Mighty to Save

I was impressed by this statement of Alma to the people of Gideon as I read it today: “Have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness” (Alma 7:14). The Savior is mighty to save. We can interpret this as the fact that He has the power to save us from sin, to ultimately perfect us and enable us to gain salvation by returning back to the presence of the Father. But I think that it can also apply to the here and now—He is mighty to save us in whatever problems or difficulties we might have. He has the power to help us no matter what our struggles are if we put faith in Him. Nephi said that we need “unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save” (2 Nephi 31:19). And what does that mean? To me it means that when we face challenges we pray to the Father with all our hearts in the name of the Savior to receive of His help and strength, and then we go and do everything we can to confront them. Amulek put it this way: “Cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save” (Alma 34:18). We cry unto the Lord for His help, His mercy, and He has the power to help us overcome all.

               This reminds me of a quote from President Nelson that I heard again recently. He said this about accessing that power from the Savior to help us: “When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours. When the Savior knows you truly want to reach up to Him—when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life—you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do.” His point here is that must really want it, we must seek the Lord with all our heart and desire with all our hearts to have His power to help us in our lives. The Savior promised us His help in these words: “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:63). We must seek Him diligently, with the kind of diligence that a drowning person has grasping for air. Surely part of that diligence is shown through actions of scripture study, Sacrament attendance, going to the temple, and other efforts that show the Lord that we want to draw near to Him. But perhaps what is most important through all of those is a burning desire, a yearning, a sincere seeking within our heart to feel His Spirit, to hear His voice, to have His power to help us. In other words, we simply need to follow the first great commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matt. 22:37). As we learn to love Him with our heart, soul, and mind, surely He will bless us with His help which is “mighty to save” us in all our troubles.