Helaman 5
Helaman 5
They who chose evil were more numerous that they who chose good- verse 2. I feel that's they way the wold is tipping, and I'll admit- it's frightening.
Two words stick out to me in this chapter: Remember and Power.
Remember is used about 14 times in this chapter- 12 of which were in the words of Helaman to his sons. We must remember all that God done before us, and always remember our Savior.
Which, leads me to the second word- Power. I love verse 12- I love how it talks about the Savior. But when I read it today the word 'power' stuck out to me. We are like windmills that need to be powered by something else to move. There are only two sources: God/Jesus Christ or Satan.
If we build our 'windmill' on the foundation of Christ, Satan has no power over us. That means we receive or power for our Savior: the power of faith, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, redeeming covenants, personal revelation, the prophet. All that of those things give us power.
As the windmill moves, it creates more power.
As we base our testimony on these things, we become more powerful- we can do more good around us, in our homes, in our church, in our community. Our testimonies continue to grow, and so do we.
Nephi and Lehi built their rock upon their Redeemer (12, 14) and the received power and taught with power (17, 18) unto the converting of 8,000 Lamanites. That's power.
Later in the chapter they receive power enough to withstand fire (23-26)
What an amazing experience: they were encircled by fire, the earth shook and the voice of the Savior spoke. Then they conversed with angels.
Again, the word "power" shows up in verse 37- the Lamanites were given the power to turn and look at the faces of Nephi and Lehi as they spoke to the angels. Where did that power come from? The Savior.
I would have loved to see the heavens opened in such a way. What a beautiful sight that must have been.
What did you think/learn today?
They who chose evil were more numerous that they who chose good- verse 2. I feel that's they way the wold is tipping, and I'll admit- it's frightening.
Two words stick out to me in this chapter: Remember and Power.
Remember is used about 14 times in this chapter- 12 of which were in the words of Helaman to his sons. We must remember all that God done before us, and always remember our Savior.
Which, leads me to the second word- Power. I love verse 12- I love how it talks about the Savior. But when I read it today the word 'power' stuck out to me. We are like windmills that need to be powered by something else to move. There are only two sources: God/Jesus Christ or Satan.
If we build our 'windmill' on the foundation of Christ, Satan has no power over us. That means we receive or power for our Savior: the power of faith, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, redeeming covenants, personal revelation, the prophet. All that of those things give us power.
As the windmill moves, it creates more power.
As we base our testimony on these things, we become more powerful- we can do more good around us, in our homes, in our church, in our community. Our testimonies continue to grow, and so do we.
Nephi and Lehi built their rock upon their Redeemer (12, 14) and the received power and taught with power (17, 18) unto the converting of 8,000 Lamanites. That's power.
Later in the chapter they receive power enough to withstand fire (23-26)
What an amazing experience: they were encircled by fire, the earth shook and the voice of the Savior spoke. Then they conversed with angels.
Again, the word "power" shows up in verse 37- the Lamanites were given the power to turn and look at the faces of Nephi and Lehi as they spoke to the angels. Where did that power come from? The Savior.
I would have loved to see the heavens opened in such a way. What a beautiful sight that must have been.
What did you think/learn today?
Every once in a while I will read a news story on the internet and then start reading the comments people post. Yesterday I was perusing some comments following a story and was struck by the hateful attitudes, even more than usual. I noticed how the subject of the article got turned around to be a Christian bashing commentary. It really hurt to see how negative people in our "God-fearing" country do not fear or even believe in God anymore. So when I read the verse that there were more choosing evil than good, my mind went back to that.
ReplyDeleteBut then, as I continued to read the chapter, I was able to reflect on a totally opposite incident that happened last night. One of my teaching assistants and I were walking out to our cars together and he asked me about which church I go to. This opened up a discussion about right and wrong, doctrine, scripture, and general attitudes on how we treat others. It was a short, but great interaction. I so appreciated his willingness to share his faith!
From that interaction, it renewed a little of the lost faith in people that I felt earlier yesterday. There are faithful, good and courageous people all around us. They don't necessarily attend or even believe in the gospel. But they are willing to stand up and be counted. They are basing their lives on the same foundation talked about in this chapter. And most of all, they are happy people - because they accept Christ as their Savior.
I think our country needs a little darknes and a booming voice to get them to wake up. Not that I want to particularly be in the middle of it. But I am praying daily that people turn back to the Lord, because if something doesn't change, our country is quickly headed for a serious "doom" of some sort. It is very interesting to read the Book of Mormon and make the correlations to our day - it was written for us - and for me, now, that is totally obvious.
Aside the fact that the main events that took place in this chapter are just awesome, there are some lovely little phrases in this chapter that I picked out. "treasure in heaven... fadeth not away... precious gift of eternal life... a foundation whereon if men build they CANNOT fail... still voice of perfect mildness... pierce even to the very soul... peace be unto you."
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