How to Use Faith and How to Worship

When Alma had finished speaking about faith, the people asked him how they should believe in God, how they should plant the seed in their hearts, and how they should begin to exercise their faith. Alma answered, “You said you could not worship God because you have been banned from your synagogues. If you think you cannot worship God without a synagogue, you are greatly mistaken and need to read the scriptures. And if you think the scriptures have taught you this, you do not understand them. Do you remember reading what Zenos, the prophet of old, said about prayer or worship? He said, ‘Thou are merciful, oh God, for Thou has heard my prayer, even when I was in the wilderness. Thou was merciful when I prayed for my enemies, and Thou did soften them toward me. Oh God, Thou was merciful to me and heard me when I prayed to Thee in my field. And again, oh God, when I went into my house and private room, Thou heard my prayer. Thou are merciful to Thy children when they cry to Thee, to be heard by Thee and not by men, and Thou will hear them.

“ ‘Oh God, Thou has been merciful to me, and has heard my cries in the middle of Thy congregations. Thou has also heard me when I was cast out and despised by my enemies. Thou did hear my cries and was angry with my enemies, and visited them in Thine anger with speedy destruction. And Thou did hear me because of my afflictions and my sincerity. Because of Thy Son, Thou has been merciful to me. Therefore, I will cry to Thee during all my afflictions, for in Thee is my joy. For Thou has turned Thy judgments away from me because of Thy Son.’ ”

After reading this, Alma said to the poor people, “Do you believe these scriptures, written by the prophets of old? If you do, then you also believe that Zenos said, ‘Thou has turned away Thy judgments because of Thy Son.’ Now my brothers and sisters, have you read the scriptures? If you have, how can you not believe in the Son of God? For Zenos was not the only prophet who spoke of the Son of God. Zenock also spoke of Him. Zenock said, ‘Thou are angry, oh Lord, with this people, because they will not understand Thy mercies which Thou has bestowed upon them because of Thy Son.’ Now my brothers and sisters, a second prophet of old testified of the Son of God. And because the people refused to understand his words, they stoned him to death. This is not all, for these two prophets were not the only ones who spoke of the Son of God. Moses also spoke of Him. A symbol of the Son of God, a brass snake, was held up by Moses in the wilderness, so that whoever would look upon it would live. And many of those who had been bitten by poison snakes looked and were healed. But many of them did not understand the meaning of the brass snake because they were stubborn. They did not believe they would be healed by simply looking up at the brass snake, and they died.

“Oh my brothers and sisters, if you could be healed by simply looking up, would you not look up quickly? Or would you rather harden your hearts in unbelief, being slothful and refusing to look up, and perish? If you do not look up, curses will come upon you. If you do look up, then believe that you will see the Son of God coming to redeem His people—that He will suffer and die to atone for your sins. Believe that He will rise again from the dead and bring to pass the resurrection, so that all people will stand before Him to be judged at the last day according to their works. I want you to plant this word in your hearts. As it begins to grow, nourish it with your faith and it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. Then may God make your burdens light through the joy of His Son. Amen.”