Stories to Live By Sunday

Scripture of the Day:

Alma 36:4-24

 4 And I would not that ye think that I ^aknow of myself—not of the temporal but of the spiritual, not of the ^bcarnal mind but of God.

  5 Now, behold, I say unto you, if I had not been ^aborn of God I should ^bnot have known these things; but God has, by the mouth of his holy ^cangel, made these things known unto me, not of any ^dworthiness of myself;

  6 For I went about with the sons of Mosiah, seeking to ^adestroy the church of God; but behold, God sent his holy angel to stop us by the way.

  7 And behold, he spake unto us, as it were the voice of thunder, and the whole earth did ^atremble beneath our feet; and we all fell to the earth, for the ^bfear of the Lord came upon us.

  8 But behold, the voice said unto me: Arise. And I arose and stood up, and beheld the angel.

  9 And he said unto me: If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God.

  10 And it came to pass that I fell to the earth; and it was for the space of ^athree days and three nights that I could not open my mouth, neither had I the use of my limbs.

  11 And the angel spake more things unto me, which were heard by my brethren, but I did ^anot hear them; for when I heard the words—If thou wilt be destroyed of thyself, seek no more to destroy the church of God—I was struck with such great fear and amazement lest perhaps I should be destroyed, that I fell to the earth and I did hear no more.

  12 But I was racked with ^aeternal ^btorment, for my soul was ^charrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.

  13 Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was ^atormented with the ^bpains of hell; yea, I saw that I had ^crebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.

  14 Yea, and I had ^amurdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.

  15 Oh, thought I, that I ^acould be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my ^bdeeds.

  16 And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the ^apains of a ^bdamned soul.

  17 And it came to pass that as I was thus ^aracked with torment, while I was ^bharrowed up by the ^cmemory of my many sins, behold, I ^dremembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

  18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, ^ahave mercy on me, who am ^bin the ^cgall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting ^dchains of ^edeath.

  19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my ^apains ^bno more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

  20 And oh, what ^ajoy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

  21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.

  22 Yea, methought I saw, even as our father ^aLehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and ^bpraising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there.

  23 But behold, my limbs did receive their ^astrength again, and I stood upon my feet, and did manifest unto the people that I had been ^bborn of God.

  24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto ^arepentance; that I might bring them to ^btaste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be ^cborn of God, and be ^dfilled with the Holy Ghost.

Historical Background:

In this chapter, Alma takes some time to teach his son, Helaman, about the principles of the gospel regarding service in the Lord's kingdom.  In order to help illustrate the importance of sharing the gospel with others and serving in the Church, Alma explains his own conversion to Helaman.  As a young man, Alma's father was the prophet of the Church.  Instead of being righteous himself, Alma went about with the king's sons seeking to destroy the Church and trying to convince people to live in wickedness.  As a response, in large part, to the prayers and fasting of his father, an angel appeared to Alma and the sons of the king and inquired as to why they were fighting against the Lord and His Church.  This impacted Alma in such a way that he fell to the earth as was immobile for 3 days.  Alma shares with Helaman what impacted him during those three days in this chapter.

Gospel Principles Outlined:

1) There is great power in the prayers of a parent (father).

2) The power of the Atonement to reform our lives is available to all people.

3) Our powerful conversion stories should prove to be excellent teaching tools to our children.

4) It is our duty to testify to the world of the truthfulness of the gospel.

5) Repentance is truly a great healing process.

What I Learned Today:

I think it is interesting that Alma shares his story with Helaman in the context of teaching him how he is to lead in the gospel.  I recognize that all his sons were probably aware of this story, but my conventional wisdom would tell me that this story would be more applicable to Alma's son, Corianton.  He has struggled with righteousness and that had impacted his ability to share the gospel and aid in the conversion.  But instead, Alma shares his conversion with Helaman, who is set to be the next leader of the Church and of whom we do not know much of his life prior to this moment.  Why?  Here are my three main reasons:

1) Helaman needed to understand how powerful the gospel is in changing all people's lives, not just the righteous.  When we are sharing the gospel with others and seeking to lead them, we must not look down on them when they struggle to live principles that may be "easier" for us.  When we do that we belittle the true impact of the Atonement and we demonstrate a lack of faith in the true purpose for us to be here on earth.  We are all in an amazing process of "becoming" and we all need as much encouragement as possible.  Helaman needed to know how deeply and powerfully the Atonement works to change a man's life so that he could better lead the Church.

2) Helaman would be faced with much wickedness and needed hope and encouragement that his labors could, in fact, bear fruit.  Helaman would lead the Church in a time of great turmoil and war.  How discouraging it must have been to look at the people and see a progressive disregard of righteousness.  How important it must have been for him to call upon the memory of his father to know that the gospel ultimately can succeed in positively impacting people lives in such a way that they spend the rest of their days laboring tirelessly to build up the Lord's kingdom.  Alma may have know that Helaman needed that encouragement.

3) Helaman needed to know the great power of the prayers of the prophet and a father.  I am sure that by hearing the impacted of his grandfather's teachings and prayers on his own father, Helaman would be more motivated to apply principles of prayer in his own family and in his leadership in the Church.  What a blessing it is to be able to learn principles of the gospel from their direct application in the lives of our fore bearers.

Additional Resources-

"I Will Remember Your Sins No More" by President Boyd K. Packer

"Tell Me the Stories of Jesus" by Elder Neil L. Andersen

Grace Like Rain from MPBCLife on Vimeo.

Things I Will Implement:

I am excited to continue this new study plan of mine because I hope that it will because a place of testimony and faith that I can share with my future children.  I really do love the gospel and the blessings that it brings in to my life.  I am praying that I can continue to be a leader and righteous disciple of the Savior.