3 Nephi 17

In my Book of Mormon class this week, a key concept stood out to me in 3 Nephi 17. In the beginning verses of the chapter, Jesus perceives that the people don't have a full understanding of what He has taught them. He commands them to ponder about the things He has taught them and ask Heavenly Father, in His name, for understanding. I think that is amazing. And then He says to them that through praying for understanding, they will prepare their minds for the morrow when He will speak again to them. A few key principles stood out to me. First, in order for us to understand things on a spiritual level, we must seek them through spiritual tools and methods. For we will receive everything according to their likeness. Evil for evil and good for good. We can only receive answers to spiritual things through prayer and scripture study. Heavenly Father has provided us these tools so that we can know for ourselves the truth of all things and to understand the mysteries of God. We receive these answers through the power of the Holy Ghost ("and by the power of the Holy Ghost ye can know the truth of all things." Moroni 10:5). Second, we have to prepare our minds to receive revelation. This is an eternal principle. When I was on my mission, our mission president would have us prepare for zone conferences and other meetings by fasting and praying to prepare to receive revelation for our areas, for the people that we had stewardship over and for ourselves. Every time I did that the spirit poured out upon me in ways that I had never experienced before and I received and recognized eons of revelation. It became a pattern on my mission to prepare for these meetings through prayer and fasting along with reading the assigned material our mission president wanted us to read. Prayer really is the portal of revelation.