1 Nephi 8

(Below is a list of questions and quotes that help me think about each verse as I read it. The numbers represent the verses in the chapter.)

All people are invited to the tree of life but because of unbelief and temptation, many will not come. Coming to Jesus Christ and partaking of His Atonement brings happiness and joy. Pride, worldliness, and submitting to temptations can keep you from receiving the blessings of the Atonement. If we hold fast to the word of God, it will help us overcome temptation and worldly influences. Holding fast to the word of God helps us grow closer to the Lord and receive the blessings of the Atonement. As you follow and hold fast to the word of God, you can overcome obstacles that would prevent you from partaking of the Atonement and receiving true joy.

1-2. What method did The Lord use to talk to Lehi?

"Revelation is communication from God to man. It can occur in many different ways. Some prophets, like Moses and Joseph Smith have talked with God face to face. Some persons have had personal communication with angels. Other revelations have come, ... as 'through the dreams of sleep or in waking visions of the mind.' In its more familiar forms, revelation or inspiration comes by means of words or thoughts communicated to the mind, by sudden enlightenment, by positive or negative feelings about proposed courses of action, or even by inspiring performances, as in the performing arts." - Dallin H Oaks, New Era, September 1982 

"Inspiration comes more as a feeling than as a sound." - Boyd K Packer, GC, October 1979

1-36.What is the meaning of Lehi's dream? How are the scriptures like a rod of iron that lead you to the Savior? How has the Atonement brought you great joy? What must you do now and in the future to receive all of the blessings of the Atonement? What obstacles might you need to overcome to do so? How do the choices you make affect your closeness to The Lord and you ability to feel His love? What things do you need to do and what things should you avoid to come closer to The Lord and feel His love more powerfully in your life?

"Seeing mortality as a wilderness fraught with darkness, dreariness, and moral hazards is essential to understanding Lehi's dream. (Lehi's own life experience made this imagery both natural and appropriate.) the central message of this dream is that there is a 'tree, whose fruit is desirable to make one happy' - 'the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.' This love has as its ultimate statement 'the condescension of God' through the advent of Jesus Christ in the flesh to minister among men and then to be 'lifted upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world.' The challenge of mortality is to find and remain close to this tree, with its divine fruit, in the midst of avast moral and spiritual wilderness. Some means of direction is needed. In his dream, Lehi followed the man in the white robe, his compass bearer on a journey that lasted many hours through a dark and dreary waste. Eventually Lehi's followership led him to his celestial destination. The dream then teaches that he who would follow in Lehi's path, which is strait and narrow, will find a rod of iron beside the path - the word of God - to which the wayfarer must holdfast in order to find the tree and partake of the fruit. The path and the rod of iron, though passing perilously by the precipice of spiritual death, nonetheless will safely guide the seeking traveler through mortality's wasteland." -Lance B Wickman. Ensign, June 1996

"You may think that Lehi's dream of vision has no special meaning for you, but it does. You are in it' all of us are in it... Lehi's dream or vision of the iron rod has in it everything a Latter-day Saint needs to understand the test of life." - Boyd K Packer, Ensign, August 2010

7-10. How was Lehi delivered from darkness? How has prayer lifted you in your darkest hours and helped you to see the world more clearly?

10-11. What is the central image of Lehi's vision? How does Lehi describe this tree? What does the fruit represent? Why did Lehi want to get to the tree? What did Lehi do with the fruit?

"The tree of life... is the love of God. The love of God for His children is most profoundly expressed in His gift of Jesus as our Redeemer: 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.' To partake of the love of God is to partake of Jesus' Atonement and the emancipations [freedom from restraint of sin] and joys which it can bring." - Neal A Maxwell, GC, October 1999

12. What  happened after Lehi partook of the fruit? When has the Savior's Atonement brought happiness and joy into your life? Why should we, like Lehi, desire that our family and friends experience the blessings of the Atonement after we have experienced them? We cannot decide whether others will choose to partake of the love of God. However, we can invite and encourage them. How could you invite and encourage someone you know to come unto Christ and receive the blessings of His Atonement?

20-24. How did the rod of iron help individuals find their way to the tree of life? What do you have in your life that act as a rod of iron that guides you toward the tree of life? How consistently do you hold onto the rod of iron?

21-33. How do the filthiness of the world, Satan's temptations and the pride of the world slow or hinder your spiritual progress?

25. How can you get to the tree and stay there? Why did some become ashamed after they go to the tree? Why do you think Lehi wasn't ashamed? Which group would you want to be in?

26. Why do some people make fun of those who are trying to keep God's commandments? What is the best thing to do when people make fun of you for trying to be good?

"Have good associates or don't associate at all., Be careful in the selection of your friends. If in the presence of certain persons you are lifted to nobler heights, you are in good company. But if your friends or associates encourage base thoughts then you had best leave them." -Ezra Taft Benson, 'God, Family, Country', p. 241

30. What do you need to do in order for the word of God to safely lead you to the tree of life? When has the word of God guided you and kept you safe from temptation, pride or worldliness? When has the word of God helped you come closer to the Savior?