The end of Helaman is interesting because these people have been taught the right ways and yet they choose to live the ways of Satan. They cast out Prophets and those who are trying to save their lives and don't realize in themselves that they need to change and repent of their wrong doings. Okay not all of them were rebellious there were some that went out and got baptized and followed Christ. But, more times than not there is a majority of people that don't. It makes me wonder what it would be like to live in those days were it seems the only trials they had were brought upon them because of their actions. Blessing- I have an amazing family that will do anything for me.
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" the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind," (Helaman 14:17) Teachings of Joseph F. Smith Jesus Christ wrought the glorious redemption for the salvation of mankind. Helaman 14:3, "they have been chosen people of the Lord; yea, the people Nephi hath he loved and also hath he chastened them ; yea, in the days of their iniquities that he chastened them because he loveth them ." Scriptures like this use to be so confusing to me, because why if you love someone would you cause them more heartache? But by doing so we should go to God and strengthen our relationship with him. chasten - to inflict suffering upon for purpose of moral improvement. Blessing- I am able to come home when I want.
" whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life ." Helaman 14:8 Having the belief in Christ can and will change our actions, motives, and the way we live every day. It is interesting how much the Lord helps us like with signs and we still don't believe. Blessing I have a consious and the Holy Ghost so I don't make alot of big mistakes.
" because of those who reightous.. ." " for the righteous sake that it is spared ." Our Savior Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, knowing we would make mistakes all our lives. But how hard would it to do it for us as we knowingly sin like those in the scriptures and yet don't want to change? I feel we all have our guilty pleasures and it's hard to let go of them. Blessing: Te scriptures give me peace and comfort.
Helaman 12 talks about the great power of our Father in Heaven. Knowing God our Father in Heaven can help us to appreciate Him so much more and also help us to understand why things happen by knowing him. We are supposed to have a relationship with God and if we don't do our part, like in any relationship, then it doesn't work. How can we have faith in and rely on someone we don't know and don't trust? Then Samual the Lamanite comes into the story. I love this story. It is one of my favorites. I love the courage and faith he had while on his mission for the Lord. He has such a strong testimony and does everything that is asked of him. Blessing- I'm able to have a relationship with my Father in Heaven.
Sealing power- " Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people." Heavenly Father gave the priesthood and rhe sealing power to the people in order to fullfill His work and offer blessings to those who go and do service in the temple. The temple is a house of God on earth that He has built and invites each of us to come to in order to recieve blessings. Our Father in Heaven does alot of things to give us opportunities for blessings we just have to take them and do them. Then the scriptures say that He must bless us. Blessing: The Lord is willing to guide us and bless us in all things.
Helaman 8:14-15, " ...did he (Moses) not bear record that the Son of God should come? And as he lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so shall he be lifted up who should come. And as many as should look upon the serpent should live, even so many as should look upon the Son of God, with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal." We need to look upon the Son of God with faith. We need to believe in Him and believe we can receive Salvation because of Him. Blessing:Heavenly Father puts amazing people in my life just when I need them.
" it is that same being who put it into the hearts of the people to build a tower sufficiently high that they might get to heaven." (Helaman 6:28) What are our towers? What things to we try to do instead of what we are supposed to do and are asked to do by the brethren? " it is he who is the author of sin ." author- One who produces, creates, or brings into being; as, God is the author of the Universe. The Lamanites are following God now and the Nephites and wicked. It's interesting how often they trade places. It seems like they can never both be doing the same thing. Could you imagine how different life would be if they were both following God at the same time? "how could you have forgotten our God in the very day that he has delivered you? " (Helaman 7:20) In what ways do we do this? Forget the Lord God after he delivers or helps us? Pray for the strength to be better and ask the Lord what we need to improve on. Blessing- I'm abl...
The people of the church... the Lamanites,...did fellowship one another, and did rejoice one with another, and did have great joy." (Helaman 6:3) This is what the church is supposed to look like, we are supposed to fellowship or in other words help one another, celebrate the gospel together, and find happiness together. This is a team effort to get to the celestial kingdom that's why we have so many organizations and meeting in the church to keep us all on the same page and doing the same plays against Satan. We have to all be doing the same play or we won't achieve our greatest potential. Blessing- I am able to feel the spirit.
" they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good ," (Helaman 5:2) Just yesterday I read President Monson's address from the last conference and he said, " ye may do these things to lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven,...that ye may have the precious gift of eternal life." (Helaman 5:8) The things we do, and experiences we have aren't for this life, they are to help us with the next life. " the lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins." (Helaman 5:10) What is the difference between in their sins and from their sins? So because of repentance Christ can save us from our sins but not while we are making the sins because of agency? Blessing: I am going to be able to plant a garden.
It's intersting reading these chapters in Helaman where these people know right from wrong and yet they often times choose to sin. There is a clear line between right and wrong and Satan is making everything a gray area. Things that 30 years ago we would have never thougth of as a problem are becomging a big problem now. Things like transgender bathrooms. Questions nobody has asked before in the history of time are being asked; like should we let the sexually confused do what they want? We are letting Satan win the war if we give him the victory over a few battles. "Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their should with joy and consltation," (Helaman 3:35) This is what we need to do is strengthen our faith, learn to rely on God and believe everything we are is because of Him, and give Him the glory like our Lord Jesus Christ did. When our faith is stengt...
War is interesting as I begin to read Helaman the people are at war again with each others. Think about this; all over the world people are at war with something. When we are at war the spirit can't be with us, we can't receive revelation unless we are fighting in God's name for our country, family, and freedom. It seems that Satan takes the hearts of these people who are so bloodthirsty and keeps it. 3:1; here is another problem; "there was no contention among the people of Nephi save it were a little pride which was in the church," Heavenly Father can't help us when we have pride, others aren't able to help us and we sometimes can't even help ourselves. "It is important to give credit where credit is due." Blessing: I was able to go home for a little while yesterday.
"because of the prayers of the righteous, they were spared." (A;ma 64:40) This makes me wonder how many miracles happen because of prayer that we don't' know about and won't in this life. Because of my job in mental health ending Alma with all these wars makes me wonder if these men had traumas and flashbacks that they had to live with the rest of their lives. I know a lot of men who come home from war today do and that it affects them greatly. Blessing: I am so thankful for the men then and now that were so willing to sacrifice their lives for freedom.
In Alma 61:14 it says, " let us resist evil," resist- Literally, to stand against; to withstand; hence, to act in opposition, or to oppose. a dam or mound resists a current of water passively, by standing unmoved and interrupting its progress. An army resists the progress of an enemy actively, by encountering and defeating it. We resist measures by argument or remonstrance. I love this definition because to me it is a clear invitation of what we need to do, our job while on this earth. Then they also say, " we will go against them in the strength of the Lord," Alma 61;18 - That is amazing to me because you can't resist evil without the Lord and you can't have the strength of the Lord without resisting evil. Blessing: I have amazing friends that are always here for me.
The Lord said that he would, " leave the strength and the blessings of God upon them...this because of their exceeding faith, and their patience in their tribulations." (Alma 60:25-26) I hope I have enough faith and patience to get strength from the Lord throughout my whole life. We need to clean our inward vessel unto the Lord. We need to have righteous desires and goals in order to fulfill Gods plan and purpose. It is important to always be improving our lives and what we must do. I'm thankful that I know God talks to me and that he is always there to strengthen and bless me. But I also know that I must do my part and continuously be strengthening my faith and work on having patience in my own personal daily tribulations. Blessing- I'm so thankful God gives me strength that I need especially when I don't feel like I can do something or when I don't have confidence in myself to accomplish my goals or even the tasks of the day. And that I have a family t...
Alma 57 They are still in war; but the thing that is awesome is that they " pour out our souls in prayer to God." Some people would turn to the Lord in a time like this but others wouldn't. We see it all over the world today. Then it goes on to say, " the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us;" They had to have faith in order to pray and in order to get their prayers answered. We are all so much like these warriors, in that we are righteous when we can see the blessings and when it is easy and convenient for us. Then we are blessed but as soon as it is harder we stop doing the things we know to be right and then it gets harder and the strength is pulled away from us. These wars can be likened unto our life and help us understand that we need to stay faithful and keep the Lord with us at all times. Blessing: I'm so thankful for the blessing and opportunity to have the gospel in my life, but not only that but have frien...
" Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness;" (Alma 57:21) How can I better obey with exactness? That's amazing. " according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment ,...not one soul of them who did perish;" That is an amazing blessing. We probably get blessing like this in our life every day ifwe would only recignize them and ask for help to recognize them. "they do put their trust in God continually." (Alma 57:27) Blessing: I have the most amazing mom on earth. She has taught me all I know.
The 2000 stripping warriors were very strong and had "great courage". For this being their first war they were very brave to just jump into it like they did. Plus it doesn't even say if they had any kind of training or anything on how to fight. The men and women who go out to war today have tons of training and I'm sure it is still scary to them. But these men had faith. " Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea they had been taught by their mothers , and if they did not doubt, God would deliver them ." (Alma 56:47) This is an amazing scripture. I hope that I can raise the kind of family that these boys were raised in. They had a father that loved them and fought for their freedom and eventually made a covenant with God to never fight again. They had a mother who was so faithful that she taught her son to love God even after being a single mo...
I love Alma 55, I think it is so funny. The Nephites go to the Lamanites with a man named Laman and get them drunk, But first, the Lamanites say to them "W e are weary, therefore let us take of the wine ," (55:11) How is drinking wine going to make them less weary? weary - Having the strength much exhausted by toil or violent exertion; tired; fatigued. Besides that the Nephites prepared the wine to be stronger than normal (Alma 55:13) Which caused them to become drunk and therefore they weren't able to fight back. This is funny too later in this chapter the Lamanites tried to use the Nephites tactic and give them wine. Once someone knows a trick they don't fall for it. haha How often do we try similar things in our own life, though? " the Nephites were not slow to remember the Lord their God in their time of affliction ." This is interesting to me because how often do we just turn to the Lord when we are having a hard time and we don't necess...
The people of Ammon made an oath with God to not fight but when it came down to it they had to and so their sons went in their place so that they didn't have to break their oath to God. Alma 53:16; " But behold, it came to pass that had many sons, who had not entered into a covenant that they would not take their weapons of war to defend themselves aginst their enemies; therefore they did assemble themselves together at this time,... called themselves Nephites. " "... they entered into a covenant to fight for the liberty of the Nephites, yea, to protect the land unto the laying down of their lives. " They don't even sound scared and they know the reason for doing this, which isn't just fighting to fight as Satan would often have us do. It says these young men were; 1. " exceedingly valiant for courage.", 2. " true at all times" 3. "men of truth and soberness" 4. "taught to keep the commandments of God." (Alm...
It's interesting to me that throughout the scriptures the wicked always perish and the righteous are fortified. Well for the most part... and yet the wicked don't see that and turn to the good side. I think today there is so much wickedness that is shadowing the good that people don't notice it as much and therefore they stay where they are not knowing what happiness and greatness they are missing out on. The wicked will never win, Satan even knows that at yet he keeps taking the agency of so many people all over the world. I think of people who are on disability or welfare because of circumstances they got themselves in and even that to me is allowing Satan to take control over us because our Father in Heaven can't use us if we aren't willing to get up and do His work. "Get on your knees and pray for help, then get on your feet and go to work." Shei Dew