Faith in Jesus Christ

Helaman 5

This is one of my favorite chapters as it is a stand-alone chapter on the power of the Lord in our lives.  Nephi and Lehi, who were the sons of Helaman, dedicated the rest of their lives to preaching the gospel as the kingdom had become so corrupted they knew this was necessary.  They had some success among dissenters, which I found interesting.  They were imprisoned and left without food for days.  When the people came back to the prison to slay them, they were encircled about “as if by fire”.  They were ministered to by angels, the prison was encircled by fire yet not destroyed.  Nephi and Lehi were conversing with angels and the people wondered at this.  They were overshadowed in a cloud of darkness.  There was a good guy there – Aminadab.  They asked him how they could get rid of the cloud of darkness.  He told them they must “. . .repent and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ. . . and the darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you.” V41  The results were miraculous.  Those who did so were encircled about by a pillar of fire as well.  It was truly a temple moment.    At this point, an angel spoke to them “Peace, peace by unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world.” V47  There was a conversion of about 300 people.  It seems so simple.

I have a sticky note in this chapter that says that angels who minister on this earth are from the ranks of our kindred, friends, and fellow-beings and fellow-servants who once lived on this earth.  Is it appropriate to pray that my Dad could be allowed to come and speak to my children who stray?  He loves them and always prayed for them when he was alive. 

Darkness is beginning to engulf the world today.  The news is loaded with ugly things that are happening and one shakes their head at the blindness of people to the responsibility that is theirs to do what is right.  It is most notable among politicians, but it is closer to us in so many ways.  This chapter is an excellent example of how to rid oneself from this darkness.  Verse 41 puts it clearly:  Repent, pray until ye have faith in Christ.  Then the cloud will be lifted and you’re free to continue your process without the darkness.  It seems so simple.  What is the key ingredient?  Faith!  And that seems to be the difficult part for some. 

As I was conversing with my daughter this week about her siblings who she said “blindly moved forward in their lives not having a clue about the gospel”, it was easy to tell her “they had faith that it was right, and the faith to know that the knowledge they needed would come eventually.”  Sometimes (in fact, usually) we exercise the faith long before we have the knowledge of why we are doing the things we are doing.  As we do the things we have been taught to do all our lives, the knowledge comes.  We see the blessings from living the World of Wisdom.  We see the blessings from staying chaste and worthy of a righteous companion so that when he/she comes, we are ready for the blessings the Lord has promised.  We see blessings come from teaching our children about the Savior.  It’s hard, but as they grow and some begin to exercise that same faith, we see their lives be blessed as well.  Yes, I’d say the key to today’s reading is faith - faith to do what is right just because it is the right thing to do.  The reasons will come later.

What will I change because of today’s reading?  I believe I’m going to start praying that my Dad will be allowed to impact my weak children and visit them.  That they will see angels in their lives and be given the courage to do what is right.