Alma 49 – Peace and Prosperity; Armor of God

I am in awe when I read the war chapters in the Book of Alma now that I’ve done so a few times.  The first many times I read, it was laborious reading because I’m not particularly a war-type person.  That’s what they were to me – all about war.  Well, I’ve been shown the true value of these scriptures, and it is how we too can be victorious over the enemy of righteousness.  The battles we fight today are against evil and they are real.  Here are a few of the bullet points in this chapter worthy of note:

• Moroni prepared his people for battle, eliminating or decreasing their fear.  The Lamanites were astonished when they saw how prepared they really were (v4).
• Moroni had turned their previous areas of weakness into strong places.  He put as the chief captain Lehi, who was a very strong leader.  This made the city of Noah their strongest city. 
• Moroni had high banks built around their cities, the depth of the banks running deep. 
• His people were wearing armor, breastplates, shields and head plates. 

Compare this to our preparation today.  How are we being prepared for the battles we will fight?  General Conference is one critical preparation – not just listening, but re-reading and studying the messages for areas where we can improve individually and as families.

How are previously weak areas being made strong?  Maybe this one is harder for me, but I find it incredible that the very best of our mature brethren holding the priesthood are given assignments in very remote areas of the world to lead the missionary efforts. And of course, we need to examine the strengths of our family and see how we can make the weaker members stronger.  Not an easy assignment.  

How are our banks and depth of them high and running deep?  I believe this is our testimony.  What do we do to strengthen them that no amount of assault can penetrate our testimony and weaken our resolve to keep the enemy of righteousness away?

And of course, our Armor of God, i.e. breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, head plates of salvation, feet shod with preparation of the gospel of peace, sword of the spirit (D&C 27:16-18).

I love the last verse of this chapter (v30) – “Yea, and there was continual peace among them and exceedingly great prosperity in the church because of their heed and diligence which they gave unto the word of God, which was declared unto them by Helaman, and Shiblon and Corianton, and Ammon and his brethren, yea and by all those who had been ordained by the holy order of God, being baptized unto repentance, and sent forth to preach among the people.” 

In one small verse, we are told how to have this same peace and prosperity:  Heed diligently the counsel of prophets and apostles.  They are the captains of our army!

There you have it folks – plain and simple.  When we hear the brethren speak at conference, we need to spend the next six months studying those talks and see where we need to strengthen ourselves to withstand the battles we will face.  They wont necessarily be battles with real swords, spears, guns, etc.  They will be battles with the author of sin – Satan!  As we read the news daily, we see valiant people who have fallen because they failed to do this one thing.  I am in shock that some very good people do some very stupid things.  Why?  Obviously, it is because they failed to heed the counsel of our prophets. 

So my marching orders this day continue to be – read the conference talks and look for areas I need to improve.