Day 154 Alma 5: Remember God's Mercies, Strengthen Your Faith

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me and know that I'm cheering for your every success. Oh my goodness, how I love the words of Alma.

Boy, are we going to get them today. It's been a while since I said this, but I got a smile on my face and I am so excited to share today with you. Alma chapter five is one of those hit-you-in-the-gut type chapters and also makes you feel better.

I'm going to read to you today, I think, about today's world and how people talk about how nervous they are to share the gospel and how they're just not sure how people are going to respond. Boy, if you read Alma chapter 5, get fired up. Look at the way that Alma takes on the mantle of preaching the gospel and just follow his lead because he just brings it.

And today we're going to take a look at that. Quick activity for you today. You've probably done this either in seminary, if you've ever taken seminary or institute, or maybe just on a personal study, but there's a lot of personal questions in here from Alma.

All of these are questions that are absolutely worth answering. Don't just read this. Answer the questions.

Here is what I call the mirror chapter. Alma's going to hold the mirror up. You're going to look in the mirror and you're going to see what's looking back at you.

And it's okay. Whatever's looking back at you is okay. Take a look at it and see where you stand with the gospel and with your testimony and feeling the Spirit and how excited you are around it.

The Gospel. This is an incredible chapter to help you do that and to help you increase in your awareness around what you could do to grow in your testimony. The verse for today actually comes inside of Alma 5, verse 6, and it comes before most of the questions, although it is kind of the beginning of the questions.

Let's take a look at it. And now behold, I say to you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them?

And moreover, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell? I love how Alma starts this out because he's talking directly to members of the Church. They're experiencing personal testimony challenges.

These are people that are members of the Church, but they're not strong in their testimonies. And some of them are making decisions that are starting to leave them out of the Church. They're starting to blot their names out.

All these things are happening. People are leaving the Church. And this is how Alma responds.

He responds by saying, "Hey, remember, remember, remember the miracles." Remember the things that have happened in those moments of doubt in your own life or in those times where you're having a faith challenge. Remember, one of my favorite questions to ask when I'm coaching with people and working with them one-on-one around any topic is, "What evidence do you have to support the idea that you're claiming here?" And so when you experience doubt in your testimony, go back to the evidence of the days of your faith. What miracles have you witnessed?

What times can you recall where you felt the Spirit strongly? Because those are real times. And maybe, maybe initially, you only have one or two of those times where you felt the Spirit strongly, but that's still evidence that the Spirit was present.

Alma is going to start out here calling people to look at their past and remember. Remember the evidence in the history. Remember that the Lord has been there all along.

And I want to encourage you to do the same thing during your struggles and challenges. Look at times in your life when you know the Lord was there and remember those times. Well, for today, my friends, remember that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt. I'll be here tomorrow, and I hope you are too.