2nd Nephi 33:1 says: "And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men."
This is a scripture that I have often overlooked in my journeys through 1st and 2nd Nephi. However, when one stops to look at this first in Nephi's last chapter to us we can see some amazing things.
Nephi says that he is not the greatest at writing, which is sometimes just not believable because, in reality, he is an amazing writer. Anyways, its the next part: "for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men."
How amazing is that promise? We don't have to be incredibly learned or have a PhD in public speaking to talk about the gospel. Brigham Young was not converted until a man who knew very little compared to the missionaries he was sitting next to bore his humble testimony. It goes along with the conference talk that Elder Niel A. Anderson gave called, "You Know Enough."
Sometimes I think in this gospel we get caught up in all the details, the names dates and places and just the vast amount of doctrine that seems to be there. When we hear the words every member a missionary it can make us want to run to our bed, jump in, and pull the cover over our heads. Elder Neil A. Anderson Says:
"Nearly 40 years ago as I contemplated the challenge of a mission, I felt very inadequate and unprepared. I remember praying, “Heavenly Father, how can I serve a mission when I know so little?” I believed in the Church, but I felt my spiritual knowledge was very limited. As I prayed, the feeling came: “You don’t know everything, but you know enough!” That reassurance gave me the courage to take the next step into the mission field."
Like that member that testified to Brigham Young, he probably felt very inadequate next to the missionaries who seemed to know so much. Brigham Young explains the power that that mans simple testimony had on his conversion experience like this:
"If all the talent, tact, wisdom, and refinement of the world had been sent to me with the Book of Mormon, and had declared, in the most exalted of earthly eloquence, the truth of it, undertaking to prove it by learning and worldly wisdom, they would have been to me like the smoke which arises only to vanish away. But when I saw a man without eloquence, or talents for public speaking, who could only say, 'I know, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of the Lord,' the Holy Ghost proceeding from that individual illuminated my understanding, and light, glory, and immortality were before me. I was encircled by them, filled with them, and I knew for myself that the testimony of the man was true.... My own judgment, natural endowments, and education bowed to this simple, but mighty testimony."
Nephi probably felt exactly like that man whose simple testimony changed Brigham Young's life and subsequently the future of the church. What things are we meant to say? Who is waiting for our simple testimony? I promise that if you go forward with faith in what you say to that neighbor you've been wanting to share the gospel with or that friend that is in desperate need of some light that the holy ghost will help you touch their hearts.
But as Nephi says, it is their choice if they want to accept your message. And if they don't? That's okay. You did your part.
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