The most potent force for instilling faith and turning hearts to righteousness is the word of God as presented by His inspired representatives. As Paul confirmed: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). There is power in the word of God. His word—the word of God—is the totality of His pronouncements concerning salvation and eternal life. The Lord expresses His word by the Holy Spirit through angels (see 2 Nephi 32:3) and through His servants (see D&C 68:3–7), for He will put into their hearts what they should say (Helaman 13:5). The word has the power to change souls (see Alma 4:19; 31:5). It will show us all things to do (see 2 Nephi 32:3). We are to live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God (see D&C 84:43–46). Without the word, we would suffer in ignorance, not knowing the mysteries of God (see Mosiah 1:3).
In response to the collapse of moral rectitude among the Zoramites, Alma resorts to “the virtue of the word of God” because of his conviction that it is the most effective way to change lives for the better. He surely recalls that it is the word of God that has caused a major reform among the people in the early years of his tenure as chief judge, for Alma went forth at that time “that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them” (Alma 4:19). Once more, Alma launches a major campaign centered on the word of God in the attempt to bring the Zoramites back to the path of righteousness.
The word of God can cause fundamental, positive change in our lives. We can gain eternal life by feasting on and complying with the words of Christ—and enduring to the end (see 2 Nephi 31:19–20). The word of God can help us resist temptation (see 1 Nephi 15:24). The word of God can tell us all things to do (see 2 Nephi 32:3). Do we value the word of God so much that we seek to live by it (see D&C 84:43–46)?