I love the interaction between Nephi and the Spirit when Nephi was shown the vision of the Tree of Life. It is one of my favorites in the Book of Mormon and I think that we can be taught some things about this along the way.

Nephi's Father, Lehi tells his family that he has seen a vision and has fear for two of his sons and reason to be of cheer and gladness with his other sons. He then relates the story of the tree of life. Nephi has a great desire to see this same vision. That is the first learning point - desire. We'll hear more about that shortly.  As Nephi was pondering those things which his father spoke, he was caught up to a vision, and now we start the conversation:

Spirit: Nephi, what desire at thou?
Nephi: I desire to behold the things which my father saw.

Let's stop there for a minute. We can learn that one has to truly desire something before some further action occurs. I've said it before, but it bears repeating - if someone wants (or desires) something bad enough, they will find a way to achieve it. One of the interesting things that happens early in this conversation, is that the Spirit is asking Nephi what he desires. Now, I'm pretty sure that the Spirit already knew what Nephi desired that same way the Spirit knows our righteous needs and wants. 

Here is another lesson. The Spurit, or even Heavenly Father won't always give us what we want - we must open our mouths first. This is the "exercise" part in faith. We can pray and pray, but if we don't ask first, we won't get an answer. A similar experience occurred with the young Joseph Smith and the first vision. As soon as he collected himself (after all, he has God the Father and Jesus Christ right there), he asked.

The next part of the conversation is what I like to call the challenge/response. The Spirit asked Nephi whether he believed that his father saw the tree that his father spoke about. And Nephi, Mr. "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded..." responded back to the Spirit:

"Yea, thou knowest that I believe all the words of my father."

What a powerful response to the Spirit. The lesson I see here is before desire, pondering and asking can take place, a person has to believe. There is a difference between believing and knowing. To me, belief is taking the word of someone else on what they say. Having faith in the words. Knowing is a byproduct of belief. Nephi has seen and heard the things his father spoke of. He has witnessed the fruition of those things. Therefore, Nephi gained knowledge of those things and could, with an asurety say to the Spirit, yea thou knowest I believe the words of my father.

After that response, the Spirit cried with a loud voice praising The Lord and blessing Nephi because of his faithfulness. He then was shown many things. In this section of the Book of Mormon, the common used word is Look! The Spirit is encouraging Nephi to action by calling out to his attention certain parts of the vision. When we hear the words, Look! (With an exclaimation point suggesting an emphasis on the word), it makes me stop what I have been doing or thinking about, to give my full undivided attention. I have, personally never had the spirit tell me to Look! but I have felt and heard the words of warning, the stop, the listen! (again with the exclamation mark) in my life. In this case, Looking is observing with our spiritual eyes while keeping the mortal mouth closed. Similarly for me, listening is hearing with our spiritual ears while keeping the mortal mouth shut. The last method, which according to the scripture didn't occur, but has for me is the waiting. This can be the most agonizing part as we need to exercise patience and trust in The Lord for His answers.

So Nephi was called to strict attention of the part of the vision, when the Spirit went into the challenge/response mode again:

Spirit: Nephi, what beholdest thou?
Nephi: I behold.... {whatever that part of the vision was}
Spirit: knowest thou the meaning of {whatever part of the vision was showed to Nephi}

This challenge/response mode is, in my opinion the true way to learn. First, we believe and ponder those things then we desire. We ask, and then we Look! We see what we have come to The Lord to find out.  We are focused on this one thing. And then the Spirit steps in again and reiterates in our mind of our original desire. We have gained knowledge in this area. I believe this goes subconsciously all the time that we are in prayer to our Heavenly Father asking for a certain thing. If we think about it, we can see those steps taken to gain an answer. 

I am grateful for the Spirit in my life and the conversations that I have on a daily basis and for the knowledge, assistance, and answers to my desires and petitions with My Heavenly Father. The Lord stands ready to bless us and grant us our righteous hearts desires, if we exercise faith and follow the tried and true method of believing, pondering, asking, looking! and/or listening!  And finally, waiting patiently for a response. We will get those answers we seek.

Continue reading at the original source →