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Well, I thought it was basic knowledge, and stuff we all learned in primary, but after encounters in these past few days, I guess some people don't quite understand. So! I am posting my talk I gave 2 Sundays ago about defending the Lord in the last days! It is pretty long, but what i believe to be quite truthful none the the less. So...ENJOY!!!
"I feel that this topic of putting on the armor of God in the last days is one of the most important, and urgent things we must be thinking about. As I was preparing for this talk, I found it hard to get past the fact that I felt like my nerves would get in the way of delivering what the Lord wants me to say, which actually was my inspiration for this talk. In high school I found it so easy perform in front of crowds. I sang my heart out in high school productions in front of hundreds of people, and never once got nervous. I think it is horribly ironic that I get so nervous to talk in front of my good friends about the Lord’s Gospel, when it is so much more important than a silly high school musical. And if I let a frivolous thing like my comfort level get in the way of sharing the Gospel with friends, how will I be able to survive in doing the same thing for the rest of the world. Which is why it is important in these last days to put on the full armor of God, and prepare ourselves to stand against the wickedness running rampant in today’s world, and prepare to serve our Lord. We mustn’t be afraid, but rather excited and engaged in this cause to fight for God, especially in these last days when evil is so prevalent and accepted.
Just like a real soldier going to battle, we also need to put on our armor to protect and defend ourselves. Our main weapon we have is the spirit. Without out it, we are as good as defeated. It is most essential to understand what God wants us to be fighting for. Simply listening to the prophets and reading our scriptures is not enough to defend truth in this world. We need to gain testimonies of our own, and have confirmation that it is the truth.
Growing up in Utah, out of the 2,000 kids that went to my high school, 99% of them were members of the church. While some would think this is a blessing, and makes living the gospel that much easier, it would actually surprise you how much we were tried and tested when it came to following the gospel and having the spirit with us. For some, living the gospel became more of a routine, only keeping their set standards because everyone else was watching. IT was more of a lifestyle than a religion, and appearances were more important than serving God. This became more evident after we all went our separate ways, and my friends were slowly being engulfed in the ways of the world. They weren’t firm in their beliefs, and had not practice turning to the spirit.
In 2 Nephi 32:3, it says, “Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost. Wherefore they speak the words of Christ, Wherefore I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ, for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all the things what ye should do.”
We need to constantly turn to the Lord for understanding and knowledge. It is so easy to be distracted or tricked by the devil. I was talking to my mom the other day while I was preparing my talk, and asked her if she knew of any good talks about listening to the spirit. She referred me to an article in the August 1978 Ensign. Young members put together a list of key indicators of when you have the spirit. They said…
When you have the Spirit:
1. You feel happy, calm, and clear-minded.
2. You feel generous.
3. Nobody can offend you.
4. You wouldn’t mind everybody seeing what you’re doing.
5. You are eager to be with people and want to make them happy.
6. You are glad when others succeed.
7. You are glad to attend your meetings and participate in church activities.
8. You feel like praying.
9. You wish you could keep all the Lord’s commandments.
10. You feel in control—you don’t overeat or sleep too much; you don’t feel uncontrollably drawn to sensational entertainment, lose your temper, or feel uncontrollable passions or desires. 11. You think about the Savior often and lovingly; you want to know him better.
12. You feel confident and are glad to be alive.
When you don’t have the Spirit:
1. You feel unhappy, depressed, confused, and frustrated.
2. You feel possessive, self-centered, or resentful of demands made on you.
3. You are easily offended.
4. You become secretive and evasive.
5. You avoid people, especially members of your family; and you are critical of family members and Church authorities.
6. You envy or resent the successes of others.
7. You don’t want to go to church, go home teaching, or take the sacrament. You wish you had another church job or no job at all.
8. You don’t want to pray.
9. You find the commandments bothersome, restricting, or senseless.
10. You feel emotions and appetites so strongly that you fear you cannot control them—hate, jealousy, anger, lust, hunger, fatigue.
11. You hardly ever think of the Savior; he seems irrelevant to your life, or worse, part of a confusing system that seems to work against you.
12. You get discouraged easily and wonder if life is really worth it.
The mere fact that young people easily put this list together is a powerful reassurance that they do have the key to discernment. As Moroni put it: “The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge that it is of God. “
Many times throughout my day, I feel that I am guilty of losing the spirit for simple reasons. I work a lot with computers as a graphic designer, and nothing makes me lose the spirit easier that something going wrong with technology. I drives me crazy knowing that these machines that men have created for us are so easily broken and corrupted. A few weeks ago, I was trying to hook up our new digital converter box and antennae in order to get a few channels on our TV. How easily the spirit left me after a few minutes of fiddling with the thing unsuccessfully. I boiled with rage as the little box flashing across the screen told me I was receiving “no signal.” In my frustration I was short tempered with my husband, I had a horrible attitude, and wanted nothing but to be miserable in my defeat. Then Jeff pointed out that these are such small and insignificant things, and we can’t let them get in the way of our progress. I then felt it ironic that the tv was flashing the words “no signal” to me, as if telling me I had lost the connection between my heavenly father and me. How can we serve the Lord when I allow the smallest things to get in the way? Which is why we need all the help from the Lord that we can get.
Having knowledge of the Gospel is a great responsibility. We have made covenants with the Lord that we will stand up for him. In this world, that can be hard, as we have nearly everything contradicting our beliefs, and mocks us for standing up for the truth. I find this is where most of my good friends from high school grew weak. The Devil had cleverly slipped in their thoughts justifications for sinful behaviors and thoughts. Many people like to use the excuse that we are not supposed to judge others, and Jesus would love everyone no matter what they do, and we should accept people’s choices.
It is true that we should love everyone as Christ does, but I think part of that love is not enabling or endorsing sinful behavior. While Christ was the greatest example of love, his messages were always of repentance and changing our hearts. If we truly love our fellow Children of God as he does, we will bring them a message of God’s love and of the Gospel, that they may also become followers in Christ. We must make righteous judgments, and discern right from wrong with the spirit, and make no exceptions. We can’t worry about offending someone or being embarrassed by standing up for our beliefs, because I feel like God would not be satisfied with that answer when we try to explain why we didn’t stand up for him.
With God, there is a right and a wrong, a black and white, and we need the spirit to confirm those things which are true to us. In these last days, there is no place to allow and justify wrong ideals and behaviors that are so accepted by the world today. So often, everyone says we are entitled to their own opinion, which is true, but that doesn’t mean every opinion is right.
C.S. Lewis said “There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there’s never more than one.”
As members of this church, and followers of the Gospel, we know the answers, or if we don’t yet, we have a sound source to turn to. It is our responsibility to make sure we have constant contact with the Lord through the spirit, so we can be ready at a moment’s notice to fight.
Yet, while constantly having the spirit with us would be ideal, we do make mistakes as we are human, which is why we are able to turn to the Lord and repent. We were given this opportunity to come to earth and serve the Lord, and he gave us a way to fix our mistakes that were inevitable. The Lord knows we are not perfect, and I am sure nothing pleases him more than when we recognize the mistakes we make, and reconcile with him so we can better serve him.
M. Russel Ballard said in a CES Fireside “Are you struggling with some sin or weakness? It can be something as simple as not having the willpower to rise in the morning early enough to have time for scripture study and prayer. It can be something so powerful, such as Internet pornography or lack of moral self-control, that you feel you have been pulled down into an abyss and there is no hope for you. Do you find yourself hating what you are doing but not able to find the willpower to turn away from it? Then reach out and humble yourself. The Lord’s enabling power is sufficient to change your heart, to turn your life, to purge your soul. But you must make the first move, which is to humble yourself and realize that only in God can you find deliverance.”
In order to fight against the world, we must first make sure we ourselves are striving to do the best we can, and repent when we make mistakes. It is never too late to repent, it is simply up to us to recognize when we need to do so. Now more than ever we need to constantly turn our hearts to the Lord, and tell him we are on his side and do what it takes to serve him.
As it says in Josha 24: 15, “
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
We must have our loins girt about with truth, have on the breastplate of righteousness, we must have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, take the shield of faith, wear the helment of salvation, and fight with the sword of the Spirit. In the BOM, we see many examples of men going to battle, giving their life for the Gospel, making the ultimate sacrifice in order to preserve their right to worship the Lord. Today we are still fighting that battle, perhaps not as physically, but we must be just as diligent and proactive in defending the truth."
