In part one, I outlined Alma’s four fundamentals of spiritual rebirth.

“And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? (1) Have ye received his image in your countenances? (2) Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? (3) Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? (4) Do you look forward with an eye of faith” (See Alma 5:14-15)?

Do you look forward with an eye of faith? Let’s quickly review what faith is by looking at a couple of scriptures. “And now as I said concerning faith–faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true” (Alma 32:21), and “And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6), and finally “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” (James 1:6).

So faith is to “hope for things which are not seen” but you know are true. But don’t dispute what you know is true. Just because you can’t see it, touch it, feel it, does not mean that it is not true. And finally, don’t waver in your faith.

A few years ago, there was a promotional giveaway for one of the major cereal brands. They were giving away Nintendo Gameboys to those that were lucky enough to purchase a box of cereal that had the free Gameboy certificate in it. My son decided that he was going to win one of these Gameboys so he accompanied my wife to the grocery store, all the way there telling my wife that he was going to win a Gameboy. When my wife and son arrived at the grocery store, my son went directly to the cereal aisle and selected what was sure to be the winning box of cereal. As soon as they were in the car with the bags of groceries my son anxiously located his precious box of cereal and opened the box. To the surprise of my wife, there in the box of cereal was a certificate for a free Nintendo Gameboy!

Now did my son win that Gameboy because he had great faith? He hoped for things which were not seen, he did not dispute, and he certainly never wavered. But was what he hoped for “true”? Was it confirmed by the Holy Ghost that he would win this prize? I see no evidence that Heavenly Father helps us win prizes, lotteries, contests, etc. A key ingredient to faith was missing and that was the confirmation that what he hoped for was from the Spirit.

Now, let me continue with this story and we can see how faith did play a part in winning this prize. After my wife and son returned home and we were over the amazement at what had just happened, my son placed his winning certificate in a “safe place.” The certificate was to be sent into Nintendo and a Gameboy would be returned to my son. The next day my son went to retrieve his certificate and it was gone. He searched his entire room, and then his brothers’ and sisters’ rooms. Finally, he had the entire house turned upside down. Several days passed and we were unable to locate the certificate. My son was so upset and had finally given up hope. The entire family had spent hours searching the house and the certificate could not be found.

Finally, I went into my son’s room and sat down in the middle of the room. I tried to think of what could have happened to this simple piece of paper. I said a prayer to Heavenly Father that He would help me to find this certificate. I explained how it was such an exciting event to watch my son win this certificate and he was so heart broken. Well, if I had been more spiritually mature I would have called my whole family together for a family prayer. But after my prayer, I felt a calming feeling and I began to work out in my mind what could have happened to the certificate. What had happened in the bedroom immediately following my son hiding the certificate? I remembered that my son had cleaned his room the day he came home from the grocery store. Ah hah! The trash bag! I asked my wife, “Did anyone check the trash bag?” My wife said yes it had been checked several times.

I felt like I needed to check the trash once more and sure enough I found the certificate in the bag of trash that my son used when he cleaned his room. A couple of scriptures come to mind, “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another” (D&C 90:24), and “O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing” (Mormon 9:27).

A key ingredient to our spiritual rebirth is to exercise faith in our Lord and Savior and to believe all that He has said and all that He will say through His spokesman, our latter-day prophet.

We have discussed the four key elements of spiritual rebirth as outlined by Alma. We must receive Christ’s image in our countenance, experience a mighty change in our hearts, exercise faith in the redemption, and look forward with an eye of faith.

So what are the fruits of spiritual rebirth? King Benjamin tells us in Mosiah 4:12-16 and Mosiah 5:2 that there are at least nine.

“And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall (1) always rejoice, and (2) be filled with the love of God, and (3) always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall (4) grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true. And ye will (5) not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to (6) render to every man according to that which is his due. But ye will (7) teach them (children) to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another. And also, ye yourselves will (8) succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.” And finally, in Mosiah 5:2 “(9) We will have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually”.

What beautiful promises are extended to those who are anxiously engaged in working towards this life long process called spiritual rebirth.

Posted by John in Feature Articles