The process of gaining spiritual strength began with searching the scriptures. Mormon notes, "but this is not all." There is more to becoming spiritually powerful that just reading the scriptures. In addition to reading the scriptures, the sons of Mosiah had given themselves to prayer and fasting, "therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation."
While the particular spiritual achievements of the sons of Mosiah might be beyond many of us, the basic mechanics of their spiritual growth area readily available, and flow in a rather logical progression. As with the Sons of Mosiah, we too may begin by reading the scriptures. The scriptures present the lessons others like us have learned. We may see in them the struggles of real people that mirror the problems that we face, even if the specifics are very different.
Just reading the scriptures, however, does not ensure that they have a transforming power over us. It is possible to read the scriptures for literature alone, or history alone, and miss the spiritual insights they contain. These "dangers" of scripture reading may be overcome by combining the reading of the scriptures with prayer and fasting. Fasting is an intensifier to our prayers, so it is the prayer that becomes the important conduit for learning, with fasting a means of improving the "connection" of the prayer with the Spirit.
When the Spirit is applied to our reading, the ability of the Spirit to teach us all things (John 14:26, DC 75:10) can springboard from the historical issues of the scriptures into the contemporary problems we struggle with daily. It is this application of the Spirit to the scriptures that opens up our learning to true spiritual wisdom. Through our increasing sensitivity to the Spirit, we may become more open to personal revelation, to personal prophecy.