Effects of Faith vs Agency (2019/05/30)

In Ether 12: 13-17 Moroni gives examples of how various individuals' faith affected other people and things.

13 Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth.
     
14 Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost.

15 Behold, it was the faith of Ammon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites.

16 Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after.

17 And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith.

Moroni gives examples of how our faith can affect others:
Alma and Amulek-the prison walls
Ammon and brethern-converting the Lamanites
Nephi and Lehi-converting the Lamanites in the prison
3 Nephites-fulfilment of the promise of the transformation of their body

Just as light from a lamp shines on other objects and 'affects' them (making them visible), our faith can radiate onto others and help reveal what their potential can be-that is, what they will allow their potential to be. 

We know it doesn't overpower their own agency, as it says clearly in the book of Alma that many were not converted by Ammon and his brethren because of the hardness of their hearts.  Many Lamanites were not converted because of the influence of those hard hearted Nephite descenters. 

Alma 23:14
And the Amalekites were not converted, save only one; neither were any of the Amulonites; but they did harden their hearts, and also the hearts of the Lamanites in that part of the land wheresoever they dwelt, yea, and all their villages and all their cities.

Both those who were converted and those who were not demonstrates the principle of how 'affecting' and 'agency' dance together. We can shine our 'light' on others, but it doesn't force them to remove the barriers they have built up that blocks the light. People can aggrivate others and encourage them to build barriers, but it doesn't force them to build them or keep them up and refuse to let the light shine on them.

I believe this is the same as the influence of the Spirit of the Lord and the spirit of the devil.  They both encourage us (or whisper to us) to follow their particular direction, but neither is allowed to force us to feel or believe any particular thing.  They just provide the outside 'vibration' so we can see which strings inside of us resonate with them.

They reveal us to ourselves.