Sunday School 29 - Alma 32-35
Alright, let's start this. Brothers and sisters, the several chapters of scriptures are jammed packed with pearls of wisdom. In all of these scriptures we are taught about the blessing of mercy and humility. We learn that the Lord wants a humble people and he desires to bestow mercy. After Alma was trying to teach the rich and educated, it was the povershed and poor that come to him. They wanted a solution of connection with God. They had been brainwashed to believe that God is in only select places or that he honored and cherished select people. They had worked hard to please God and the Zoramites with hard work, depleting their time, talent and money to build a church to God only to be selected as not worthy because of apparel and income by the people they built the church for.
In sorrow we are prepared for the blessing of heaven. The gospel becomes something we are seeking for. Alma said we could talk to God anywhere any place or any time (Alma 33:5-11). He taught that connecting with our Savior's redeeming love or our Father's tender mercy through his son could be acquired when we reach out. This hard work requires a delayed gratification. When we put in the work we are converted by line upon line and precept upon precept.
Desire becomes belief, belief becomes faith, faith becomes knowledge and that knowledge that we have leads to an expectation that moves mountains and devides rivers. Because of that expectation bodies and souls are healed. We build our faith because we want to know God lives and that he loves us; that he hears us and answers when we pray. We beg to understand and know how and why his son is our Redeemer and why there was a need for infinite sacrifices to save us. What is our value? Why when we look in the mirror, see we a slave to mortality and sin, and he, the father to us all, he sees a son or a daughter; a good child who seeks help to come home.
The dark time swollow us and we loose sight of the light that guides us. The chaos gets us. These times we should pray harder, cry out harder, ponder scriptures,and not just read them, fast with a prayer that asks for answers to our questions. This was the plea of the poor Zoramites. Did God care? Were they forgotten in their rags and filth? Was his gaze turned and his ears closed because they could not stand on the Ramiumptom but only kneel and plead for mercy in humility.
This week reflect on the word Regalos, the root for the word religion. This root word means gift. God, in his infinite wisdom, has gifted us the blessing of knowing him in a way that connects to us alone. The Holy Ghost, the Atonement, the blessings of the priesthood, your faith, the way you get answer to prayer, they are personal, they are your Regalos. Alma wanted to let us all know that it can be reached.
Alma also compared faith to a seed. Each seed extended to us must reach a moist soil, burried deep in our soul and allowed to root. Because it is small we may dismiss it or because it is young and doesn't bear fruit, we call it useless. I learned this week that we must tend to the tree with all our nurturing and desire for fruit before it can give us fruit. The reciprocity of the tree takes time and patience. We must plant it near the rivers of ever flowing waters of faith, shade it before it shades us, fight for it so it can be strong for us. We cannot be parasites but symbiotes. We must stand with our testimony because it stood with using hard times. Let our light shine because it lite the way when we needed it. Faith is precious. Remember it is a resounding trust in Christ to stand for us when we can do nothing but kneel.
Heaven watches us and the angels cheer us on. Heavenly Father wants us to succeed. The Savior will never forget us. I know this and hope you do too. That is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen
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