Alma 8

(September 18, 2015)

                I’ll admit that there is some basic doctrine that I still struggle to understand.  For example, why is it necessary for Alma (or anyone, for that matter) to wrestle with the Lord in mighty prayer?  After all, the people that Alma is attempting to bring to the knowledge of the Gospel are Father’s children first.  He loves them more than Alma does, and wants the best for them.  So why is their deliverance seemingly conditional on Alma wrestling with the Lord in prayer?  And if their salvation is not contingent on the prayers of Alma, what purpose do those prayers then serve?

                I get that we are to pray, but from my understanding of prayer it does more to change us than it does to change the Lord.  Is that why Alma’s mighty prayer was necessary in this case?  Is that the means through which Alma was made into a missionary capable of carrying the Lord’s message?  That makes sense to me, but I don’t know whether I am making things too complicated and looking beyond the mark.