2 Kings 16–25: Lesson 89

Doctrinal Mastery Practice 6

Understand Doctrinal Mastery Scripture Passages and Apply Principles of Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge

Doctrinal mastery can help students build their lives on the foundation of Jesus Christ and His gospel. This lesson can help students understand doctrinal mastery passages and apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge.

Student preparation: Consider inviting students to choose a doctrinal mastery passage that they want to understand better. Encourage them to search the footnotes or to use a dictionary to look up words in the passage. The Doctrinal Mastery app could be a helpful resource. Students can find a list of doctrinal mastery passages in the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2022).

Possible Learning Activities

Doctrinal mastery review: Understand

You could begin class by discussing what students do when they don’t understand scripture passages.

• Have you ever read a scripture and been confused about what it meant—maybe even after reading it more than once?

• How do you react when this happens to you?

• Why do you think Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are pleased when we try to understand scripture?

Help students see that it is normal not to understand everything in the scriptures. Explain that over time and with practice using scripture study skills, our ability to understand the scriptures will increase.

Display a list of doctrinal mastery passages that students have studied during the Old Testament. Invite students to choose a passage that they would like to understand better. Then ask students to complete one of the following activities.

Activity A: Cross-references

Find other scriptures that might increase your understanding of the doctrinal mastery passage. You might use the passage’s footnotes. You could also identify a doctrine taught in the passage and use the Guide to the Scriptures or the Topical Guide to find scriptures that teach more about that doctrine. Consider linking or cross-referencing the other scriptures you find with your doctrinal mastery passage.

You could also record in your study journal or in the Gospel Library how using these resources helped increase your understanding of the doctrinal mastery passage.

Activity B: Define words

Identify words in the doctrinal mastery passage that you do not understand. Look up the definitions of those words in available resources. You could check the Guide to the Scriptures, the Bible Dictionary, or a general dictionary. Record the definitions you discover in your study journal, your scripture margins, or the Gospel Library. Read the scripture passage again using the definitions you found.

After enough time, ask a few students to share how their understanding of a doctrinal mastery passage increased. You might ask questions such as:

• How did the cross-references you found increase your understanding of the doctrinal mastery passage?

• How did defining words help you see these scriptures differently?

You could invite students to use these scripture study skills during their personal or family scripture study.

Learn and apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge

Reviewing the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge can prepare students to apply them to a real-life situation. Select one of the activities from “Doctrinal Mastery Review Activities,” located in the appendix. Students can find descriptions of these principles in paragraphs 5–12 of the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section of the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2023).

Students have not learned a new doctrinal mastery passage since Joshua 24:15. The following activity is intended to help students apply content they have recently studied, which might include 1 Samuel 3:4–10 or 1 Kings 19:9–13. To incorporate doctrinal mastery passages, you might invite students to identify doctrinal mastery passages from other books of scripture that could help in this scenario. Examples include James 1:5–6; 2 Nephi 28:30; and Doctrine and Covenants 8:2–3.

Use or adapt the following scenario to help students apply the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge.

During a recent Young Women class meeting, Kelly heard multiple young women share personal experiences when God had directed them through the Holy Ghost. Kelly was happy for them, but she doesn’t feel like she is receiving personal direction from the Holy Ghost. She feels she has important decisions to make and needs heavenly guidance.

• What are some reasons it might be difficult for Kelly to recognize personal revelation?

  Students could list various individuals Kelly could turn to for help. Examples include a parent, a Church leader, a sibling, or a friend. Invite students to each select a role. Ask them to prepare to help Kelly apply the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge using that role.

  You could organize students into groups according to the roles they selected. To avoid large groups, you could create multiple groups with the same role.

• What could you share with Kelly? How might you encourage her to use principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge?

  If students need help, invite them to find specific statements from paragraphs 5–12 of the Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge sections of the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document. They could also study “Recognize That Revelation Is a Process” in the “Seeking Answers to Your Questions” section of Gospel Topics in the Gospel Library.

  The following questions could also help students prepare a response.

• What could Kelly do to act in faith to receive direction from God? How might doing this help her?

• What might Kelly already know about Heavenly Father, His plan, and how He deals with His children? How might you help Kelly apply this knowledge to her current situation?

• What scripture, statement from a Church leader, or other gospel resources could you share with Kelly? How do you think this resource could help her?

  After students have had time to prepare a response, invite a student to pretend she is Kelly. Ask her to choose the kind of person she would turn to for help. Invite students who selected that role to share what they prepared. For example, if the student representing Kelly said she would turn to her parents, students who prepared to respond as a parent could share what they prepared with Kelly.

  If time allows, repeat the exercise with a different student representing Kelly. This student can select a different role to share their prepared responses.

  After the role-play, consider asking the following questions to help students process what they learned.

• What did you learn about receiving divine guidance through the Holy Ghost?

• What are you learning about using the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge?

You might invite students to ponder a situation that they are facing. Invite them to do something today to apply one or more of the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge to that situation. Consider sharing your testimony of how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will help students with personal challenges as they look to Them for direction.

Supplemental Learning Activity

Alternative scenario

If you feel students would benefit from this alternative scenario, you could replace the scenario in the lesson or use both:

Mark tries to read his scriptures every day. However, he gets discouraged because he often doesn’t feel like he understands what he reads. Mark wonders if it is worth it to keep trying.