Satan is incredibly clever, we have no idea. He has successfully swayed our views on the Plan of Salvation and made us forget our purpose…at least for now.
There is a war going on right before our eyes. It is the war between good and evil. We are right in the middle of it and we have already picked our side. But we are forgetting a few things: We aren’t keeping up with the rule book, we aren’t putting our armor on, we aren’t being a team player, and we consistently question our leaders.
Satan has us right where he wants us. He has us creating our own rules (the poor me book has been written multitudinous times-nothing new to write about). We continue modifying, if not completely stripping off, our armor and swinging it around defiantly above our heads. He has us at each other’s throats-the battle between men and women is his piece de résistance. And our leaders have been telling us the same thing for far too long and we still don’t hear them.
Wake up and arise from the ashes of the world! Pres. Hinckley told us to walk right down the center of the path-like we mean it. Not ride the line where Satan is there waiting.
“We are surrounded by so much that is designed to divert our attention from those things which are virtuous and good and to tempt us with that which would cause us to be unworthy…” Pres. Monson warned us this past conference (May 2008). He continues, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood (whenever anyone mentions priesthood it involves me and I need to be listening too), an holy nation, and you can make a difference.”
I heard Hugh Nibley once comment that the good news is the gospel is here. The bad news is, people don’t want to hear it.
Yes, we are raging in a battle that is very real and with an enemy that seeks to destroy us. When we are complacent and caught up in the things of the world we fail to see the serious nature of this battle and even the fact that it is very real and ongoing.
The problem sometimes is that don’t ‘think’ we are caught up in the world. We are active LDS women with busy lives who are trying to contribute in meaningful ways as we serve our families, the church and our communities. We get so busy that the ‘basics’ sometimes fall by the wayside. However, it is these basics that give us the power of victory in this great war.
During a particularly difficult time as I waged this battle in my family I poured out my heart in prayer to receive an answer. The answer that came after much effort was such a simple answer that I wrote it down at the time and have kept it in my dayplanner ever since. I refer to it often. I was instructed to ‘read the scriptures’, ‘go to the temple more frequently’, focus on the good in my life and the blessings I have’, ‘get rid of negative thoughts because Satan seeks to destroy you through them’ and finally to pray more intently and frequently.
Now I must say that I thought I was doing pretty well in these areas… Not pefect, but certainly striving. Missing here and there with my scriptures or prayers or temple attendance… But I wasn’t bad. Or was the spirit telling me something?
I wasn’t ‘bad’, but in order to fight this battle with Satan you have to be really on top of these basic things. It gives you the strength to weather the buffetings of Satan and still stand strong and true and faithful. He cannot have power over us unless we give it to him. He can and will have power if we don’t have on the armor of God…which incidentally comes from doing these basic things that the spirit reminded me of.
Remember the story of Achilles, the great warrior of ancient Greece. I love the imagery in The Iliad. The Greek legend tells how his mother dipped him in the river and it gave him magical protection all over except for the place where she held his heel as she ‘dipped’ him. That was the very spot that eventually brought on his demise.
The armor of God and the armor of the ancient world in general has always fascinated me. There are connections. A warrior of the ancient world like Achilles had his armor specially created by one of their ‘Gods’. On he front of the armor they often carved the many scenes of battle that the warrior had triumphed over. It was like a journal of his success… a badge of honor. It gave him strength. One of the greatest humiliations a warrior could suffer was to strip him of his armor and degrade him. It was a symbol of defeat and complete loss of power.
Isn’t it like that with us today? The armor of God that protects us is to be found in participating faithfully in the basics that the brethren have told us to do. That armor will allow us to stand through all the firey darts of the wicked one. He cannot overpower us when Christ is at our head. Satan will cause some suffering… to be sure. He is out to destroy as many of us as he can and he does that by stripping off our armor.
I know from personal experience and the sweet direction of the Holy Ghost that we can stand confident and fearless as we wage our battles with the advesary with Christ directing us and as we envelop ourselves in his armor. What a comfort this is to me! Women make a huge difference in this battle. We are on the front lines as we take a stand against the evils of this world.
Ruth Clark told me about this blog. I loved reading about the origins of Relief Society. I’m a Relief Society president and hearing about the minutes and original purposes has helped me develop a broader vision about what can be. I look forward to more posts…