2 Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.
3 But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.
The sons of Mosiah were effective teachers because they had invested the time and energy to understand the gospel and to invite the Spirit of the Lord into their lives. They did this by spending a lot of time and energy on three things: scripture study, prayer, and fasting. This passage reminds me of the Lord’s counsel to Hyrum Smith:
Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men (D&C 11:21).
Today, I will spend time and energy on scripture study and prayer in order to qualify myself to be an effective gospel teacher. I will remember that successful teaching requires successful preparation and that I can only teach the gospel effectively if I both understand the doctrine and have the companionship of the Spirit.
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