Come Follow Me Alma 5-7: Insights By Gogo Goff

I hope you enjoy some insights from my Come Follow Me Alma 5-7 (If you missed last week’s insights for Come Follow Me Mosiah 29 – Alma 4 click here). Save this pin to read later.

A Personal Witness.

45 And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?
46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.
Alama 5:45-46

In Alma 5, Alma the younger is teaching the people the gospel, he speaks of conversion and being born again, but my favorite part is near the end when he cites his witness. He does not say “I saw an angel!” or “I witness miracles” or even “I have heard the literal Voice of God!” these signs were not what his testimony was built on. He testifies that he knows the truth because he fasted and prayed to know. We can fast and pray also, and like Alma, gain a testimony of the validity of the work! In a matter of fact, our testimony must be based on a witness of the Holy Ghost to withstand the storms of the last day.

Praying For Others.

“Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God.” Alma 6:6

On my mission I loved people dearly, often the only thing I could do for them on a daily basis was to pray for them. This taught me a powerful lesson, even if you do not know someone if praying for them by name and need you start to love and care for them on a spiritual level.

When you start to care for someone on a spiritual level it transcends mortal understanding. I think the biggest reason there is an “RM drop off” in spirituality is that we get so busy with school we stop care about people on a spiritual level, or, at least, we don’t like we did while we were missionaries.

One way that we can care for people is to pray for them.

Why “Faith, Hope and Charity”

“And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.”
Alma 7:24

This sequence of Christlike attributes is one of the most repeated patterns in the scriptures. Faith. Hope, and Charity… Why these three attributes?

Faith leads us to Christ’s Grace.
Faith in Jesus Christ will lead to following Him, and becoming a disciple. If we do not follow Him our faith dies. As we follow him we experience His saving grace.

Hope is an anchor to our soul.
In worldly terms, hope is a fleeting dream. In the Gospel it is something solid, a hope in Christ is when you have an assurance of Eternal life. So Hope leads us to keep the commandments, hope is when we put our trust in the power of the atonement.

Charity the pure love of Christ.
Charity is that love of God that motivates God, learning to love like He loves is the great quest and secret of life. For once we love like God, like His Son Jesus Christ we will do everything we can to help others feel His love.

Faith is learning of Him.
Hope is learning to trust Him.
Charity is becoming like Him.