The Faith of a Father

As Ammon and the king and queen and the servants are all lying on the floor, being overcome by the Spirit, a crowd of people summoned by Abish have gathered, wondering.  Everyone has a different theory as to why all these people have been smitten, but one of the robbers, whose brother was killed by Ammon for scattering the flocks, draws his sword and comes to kill Ammon.  And he is struck dead.

Alma 19:23 Now we see that Ammon could not be slain, for the ^aLord had said unto Mosiah, his father: I will spare him, and it shall be unto him according to thy faith—therefore, Mosiah ^btrusted him unto the Lord. 

 I find it interesting that the Lord says it is because of Mosiah's faith that Ammon is protected.  It probably also related to Ammon's faith, but maybe Ammon wasn't as concerned about his safety as his father was.  And Mosiah was probably praying mightily for the safety of his sons.

As we send our children out into the world we have to trust that the Lord will watch over them.  Especially as missionaries, our children are under the Lord's protection.  But we need to continue to pray and have faith in that protection and in the Lord's promises.

The Light of Christ

Alma 18:5 King Lamoni was suddenly filled with fear that the Great Spirit was angry with him for killing those servants who had allowed the flocks to be scattered.

. . . nevertheless, Lamoni began to fear exceedingly, with fear lest he had done wrong in slaying his servants; . . .

I think it is the Light of Christ that touched Lamoni's heart at this time. The teachings of the Lamanites had not taught him that there was anything wrong with what he was doing.

Notwithstanding they believed in a Great Spirit, they supposed that ^cwhatsoever they did was right;. . .

So even though the customs said that he was justified in killing his servants, his conscience was bothering him. He had authorized those killings, but had had guilty feelings for doing so. And now that he thought Ammon was the Great Spirit, he assumed that he was being judged for what he was feeling guilty about.

This is a good example of how the Light of Christ is given to every man. The world would have us believe that our customs and teaching and social mores are what create or make up our conscience. But we are given the Light of Christ which teaches us things we are not taught of man, and gives us guidance and direction to lead us to the Light.

And They Were Comforted

Ammon and his brethren had persuaded their father to allow them to go to the Lamanites to preach the gospel. As they traveled into the wilderness they fasted and prayed. They wanted to be able to help the Lamanites to repent and learn of the Lord.

Alma 27:10 And it came to pass that the Lord did ^avisit them with his ^bSpirit, and said unto them: Be ^ccomforted. And they were comforted.

Sometimes I request help from the Lord and He says, "Be comforted." But before I realize what's happening, I'm worrying again, gnawing on the same bone. I need to turn things over to the Lord and when He tells me to be comforted I should let go and trust Him. And be comforted.

In Alma 17, we read that as Alma and Amulek continued teaching and preaching, they ran across the sons of Mosiah, who were returning from their mission to the Lamanites. Verse 2 says, Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord.

Then Mormon gives us a formula, telling us what these men had done to retain their testimonies.
1) They had searched the scriptures diligently
2) They had given themselves to much prayer
3) They had given themselves to much fasting.

I had originally thought that was the end of the list. It's a great list, with the essential elements. But today I discovered in verse 4 another step that's also very important.
4) They had been teaching the word of God for 14 years.

It's very important to gain our own testimonies and to keep those testimonies bright through study, fasting and prayer. But it's also essential to share our testimonies with others, teaching our families or church classes or through missionary work. Teaching reinforces, reminds and strengthens those things that we learn.

Healing

Alma and Amulek find Zeezrom in Sidom, and he's very ill because of mental torment for his sins. Alma goes to him and makes this statement.
Alma 15:8 And Alma said: If thou believest in the redemption of Christ thou canst be ^ahealed.
Then Zeezrom declares his faith in Christ, and Alma heals him, and Zeezrom leaps to his feet.

The reason this scripture touched me is that I've struggled quite a bit to understand the faith that is required to be healed. Sometimes I've wondered if I had enough faith to be healed. Not that I lack faith that the Lord CAN heal me, but was worried that He might not think it was in my best interest to be healed. Obviously, some problems and afflictions exist in people's lives for eternal purposes, and not everyone who hopes to be healed will be healed, if it's not for their best good. So I've received priesthood blessings with some reservations rather than complete faith.

But this scripture really changes my thinking! I don't have to have perfect faith that I'm supposed to be healed. I just need to have faith in my Lord, Jesus Christ. And I do have that, in abundance! I can focus on my love for Him, knowing that He loves me, and that whatever happens is best for me.

Thank you, Alma, for teaching me that!

Alma's Desires - Part Two

Alma 13:28-29 After listing things that the Ammonihahites needed to do to repent, Alma enumerated the blessings related.

The first one is one of those commandments/blessings that I find so often in the scriptures. As I've been marking the scriptures with colored pencils, I have a different color for commandments than I do for blessings. But I've come to realize that many commandments ARE blessings. For example, we're commanded to become humble, but humility is also a blessing from the Lord.

So the people are commanded to watch and pray, as I said in the previous post. But they're to pray for a specific blessing: that they are not tempted above that which they can bear. The last part would be the blessing. And what a great blessing! Could that also apply to trials? That we don't have a trial harder than we are able to bear? So that if things are really tough, we know that the Lord has the confidence in us that we can bear this hard thing without losing our testimony.

Alma then lists different blessings that come as a result of repentance and obedience.
1) Being led by the Spirit - If I could have confidence that I was always listening to the Spirit and being led by it, that would give me such confidence and joy!
2) Becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering. Here again we see attributes that can either be commandments or blessings. I believe that as we obey and repent, the Lord blesses us with these attributes.
3) Having faith in the Lord
4) Having hope of eternal life
5) Having the love of God always in our hearts
6) Be lifted up at the last day
7) Enter into His rest
8) The blessing of repentance

These are beautiful blessings and well worth all our efforts to be obedient and faithful.

Alma's Desires

Alma is almost finished preaching to the people of Ammonihah. In Alma 13:27, he tells them, And now, my brethren, I ^awish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great ^banxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not ^cprocrastinate the day of your repentance;
28 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and ^awatch and pray continually, that ye may not be ^btempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be ^cled by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, ^dmeek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering;

29 ^aHaving faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the ^blove of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his ^crest.

Alma is filled with so much love for the people, he aches for them to repent and serve the Lord. But they have their agency and will choose not to repent.

He gives them steps which we can apply in our lives as well:
1) Hearken - Listen, hear, internalize, be aware. He says, "Hearken unto my words". We can't hearken unless we know his words, so first we have to study and listen. That includes scriptures, conference, our leaders, prayers - any of the many ways the Lord teaches us. We need to learn, listen, hearken.
2) Cast off your sins - In other words, repent.
3) Not procrastinate the day of your repentance - We can't wait around until we're done sinning. We never know when it may be too late. We need to repent NOW!
4) Humble yourselves - We need to let go of the glorified view we have of ourselves. Today's society encourages us to think we're powerful and great, deserving of anything we want. If we could just see ourselves as little children beside a loving father, we could be teachable and grateful.
5) Call on His holy name - We need to talk to our Father, really communicate with Him.
6) Watch and pray continually - This is kind of a continuation of the previous one. Not only should we pray, but we should do so continually. Our hearts should be centered on Him, and we should be thinking about Him and discussing our day with Him and thanking Him as we go along. The word "watch" means to look, observe, pay attention. It means to stay alert and be on guard. We need to be alert and on guard against evil and Satan. We need to pay attention to promptings that come. We need to beware of laziness and complacency in keeping the commandments.

For me, the rest of this scripture selection constitutes a promise for obeying the commandments just given, so I'll discuss those in the next post.