50:1 - "...Moroni did not stop making preparations for war..."
This chapter shows that many smaller acts of preparation are the most effective in making weak things become strong.
If we are to be ready for whatever comes, we must prepare now.
50:1 - "...Moroni did not stop making preparations for war..."
Moroni showed his faith by doing what he could to prepare - and then by trusting the Lord to help protect the country.
We must do what we can in our power to help, but realize that we can't do everything. We must trust the Lord and have faith in Him.
50:4 - "...he caused towers to be erected that overlooked those works of pickets..."
This is reminiscent of Ezekiel 3:17 where it describes prophets as being watchmen on towers.
The prophets can see further than we can, and we must have the humility to say that the Prophets know what they are talking about and that we need to follow their counsel and direction.
49:5-9,14,19-20,27 - "...now at this time the chief captains of the Lamanites were astonished exceedingly, because of the wisdom of the Nephites in preparing their places of security..."
This whole chapter describes the preparation of the Nephites for war - physically and spiritually.
We also must be prepared, and the best way is to work on both spiritual and physical preparedness.
49:14 - "...but behold, to their astonishment, the city of Noah, which had hitherto been a weak place, had now, by the means of Moroni, become strong, yea, even to exceed the strength of the city Ammonihah..."
This is reminiscent of Ether 12:27, where it talks about how we can make weak things become strong.
We do this through humility and hard work.
49:28 - "...and it came to pass, that on the other hand, the people of Nephi did thank the Lord their God, because of his matchless power in delivering them from the hands of their enemies..."
Even though this whole chapter shows that the Nephites were preparing and putting in a lot of work, this verse shows that they recognized that it was the Lord who helped them.
We must have faith to act and faith to be grateful to the lord when He expands our acts.
48:1 - "...and now it came to pass that, as soon as Amalickiah had obtained the kingdom he began to inspire the hearts of the Lamanites against the people of Nephi; yea, he did appoint men to speak unto the Lamanites from their towers, against the Nephites..."
This shows a contrast to Alma 46:36 - here the Lamanites are speaking from the towers against the Nephites, while the Nephites hoisted the Title of Liberty on their towers.
This appears to be the "Media" of the time - much like our Television, Internet, etc. What are we hearing all the time? It it focusing on God, and Family, or on attacking others or other evils? There is always opposition in all things.
48:7 - "...now it came to pass that while Amalickiah had thus been obtaining power by fraud and deceit, Moroni, on the other hand, had been preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God..."
This is another good contrast - and a good question to ask ourselves: Are we trying to gain power or working to help others to be faithful unto God?
48:15 - "...And this was their faith, that by so doing God would prosper them in the land, or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of God that he would prosper them in the land; yea, warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger..."
This is a great promise, but it does require faithful action on our part. We have to keep the commandments, and when we do, we can have assurance that the Lord will guide us to where we need to be and prosper us!
48:17-19 - "...Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men. Behold, he was a man like unto Ammon, the son of Mosiah, yea, and even the other sons of Mosiah, yea, and also Alma and his sons, for they were all men of God. Now behold, Helaman and his brethren were no less serviceable unto the people than was Moroni; for they did preach the word of God, and they did baptize unto repentance all men whosoever would hearken unto their words..."
If we can be like unto Moroni, or Ammon, or the sons of Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, or really any of the other spiritually powerful people throughout time, we would be doing really well.
We must be examples like they were, and do what they did.
48:23-24 - "...Now, they were sorry to take up arms against the Lamanites, because they did not delight in the shedding of blood; yea, and this was not all—they were sorry to be the means of sending so many of their brethren out of this world into an eternal world, unprepared to meet their God..."
War is not a happy thing. Nevertheless, the Nephites could not suffer to lay down their lives and their wives and children. There are certain things you must do and people you must defend.
47:6-14 - "...and they had appointed a man to be a king and a leader over them, being fixed in their minds with a determined resolution that they would not be subjected to go against the Nephites..."
Lehonti was fixed at first with a determined resolution, but eventually went down from the mountain. We sometimes do this too. We need to have faith that we can stay on our spiritual and personal mountains, and then act on that faith to resist the temptation to 'come down.'
47:18 - "...and it came to pass that Amalickiah caused that one of his servants should administer poison by degrees to Lehonti, that he died..."
This is reminiscent of 2 Nephi 28:21-23, where in a similar manner, it describes how Satan seeks to lead us carefully away down to Hell.
We must watch out because Satan is continually seeking to pull us down.
46:8 - "...Thus we see how quick the children of men do forget the Lord their God, yea, how quick to do iniquity, and to be led away by the evil one..."
This reminds me of Moses 5:13, where Satan said, "Believe it not," and they believed it not.
It's sad how quickly we can turn from the Lord to the devil, but we see it with other examples, such as Nephi's brothers and Korihor. We must watch ourselves so we do not do the same thing, but turn quickly unto God.
46:12 - "...and it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole..."
We also must defend our God, religion, freedom, peace, wives, and children. Satan and his followers are continually on the attack, so we must be ready at all times to be effective servants of God.
46:21 - "...and it came to pass that when Moroni had proclaimed these words, behold, the people came running together..."
As it says in the 12th Article of Faith, we believe in being subject...and in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
We must support our country and our leaders...even running!
46:36 - "...and it came to pass also, that he caused the title of liberty to be hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land..."
It appears that the towers were the 'media' of the Nephites and Lamanites - in Alma 48:1, Amalakiah sent men to speak from the towers against the Nephites.
What media are we listening to? Do we watch uplifting media or media that encourages evil behavior?
46:41 - "...but there were many who died with old age; and those who died in the faith of Christ are happy in him, as we must needs suppose..."
When we have faith in Christ, we can have faith that we will be happy in enduring to the end!
45:1 - "...Behold, now it came to pass that the people of Nephi were exceedingly rejoiced, because the Lord had again delivered them out of the hands of their enemies; therefore they gave thanks unto the Lord their God; yea, and they did fast much and pray much, and they did worship God with exceedingly great joy..."
Normally you would associate the act of faith of fasting as something you would do during difficult times, but the people fasted and prayed after being delivered.
We need to remember to be thanking God for His blessings, especially deliverance, through prayer and our faithful actions.
45:21 - "...for behold, because of their wars with the Lamanites and the many little dissensions and disturbances which had been among the people, it became expedient that the word of God should be declared among them..."
It is always needful to preach the word of God. We must always renew our covenants before swords (Alma 48:7-8, Alma 31:5).
44:3 - "...but now, ye behold that the Lord is with us..."
Does the Lord take sides in a battle?
Sometimes he does - but it's always the right side (Romans 8:31, 2 Nephi 17:14).
We must remember that if we're looking to take a side in a battle that we must take the Lord's side, which sometimes means staying out of the battle completely.
44:3-5 - "...and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us because of our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith..."
Faith is very powerful - even unto deliverance from our enemies.
This is one of the great blessings of faith.
44:5 - "...And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gained power over you, by our faith, by our religion, and by our rites of worship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which we owe to our wives and our children, by that liberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness; and by all that is most dear unto us..."
Similar to the Tree of Life vision, where the Iron Rod is the Word of God, we see in this passage that the Word of God leads us to God, and is where we owe all our happiness.
(See also 2 Nephi 11:8, 1 Nephi 11:22).
