Alma 8:10 - "Nevertheless Alma labored much in spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer..."  How often do I 'wrestle' with God in 'mighty' prayer?  Not often.  I'll be honest.  and when i do pray like that, it's usually because i really want something or some crisis has happened.  as a bit of a justification to this, alma really wanted something too.  continuing in that verse, "...that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people who weer in the city; that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance."  I would call that a worthy thing to pray for.  I should have prayed like that every day on my mission for my investigators.  Now I probably should pray every day like that for my family, or my loved ones, or people I actually hope to see in the Celestial Kingdom who aren't quite on the path that will take them there. 
    Guilt aside, I have indeed wrestled with God a time or two in mighty prayer, and I can testify that wrestling is never in vain.  I've always received the answers I needed.  One time i received one of the clearest answers i've ever had and no wrestling was involved.  Twice, actually.  Once when I learned I was supposed to serve a mission, the other time when I learned I was supposed to marry Nick.
    So Alma meets Amulek and they go testify to the people and preach repentance unto them.  Alma makes the point that, "...If this people, who have received so many blessings from the hand of the Lord, should transgress contrary to the light and knowledge which they do have, I say unto you that if this be the case, that if they should fall into transgression, it would be far more tolerable for the Lamanites than for them."  The point being that the Lamanites are wicked because they don't know any better.  Those he is preaching to have received knowledge and should know how to behave and that they need to repent.  comparing the two, he basically is saying the higher you go, the further you fall. 

Is there anything not good about Alma 5-7?  When Alma steps up to preach, sit up and listen because you're gonna hear some good stuff.  Since he says it all, I will say very little.  Alma 5:21 - "I say unto you, ye will know at that day that ye cannot e saved; for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins."  The word I noticed here was 'purified.'  The reason I take such notice of that word is because it caused me to remember a class I took once from David A. Christiansen.  He admonished us to remember that when we depart from this life we won't be perfect, but we should be pure.  Thus repentance is so necessary to cleanse our inner vessels.  No one, save Jesus Christ, has reached perfection in this life, but purity is possible as we strive to obey God's commandments and repent continually of our mistakes and always try to be better today than we were yesterday.
    Alma 7:14 - "Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness."  Here I see the word 'cleanse' and again get that idea of purity.  I reiterate:  perfection is an eternal goal, but purity should be a daily goal.

Now we enter the book of Alma.  While the basic themes of the Book of Mormon continue with admonishments to obey the Lord's commandments and examples of the cycle of righteous and wickedness that was previously mentioned, Alma so far is a factual book of more historical context of wars and dissensions.  The Lord did spend much time strengthening Alma and his people as they went to war as He has promised to preserve them as long as they are righteous.
    The curse that fell upon the Lamanites is mentioned in Alma chapter 3.  The purposes of that curse are reiterated as the Lord explained it is so that the seed of the righteous do not intermingle with the seed of the unrighteous.  A point is made in verse 19:  "Now I would that ye should see that they brought upon themselves the curse; and even so doth every man that is cursed bring upon himself his own condemnation."  Many think that God sends curses upon us, and perhaps he does, but if it is a legitimate curse and not just the natural order of things, I think it is very clear that we are recipients of curses according to our actions.  With this in mind I think we should be better able to distinguish between a curse and a trial.  If one has done nothing to merit God's wrath, I believe one can safely assume that the trials he or she suffers may be for his or her good.  And we would be very prudent to remember whom we should call upon to help us through these times of trial.

If there's one thing the book of mormon teaches us continually it is this:  when we are righteous, we will prosper in the land.  usually that prosperity brings pride and then wickedness, so we fail to prosper.  poor conditions humble us and we remember God, so we become righteous, and then again we prosper in the land as it says in Mosiah 27:7 "And the Lord did visit them and prosper them, and they became a large and wealthy people." 
    In 27:14 we are told why an angel of the Lord has been sent to Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah:  "...the angel said:  Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant alma, who... has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith."  I know first hand about these prayers made on a child's behalf.  While I didn't receive a visit from an angel, I may as well have.  Many people have acted as angels in my life to draw me to repentance at long last.  The prayers of my mother were indeed answered according to her faith.

Yes.  I was neglectful and i skipped writing for a day.  i did still read, though. 
    Mosiah 21:15 - "And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities; nevertheless, the Lord did hear their cries, and began to soften the hearts of the Lamanites that they began to ease their burdens; yet the Lord did not see fit to deliver them out of bondage."  Now, I am not one to question the Lord's motives, so if "the Lord sees fit" to something or other, I really don't think much of it.  I find it miraculous (and rightly so, i think) that the Lord has the power to soften the hearts of anyone.  A Lamenite's heart.  My heart.  It's this miracle that makes it so easy for me to believe that he is God.  Why doesn't the Lord soften more hearts more frequently?  Maybe no one's asking him to, or perhaps he doesn't "see fit" to do so. 
    Mosiah 23:21-22 - "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.  Nevertheless--whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day.  Yea, and thus it was with this people."  In these verses we see again things that the Lord sees fit to do.  There are also a couple of important virtues listed:  Patience and Trust.  I find that any virtues that need to be developed most often must be helped along by the hand of the Lord through our experiences.  These experiences need not always be pleasant, but they are the best things for us to help us develop the virtues needed.  thus the Lord "seeth fit" to try our patience to develop our trust.

So much good stuff in these chapters.  Abinidi is on fire!  (pardon the pun, but i really mean the spiritual fire).  "...all those who have hearkened unto [the prophets'] words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God.  For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions..." (Mos 15:11-12)  So, Christ has atoned for all sins, but here it seems there is a stipulation that he has only atoned for the sins that get repented of.  Perhaps this is not the meaning, though.  Maybe this means that he makes the atonement for all sins so that those who repent may take advantage and be saved.  Since Christ hopes that all may take advantage, then he indeed took upon him all sins, those repented of, and those which were not.  This to me makes it triply important that I repent of mine that his suffering for me not be in vain.
    Verses 22-23:  "And now, the resurrection of all the prophets, and all those that have believed in their words, or all those that have kept the commandments of God, shall come forth in the first resurrection; therefore they are the first resurrection.  They are raised to dwell with God who has redeemed them; thus they have eternal live through Christ, who has broken the bands of death."  So even though everyone eventually will be resurrected, the initial and most glorious resurrection is reserved for the faithful.
    Verses 26-27:  "...the Lord redeemeth none such that rebel against him and die in their sins...that have known the commandments of God, and would not keep them; these are they that have no part in the first resurrection... salvation cometh to none such; for the Lord hath redeemed none such; yea, neither can the Lord redeem such; for he cannot deny himself; for he cannot deny justice when it has its claim."  Many people think that having limitations is proof that God is not God.  For me, though, these so-called "limitations" are what make him perfect:  He is subject to his own laws and cannot change them willy-nilly.  To me that is more permanent, eternal, and God-like. 

A bit of history here.  Ammon is awesome.  I love how the prophets of the Book of Mormon always seem to know the right thing to say.  I wonder how that could be?  :)  Then we get into Abinadi's prophesying.  Isn't it funny how the truth hurts those who are unwilling to abide by it?  I think it hurts the most because sinners know the truth inherently, but if they can ignore it, they have no need to feel guilty for anything they do.  Anyway the prophesies of Abinidi sure do anger King Noah.

Continuing on with his speech, King Benjamin brings up several other points, one using the same logic as the thought about service:  "And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another." (4:21) Again, God gives us everything, why can't we share what we have? 
    One scripture discussed often by my mission president was Mosiah 5:2 - "...we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."  One essential element of conversion is that literal "mighty change" of heart.  It was fruitless to baptize without it.  People could believe all of the doctrine, but without the change of heart, their conviction to follow it was weak at best and they often fell away soon after baptism.  This change of heart will inspire life-changing behavior.  It can free us from vice and anger.  It can purify even the blackest of hearts.  This is possible because of the cleansing power of the Spirit.

Who doesn't love King Benjamin?  In the beginning of his farewell address to his people King Benjamin talks of service.  In 2:17 there is the famous, "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God."  But I actually prefer the next verse where he says to us, "Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye labor to serve one another?"  This is such a great example to me.  There are many who labor to serve me, both spiritually and temporally, so what on earth would make me exempt from service?  There is a reason that idleness is one of the seven deadly sins.  In laziness there is fostered pride - pride that somehow you are owed.  That others have the responsibility to take care of you, or any other number of thoughts can creep in that are far from the truth which Benjamin points out in verse 21:  "I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another -- I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants." Explaining further in verses 23 and 24:  "...in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.  And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you.  and ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?"  I think these verses speak for themselves.
    On a slightly different note, I was sitting in sacrament meeting on Sunday and I began to wonder what the physical act of God's blessing entails?  As they blessed the bread and the water I imagined all the impurities leaving these morsels but blessings go beyond that.  They seem often very intangible so when we ask for God's blessing, what exactly does he do?  Just a thought...

Ahh.  Through the short chapters and about to get into Mosiah.  It's really starting to feel like a marathon, now... The beginning so easy, then you hit a wall.  If you push through, the next part should be easy as you catch your stride. 
    Enos gives us a poignant example of the power of faith.  In verse 12 the lord tells him, "I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith."  Two things are significant here, the first one being that Enos had faith sufficient to ask the Lord whatsoever he chose, but the second is a little harder to grasp, that being that the will of Enos was in line with the will of the Lord.  The Lord knew he could make Enos this promise, because he knew that Enos would not ask for something the Lord wasn't willing to give.  Perhaps this is one of the greatest trials of our faith:  to be willing to align our will with the father's, and seek to ask him for the blessings that he wants to give us, already.  To some it may then seem pointless to pray at all, but even though God has stored up blessings that he is ready and willing and desires to give us, many of those blessings are contingent upon our asking for them in faith.  This is perhaps because our exercise of faith in this manner is what needs to be done to make it stronger and in time this is what makes our faith perfect. 
    One character in the Book of Mormon I'm actually quite impressed with is Omni.  He lets us know in verse one that he was "commanded by his father, Jarom, that [he] should write somewhat upon these plates..." and in verse two he lets us know that, "I of myself am a wicked man, and I have not kept the statues and the commandments of the Lord as I ought to have done." Then in verse three, "...I had kept these plates according to the commandments of my fathers and I conferred them upon my son Amaron."  What impresses me, and makes me very happy, is that although Omni professes himself to be wicked, he still obeyed an extremely important commandment given by his father.  He takes the plates, preserves them, manages to even write a little, and then passes them on and gives his son the same commandment he received.  This leads me to believe that even Omni understood the importance of this record.  I'm sure he could not be bothered with many things in the lines of commandments, but this one he managed to keep and thus the plates were passed and preserved.  Thanks, Omni.