Mosiah 18

In verse 5 Alma hides by the pure water in the wilderness. When thing get rough, you retreat to
pure water for safety. Without water there is no safety and with it you can hide and live. Interesting
comparison to Christ as the living water.

It was a sacrifice of the rest of their life for those people to gather to this far out, dangerous, hidden
location to hear the Word if God. That's a lot of faith, and a willingness I sometimes lack. I Want to want
it that badly.

I wonder if Alma's position of power helped people convert and want to hear. The Lord really did take
His bad decisions and, through his repentance, consecrated them to his good.

Alma sums up serving God and keeping His commandments basically as just loving others and always
standing as a witness. It us so basic and so complicated at the same time. But once you have felt the
Spirit you know it is a great blessing of the covenant to always feel it.

Verse 11 is how I pray my kids will feel about being baptized, filled with a love if God and a burning
desire to be His people and serve Him. I hope its not just ambivalent like it was for me.

After all the people were baptized they organized Christ’s church. These people were Nephites, had they
not had the Church before? Or had it just gotten so corrupted they had to start over.

The law of consecration is such a beautiful concept, and such a spiritual achievement for people. To all
lift each other up, by choice and desire, and no one free-load, and no one care whether or not someone
was.

It is interesting to note that by sending the king after them the Lord really protected His people from the
wars and danger to befall the rest if the people there.