Abide in the Lord’s Territory!

Abide in the Lord’s Territory
April 2012 Saturday Afternoon session
Elder Ulisses Soares
Of the Seventy

     This was a really good talk.  Looking at it now, I highlighted almost the entire talk.

1. President Thomas S. Monson said, “May I provide a simple formula by which you can measure the choices which contront you.  It’s easy to remember: You can’t be right by doing wrong: You can’t be wrong by doing right.”

What does it mean to do wrong/right.  Elder Soares shares a scripture from Galatians: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  For he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.  And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint now.  Hopefully I didn’t lose you there.  The reason I shared this scripture is because Elder Soares goes on to add that “To sow in the Spirit means that all our thoughts, words, and actions must elevate us to the level of the divinity of our Heavenly Parents.  However, the scriptures refer to the flesh as the physical or carnal nature of the natural man, which allows people to be influenced by passion, desires, appetites, and drives of the flesh instead of looking for inspiration from the Holy Ghost.  Spirit=good, Flesh=wrong.

2. President George Albert Smith, repeating counsel from his grandfather, once said; “There is a line of demarcation well-defined between the Lord’s territory and the devil’s territory.  If you will stay on the Lord’s side of the line you will be under his influence and will have no desire to do wrong: but if you cross to the devil’s side of that line one inch you are in the tempter’s power and if he is successful, you will not be able to think or even reason properly because you will have lost the Spirit of the Lord.”

Therefor, our daily question must be, “Do my actions place me in the Lord’s or in the enemy’s territory?”

“The Light of Christ together with the companionship of the Holy Ghost must help us determine if our manner of living is placing us in the Lord’s territory or not.  If our attitudes are good, they are inspired of God, for every good thing comes from God.  However, if our attitudes are bad, we are being influenced by the enemy because he persuades men to do evil.”

Robin’s Testimony

Am I on the Lord’s Side?  I know I have that desire.  However, Satan is a tricky one and knows how to make me doubt my self-worth and ability to make those right decisions.  Tonight, I had a talk with an old roommate about this.  Heavenly Father knows exactly where we need to pushed and tried in order to reach our potential.  A diamond becomes a precious stone through years of constant pressure and heat.  We receive this pressure and heat through our trials.  If life were easy, would we grow or stay constant.