25 Ways in which Joseph Smith's First Vision Has Blessed My Life

In this month’s First Presidency Message (February 2009), Dieter F. Uchtdorf wrote of how Joseph Smith’s First Vision blesses people’s lives. He wrote,

“Through his [Joseph Smith's] work and sacrifice, I now have a true understanding of our Heavenly Father and His Son, our Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ, and I can feel the power of the Holy Ghost, and know of Heavenly Father’s plan for us, His children. For me, these are truly the fruits of the First Vision.” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, First Presidency Message, Precious Fruits of the First Vision, Ensign, February 2009, page 8)

The "Ideas for Home Teachers" section recommends that families share what they feel are the fruits of the First Vision. Here is my fruitbasket:

1. Temple blessings restored. The blessings that are derived from having temples on the earth once again are immense! Temples allow my family (and future family) to live together forever. I will continue to receive promised blessing as I live true to the commandments that I have already received. I receive temporal and eternal instruction through temple worship. I am able to perform saving ordinances for those who have already past on into the Spirit world. Temples are places of peace and power.

2. Understanding the identity of God. Thanks to the First Vision, I have a clear understanding that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are separate beings of glorified flesh and bone. (DC 130:22) The Prophet Joseph later described God's features in detail, which offers me additional understanding about his physical nature and glory. Heavenly Father's visit to the boy Joseph taught me the pattern of how I should look for personal instruction from Him. I know that God knows me, individually; and that like Joseph, when I see Him again, He will call me by name.

3. Understanding my own identity in relation to God. I am a literal spirit son of Heavenly Father; just as my parents created and gave birth to my mortal body, Heaven Father is truly the father of my spirit that existed long before I was ever born to earth. I know, through the restored gospel, that Father has plan for all of his children to negotiate mortality and return to His presence in glory.

4. The confidence to give my all to the true church. My Elder's Quorum President, Bismarck Odei, first shared this sentiment with me. We share the belief that it is important to be completely engaged in whatever belief system you subscribe to. I would hate to be a member of a church where I was asked to give everything (time, talents, money, and whatever the Lord has blessed me with) when I knew that the Pastor or Reverend was spending my holy tithes on personal, luxury items; or for any other number of reasons that are warned against in the scriptures. I have the desire to sacrifice of my whole life to the Lord. But I wouldn't want to throw it away by committing to something false.

5. Knowledge regarding arcane truths. Where did I come from before this life? What is my purpose in this life? What happens to me after death? All these questions and more can be simply answered thanks to modern revelation and divine interpretation of scripture. The Plan of Salvation.

6. An opportunity to continually serve. The secret to happiness is discovered in the service of others. The Restored Church offers ample opportunity for each of its members to serve others in a number capacities or callings.

7. The Holy and Lesser Priesthoods. Through Joseph Smith, the Lord restored his Authority or Priesthood to men on earth. Beginning with Joseph Smith, man was re-entrusted with the power to baptize and perform other saving ordinances. I have seen and experienced priesthood power numerous times in my life. I have witnessed miraculous healings and prophecy and revelation by virtue of the Lord's Priesthood.

8. The Lord takes personal interest in my life. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ visited Joseph in response to his prayer of faith. God called Joseph by name, demonstrating that he knew him personally. The First Vision was a forerunner to many visions and angelic visitations which the boy Joseph would receive as the Lord groomed him to become the Prophet of the Restoration.

9. Bringing to light the Book of Mormon. I cannot begin to describe the incredible blessings I have received thanks to applying the gospel of Jesus Christ found in the that book. The Prophet Joseph said, "I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." It is said that when we want to speak to the Lord, we do so through prayer. When the Lord wants to speak to us, he does it through His words in the scriptures. I have found answers to my questions as I read daily in the Book of Mormon.

10. Assurance that God will not leave his children prophetless. The First Vision was the drop of light that rippled across a sea of darkness—finally, the world had broken from the centuries of Great Apostasy. God has established a pattern of teaching his children of His plan for them through the medium of a trusted prophet here on earth. Unfortunately, as the Biblical record shows, prideful men get angry with the Lord's chosen prophets and kill them. We would then be without this divine communicant for a time. However, the Lord promised Joseph that He would never take his Church, nor his authority from the earth again before He comes again.

11. My parents never would have met if it weren't for the Lord's University. Basically, I'm not sure I would even be alive (or at least in my family) had Joseph not prayed that Spring morning, 1820. I'm sure the Lord would have prepared another way for His Church to be restored had Joseph been taken out of the picture for some reason. But for the sake of argument, let's say that the Church wouldn't have been restored. That means that Brigham Young never would have led the early Saints to Utah where BYU was established in 1851. Neither of my parents would have been members and wouldn't have had any reason to met each other since my Mom is from San Francisco and my Dad probably would have been from the East Coast.

12. I would not have experienced the joy of serving a mission. What a time of my life that I would have missed out on. My two-years in Colorado is when I learned to love. I learned to see beyond my own selfish desires and see that true joy comes from loosing myself in the service of others.

13. Continual joy of sharing the gift of the Restored Gospel with others. I look forward to continue sharing the happiness I feel from gospel living with others who are willing to hear.

14. Joseph offered me a pattern for receiving answers to prayer. Search out answer on my own, ponder and reason the best option, ask if your choice is right, being willing to change if so prompted.

15. Prayer conquers Satan. D&C 10:5 states, "Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work." I wonder if the Prophet Joseph recalled his encounter with the Devil in the Sacred Grove just before his First Vision when he was given this scripture eight years later. From this experience prefacing the First Vision, I've learned that God's power has the indisputable authority to dispel Satan. I've also learned to expect opposition just before I'm about to make spiritual progress.

16. Love and mercy of God for His children, demonstrated. God spoke to Joseph Smith for the purpose of blessing all of God’s children with His mercy and love. What a relief it is to have Christ's full gospel in unprecedented times of uncertainties and insecurities, of wars and rumors of wars, of natural and personal disasters--the Lord broke His silence and once again, established communication with Man on Earth. The Savior said, “Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive” (3 Nephi 9:14). And all who accept this invitation will be “encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love” (Alma 26:15). Preach My Gospel says "As a diamond displayed on black velvet appears more brilliant, so the Restoration stands in striking contrast to the dark background of the Great Apostasy." p.36

17. Some of my favorite songs would have never been written.

• Joseph Smith's First Prayer by Inside Out,
• Brothers by Kenneth Cope,
• Praise to the Man (originally "Joseph Smith") by W.W. Phelps,
• Candles by 259
• More Like A Whisper by Hilary Weeks and Brett Raymond

These are just some of my favorite hymns/songs that honor the First Vision and Joseph's mission.

18. Knowlege that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of His gospel. Everything else is an appendage to that truth. When Heavenly Father pointed to His Son, Jesus Christ, the first thing the Savior explained was that the current creeds were an abomination in His sight...they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. The main truth that was lost in the Great Apostasy was that of the Atonement.

19. There is only one true and living church of Jesus Christ. One truth made evident by the Savior, himself, is that there can only be one true church. God gives his priesthood authority to organize and run his church to his servants following the pattern that he has implemented since Adam. Responding to the question of which church he should join, the Savior told Joseph, "that [Joseph] must join none of them, for they were all wrong." He was subsequently received the Lord's priesthoods from John the Baptist and Peter, James and John was commanded to restore the true church of and be the first prophet of this dispensation. A living prophet continues to direct the Lord's Church affairs on earth today.

20. The First Vision helped me identify the fruits of the Spirit in my life. I still remember discussing in the MTC how different people experience the witness of the Holy Spirit in different ways. The 12 of us, missionaries, used our testimonies of Joseph Smith's First Vision as the source to evoke the feelings of the Spirit within us. We were then able to share how we each personally recognized the witness of the Spirit. We then took that experience and used it to teach countless other how to feel and recognize the Spirit.

21. God's pattern of calling prophets. I just realized that it is truly a blessing to see that God has revealed a pattern of love and concern for his children found in the bible; many scholars dedicate their lives to the study of the bible and never see it: God revealed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to prophets such as, Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses. But people have repeatedly chosen to reject that gospel. Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ Himself taught His gospel and established His Church. Incredibly, people even rejected Jesus. Whenever people disregard or distort true doctrines and ordinances, God withdraws His authority to administer the Church. The First Vision is our evidence that our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, have again reached out to God's children in love and revealed the fullness of the gospel to a prophet.

22. Revelation is not dead. Unlike popular belief, which assumes that the whole of God's word is located in the Holy Bible, we know from the First Vision that God continues to speak to man. Contemporary religious leaders hated and reviled against Joseph for his claims to have seen visions. The uniform Protestant doctrine was that the heavens were closed, yet Joseph did not deny what he saw. From this experience, I know that despite trail or hardship, I can also receive guidance and direction directly from Him who knows all things. We believe that revelation is any form of communication from God to His children on earth. Revelation may come through the Light of Christ and the Holy Ghost by way of inspiration, visions, dreams, or visits by angels.

23. Recounting the First Vision serves as evidence of its truth.  Inevitably, some distraction would happen at the moment my mission companion or I would begin to share the First Vision experience with someone we were teaching—SERIOUSLY EVERY TIME; it was usually the phone, but it could be a baby crying in the other room, a knock at the door, a drunk family member stumbling in, a pornographic commercial appearing on the television (which is precisely why we ask people if they would be willing to turn their TVs off and not just mute them during discussions.) All this acted as a testimony to me that the First Vision was true. If it weren't, the adversary wouldn't have worked so hard to distract us from feeling the Spirit of Truth. (John 15:26)

24. Joseph Smith set an example of tolerance. The boy Joseph was not afraid to search for truth in the world around him. He eagerly attended the various religious gatherings in the areas surrounding him, be they Presbyterian or Lutheran or what-have-you. Likewise, we should not shun the teachings of others but support the truths found in all faiths.

25. Great Artwork. Like the aforementioned Church music (#17), Restoration artwork is some of my favorite.

*Other blessings from the restoration of Jesus Christ's church (Mormon.org)
*Joseph Smith's various accounts of the First Vision.