Narrative analysis: After citing the current access to prophecy, Nephi turns his prophetic voice to his readers and admonishes them to put their lives in order. From a purely literary standpoint, these verses are a diversion, an aside which might be seen as detracting from the thrust of the story to come. For Nephi, however, they are the thrust of what is to come. Nephi's experience with the Spirit was not the first, but certainly the most intense spiritual experience of his young life, and established him (personally if not in the group) as a receiver of revelation. From that vantage point as a man of God, one acquainted with the ultimate mission of the Savior, and one who stood as a receiver of the will of God, this admonition is precisely the point which Nephi is making when he relates the story to come.