After the Savior completed His first visit to the Nephites, the news of His visit spread among the people all that night. (The events recorded in 3 Nephi 11–18 all took place during one day.) Throughout the night, the people labored “exceedingly … that they might be on the morrow in the place” where the Savior was going to appear again (3 Nephi 19:3). In the morning, the twelve disciples taught the people and prayed with them. Jesus Christ appeared and commanded the disciples to pray, while He prayed to the Father in their behalf. Because of their faith, the twelve disciples were purified. Jesus prayed that the disciples and all those who believed their words might become one with Him and His Father.
The twelve disciples minister to the people as the Savior commanded
Invite students to imagine what they might do or how they might feel if they knew that tomorrow Jesus Christ would be coming to the temple (or stake center, or city center, or some other location that would require some effort on the part of students to travel to).
How would you get there?
Whom would you want to go with you?
What would you do to prepare for this experience?
Remind students that near the conclusion of the Savior’s visit to the Nephites on the first day, He encouraged the people to go to their homes and ponder and pray about His teachings to prepare for His visit the next day (see 3 Nephi 17:3).
Ask students to read 3 Nephi 19:1–3 silently, looking for the Nephites’ response to the Savior’s promise that He would return the next day. After students report what they find, summarize 3 Nephi 19:4–8 by explaining that after the multitude gathered the next day, the twelve disciples divided the people into twelve groups and began to teach them. After instructing the multitude to kneel in prayer, the twelve disciples also prayed and then taught the people the same truths the Savior had taught the previous day. Then the disciples knelt in prayer again.
Invite a student to read 3 Nephi 19:9 aloud. Ask the class to follow along, looking for what the disciples prayed for.
What did the disciples most desire and pray for?
The twelve disciples were going to direct the affairs of the Church among the Nephites after the Savior left. Why do you think they needed the Holy Ghost in their ministry?
Invite a student to read 3 Nephi 19:10–12 aloud. Ask the class to follow along, looking for what the disciples did next. Ask students to report what they find.
Explain that this baptism was a special circumstance. Although the Nephites had been baptized previously for the remission of sins, the Savior commanded them to be baptized again because He had organized the Church anew.
Invite a student to read 3 Nephi 19:13–14 aloud. Ask the class to follow along, looking for the blessings the disciples received in response to their righteous desires and actions.
What blessings did the disciples receive?
What principle can we learn from 3 Nephi 19:9–14 about what we can do to be filled with the Holy Ghost? (Help students identify the following principle: We can be filled with the Holy Ghost as we sincerely desire and pray for His companionship and as we participate in the ordinances of the gospel. Write this principle on the board, and invite students to consider writing it in their scriptures next to verses 9–14.)
To help increase students’ desire for the Holy Ghost’s influence in their lives, do the following activity:
Divide students into pairs. Ask each partnership to make a list in their class notebooks or study journals of what the Holy Ghost does for those who live worthy of His companionship. Next, invite students to compare their lists with the following statement by Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Have students add to their lists any new ideas they find as they read the statement.
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Elder Robert D. Hales
“The Holy Ghost … is the source of our testimony of the Father and the Son. …
“We need the Holy Ghost as our constant companion to help us make better choices in the decisions that confront us daily. Our young men and women are bombarded with ugly things of the world. Companionship with the Spirit will give them the strength to resist evil and, when necessary, repent and return to the strait and narrow path. None of us are immune from the temptations of the adversary. We all need the fortification available through the Holy Ghost. … Having the gift of the Holy Ghost helps family members make wise choices—choices that will help them return with their families to their Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, to live with Them eternally” (Robert D. Hales, “The Covenant of Baptism: To Be in the Kingdom and of the Kingdom,” Ensign, Nov. 2000, 8).
After students have added new ideas from Elder Hales’s statement to their lists, ask them to choose one of the blessings they have written and to explain to the class how that blessing could help them and other youth of the Church today. After students have reported, ask the following questions:
When have your righteous desires and prayers helped you to feel the influence of the Spirit?
When have you been filled with the Holy Ghost as you have participated in the ordinances of the gospel? (You might ask students to consider their own baptism and confirmation as well as times when they have participated in proxy ordinances in the temple, partaken of the sacrament, and received priesthood blessings.)
You may also want to share an experience about a time when you were filled with the Holy Ghost as you desired and prayed for His companionship or as you participated in the ordinances of the gospel.
Write the following incomplete statement on the board. Invite students to write down this partial statement in their class notebooks or study journals and then to complete it in their own words.
I will show Heavenly Father my desire for the companionship of the Holy Ghost by …
After sufficient time, invite a few students to share what they wrote. Remind students to not share anything that is too sacred or private.
The Savior appears and prays for the people to be purified through their faith
Ask a student to read 3 Nephi 19:15–18 aloud. Invite students to follow along, looking for what the Savior instructed the people to do. Point out that in this unique instance, the disciples prayed to Jesus Christ because He was with them in person as a representative of the Father (see 3 Nephi 19:22).
Point out that while the people were kneeling, they witnessed Jesus Christ pray for His disciples and for the multitude. They also witnessed the disciples’ prayer.
Write the following scripture references and question on the board (or prepare them on a handout for each student):
What truths can you learn about prayer from this passage?
Divide the class into groups of three students each. (If your class is small, you may need to divide the class into smaller groups.) Assign a student in each group to read one of the scripture passages written on the board. Inform students that they should all be prepared to respond in their groups to the question on the board.
After sufficient time, ask students to share their responses to the question with the other members of their groups. After students have discussed what they learned in their groups, invite them to report to the class the truths they identified. Ask a student to write their responses on the board. Students may mention the following truths: We should express gratitude to God in our prayers. The Holy Ghost can help us know what to pray for. If we pray with the Spirit, our prayers will not include vain repetitions. The Lord blesses us when we pray without ceasing.
Ask students to choose one of the truths listed on the board and to share how they have been blessed as they have applied that truth. You may also want to share your testimony of one of the truths on the board.
Give students a minute to ponder how they will apply one or more of the truths on the board in order to improve their personal prayers.
Invite a student to read 3 Nephi 19:31–34 aloud. Ask the class to follow along and consider why the Savior’s prayer affected the people so deeply. Invite a few students to report what they find.
Summarize 3 Nephi 19:35–36 by explaining that the Savior taught that He had shown the Nephites the miraculous events they had witnessed, because of their great faith in Him.
President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) explained why the Nephites needed to be baptized again:
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President Joseph Fielding Smith
“There is nothing strange in the fact that when the Lord came to the Nephites, Nephi was baptized and so was everybody else although they had been baptized before.
“The Church among the Nephites before the coming of Christ was not in its fulness and was under the law of Moses. The Savior restored the fulness and gave to them all the ordinances and blessings of the gospel. Therefore, it actually became a new organization, and through baptism they came into it. [See 3 Nephi 9:15–22; 11:10–40; 12:18–19; 15:4–10.]
“We have a similar condition in this dispensation. The Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized by command of the Angel John the Baptist [see Joseph Smith—History 1:68–72]. Several others were baptized before the organization of the Church. However, on the day the church was organized, all who had been previously baptized were baptized again, not for the remission of sins, but for entrance into the Church. In each case the reason was the same. [See Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie (1955), 2:336.]” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. [1960], 3:205–6).
From the scriptures and the teachings of latter-day prophets, we know that we are to worship God the Father and pray to Him only. We should not pray to Jesus Christ. For example, the Savior taught the Nephites, “Ye must always pray unto the Father in my name” (3 Nephi 18:19). However, shortly after the Savior taught this, His Nephite disciples prayed directly to Him (see 3 Nephi 19:18). They did so, He said, because He was with them (see 3 Nephi 19:22). Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–1985) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained that this was an exception—a unique situation:
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Elder Bruce R. McConkie
“There was a special reason why this was done in this instance and on a onetime basis. Jesus had already taught them to pray in his name to the Father, which they first did. … Jesus was present before them as the symbol of the Father. Seeing him, it was as though they saw the Father; praying to him, it was as though they prayed to the Father. It was a special and unique situation” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ [1978], 560, 561).