Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Overcome With the Spirit

 I'm trying to understand and analyze and comprehend verse 8.  Let's start with "overcome with the Spirit".
 
  1. What does it look like to be "overcome with the Spirit"?  What does it feel like?  
Some other examples of people being overcome with the Spirit include Ammon, as he was a missionary to the Lamanites.  (Alma 19)  He saw King Lamoni being overcome when he learned of the Plan of Salvation.  Later, when Lamoni stood to bear testimony of his conversion, "his heart was swollen within him, and he sunk again with joy; and the queen also sunk down, being overpowered by the Spirit."
Ammon himself sunk to the ground, "being overpowered with joy; and thus they all three had sunk to the earth."


Another example happened when Christ appeared to the righteous Nephites.  In 3 Nephi 17:18 it says: And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of praying unto the Father, he arose; but so great was the joy of the multitude that they were overcome.



The experience of being overcome with the Spirit seems to be a result of great joy in the Lord.  Mormon explains it a bit when he recounts the meeting of Alma with the sons of Mosiah.

Alma 27:17  Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth.
18  Now was not this exceeding joy?  Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness.


So we're talking about exceeding joy, and it is a result of being penitent and humble and of seeking happiness through the Gospel.  I'm sure that Lehi was grieving for his people, the Jews, but as he understood the great Plan that the Lord has in store for the righteous, he praised the Lord, as we will see later.
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1 comment:

  1. AliciaJune 30, 2011 at 4:28 PM

    This is probably dumb, but I always keep in mind that we are NOT of this world. We are limited here by many things; the laws of nature, our physical bodies, our mortality and our limited knowledge. I imagine that being overcome by the spirit might have something to do with our spirit overwhelming things of this earth. To give an example, I think our spirit is "dressed" in our body. When a spiritual experience is as overwhelming as those described here, we must still be contained in our dinky little mortal body OR be carried in the spirit and THEN expected to fit right back in our dinky little mortal body. That has to be exhausting!!! What force other than love and joy could do this to us??? None. God IS love. God is the source of pure joy. Maybe being "overcome by the spirit" just means a literal close encounter with the spiritual... maybe??

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