Great Faith is an Effective Defense

The next talk, the opening talk of the Sunday Morning Session of the April 2016 General Conference, was also given by President Thomas S. Monson. In that talk, he encouraged us to develop strong faith to help us make good choices:

May we choose to build up within ourselves a great and powerful faith which will be our most effective defense against the designs of the adversary—a real faith, the kind of faith which will sustain us and will bolster our desire to choose the right.

 The thought of faith being a defense reminds me of the Shield of Faith in the Armor of God. However, even perfect faith won't protect us from everything. There have been countless people in the scriptures and in modern Mormon history who had great faith, but also great trials. Our faith will not defend us from afflictions. But, then, what will faith defend us against?

President Monson said that "powerful faith . . . will be our most effective defense against the designs of the adversary." Then, what are "the designs of the adversary"? What Satan wants most of all is for us to be miserable and to foil our Heavenly Father's plan. To that end, he wants to keep us out of heaven at all costs.

However, the choice of whether or not we end up in the Celestial Kingdom lies entirely with us. We can choose to keep the commandments and qualify for the Celestial Kingdom, no matter what Satan does to try to stop us. So if he wants to prevent us from achieving exaltation, his only hope is to convince us to choose not to.

One of the tools Satan uses to try to convince us not to choose exaltation is to present us with other choices. We could choose the right, but Satan tries to make it seem easier and more desirable not to. We could maintain high standards, or we could be accepted and popular and have fun. Satan uses deception to try to trick us into giving up Eternal Life.

Strong faith defends us from Satan's tactics by reminding us of the truth. We have faith in the promptings of the Holy Spirit, which warn us of deception and encourage us to choose the right. We have faith that the rewards of eternity are worth making painful, temporal sacrifices. Our faith in the truths of the gospel and in the guidance of the Spirit can help defend us from the temptations of the devil. We may still feel the temptations, but they won't be as strong. Like fiery darts hitting a shield, the devil's temptations may still have an impact that we may be perceptive enough to feel, but they won't be able to pierce us, and they won't burn us either.

Having faith in the Savior, in the Holy Ghost, and in our Heavenly Father's plan won't make our lives painless or easy. We will still have plenty of trials and afflictions, and the choices we'll have to make will still be difficult, but a strong faith can help us by taking the edge off of Satan's temptations and by bolstering our desire to choose the right. Faith won't shield us from afflictions or tough decisions, but great faith is an effective defense against the temptations of the devil.