LESSON PLAN FOR ENOS,JAROM,OMNI,WORDS OF MORMON

To watch the video presentation on YouTube, go to: https://youtu.be/reHO5CW-2mM

ICEBREAKER

What is your favorite food? If you could have any food right now appear in front of you. What would you want it to be?

OR What is your favorite restaurant to eat at and your favorite dish at that restaurant?

So, I know I’m hungry now, but have I got you hungry yet?

And, if you have a hungry stomach, what do you do to remedy that?

You open your mouth and Feed it.

TRANSITION

Today we’ll look at a story about a hungry young man, which shouldn’t surprise you, most young men are hungry and his name is Enos, Jacob’s son. But it’s not his stomach that’s hungry.

According to Enos 1:4, How was Enos feeling as he went hunting? His soul hungered.

Now perhaps he started out that day with a hungry stomach and that's why he goes out to hunt wild beasts in the forest, but it turns out that when he actually gets out there, it's not his stomach that begins to gnaw at his insides and cry out for nourishment, but his soul. And if you have a hungry soul, what should you do to remedy that? Open your mouth and Pray. That’s one way to feed a soul. With prayer.

APPLY

I want you to ponder what your soul is most hungry for right now? And If I said that you could choose one prayer that you could have answered right now, today, what would it be? What would you pray for?

The book of Enos is essentially the story of a man who desired an answer from his Heavenly Father, and what he was willing to do to obtain it. Enos prayed for forgiveness, his people, his enemies, and the preservation of the scriptures.

And with your request in mind, study the book of Enos looking for what he did that led to his answers and perhaps, just maybe, that will help you to find yours.

PRAYER SYNONYMS

Now, every time you see Enos depicted in art, he’s on his knees. This is a story about prayer, right. And yet, the word prayer or prayed only appears 3 times in the whole book. You would think that “pray” would show up more often in there. Well, in a way, it actually does—as an idea. It’s just that Enos uses much better words to describe that communication between earth and heaven. So what I’d like you to do is read the first 18 verses of Enos and just pull out and mark every word or phrase that Enos uses instead of the word prayer. What are they?

• :2 wrestle

• :4 my soul hungered

• :4 cried

• :4 mighty prayer

• :4 supplication

• :4 raise my voice high

• :9 feel a desire

• :9 pour out my whole soul

• :10 struggling

• :11 many long strugglings

• :12 labored with all diligence

• :15 cried unto him continually

• :16 cry

What do all these words and phrases suggest about receiving answers to prayer?

Receiving answers to prayer requires effort. Sincere, earnest, thoughtful prayer. We can’t expect God to always come to rescue us at our beck and call. Receiving an answer to prayer is not like ordering room service, your answer promptly delivered on a silver platter. It’s not a text message where you simply type in your request, and the Lord answers a few seconds later with a smiley face emoji at the end. It’s a process. It’s a labor. It’s a challenge. And it’s meant to be.

Why does God make us work so hard for our answers? Good question. Effort creates value for things. Things that we obtain too easily are often valued less. God wants us to value the answer and we will if we work for it. It may be the Lord’s means for testing our sincerity and desire. When somebody gives up on something to easily, it sends the message that we really didn’t care that much about it.

ALONE

Another insight that I think is important to mention, especially in our day and age, would be to point out the conditions under which Enos was able to receive answers to his prayers. What were the circumstances? He was alone, away from the world. In a place where he could focus, meditate, and open his heart and mind to the voice of the Lord. Do you think Enos would have had the same experience if he’d brought his cell phone and AirPods? Probably not. Most of us could probably use more silence in our lives. Silence seems to be a rare commodity these days. There is so much noise in our world today. We can’t even walk anywhere without having something to look at, play, or listen to. Are we making time for silence, meditation, contemplation? The New Testament tells us that Jesus often made time to be alone in nature and to commune with His father. Not that it’s required to go into nature to receive answers to prayer, but for me, I find it helps. In his book The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis gives voice to the devils who tempt us and in one part a senior devil says to his trainee, "It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality, our best work is done by keeping things out.” May I suggest that if you wish to receive answers to your prayers, that you make time in your life for silence. Turn off the television, the cell phone, and the radio, and somewhere in that sweet melody of silence, you might hear the voice of the Lord whispering your answer.

ALOUD

Also, he prayed aloud. This can really make a difference at times. Of course, we know that we can always say a prayer in our hearts and minds, but there is a special power that comes from finding a place where we can pray aloud.

A LOT

One of the more well know aspects of the story is in vs. 4 where we find that Enos prayed all day long and into the night, and I know of individuals who have gone out and tried to replicate this by staying on their knees for hours and hours. I’m not so sure that that is the intended message of the story. If you want an answer to your prayers, just pray for hours and hours until the answer comes. The more important principle I get from that detail of the story is that answers to prayer often take time. Some prayers can be answered immediately, but most require days, weeks, months, or even years before the answer comes. Don’t give up on your prayer if you feel like you still haven’t gotten an answer. Your answer just might require some long strugglings, some wrestling, and some pouring out.

It reminds me of the parable of the importuning friend in Luke 11 where the neighbor comes and knocks and knocks until the master of the house finally answers. And Jesus says the friend doesn’t get up to help him because he is his friend, but because of his importunity. What does importunity mean? Persistence. We, like Enos, need to be persistent in our prayers.

Joseph Smith said, “Weary the Lord until he blesses you” (WJS, p.15). So if you don’t feel like you’ve received an answer to prayer, bruise your knuckles on heaven’s door until you feel you’ve received one.

A quick caution here. Persistence in prayer is not an encouragement to keep praying until God gives you exactly what you want. It’s an encouragement to keep praying until he gives you an answer. Remember Joseph Smith asking God if he could give the 116 pages to Martin Harris. He got his answer and then kept pushing for a different one, and we all know how that ended up. The answer may be no, that will not bless you OR the answer may be, you’re asking the wrong question OR the answer may be “wait, you are not quite ready for the answer” OR sometimes the answer is even, “It doesn’t matter what you do on this occasion. Decide for yourself, and I will support you in that decision”. Prayer is not so much about aligning God’s will to ours, but our will to his. Hopefully, as we pray, we do it with an open mind. Keep praying until you receive your answer, but be willing to accept the one you receive.

I guess a neat way we could sum up the way Enos prayed is to say that he prayed Alone, Aloud, and A lot.

BLESSINGS OF FERVENT PRAYER

Now if you are willing to pray in this way, with patience, perseverance, and passion, the Lord has some promises for you. Good things will come of it. Let’s take a look at what the Lord did for Enos because of his efforts. I’d entitle this portion of the lesson “The Blessings of Fervent Prayer”. You could do this as a quick activity and I’ll provide this as a handout if you’re interested. Handout Available at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TeachingWithPower

But read the following verses and look for the words that go in the blanks. Then use the numbered squares to discover one of my favorite quotes on prayer from William Shakespeare.

And the answers are:

• 1:5 Thy sins are FORGIVEN

• 1:5 Thou shalt be BLESSED

• 1:6 My GUILT was swept away

• 1:8 Thy faith hath made thee WHOLE

• 1:11 My FAITH began to be unshaken

• 1:12 I will grant unto thee according to thy DESIRES

• 1:15 Ye shall RECEIVE it

• 1:16 He COVENANTED with me

• 1:17 My soul did REST

And the quote:

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.

Words without thoughts never to Heaven go.

William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

And do you ever feel like your prayers are like that? I know I do at times. Just words without thoughts. I wonder how often our prayers don’t even get past the ceiling because there are no thoughts to go with them. Maybe that’s one of the major differences between rote prayer, and wrestling and pouring out your whole soul to God.

Well, that final question there. When have you seen one of these blessings come to you through fervent prayer?

Can any of you think of a time when you wrestled with the Lord and received an answer or a blessing like these from God? Have you ever had your guilt swept away, your desires granted, or your soul put at rest?

Likewise, I hope that the next time you are seeking for answers, you’ll remember the Enos principle. Alone, Aloud, and A lot = Answers. Enos left that morning planning on hunting for something that would feed him physically. Instead, he came back with a fed soul. He left expecting to expend effort and time pursuing wild animals, instead, he pursued forgiveness, blessings, and promises by wrestling and struggling with the Spirit all day long and into the night. By the end of the story, I think it's safe to assume that Enos’s hungry soul was fed. I pray that yours will be also.

LESSONS IN PARENTING

Another great lesson from the Book of Enos comes in the first few verses.

Parenting is an incredible privilege, but also an incredible responsibility. There is a lot of parenting advice out there, and a lot of it is conflicting.

What is the best or worst parenting advice you’ve ever received?

Here are a few examples and I’ll let you decide if it’s good or bad advice:

• Cherish the day you buy your first minivan because that will be the last day it is ever clean.

• After your first child is born, go buy 20 years’ worth of poster board. This will save you countless 10:00 PM trips to CVS.

• Don't leave Hungry Hungry Hippos on the floor of a dark room.

• Unfolded laundry straight out of the dryer is an excellent place for napping.

• Tell your kids all the food you want to keep for yourself is spicy. Sorry dear, this Ice Cream Sandwich is spicy

Well, if you are a parent, would you like to know which books we’ve found to have given the best advice? There are five of them. They are: The Old Testament, the New Testament, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Book of Mormon. The scriptures are the greatest parenting manual ever given to mankind.

We’ve been able to see Jacob as a brother, a preacher, and a prophet, but now we get to see him as a father.

What did he do as a parent that helped Enos to follow his example of righteousness?

POWER WORDS

Here, sometimes individual words in the scriptures carry immense power. I call them power words. Entire sermons can often be taught in just one word and this section is full of them. So here’s an activity for you. Read Enos 1:1-3 and pick out at least two power words that teach you a principle about righteous parenting and be able to explain why you chose them.

Here are some of my favorite words in these verses:

Just

Enos knew that his father was a just man. Not a perfect man, but a just man. As parents, we need to set an example of righteousness for our children. Hopefully, they view us as JUST individuals. I believe that typically, but not always, our children become a reflection of our values and actions. If we want our children to be honest, then we need to be honest. If we want our children to be faithful to their covenants, we need to be faithful to our covenants. If we want our children to study their scriptures, then they need to see us studying our scriptures. Our example can have a profound effect on who they become.

Taught

We need to teach our children. Both spiritual and secular truths. If we allow only public education and society to teach our children, I’m afraid they will be spiritually unprepared. We can’t just rely on Sunday school and Seminary teachers to do it either. They need to be taught by us as well. This is one of the reasons I’m so thrilled by this Come Follow Me program which encourages parents to teach their children the gospel. It’s one of the reasons I started this channel, to help parents teach their children the scriptures, which isn’t always easy. Remember that now, we are a home-centered, church-supported organization. We, as parents, have a responsibility to teach our children as effectively as we know-how.

Nurture and Admonition

These next two words are key. Nurture and admonition. I see these as the two great guiding and balancing principles in raising righteous and thriving children. Starting with nurture, what words come to mind when you see the word “nurture”? care, cherish, love, support, look out for, protect, compassion, praise

How about admonition? What words come to your mind there? Discipline, warn, exhort, caution, reprove, reprimand.

Which of these two do children need? Both, right. What happens if I do too much of one, and not enough of the other. What if all I do is nurture, nurture, nurture. Well, they’ll be spoiled, entitled, and unprepared for the real world, which is not always a very nurturing place. On the other hand, what if all I do is admonish, admonish, admonish. They might feel unloved, they'll have no self-confidence, and they may eventually rebel against all that heavy-handedness. So what’s the best way to raise a child? Balance. Children need a balance of both nurture and admonition. Now, what is the exact balance we should use? I’m not sure, if you figure it out, let me know. I’m still in the middle of my parenting journey and I am by no means an expert. No set of parents is perfect, and even perfect parenting doesn’t guarantee our children will remain faithful, but if we keep these two principles in mind, I feel our children will have a much better chance of sticking to the straight and narrow path.

Often

Righteous parents teach the principles of the gospel frequently to their children. The things of the Spirit are regularly spoken of. The gospel is not just something that is talked about on Sunday and then never again until the next week. Though you might get an eye roll and a “Not this again” from time to time, children need to hear the same messages over and over again.

Joy

Enos mentions that his father often spoke of the joy of the saints. If wickedness never was happiness, then righteousness always was happiness. Living the gospel should bring us joy. Do we approach it that way in front of our children? When it is time for church, scripture study or family prayer, do we have a smile on our face, do we have an air of happiness and anticipation? Do we help our children see that the gospel and the commandments are not the barbed wire fence, but the enfolding arms of Jesus? Do we speak of sacred things with enthusiasm or do we approach them as a chore and an unwelcome obligation? Do we complain about our church duties or ignore the words of the prophets. Our children need to see the joy the gospel brings us. When Joseph Smith restored the doctrine of work for the dead in D&C 138, he ended that section with an exultant hymn detailing all the wonderful events of the Restoration. He begins that section with a question. He asked “Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of __________? What word do you think goes in that blank? The answer. Gladness. A voice of gladness is what we hear in the restored gospel. Not a voice of obligation, or dreariness, or apathy. Our children will be much more likely to want to stick with the restored gospel if they see how much of a blessing you consider it to be.

Sunk Deep

I'm cheating a little bit on this one. It’s two words. This is every parent’s greatest desire; this is my greatest desire for my children. I want the gospel to sink deep into their hearts. I think this pairs nicely with the word often. I envision a parent regularly sending truth, or faith, or testimony out on to the lake of their children’s soul. Every time they testify or teach, they are sending out another piece of that truth and faith. And for a time, it may not seem like anything is penetrating. It’s just kind of floating there, never getting beneath the surface. But, eventually, after years of teaching, and family nights, and family prayers, and scripture study, and testimonies, enough cumulatively has been shared, that the combined weight of all that we’ve taught, and shown, reaches a critical mass and that truth sinks deep into their hearts and their souls hunger. That’s what I think happened to Enos that day. All of his parent’s efforts came to fruition in that moment, and his faith was forged. So, if it doesn’t seem like your children have gotten it yet, if it doesn’t seem like they are feeling the power of the Spirit or the scriptures, don’t give up. Keep sending out those truths continually, repeatedly, and who knows, one day, it all may just click and that faith will sink deep into your children’s hearts.

A quick note about teaching any lesson on parenting. Parents are often very hard on themselves. And if they have a child that has strayed or is making poor decisions, it is so hard for them not to take100% responsibility for that on themselves. They feel like failures, and they shouldn’t. And they worry about others judging them, which others shouldn’t. This shouldn’t keep us from teaching parenting principles from the scriptures, but I always make sure in any lesson on parenting to include the principle that no parent is perfect and that even the greatest of parents have had children who have strayed or made poor choices in life. Would we judge Sariah and Lehi to be bad parents because of Laman and Lemuel? No, we know from Nephi that they were goodly parents. Would we judge Adam and Eve to be bad parents because of Cain? No. Mary and Joseph were chosen to raise Jesus so we know that they were amazing parents, and yet, some of their children did not accept their brother to be the Son of God. So let’s be charitable to other parents as well as ourselves. We do our best. We all mess up. And barring being negligent, abusive, or absent parents, I think the Lord will accept our offering of taking this incredible responsibility of raising souls with great mercy and understanding.

JAROM/OMNI/WORDS OF MORMON

All right now, Jarom, Omni, and Words of Mormon, all very short books, one chapter long. I feel the manual does a good job of giving you the background and some of the historical information about these short books, so I don’t feel a need to go into that for you here other than to say that the Book of Omni covers a very large swath of time, and the Words of Mormon are in insertion from hundreds of years later as Mormon is compiling his record into the gold plates and tells us he is switching from the small plates to the large plates of Nephi.

Handout Available at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TeachingWithPower

INSTRUCTIONS

1. You will be assigned one of the following verses:

• A. Jarom 1:11

• B. Omni 1:26

• C. Words of Mormon 1:7

2.Answer your questions and read the quote on your sheet. Feel free to add your own insights.

3.Be prepared to teach the others in your group what you learned.

A. JAROM 1:11

1. What does this verse teach you about teaching in the church?

2. Like the Nephites, we too are waiting for the Messiah (Jesus Christ) to appear. How can we believe and live as though he already was?

Quote:

“What if the day of His coming were tomorrow? If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow – through our premature death or His unexpected coming – what would we do today? What confessions would we make? What practices would we discontinue? What accounts would we settle? What forgivenesses would we extend? What testimonies would we bear? If we would do those things then, why not now?”

Dallin H. Oaks (Ensign, May 2004, pp. 8-9)

B. OMNI 1:26

1. According to this verse, what must we do to be saved?

2. How does somebody “offer [their] whole souls as an offering unto him”?

Quote:

“In conclusion, the submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!”

Neal A. Maxwell (“Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father”, Ensign (CR), November 1995, p.22)

C. WORDS OF MORMON 1:7

Keep in mind that as Mormon is writing this, that he didn’t understand why he was including the record of the small plates of Nephi in addition to his abridgment of the large plates. All he knows is that the Spirit is prompting him to do so for a wise purpose. Now we know what the “wise purpose” is—to prepare a way for us to receive this record of Nephi in spite of the loss of the 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript in early church history.

1. Why do you think it is important to follow the “whisperings” of the Spirit even when we don’t understand why?

Quote:

“The scriptures teach us, “For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him,” (Matthew 6:8) and He “knoweth all things, for all things are present before [His] eyes.”(Doctrine and Covenants 38:2) The prophet Mormon is an example of this. He did not live to see the results of his work. Yet he understood that the Lord was carefully leading him along. When he felt inspired to include the small plates of Nephi with his record, Mormon wrote: “And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.” (Words of Mormon 1:7) Although Mormon did not know of the future loss of the 116 manuscript pages, the Lord did and prepared a way to overcome that obstacle long before it occurred.”

Brook P. Hales (Conference Report, April 2019)