User:Amberdawnwp/Alma 32

• Why is it that we sometimes forget to worship God more than once a week?

In Alma 32:10-11, Alma asks the people why they think that they can only worship God once a week. This is a good point. We sometimes get really busy doing our own things and forget to worship our God. He wants us to recognize Him in our everyday lives. He gave us life; we should give back to Him in return. We don’t have to do anything special, all He asks is for us to pray to Him, read our scriptures, ponder the things in our heart, and give service unto our fellow men. These are just simple things that we forget to do on a daily basis. We need to worship and praise our Lord everyday.

• What is Alma’s definition of the word?

In verse 14, Alma introduces a new phrase. He tells the people that they will be blessed if they truly humble themselves because of the word. But what does that mean? It is easy to get confused because it very well could mean a lot of different things. But ultimately Alma is trying to tell them that if they humble themselves because of the gospel, or because of Jesus Christ, they will be blessed. The word is Christ and His gospel. If we follow Him and abide by the guidelines His prophets have set for us, we will truly be blessed. The word will bless our lives if we stay humble towards it.

• How come so many people don’t humble themselves before the Lord until they are compelled to do so?

This is one question in which many people can relate to. Alma says that those people who humble themselves before the Lord before they are desperate to do so then they will be more blessed than those people who humble themselves because of obligation. It is so easy to not accept something when you have everything. Many people who have served missions will say that it is a lot harder to teach someone the gospel when they already have everything they can imagine in this world that would make them happy. But what they don’t realize is that true happiness doesn’t come from material things. It comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ. These people are the kinds of people Alma is talking about; the people who are wealthy and have no need for any sort of faith or gospel. If they humble themselves before the Lord and accept His gospel then they will be more blessed than those people who are compelled to accept it because they have nothing else.

• What is the difference between knowing and believing?

Alma brings up this argument in verse 18. He says that if a man knows something then he doesn’t have any reason to believe in it because he already knows that it is true. Knowing and believing are two completely different things. When you know something you see it, hear it, understand it, and are fully aware of it. However, when you believe in something, you trust it, have faith in it, and even though the future in it may be blurry, you keep going because you have confidence in it. Sometimes believing in something can be more powerful than knowing it. When you know you have no reason to believe. But when you believe, you put your whole trust in God. There isn’t anything much more powerful than that.

• What are the principles of faith?

Faith is not only believing. You cannot exercise faith unless you do your part. The Lord has promised us that if we have faith and believe in Him, then He will be there for us. He will be there for us on His time frame. Alma says in verse 21, “And now as I said concerning faith—afaith• is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye bhope for things which are cnot• seen, which are true.” We don’t need to know the end from the beginning. That is the Lord’s job. We just need to have faith and hope for things that we want the Lord to help us with. We need to hope for things that we don’t see now but that we know will come true according to the Lord’s way in the future.

• What is the fruit that Alma talks about towards the end of chapter 32?

The fruit that Alma wants us to partake of is the pure love of God. He tells us that if we partake of it, it will become delicious unto us and we will not hunger for anything else. Imagine what that would be like to never hunger. If you compare it to our physical hunger, it would seem almost impossible to eat one food and then never hunger for anything else ever again. But that is exactly how our spiritual hunger is. If we accept the fruit, God’s love for us, we will never hunger for anything else. However, in order to never hunger for anything else, we have to feast upon it, as Alma says until we are filled. It is then, as Alma explains, that we will be rewarded in our faith.

• Does God really hear our prayers no matter where we are or what we are doing?

Alma quotes Zenos the prophet, to us in chapter 33. He says that we can pray to God and tell Him anything, and no matter where we are, He will listen to us and comfort us. What an amazing blessing this is. We can talk to the Lord in our car on the way to school or work, we can pray to him during the night while we are in bed, we can call upon His name when we are scared or frightened, and we can even pray to Him while we are getting ready for the day to ask Him to bless us and comfort us until we return home that night. It is very easy to talk to the Lord. It doesn’t take much effort to call on Him and talk to Him. He is our best friend. He knows our weaknesses and our strengths. He knows that we need Him. He is there with open arms, we just have to let Him into our lives.