“I invite you to focus on the commandment from living prophets that bothers you the most. Do you question whether the commandment is applicable to you? Do you find ready excuses why you cannot now comply with the commandment? Do you feel frustrated or irritated with those who remind you of the commandment? Are you slothful in keeping it? Beware of the deception of the adversary. Beware of murmuring” (Elder H. Ross Workman “Beware of Murmuring,” General Conference, Oct. 2001).  

Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer testify of the BOM when their lives were in danger.

Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer testimony of Book of Mormon when their lives were in danger: “In 1833, when mobbing reigned triumphant in Jackson Co. Mo. I and O. Cowdery fled from our homes, for fear of personal violence on Saturday the 20th day of July.  The mob dispersed, agreeing to meet again on the next Tuesday.  They offered eighty dollars reward for anyone who would deliver Cowdery or McLellan in Independence on Tuesday.  On Monday, I slipped down into the Whitmer’s settlement, and there in the lonely woods I met with David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery.  I said to them, “brethren I have never seen an open vision in my life, but you men say you have, and therefore you positively know.  Now you know that our lives are in danger every hour, if the mob can only catch us.  Tell me in the fear of God, is that book of Mormon true?  Cowdery looked at me with solemnity depicted in his face, and said, “Brother William, God sent his holy angel to declare the truth of the translation of it to us, and therefore we know.  And though the mob kill us, yet we must die declaring its truth.”  David said, “Oliver has told you the solemn truth, for we could not be deceived.  I most truly declare to you its truth!!”  Said I, boys I believe you.  I can see no object for you to tell me false hood now, when our lives are endangered.  Eight men testify also to handling that sacred pile of plates, from which Joseph Smith read off the translation that heavenly Book. (Mitchell K. Schaefer, ed., William E. McLellin’s Lost Manuscript” (Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2012), 166-167