Spiritual Conditioning

Often in my religion classes I have young men and women who are on athletic teams at BYU. I am astounded at the amount of time these young people put into their sport. Depending on which team they are on, they report spending 3 to 6 hours per day conditioning, watching film, learning plays and practicing. It takes so much time and effort and literally becomes a way of life. They have to eat right, mentally prepare for opponents, learn rules, create team camaraderie so they can work together well, follow coaches instructions, work out to create strength and stamina, and many other things. Some of this we realize. After all we know that no one is going to end up on a NFL team by accident. A professional athlete plans and prepares for years before.

There are parallels here to our spiritual life. No one is going to end up in the celestial kingdom accidentally. We have to plan and prepare if we want to go there. So what do we do? Spiritual conditioning for those who want to go to the celestial kingdom is as necessary and real as physical conditioning is for athletes. Since faith is mental process, spiritual conditioning takes place in the mind, and Alma tells us how in Alma chapter five.

In his great speech to the people of Zarahemla, Alma instructs them on the use of the three powers of the mind: the power to remember, to imagine, and to experience. When we learn to use these three powers and then daily exercise them we are strengthened spiritually. They are incredible powers and build faith just as weight lifting builds muscle.

For the next few days, I’ll blog about these powers and how we use them. In the meantime, read Alma 5 so you can add your comments. Happy reading!