Book of Mormon Study Guide # 20

My Soul Is Pained No More

Mosiah 26:1-6
The children of this generation quit believing for one reason. It is given in verse 4, For they would not
call upon the Lord their God.
Read 2 Nephi 32:8
For if ye would hearken unto the ____________ which teacheth a man to ______________, ye would know
that ye must pray; for the ___________ spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but ______________ him that
he must not pray.
What are some obstacles in your life that keep you from praying?

Where are these obstacles coming from and what can you do this week to begin removing them from
your life?

What does Mosiah 26 teach us the consequences of failing to pray are?

Our Father in Heaven has invit ed us to pray. His invitation is gentle and simple. Be honest. Be yourself.
There are not a lot of rules to follow. You dont need to take a course to learn to pray. You just need
to talk with your heavenly Father and be confident that he hears you, that he loves you. Prayer is
simply a heartfelt conversation between God and His child. Jesus set a compelling prayer example.
He prayed before he ate. He prayed for children. He prayed for the sick. He prayed for the
downtrodden. He made the planets and shaped the stars, yet he prayed. He is the Lord of angels and
commander of heavenly hosts, yet he prayed. He was coequal with God, the exact representation of
the Holy One, yet he devoted himself to prayer. He prayed in the desert, in the cemetery, and in the
garden. Jesus pattern of prayer and the lesson that we can learn from it can be summed up in one
sentence: Before you face the world, face your Father.

Mosiah 26:6
They did deceive many with their flattering words
Those who would lead the members of the church astray often use flattery to do so. Flattery is to
preach that which is pleasing unto the carnal mind (Alma 30:53). Today we have many examples of
flattery coming from mass media, science. Voices are all around. Voices that encourage are affirm
are distant. Bout boices that tantalize and entice are near. Voices. Some for pleasure. Some for power.
Some promise acceptance. Some promise tnderness. But all promise something. . Here are a few
examples. Match them with the scriptures that teach the correct principle.

Alcohol can raise levels of good

HDL cholesterol by as much as 5 to 15 percent,
research shows and red wine is particularly
beneficial because its polyphenol antioxidants
may also lower LDL levels.
According to an article in the Washington Post
having a child hurts your happiness more than
divorce and unemployment. On a 1 to 10 scale, 37%
of parents had a one-unit drop in "happiness
units," while 19% had a two-unit drop and 17% had a
three-unit drop. To compare that to actual sad
life events: Unemployment and the death of a
partner usually lead to a one-unit drop in
happiness, and divorce only causes a 0.6-unit drop.
On average, parenthood leads to a whopping 1.4unit fall in happiness.
Sociiologists now argue that gender is something
that humans created. As humans, we have
categorized and defined many aspects of
life. Joseph Romero, a 6 year-old Arizona boy, was
diagnosed as transgender last October and is
beginning his/her transition to becoming a female.
When he/she reaches the age of 12, he will be
given female hormones containing estrogen and
plans to undergo surgery when she is an adult in
order to become a full woman. These cases
represent the tip of the iceburg in the growing
movement to make gender optional. When coupled
with increasingly successful campaign to
legitimize same sex unions via gay marriage, the
result is an all out assault on the centuries old
concepts of family and marriage.

Doctrine and Covenants 89:7

Psalm 127:3-5

Proclamation on the family, Paragraph 2

Mosiah 26:24
For behold, in my name are they called; and if they know me they shall come forth and shall
have a place eternally at my right hand.
What does it mean to know God?

What do those that know God do? How will the Savior recognize those that know him?
Fill in the blanks from the following scripture to compile a list.
Mosiah 26:20-22
Thou art my servant, and I covenant with theee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou
shalt ____________ me and go _____________ in my name, and shalt ____________________ together
my sheep. And he that will ______________ my voice shall be my sheepFor behold, this my church;
whosover is __________________ shall be baptized unto repentanceand him will I freely forgive.

We can receive eternal life and salvation from knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ,
whom he has sent. Many believe that there is a God, many say that they know there is a God, but
many do not act like theyknow God. There is a great difference in believing or knowing that
there is a God and in knowing God. When we claim that we know God, it bears great responsibility.
Knowing God is related to keeping his commandments. To know God, you must walk in the light of
life. To know God as a living child of God, we should know our relationship to him, our divine
potential, and we should know that in knowing God there is great responsibility to respect and
love and follow his counsel and his doctrines and his commandments and to grow as a child to
become more godlike.
How can we come to know God better? The answers to knowing God the Eternal Father are
found in and through Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

Mosiah 26:30
Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me
You. Are. Great. I feel like we should get that out in the open now. So throw away whatever
hang-ups you have, whatever self-doubt exists. Now, lets talk about the f-word for a minute.
Failure.
Heres a newsflash. At some point in your beautiful, crazy life, You. Will. Fail. Absolutely you
will. I cant tell you at what, but I can guarantee that it will happen. There will be a
commandment that dont keep, counsel that you dont follow, leaders that you dont sustain.
And when you fail the most important thing that you can remember is that you are not a
failure. The Savior came for people like us, people who make mistakes. And he has promised
that as often as we repent he will forgive. Hard to imagine, but true all the same. So when
you feel unforgiven, evict the feelings. Emotions dont et a vote. The truth is, forgiveness is a
fact, not a feeling. When, after truly repenting you are feeling unworthy, Go back to the
scriptures. Gods words hold rank over self-criticism and self doubt. Gods grace is real and
so is His love. Accept Gods forgiveness and move one.
Mosiah 27:14
For he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought
to the knowledge of the truth;
Jeffrey R. Holland said: Perhaps no anguish of the human spirit matches the anguish of a
mother or father who fears for the soul of a child. [But] parents can never give up hoping
or caring or believing. Surely they can never give up praying. At times prayer may be the only
course of action remainingbut it is the most powerful of them all (Alma, Son of
Alma, Ensign, Mar. 1977, 8081).
The Lord will not always send an angel, as He did to Alma, but He sends help in countless
other ways.
What are some ways that the Lord sends help in response to the prayers of the righteous
for loved ones who have strayed?

Mortal parents who make their own best efforts to reach their children can invoke divine
assistance through prayer, for all scriptures united in testifying that God answers prayers.
Perhaps the Lord does send angels, but angels of a different sort. Inspired teachers, friends,
bishops, home teachers, scout leaders, and others can serve the same function as angels
from above. These embodied angels, inspired by the Holy Ghost, are sent by the Lord to assist
and to love.
Largey, Lessons from the Zarahemla churches.

Mosiah 27:24
Behold, I am born of the Spirit
Surely Alma had been baptized at the age of 8 and received the gift of the holy ghost. But now
he says that he has been born of the spirit. How do these things differ?

What does it mean to you to be born of the Spirit?

Spiritual birth involves physical action. You must have courage and commitment. You must
realize that this new birth will have implications for all aspects of your life. It is to die as
pertaining to worldliness and carnality and to become a new creature by the power of the
Spirit. It is to begin a new life, a life in which we bridle our passions and control our appetites, a
life of righteousness, a spiritual life. (McConkie, New Wtiness, 282).
If you are born of the Spirit, who are your parents?
Those who are born again not only live a new life, but they also have a new Father. Their new
life is one of righteousness, and their new father is God. They become the sons of God; or, more
particularly, they become the sons and daughters of Jesus Christ. They bear, ever thereafter,
the name of their new parent; that is, they take upon themselves the name of Christ and
become Christians, not only in word, but in very deed. McConkie, New Witness, 282

In verse 29 Alma says that he was, snatched from eternal torment and his soul was
pained no more. I want to be snatched. I want to change in an instant from a person prone
to sin and bad decisions to a person completely converted to the Gospel and into an
instrument in the hands of the Lord. But, this is not my path. For every remarkable account
in the scriptures of a person retaining an instant conversion and a dramatic life change,
there are hundreds of thousands more we become Chrsit like through a lifetime of slow,
almost imperceptible change. We must be careful, president Benson counseled, as we
seek to become more and more godlike that we do not become discouraged and lose hope.
The Lord is pleased with every effort, even the tiny, daily ones in which we strive to be more
like Him.
Lets celebrate for a minute. What have you done this week, however small, that has
brought you closer to your father in Heaven? That has made you more Christlike?

Congratulations on making that small step!

Remember the words in Alma 37:6, But behold, I say unto you, that by small and simple
things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound
the wise. Author CS Lewis wrote, Our Savior, who will, in the long run, be satisf ied with
nothing less than absolute perfection, will also be delighted with the first feeble, stumbling
effort you make tomorrow to do the simplest duty.
You are doing amazingly well. Your Father in Heaven loves you. He is proud of you. Press
forward.