What actions on your part bring God's forgiveness freely?
"15 Blessed art thou, Alma, and blessed are they who were baptized in the awaters of Mormon. Thou art blessed because of thy exceeding bfaith in the words alone of my servant Abinadi.
16 And blessed are they because of their exceeding faith in the words alone which thou hast spoken unto them.
17 And blessed art thou because thou hast established a achurch among this people; and they shall be established, and they shall be my people.
18 Yea, blessed is this people who are willing to bear my aname; for in my bname shall they be called; and they are mine.
19 And because thou hast inquired of me concerning the transgressor, thou art blessed.
20 Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have aeternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep.
21 And he that will hear my voice shall be my asheep; and him shall ye receive into the church, and him will I also receive.
22 For behold, athis is my bchurch; whosoever is cbaptized shall be baptized unto repentance. And whomsoever ye receive shall dbelieve in my name; and him will I freely eforgive.
23 For it is I that taketh upon me the asins of the world; for it is I that hath bcreated them; and it is I that granteth unto him that believeth unto the end a place at my right hand.
24 For behold, in my name are they called; and if they aknow me they shall come forth, and shall have a place eternally at my right hand.
25 And it shall come to pass that when the asecond trump shall sound then shall they that never bknew me come forth and shall stand before me.
26 And then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, that I am their Redeemer; but they would not be redeemed.
27 And then I will confess unto them that I never aknew them; and they shall bdepart into ceverlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
28 Therefore I say unto you, that he that will not ahear my voice, the same shall ye not receive into my church, for him I will not receive at the last day.
29 Therefore I say unto you, Go; and whosoever transgresseth against me, him shall ye ajudge baccording to the sins which he has committed; and if he cconfess his sins before thee and me, and drepenteth in the sincerity of his heart, him shall ye eforgive, and I will forgive him also.
30 Yea, and aas often as my people brepent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.
31 And ye shall also aforgive one another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his bneighbor’s trespasses when he says that he repents, the same hath brought himself under condemnation." (Mosiah 26: 15-31)
"23 And it came to pass after they had fasted and prayed for the space of two days and two nights, the limbs of Alma received their strength, and he stood up and began to speak unto them, bidding them to be of good comfort:
24 For, said he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit.
25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
27 I say unto you, unless this be the case, they must be cast off; and this I know, because I was like to be cast off.
28 Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God.
29 My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more.
30 I rejected my Redeemer, and denied that which had been spoken of by our fathers; but now that they may foresee that he will come, and that he remembereth every creature of his creating, he will make himself manifest unto all.
31 Yea, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess before him. Yea, even at the last day, when all men shall stand to be judged of him, then shall they confess that he is God; then shall they confess, who live without God in the world, that the judgment of an everlasting punishment is just upon them; and they shall quake, and tremble, and shrink beneath the glance of his all-searching eye.
32 And now it came to pass that Alma began from this time forward to teach the people, and those who were with Alma at the time the angel appeared unto them, traveling round about through all the land, publishing to all the people the things which they had heard and seen, and preaching the word of God in much tribulation, being greatly persecuted by those who were unbelievers, being smitten by many of them.
33 But notwithstanding all this, they did impart much consolation to the church, confirming their faith, and exhorting them with long-suffering and much travail to keep the commandments of God.
34 And four of them were the sons of Mosiah; and their names were Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and Himni; these were the names of the sons of Mosiah.
35 And they traveled throughout all the land of Zarahemla, and among all the people who were under the reign of king Mosiah, zealously striving to repair all the injuries which they had done to the church, confessing all their sins, and publishing all the things which they had seen, and explaining the prophecies and the scriptures to all who desired to hear them.
36 And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer.
37 And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth. (Mosiah 27: 23-37)
"8 But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven." (Moroni 6: 8)
"16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—" (Doctrine and Covenants 19: 16-18)
"42 Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.
43 By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them." (Doctrine and Covenants 58: 42-43)
And here's the commentary entitled: "God freely forgives me as I repent and forgive others." :
"Repentance and forgiveness are recurring themes in Mosiah 26–27. Look for words and phrases that teach about repentance and forgiveness in Mosiah 26:22–24, 29–31; 27:23–37.
Some people may wonder if God really does forgive them. How do you imagine Alma the Elder would counsel a member of the Church in Zarahemla who had that concern? What did Alma learn from the Lord in Mosiah 26:15–31 that could help this Church member? (see also Moroni 6:8; Doctrine and Covenants 19:16–18; 58:42–43)."
..."ye shall also aforgive one another your trespasses" is one of those phrases that teach about repentance and forgiveness. And I understand this is not easy to do right away all the time. It's so easy for little children--their pure heart tend to quickly let go of pain or sorrow they experience and so are able to quickly forgive others and quickly forget the pain and sadnees they feel and get back to feeling happy. For adults this is a great challenge. Sometimes it takes time for adults to let go of pain and sorrow caused by others. And it's a great challenge to completely forgive others when the harm they caused is just too much. No wonder one of God's commandments is to become like little children. We can emulate how little children quickly forgive others and forget or let go of the pain and sorrow they experience and get back to feeling happy again. Children's joy and happiness don't get disrupted for too long. After crying for a bit, a little child tend to smile right away even though tears just fell down his/her cheeks. What a joy to be with innocent little children and see this happening daily at my work. Grateful that I got moved to teaching Nursery this school year. I've been enjoying being with and teaching my class of 2-3 year olds.
I imagine a member of the Church in Zarahemla who had the concern if God does really forgive him, being given a counsel by Alma to do his part by sincerely repenting and forgiving others if he really want God to forgive him. God's arms are always open to receive His children who truly want to come unto Him. He never turn any away from Him. God's children are the ones who tend to turn away from their Heavenly Father by not recognizing that they are doing wrong and need to repent.
I'm grateful for the privilege I've been given to repent and be forgiven of my sins. I'm grateful for a husband who would quickly say "I'm sorry" and quckly forgives. He never judged me for my sins in the past. When I asked for his forgiveness, he quickly did forgive me. His heart is so pure. He's not holding grudge against anybody. He is like a little child indeed. Having the privilege to marry him is truly an answered prayer. And it's a proof that God does anwer our prayers in ways that we never imagined. And actually forgiving myself and forgiving others have opened the way for me to receive the blessings of meeting my husband-to-be and eventually marrying him. Letting go of the negativities in my thoughts and feelings about myself and others prepared me to meet the right person for me to marry because it made my heart pure. When your heart is pure, you attract the one whose heart is also pure. So, the saying that goes, "Be the right person and the right person will come along" is indeed true.
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