The Logic of Going "All In"

Ever since Elder Sabin gave his talk, I knew I was going to have to write this blog post. Some years ago, I thought about the logic of being committed to one's religion, even if it's not "the right one." There are many good churches, and some are better than others. Theoretically, a person would do well to leave their church if they found a better one, but it can be difficult to evaluate churches, and conversion may not be worth the risk. If a person is born into a good church, and they convert to a better one, that's good, but if they accidentally convert to a church that's not as good, that would be a step backward for them.

Meanwhile, God judges people according to the light and knowledge they have, so if they continue in the light they have and remain faithful to the church they were born into, they'll probably fare fairly well in the afterlife. Of course, if they happen upon a church that is clearly better than the one they already follow, they should convert, but if the church they're in and the church they could convert to seem equally good, it's probably wiser for them to stay where they are.

Simply put, if a person is born into a good church, and they are faithful to it, that's a good thing. If they convert to a better church, that's better, but if they convert to a lesser church, that's worse. In some cases, the potential benefits of conversion are offset by the risks. And, of course, if a person is born into the right church, the true church, and they convert away from it, that's pretty bad.

I am certain that my church is a good church, and I have reason to believe that it's the right one, so for me to convert to any other church would be a pretty big risk. Instead, it would make sense for me to be as faithful to my beliefs as I can be, so if my church happens not to be the right one, at least I'll have been faithful to a good one.

This is, obviously, not the best reason to live one's religion, especially when one encounters a religion that may be better than the one they currently follow. I expect that God wants us to prayerfully explore all our options and to make adjustments when prompted to. But, in the absence of churches that seem and feel better than the one we currently follow it, we would do well to follow our church's teachings as far as they can take us. It may not be the best path, if our church isn't the right one, but at least we'll still have made some spiritual progress on the path God placed us on.

"All In"

The next Conference talk to blog about is titled "Stand Up Inside and Be All In," and I have to admit, this is something I struggle with. I don't play Poker, yet even I know that "all in" is a huge commitment. Going "all in" means that you're betting everything on this, and as a person who feels conservative in most senses of the word, I'm not sure I'm willing to make that bet. I'm young, but I've been around the block enough times to know that I should take just about everything with a grain of salt and I shouldn't be too sure about what I think I know. Of course, that also means that I shouldn't be too sure about the skepticism that says that I shouldn't be too sure about things, but I don't want to confuse myself; I'm just trying to be careful.

When a person goes "all in" at a poker table, they run the risk that they will lose every chip they've placed on that table. They could lose all of the money they've bet on the outcome of that game. Hopefully, that person will have been wise enough to not put too much money on the table, so they can, theoretically, afford to take that kind of a risk, but when we're talking about religion, there's a lot more at stake than money.

When one goes "all in" in a religion, they are essentially betting the welfare of their immortal soul on the odds that their religion is the right one, and with the hundreds, if not thousands of religions that exist in the world today, they can't all be "the right one." Some people have bet their souls on religions that are wrong, and that probably didn't go too well for them, and I don't want that to happen to me.

I don't want to bet my soul on the truthfulness of any religion. The stakes are just too high. Even if I'm pretty darn sure my religion is "the right one," and I am, and even if I'm almost 100% certain that my religion is, at the very least, a good religion, and I certainly am, there are just too many chips on the table for me to bet them all based on my assessment of the goodness and truthfulness of any given religion. It's not that I don't trust my religion enough, it's that I don't trust my assessment of my religion enough. It's not that I'm worried that the church may be wrong, it's that I'm worried that I may be wrong about the church being right. I am sure that my church is a good one; I'm just not sure that my confidence is sure enough to bet on.

That said, I really have no choice. I think that, even in the face of uncertainty, going "all in" in one's religion is a logical choice, for reasons that I plan to go into tomorrow. But, logical or not, betting one's soul on anything is ridiculously high stakes, and I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate that. Choosing a religion and deciding to go "all in" in it is a huge gamble. Our eternal welfare is at stake. I don't want to risk suffering an eternity in hell because I pledged myself to the wrong religion. I am not saying that Mormonism is the wrong religion; in fact, I think it's the right one. What I am saying is that, when souls and eternity are on the line, caution is warranted, and whenever the stakes are this high, one should think very carefully before going "all in."

Comprehending the Inexpressible

In his most recent General Conference talk, Songs Sung and Unsung, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland focused on one particular line of the hymn "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today." The line he chose to emphasize was "And Jesus listening can hear the songs I cannot sing." In doing so, Elder Holland took a very different interpretation of this lyric than I typically do. When I hear that line and think of why we may not always be able to sing such songs, the reason I most frequently turn to is that we simply may not have the words to express what we feel.

Prayers are often conducted verbally, by saying or at least thinking words, but that's not the only way to pray. Verbal prayers are somewhat limited by the words we know and how we can use them. Fortunately, God doesn't need to hear our words to understand our thoughts. God can enter into our hearts directly and deeply understand our feelings, even when we don't know how to describe them. Sometimes, we cannot sing the songs of our hearts because we don't have the right words, but that's not a problem for God. He knows what's in our hearts, whether we know how to describe it or not.

I am thankful for God's understanding. There have been many times when I simply started a prayer and opened up my heart to God, not thinking any particular words, just feeling, and after those prayers, I knew that God knew how I felt. We don't have to know how to talk about our feelings or how to articulate our thoughts. I am confident that God can hear and comprehend our prayers, even when we can't find the right words to say.

All Is God's

Before I move on from the topic of consecration, I want to expound briefly on something I touched on in the first of my recent blog posts about consecration. The idea is that "because the earth was created by Jesus Christ under the direction of Heavenly Father, everything on the earth belongs to them." It doesn't make sense to become too attached to what's "ours" because it's not really ours at all. God owns the Earth and everything on it. He created it. And even the things we create, we make out of things He gave us. So, when God asks us to give something up, we should try to remember that it was never really ours in the first place, and it was a blessing that God let us borrow it at all. Of course, we will still have the tendency to want to get and keep things, but deep down, we know that we won't be able to keep anything forever anyway, so it's a much better idea to use the things we have to do some good while we can. Possessions are temporary, but the rewards for using them for good are eternal.

Inertia Confirmed

I did a little bit of study on the topic of desire the other day, and I came across this little gem in a talk by Elder Neal A. Maxwell titled “According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts”:

Each assertion of a righteous desire, each act of service, and each act of worship, however small and incremental, adds to our spiritual momentum. Like Newton’s Second Law, there is a transmitting of acceleration as well as a contagiousness associated with even the small acts of goodness.

This reminded me of one of my earlier blog posts about spiritual inertia, in which I said approximately the same thing:

Every right decision we make gives us a little push in the right direction, making it easier to make good decisions in the future. . . . Good decisions, even small ones, . . . help us build up powerful, positive, spiritual momentum.

I don't know if I had read Elder Maxwell's talk before writing that blog post. In fact, I doubt I had. But I'm confident that I was under the influence of the Holy Ghost as I wrote it, so it doesn't really surprise me that the ideas that came to my mind had also come to another inspired person's mind seventeen years prior. The Holy Ghost shares truths that are eternal, including truths about eternal principles, which apparently include the principle of spiritual momentum.

When we listen to the Holy Ghost, He teaches us the same truths and principles He teaches the prophets and inspires them to share. When we are in tune with the Spirit, and feel Him reveal something to us or confirm the truth or something we say or hear or read, then we can know that it's just as true as if a prophet had said it, or even God Himself. The Holy Ghost is God's messenger. When we learn something through the Holy Ghost, or when He confirms something we learned elsewhere, we can be certain that the message is true and from God.

However, there is one slight caveat I want to add to this blog post before I post it: It can sometimes be difficult to feel and recognize the Spirit, and as we seek revelation, we may mistake a lack of a response for a positive response, or may otherwise mistake what the Holy Ghost was trying to teach us. This is why we should try to confirm our impressions by checking them against the truths taught in the scriptures and by the prophets. Just because something feels true, we shouldn't automatically accept it as gospel truth.

The good news is that there have been a lot of prophets and apostles, and they've shared a lot of truths over the centuries. If the Holy Ghost teaches you something, a modern-day or ancient prophet or apostle probably taught it too. That's what I learned a day or two ago, when I discovered that the Holy Ghost had taught Elder Maxwell the same principle He had taught me. God shares truths through His prophets and apostles, but He also shares them through the Holy Spirit. We can learn truths by reading and listening to the words of the prophets, but if we're listening to the Spirit also, it shouldn't be too surprising if God shares some truths with us directly.

The Consecration Game

Each lesson in the Primary manual comes with an "Attention Activity," something to grab the children's interest and point it toward the subject of the lesson. The Attention Activity for the consecration lesson is to play a game called "I Don't Need It - Would You Like It?" which involves giving each child a list of things they need, and then having them draw a scrap of paper out of a hat. The scrap of paper will have a word on it, matching one of the items on their list. The child will cross that item of their list, then give the next child a turn to draw a word out of the hat. If, at any time, a child draws a word they already have crossed out, they say "I don't need it. Do you want it?" and offer the item to the next child. If they don't have that word crossed out yet, they cross it out. If they already had it crossed out, they offer it to the next child, and so on. This continues until each child has crossed out every item on their list.

I like this game, but I think we can improve upon it. I like the idea of having a game simulate the concepts of the Law of Consecration, and I've had an idea for a game that may simulate consecration a little better. When the early saints adopted the Law of Consecration, they each already had some resources, which they consecrated to the church, and the Bishop then distributed what was needed to those who needed it. Perhaps another way to play this game would be to have each child start with a list of the things they needed and with a few scraps of paper. One at a time, each child would go to the "Bishop," their teacher (me), and I would ask them "What do you have?" and "What do you need?" If a child has scraps of paper they don't need, those scraps go into the storehouse (on the table). If they need scraps they don't have, they will be given what they need from out of the storehouse, assuming that the storehouse has what they need.

I think that each list of needs should be different, and each child should be given a different number of randomly-selected scraps of paper. Some children won't have any scraps that they don't need, and some children will have all the scraps they need, and then some. This will be much like life, because each person and each family has different needs, and some people simply have more than others. Some children will receive more scraps of paper from the storehouse than they contribute, and other children will contribute more to the storehouse than they receive, but in the end, every child will end up with what they need.

From there, I can talk about how each family of the early saints went to the Bishop with what they had, described their needs, and usually left with what they needed, leaving any excess behind. Anything they had and didn't need would be stored, in case somebody else needed it and didn't have it. By sharing what they had extra and making their needs known to the Bishop, each family was able to share with the others in a way that everyone got what they needed.

I'll have to make sure the lists of needs and the scraps of paper match up, so everyone's needs can be met with the scraps of paper I bring. I'll also want to try to set up certain scenarios, like some children having nothing they can contribute in excess to what they need and some children having all they need and more, so we can get a variety of experiences with contributing and receiving. I may just make sure some children have more than others at the start, so such experiences are likely to happen, though not guaranteed.

I'll work out the system further later, but I like what I've got so far. I think this will be an interesting activity and that it'll help the children understand what the Law of Consecration is and what the early saints did to make it work, and it'll hopefully be even more memorable as each child experiences this consecration simulation first-hand.

Sharing

It may be too simplistic, but I might describe the Law of Consecration as being like sharing. The Law of Consecration is kind of like sharing in that we are sharing what we have with others, though, when we share, we usually don't share everything we have, and we usually know exactly whom we're sharing with. In the Law of Consecration, we are asked to consecrate everything to the Lord, and then He distributes everything back out to everyone who needs anything. I may not want to share something with someone, but under the Law of Consecration, that's not my call.

I suppose, if I were more righteous, if I cared more about other people, if I had more charity, I might be more willing to share what I have with others, and if I had an eternal perspective, I might not feel so much of an attachment to the material objects I consider "mine."

Of course, another point that's probably important to make is that nothing on earth is really "ours." Everything we have is given to us as a gift from God, and most of it is just on loan. We get to keep our bodies (or rather, God will give us new bodies after these ones have been destroyed), but every other physical thing in this world is only borrowed. God made the Earth and shared it with us so we could have experiences on it and then return home, not so we could stay here with all "our" stuff.

In a sense, we are already sharing everything - we're just not doing it very well. We all share this one Earth and everything on it, but we could stand to share it more evenly, more generously, and more fairly. That, in a nutshell, as it could be explained to eight- and nine-year-olds, is what the Law of Consecration is: Everyone sharing everything with everyone else. Of course, the actual system is bound to be far more complicated than that, but I think that, for the sake of explanation, "sharing" is close enough to the Law of Consecration to serve as a suitable model, at least for Primary kids.

Commencing Consecration Lesson Preparation

This Sunday, I'm going to teach my Primary class about the Law of Consecration, which I think might be difficult. The main problem with the Law of Consecration is its apparent similarity to other systems, which are infamously terrible. I don't fully understand Communism or Socialism (or the Law of Consecration, for that matter), and I certainly don't know all the differences between them. I'm not sure why I should be okay with the Law of Consecration when I'm pretty sure I'm not okay with Communism or Socialism. However, I am okay with Tithing for one important reason and one less-important reason.

The less-important reason I'm okay with Tithing is that the Law of Tithing only requires 10% of one's income, not 100% of one's, well, everything. It's fortunate that this is the less-important reason because, as I understand it, the Law of Consecration requires one to "consecrate" all of their time, talents, and anything else they may have, including all their possessions, which would certainly be terrible, paramount to slavery, if not for one thing: Agency.

The more-important reason I'm okay with the Law of Tithing is that it's not the kind of "law" anybody actually enforces. It's completely voluntary. And the only penalties for not paying tithing is missing out on the blessings you would get from paying it. For example, you can't enter the temple unless you're a full tithes-payer, but calling exclusion from the temple a penalty is like saying that being barred from the movie theater is the penalty of not buying a movie ticket. It's not exactly the kind of punishment one might expect to receive for having broken a law.

Hopefully, the Law of Consecration will be handled in a similar way. If we obey the Law of Consecration, we'll get blessings for it, and if we don't obey, we'll miss out on those blessings. As long as that is the only penalty, I don't think I'll have a problem with the Law of Consecration. As long as it's voluntary, and people won't face death or imprisonment for opting out, the Law of Consecration could actually be okay.

Of course, there are other considerations. The contributions will have to be handled, stored, and distributed wisely and fairly, so we'll definitely need the people managing the system not to be greedy or corrupt (which, I hear, is one of the problems with Communism), but here, too, we already have a working model. Our Fast Offerings, which are also completely voluntary, support the Bishop's Storehouse, which stores food, cleaning supplies, and other items, and distributes it to those in need. Those who receive goods from the Storehouse have to talk to the Bishop first, to establish that their need is genuine and that they're not just freeloading on the generosity of others (another common problem of other systems), but as long as people are being honest, and as long as there are honest people helping others stay honest, I can imagine a Consecration-based system working just as well as the Bishop's Storehouse works.

Still, I don't know all the details. I have a lot of questions about the Law of Consecration that the lesson manual just doesn't answer. Further study may answer some of these questions and help put my mind at ease. In the meantime, I can only hope that the Law of Consecration was and will be just a larger-scaled version of the system the church has now, with voluntary contributions being dispensed to the needy as their needs require. It could be a fairly idealistic system, as long as it avoids the pitfalls that plague other seemingly-similar systems.

Integrity

Toward the end of his talk, Becoming a Disciple of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Elder Robert D. Hales taught that discipleship involves a certain amount of integrity:

There will be no disparity between the kindness we show our enemies and the kindness we bestow on our friends. We will be as honest when no one is looking as when others are watching. We will be as devoted to God in the public square as we are in our private closet.

What I find most interesting about integrity is that, in two out of three cases, this moral lesson goes both ways. It doesn't make much sense for us to treat our friends the same way we would treat our enemies, but there are moral reasons for us to be as honest with others as we are with ourselves, and there is a strong moral reason to be as faithful in private as we are in public. Whether we're in public or in private, our behavior should always be the same: good. Nobody's perfect, and we're certainly not going to be perfect all the time. At some times, we're going to be more righteous than at other times, but we should always strive to be as good as we can be, whether we're being observed or not.

Born Into This Family

Twice today, I was treated to a meal by a member of my family, and each time, that family member thanked God that I was born into their family. I, too, am grateful that I was born into the family I have, and not because I doubt I'd have been born otherwise. I'm sure that God gives each of His spirit children an opportunity to be born. If I wasn't born into this family, I would have been born into a different family. But that's just the problem: I would have been born into a different family, and what are the odds that I'd like that family as much as I like this one?

I pondered that question over dinner, wondering 'If I had a different family, would I like them as much as I like the family I have now?' Eventually, I concluded that the question is pointless, since I clearly wasn't born into a different family, and it's difficult to determine what might have been, but I'm still glad I thought about that question because it gave me an opportunity to realise how good my family is.

My family loves me. We don't suffer from poverty. We have the gospel. We basically have everything we need to be happy. And we don't have any of the major problems that could rob us of our happiness. We don't have any issues with substance abuse. None of us abuse or are abused by anybody else. Even with just those three factors considered: Being born into the gospel, not having any abuse-related problems, and having more than enough money to get by, I'm lucky to have been born into a family this good.

If my parents had stopped having kids before they had me, I'm confident that I would have been born into a different family, and I'm glad that didn't happen. I am very happy with the family I have. Is our family perfect? Not really. Every family has its problems. But this is the best family I've got, and I wouldn't trade them for any other family in the world. I'm glad that they're grateful I was born into their family. I'm grateful for that, too.

Music With Meaning

Sometimes, I have a thought in my mind that is definitely blogworthy but that I don't want to blog about because this blog is too public. There are some faults I'm not yet willing to admit to. There are some ideas I'd rather not share. Sometimes, my thoughts and experiences are too personal to share on a public, non-anonymous blog. I hope you can forgive me for keeping them to myself.

Instead, let me share my testimony of the power of music. I sing in my ward's choir, and while we focus most of our thoughts on trying to hit the right notes at the right times, we do eventually become so familiar with the music that we can instead think about the words, and when we do, that's when the music reaches a much higher level. Putting words to pretty music is nice, but when the words also have a beautiful meaning, the combination of words and music can be overwhelmingly touching.

I am so grateful for the hymns of this church, and I'm grateful that I've been given opportunities to sing God's praises. There's something magical about music, even in instrumental form, and it only gets more magical when it's paired with words with spiritual meaning. I encourage everyone to study and ponder the hymns and their meanings, and not just appreciate the pretty music. Though the music itself is well worth appreciating, it becomes even more so when we also consider the meaning of the words.

The Test That Matters

I am a good student, by which I mean that I engage with the material and do well on my tests, so I get good grades. Now that the semester is over, I won't get any educational tests for a while, but that doesn't mean that I'm not being tested. Today, I took a test, so to speak, and while the test wasn't graded, I know I didn't do very well.

I pride myself on being a good student, but it's much more important to be a good person. Students like me put a lot of effort into our school assignments, concerned about our grades and their potential effects on our GPAs, but in the grand scheme of things, those grades don't actually matter. God might care how much effort I put into my education and how much I learn from it, but I don't think He cares how many of my papers got As and how many of them didn't.

What God certainly does care about is how I act, and particularly how I treat my family. I lost my patience today, and that matters a lot more than the grade I got on my final. I may get good grades in the classroom, but if I don't set a good example for my nieces and nephews, isn't that a lot more important? I need to put at least as much effort into being a good person and setting a good example as I put into being a good student and getting good grades.

Whether you're a student or not, the fact that you're alive means that you are being tested, and these tests affect a lot more than whether or not you get accepted into a good university. They effect whether or not you get accepted into the Celestial Kingdom, and they affect other people. Righteousness is far more important than academics. We should all study the scriptures and school our feelings so we can pass the only tests that truly matter.

Even Everyone

Last night (Or was it the night before?) my family read 3 Nephi, Chapter 30 - all two verses of it. Yet, 3 Nephi 30:2 is one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon. It stands out to me not only because of its relative isolation but because of its stated and implied messages.

Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel.

 The commandment to repent is nothing unique in scripture. The scriptures are rife with such warnings. Yet, the commandment to repent is rarely so closely followed by a description of the blessings of doing so. God wants us to repent "that [we] may receive a remission of [our] sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, [and] be numbered with [His] people." Forgiveness. Companionship. Acceptance. These are the blessings that come to the righteous, but "the righteous" is just another way of saying "sinners who repent." The stated message of this scripture is that God wants us to repent and become righteous so He can give us the blessings that come from that.

The implied message is that we can repent and receive those blessings no matter what we've done. In this verse, God listed several sins, including "whoredoms" and "murders" specifically, the two worst sins we could possibly commit. He also listed "all [our] wickedness and abominations," including everything. No matter what sorts of sins we've committed, no matter what sorts of sinners we are, God wants us to repent so He can bless us. God extends His blessings (on conditions of repentance) toward all His children, even the murderers, even the rapists, even everyone. God wants all of us to repent. And whoever does repent can qualify for the blessings of righteousness, no matter what they've done.

The Old Testament paints God as vengeful and vindictive, and He certainly is harsh on those who refuse to repent, but retribution isn't His defining attribute; love is. God is willing to love and accept all who come unto Him through repentance, no matter who they are or what they've done. As President Boyd K. Packer has taught us, "Save for those few who defect to perdition after having known a fulness, there is no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no transgression, no offense exempted from the promise of complete forgiveness." No one on Earth is unforgivable. That is the implied message of 3 Nephi 30:2, and that's why one of my favorite verses in all scripture is the longest verse in the shortest chapter of the Book of Mormon.

Watching and Waiting

One of my favorite Primary songs begins with the line "I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain." The song goes on to be about baptism and repentance, but I'd like to take that same line and apply it to finding blessings amid afflictions.

There are at least two lessons we can learn from this line of lyrics. The first centers around the word "look." We have to look for rainbows. They're not always easy to see. In fact, they are sometimes easy to miss. The same is true for blessings. When adversity comes, it can sometimes be difficult to see the blessings amid them, so we really have to look for them.

The second lesson is that, like rainbows, some blessings don't appear until after the storm passes. Sometimes, we can't find the blessings in our afflictions, even when we look for them, because they don't exist yet. God has an eternal perspective, and while He has promised that everything will work out for those who follow Him, that doesn't mean that everything is going to work out right away. Sometimes, God uses an affliction to set up blessings to come some time in the future. At those times, we need to be faithful and endure the storm in order to receive the blessings that will come after it.

God loves His children, and He would much rather bless us than curse us, but, of necessity, some of the blessings He gives us seem like curses at first, like when He gives us challenges in order to bless us with strength. Knowing God's true intentions can help us endure our afflictions, knowing that blessings will eventually come of them. I feel confident in saying that God will eventually bless us in compensation for every undeserved affliction He puts us through. In the meantime, we need to stay faithful and keep watching and waiting for the blessings He offers us through the trials He asks us to endure.

I Can't Blog When I'm Tired

Today was a long, full, good day. The only problem is that now it's pretty late, and I'm having a hard time of thinking of anything blogworthy about my day or anything at all. I've heard it said that the Spirit goes to bed at a certain time, and while I really don't think that's true, I think it's true that it's hard to hear the Spirit when one is tired. This makes a certain amount of sense. A person's body and spirit are connected. If the body is tired, that's almost certain to have an effect on their spirit. That's my excuse, anyway. Sorry I couldn't think of anything blogworthy tonight. I guess I'm just too tired.

Godly Power

President Russell M. Nelson began his talk, Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives, by mentioning the "Challenges, controversies, and complexities [that] swirl around us." He went to to say that, when facing the hardships and confusion of mortality, we would have help:

Yet our Heavenly Father never intended that we would deal with the maze of personal problems and social issues on our own. God so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son to help us. And His Son, Jesus Christ, gave His life for us. All so that we could have access to godly power—power sufficient to deal with the burdens, obstacles, and temptations of our day.

This, to me, is an encouraging reminder that we're not alone. God still cares about us. And though we are sometimes more distant from Him than either of us would like, we still have access to a portion of His power, and this "godly power" can help us get through the seemingly impossible struggles of life. Life is hard, and the physical and spiritual challenges we all frequently face can seem insurmountable, but God gives us the power we need to overcome. We can "deal with the burdens, obstacles, and temptations of our day," even though it frequently takes "godly power" to do it.

Don't Forget to Pray

This morning, I prayed to God for help in taking my Sociology final. Only now, 12 hours after the test was taken, did I remember to thank Him for the help He gave me. And I was mostly only reminded of it because I couldn't thinking anything to blog about. I thought I had tried everything: reflecting on the day's events, watching a General Conference talk, scrolling through dozens of inspirational picture quotes. Then the Spirit reminded me that there was one thing I hadn't done: pray.

So often, I forget to call upon God for help and guidance. And even more often, I forget to thank Him for the blessings I already have. I'm sure He doesn't appreciate my forgetfulness, and neither does my spirituality. I'd probably have a lot more faith and trust in God if I talked with Him more often.

On my mission, I wore a watch that I sometimes set to beep discretely once an hour. It was never so loud or obnoxious that it interrupted anything. It was always just a subtle reminder that an hour had passed since the last time it beeped. I used that watch to remind me to pray, thinking of hymns like "I Need Thee Ev'ry Hour" and "Sweet Hour of Prayer." I wonder if my phone could be set to make some unobtrusive sound once an hour. Perhaps I'll search through its settings tomorrow. In the meantime, I still have the watch from my mission. Its strap is broken, so I can't wear it anymore, so I leave it in the house, but it still beeps on the hour. So at least as long as I'm home, I can have an hourly reminder to pray.

Prayer is powerful. Prayer is helpful. Prayer is good. Prayer is an activity I should engage in more often in my daily life. I'm sure I'd get more blessings if I remembered to thank God for them. I would be happier, and God would be happier, too. Praying could be a wonderfully positive force in my life. If only I would remember to do it.

How Satan is Unlike a Dragon

Come to think of it, considering Satan's strengths, limitations, and tactics, he really isn't much like a dragon at all. Dragons are large and powerful. They have tough hides, terrible claws and teeth, and the ability to breathe fire and fly. They are also usually brightly colored, mostly because they are so powerful, they have no need of stealth.

Satan is actually quite the opposite. He is not physically imposing, largely because he actually has no body at all. While he may be strong-willed, we are stronger; he cannot mentally overpower us. Because of these limitations, and knowing that he can't beat us in a head-on battle of wills, he primarily uses stealth and deception rather than grandiose displays of power, and when he does attempt to intimidate us with his power, it's usually just another deception. In terms of abilities and tactics, Satan is actually very different than dragons, so our tactics against him should be slightly different as well.

Distance is still a strong advantage. If we can keep Satan at a distance, he can't hurt us. The bad news is that he uses stealth and deception to get close. To avoid that, we need to be vigilant for his subtle influence and fight him off as soon as we realize he's there. The good news is that we are stronger than him, so we don't have to retreat from him. Unlike a dragon, we can easily fend him off.

However, it is imperative that we fight him off as quickly as possible. We must not allow him to get or stay close. The reason for this is that, lacking powerful claws or teeth, Satan uses poison in an attempt to weaken and destroy us. He knows he can't defeat us normally, so he uses temptations and evil thoughts to weaken us, or rather to get us to weaken ourselves. The longer we allow him to hang around us, the more his poison takes hold, and the harder it'll be to fight him off.

Thankfully, as children of God, we will almost always have enough strength to resist Satan, and if we ever find ourselves weaker than we ought to be, we can pray to God for strength. He can help us drive Satan away and clean the poison out of our systems. Healing from Satan's poison and developing our spiritual strength can take time, which is why it's important to keep Satan's weakening influence as far away from our hearts as possible.

A battle with a dragon is typically a single, epic encounter, with a powerful opponent and a high probability of death. Our battle with Satan is more of a battle of attrition. He tries to weaken us as we try to gain strength. He tries to sneak up on us as we try to watch out for him. He needs to get close and stay there for a while in order to harm us, whereas if a dragon gets close enough to bite you, the battle won't last much longer. Fighting Satan is a matter of a lifetime of vigilance and preparation, whereas a battle with a dragon is a matter of a few heart-pounding moments.

They're also different in what happens if they win. When a dragon wins, it's opponents die. When Satan win, his opponents go to hell. For that reason alone, on top of all the other reasons, I'd rather fight a fantasy dragon than the biblical dragon.

Yet, I don't have that option. I can't just go slay or be slain by a dragon and be forever free from Satan's influence. It doesn't work like that. In order to be free from Satan's influence, we need to constantly shore up our defences against him and make sure he doesn't get or stay close enough to weaken them. It's a life-long fight, but it's a fight we can win, and we actually have a much better change against him than we would have against a real dragon.

How to Fight a Dragon

I recently watched a video in which Shad, a medieval weapon enthusiast, described which medieval weapons would likely work best at fighting dragons, and I noticed one common element of each of the weapons he recommended: reach. He said that ballistas (which are basically giant crossbows, designed as siege weapons) would be his first choice, followed by warbows, long pikes, or, in a pinch, long-handed axes. In each case, Shad essentially argued that the best way to fight a dragon is from as far away as possible.

I couldn't agree more.

As soldiers of God, we frequently come into combat with a spiritual dragon, and we have to decide how to react to the approach of this enemy. Some people let this enemy get close to them, thinking they can grapple with him hand-to-hand. Some people don't even consider him an enemy, if they acknowledge his existence at all. Others, however, know that he is their enemy, and they keep him as far away from them as possible. We can do this by fighting against him at the first sign of his approach. As soon as we become aware of his presence, we should fend him off, perhaps by praying or by turning to the hymns or the scriptures.

However we do it, we should fight him off as quickly as possible. The closer we let him get to us, the harder it'll be to fight him off. Range is our best advantage in this fight. Let's use it by keeping our eyes open for danger and by attacking our enemy with the power of the spirit as soon as we see him try to get near us. Fighting Satan will always be possible, partly because we are actually stronger than he is, but the best way to fight him with the smallest risk of personal injury is still to fight him at range. Even if we can out-grapple him, we're likely to get bruised up by fighting him head-to-head. Rather, it's better to fight him off before he can get any attacks in, which means that our best option is to fight him off before he can even get close.

Like the Roots of Redwoods

I'm not sure I'll get the chance to talk about this during my Primary lesson, so I'll talk about it here. Redwoods have shallow root structures. That is, their roots don't go very deep in the ground. Theoretically, then, Redwoods shouldn't be too hard for the wind to knock over, especially since they're tall enough to catch the stronger winds. Yet, Redwoods can stay standing for decades. Some have stood for centuries. How? By standing together.

Though Redwood root systems don't go deep, they go wide enough to intertwine with each other. In a grove of Redwoods, each tree weaves its roots among those of its neighbors, so if any tree starts to fall over, the others help it remain upright by holding on to its roots.

Similarly, when the early saints gathered in Ohio in late 1830 and early 1831, part of the reason was so they could strengthen and support each other in the faith. There was a lot of persecution at that time, and the saints needed all the support they could get, so the Lord had them gather in Ohio so they could escape the worst of the persecution and gain strength from each other. Theirs was a young church. Its roots hadn't grown very deep yet, so, like Redwoods, they grew close together to help each other stay strong.

Even now that the church has been around for almost two centuries, some individuals have deeper roots than others. Some of us have stronger testimonies and greater faith and are strong enough to stand against any trial or temptation without any outside support. But, for the rest of us, we would do well to help each other, to love each other, and to support each other. Like Redwoods, many of us need each other's strength to help us all stay strong.

I have roots like a Redwood's. I frequently need spiritual support from the Lord and from my family and friends. But I hope to also give spiritual support to others in return. None of us may have particularly deep roots, but like the Redwoods and the early saints, if we stand together and support each other, we can all, collectively, stand strong.

The Pros and Cons of Now and Then

For the last several days, perhaps weeks, I've been griping, both inwardly and occasionally to others, about how hard life is. I know that life isn't physically difficult. I remark almost weekly about how awesome technology is and how convenient everything is now that we live in the future. But spiritually, life seems as hard as ever, if not harder. Satan has a good deal of control over most of the world, and it's getting harder and harder to even hold traditional values, let alone express or endorse them.

Yet, the modern age has its spiritual advantages. Scripture is more available now than ever before, especially since we can carry the whole Standard Works, plus several magazines and manuals, on our phones. Temples dot the globe. And we can listen to the words of prophets as easily as we can type their names into a search box on Youtube, follow a link, and stream the video. Tapping into sources of inspiration is now virtually effortless (pun intended).

Back in the day, communication was harder, and there were fewer meetinghouses. It was harder to gain access to the word of God, unless you were closely in tune with the Spirit. And while Satan didn't have back then the advantages that the internet gives him now, he had other ways to affect the world for the worse. The early saints faced a lot of persecution, and they faced it with the strong support system we have now.

That, I'm learning, is at least part of the reason why God commanded the saints to gather in Kirtland, to support each other and build a faithful community away from persecution and to be enable the saints to assemble and hear the words of the prophet. They also eventually built a Temple in Kirtland, affording them even more blessings. Things we take for granted, the early saints had to travel and physically gather in one place to obtain.

So, each era has its pros and cons. The early saints had plenty of hardships and some advantages, and we have plenty of hardships and advantages, too. It doesn't really make sense to compare who had it harder or easier. We each have our own lot in life, and we each have to live with it or deal with it as well as we can. It doesn't help me at all to bemoan my fate and regret living in a day when Satan has so much power. This is where God put me. It may not be fair, but that's life. I'm pretty sure that everyone, at one point or another, has thought that their life was hard, and they were right. Life is, was, and will be hard for everyone. Each life has its own advantages and disadvantages. It doesn't make any sense or do any good to compare or complain.

The Matthew Effect and Light

I learned a new term in my Sociology class today, though it referred to a concept with which I was already familiar. The term is "the Matthew Effect," which is, essentially, that the wealthy can invest their money in opportunities to make more money, whereas the less wealthy tend to stay poor or perhaps grow poorer. The name of the term comes from Matthew 13:12 and Matthew 25:29, which both essentially say, "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath."

But the Lord, as recorded in Matthew, was probably not literally referring to financial wealth when He said that, though He did occasionally use wealth as a symbol in His parables. Rather, I think it's more likely that He was referring to spiritual light. We read in D&C 50:24 that "he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day."

That was the topic, and the inspiration of the title, of  Elder Mark A. Bragg's talk, Brighter and Brighter until the Perfect Day. He encouraged us to seek for light in the church, in the gospel, and in the Lord, Jesus Christ, informing us that "Recognizing the light and seeking after it will qualify us for even more light."

I'm sure that we'd all like to have more spiritual light than we currently have. We all have questions, limitations, weaknesses, and struggles that some additional heavenly light can help us overcome. But, thankfully, the process of gaining spiritual light is simple, if we're following Elder Bragg's model. We simply need to recognise the light and seek more of it, and since each person has a portion of the light of Christ in them, and the light can also be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ and in many churches, it's not hard to find light for is to recognise and seek.

We all need some light to get started, but once we've found some light and have decided to seek after it, it's not hard for the Spirit to lead us toward greater and greater light. The Matthew Effect may be bad for economics, but it's great for spirituality. We all need spiritual light to help us get through this journey, and now, thanks to Elder Bragg, we know where to find some and how to get more. All we really have to do is find some light, latch onto it, and let it lead us to more.

God's Love Helps Us Endure

I saw this on Facebook and thought about sharing it there directly, but I also wanted to share a quick comment on it, so I figured I'd share it here.

"We don't know the meaning of all things, but we know that God loves us, and that is sufficient enough to get us by and through anything." - Neal A. Maxwell

God's love is a powerful thing, and it effects everyone, but it has a particularly potent affect on the perspectives of those who believe in it. When we look at this world, with all it's suffering and evil, we may sometimes wonder why God would put us all through this, but knowing that God loves us makes life a lot more bearable. It's not that knowing about God's love makes life less terrible; it just lets us know that there's a good reason for it. And knowing that God has good reasons for everything that happens helps us endure the necessary hardships. We don't know why some things happen, and we don't know why the world has to be so hard on people, but we know that God loves us, so we know that God wouldn't put us through mortal life without good reasons or without being with us every step of the way. Life can be difficult, but knowing that God loves us can help us get through it.

Unique Opportunities

It hit me, just a few hours ago, that each moment only comes once. Look at a clock. This minute, on this date, will never happen again. Thus, each opportunity we encounter is similarly unique. If you get an opportunity to tell someone you love them, for example, that opportunity will only come once. You might get another opportunity to tell them; in fact, you probably will, but that opportunity will never come again. So, the next time you get an opportunity to do good, seize the moment. You'll only get it once.

Later He'll Explain

When Elder Ulysses S. Soares gave his talk  Confide in God Unwaveringly, he taught an important truth that I hadn't considered before now: The hymnals in other languages have different hymns. With my interest in hymns, this news is exciting to me. I already knew that hymnals in some languages wouldn't have all the hymns we have; comparing the English and Spanish hymnals side-by-side will clearly show that something is missing from other versions. But I hadn't considered that other hymnals might have hymns that the English version doesn't, nor did I expect the hymn Elder Soares to choose to illustrate this point to resonate so strongly with me. In the Portuguese hymnal, there is a hymn titled “Not Now but in the Coming Years,” which includes lines that translate to:

If clouds instead of sun spread shadows o’er our heart,

If pain afflicts us, never mind; we will soon know who Thou art.

Jesus guides us with His hand, and He will tell us why;

If we listen to His voice, He will tell us by and by.

Confide in God unwaveringly, and let Him us sustain;

Sing His glory endlessly, for later He’ll explain.

Life is hard. I feel like I've said that more than once. But one thing I may not have said aloud yet is that it's also hard to trust God when life gets difficult. I don't have more problems than most people, in fact, I have less problems than many people have, but I still struggle, and I still wonder why live has to be such a struggle. I understand that this world is fallen, but did it have to fall as far as it did? And if God wants us all to make it back home, why would God allow Satan to make temptations so effective? It sometimes feels like God makes life hard with malicious intentions or like He's setting us up to fail, when I know that neither of those things are true. This hymn has taught me that, as I face the challenges of mortality, I need to have faith and to be faithful and to trust that, later, God will explain everything. Everything about life that doesn't seem to make sense to me makes perfect sense to Him, and He will tell us everything by and by. I just need to trust Him and be patient. That's going to be tough for me, but if it gives me peace when times get tough, it'll be worth the effort.

And it may also be worth the effort of looking for and though hymnals printed in other languages to see if I can find more gems of wisdom like this.

What Is My Most Important Assignment?

As I was typing the title of last night's blog post, I realized how ridiculous it was. Blogging may be my most important writing assignment, and it's certainly more important than any paper I've every written, but it's not the most important assignment I've ever received. When God told me to "blog" four years ago, that assignment changed my life, but that's not really why I'm here. God didn't send me to Earth just so I could write blog posts. Yes, He wants me to write blog posts, but that's not the most important thing He wants me to do. So, I have to wonder, what is?

What is my most important assignment? What is the one thing that God most wants me to do? Was serving my mission my most important assignment? I doubt it. I don't think I accomplished that much, so I don't think God would send me here just for that. And, if it was my most important assignment, I'm not sure why God would have me go on living my life for so long after it happened.

Maybe God wants me to be a father. My Patriarchal Blessing mentioned something about that. But I don't know. I haven't felt strongly impressed to attend the Singles Ward. I haven't felt any particular urges to date anyone. Maybe the time's just not right yet, but fatherhood doesn't seem to be the top thing on my agenda, at least not now.

Whatever my most important assignment is, I think it'll be something I'm uniquely qualified to do, which means that it'll involve writing. God wouldn't make me a half-decent writer if He didn't want me to write. But what should I write? Blog posts? There's got to be more to my life plan than that.

Perhaps God intends to incorporate some of my other talents and interests into this assignment as well. I like music, but I'm not good at making it. I like Fantasy, but that's not a skill. Maybe I could write fantasy novels, but God already has plenty of people to do that. What would God want me to write?

With any luck, and a lot of prodding, I'll find out what God wants me to do or write eventually. In the meantime, I'm pretty sure God wants me to keep writing blog posts for now. It may not be the purpose of my existence, but it's pretty important assignment, and, for all I know, it may be the most important assignment I have at the moment, even if it's not the most important assignment of my life.

My Most Important Assignment

I literally just realized that, today, I took a 43 question exam and wrote two two-page papers from scratch, completing three of the assignments that I've been stressing about and trying to find time to work on for the past few days, but I still have one assignment left to do today before I can go to bed: I need to blog.

Blogging has, occasionally, seemed like a burden to me. It takes time. It takes creativity. And, if I added up all the blog posts I've written over the past few years, I can't even imagine the number of pages they would fill. I've written books, or at least one really long, incoherent book. But after all this work I've put into it, and all the work I've yet to put into it, what has this blog gotten me?

It has gotten me closer to God.

That is what makes blogging my most important assignment. My blog posts don't affect my GPA. No one ever grades them. In fact, I could go back and change "affect" to "effect" right now, and no one would ever call me out on it. But even though I'm not graded on the quality of my blog posts, I have a good reason to put some effort into them, because the work I put into my blog posts comes around and effects me.

I don't blog so I can get more A's or so I can practice writing papers. I blog because I made a commitment to blog, and it also happens to help make me a better person. That's the real reward for blogging: progress. My blog posts don't have to be A grade papers. It doesn't matter how good or bad I make them. What matters is how good they make me.

I am a good person, but I'd like to be better. My blog posts help me with that. That's why I've kept blogging, day after day, night after night, for years. That's what's kept me up until midnight most nights lately. It's not just that I have a four-page essay due on Monday. It's that I have a far more important essay due at the end of every day.

The Real Force

Today is Star Wars Day. May the Fourth be with you. But one thing that's clear to me as I watch many of the Star Wars movies is that "the Force" has some strong similarities to the Spirit. They're both invisible, they both provide guidance and warnings, and they both require faith and trust to hear and follow. The main difference (besides the force jumps and telekinesis) is that the Holy Spirit is real, and the force is not. Even without telekinesis, I feel that I could benefit greatly from having the Spirit be a more active force in my life. The warnings it provides can save lives and even souls, and all I have to do is listen to it, and that starts with remembering that this "force" is real.

The Faith of the Canaanite

As I read through my new Gideon Mini-Bible yesterday, I came across an incident that stood out to me, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 15: 21-28, a Canaanite woman came to Jesus and asked Him to heal her daughter, but, surprisingly, He didn't. He didn't even answer her. Jesus' disciples began to be annoyed by the woman's pleadings and asked Jesus to do something about her, but He told them that He was there to help Israelites, not Canaanites. But this did not deter the woman. She continued asking for help, eventually getting this response from Jesus: "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." Now, not only was Jesus refusing to help the woman, He was insulting her and her people by comparing them to dogs.

This doesn't sound like the Jesus I know, or thought I knew. The Jesus I know is helpful and loving, or at the very least, polite. Even if, for whatever reason, He couldn't help the Canaanite woman, I would have thought that there was no way Jesus would have been so rude about it.

Yet, despite having be ignored, denied, and insulted, the woman did not become angry. She answered humbly: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then, Jesus turned, saying, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire."

Now, it's fairly easy too imagine that Jesus simply became exasperated by the woman's incessant requests and relented just to silence her. After all, He had once given a parable (I believe it's called the parable of the importune widow) in which He essentially recommends that course of action. In that parable, a woman asks an unjust judge for help, and he refuses, yet he gives in eventually as the woman annoys him by continually asking him for help. Yet, there are at least two things wrong with comparing Jesus to this unjust judge: one, Jesus doesn't want us to keep asking Him for things after He has already given an answer (just ask Martin Harris), and two, Jesus is not an unjust judge. He is a loving and merciful helper.

So, what gives? Why did Jesus deny the woman's request at first, citing some racist, exclusionary excuse, knowing that He would ultimately, gladly grant her request?

I think the answer is in His exclamation: "O woman, great is your faith!" Jesus wasn't being rude just for the sake of being rude or because He was having a bad day. He was testing her. He wanted her to prove that she had the faith, diligence, and patience to keep asking for aid, even when she wasn't getting it, or any positive response.

In life, we often go through hard times, and we ask God for help, and sometimes it seems like we aren't getting it. At those times, it's tempting to think that God has abandoned us and that He doesn't really care about us, when the reality may be that He's testing our faith and patience so He can reward us for being faithful and patient. There's a saying that the teacher is always silent during a test. Perhaps that includes the great Teacher being silent during the times when our faith is being tested. Sure, it still doesn't feel very good, but at least now we know that there's a reason for it.

So, if you go through a rough patch, and it seems like God isn't answering you, remember the Canaanite woman and impress the Savior with how faithful, diligent, and patient you can be. Keep asking, keep keeping the commandments, keep trying to do your best, and eventually, God will reward your faithfulness, whether He does so in this life or the next. It can be hard to be faithful, especially when God seems not to be faithful to us, but if we can learn anything from the Canaanite woman and, it's that God does hear and will eventually answer our prayers.

Another Gift - Useless Unless Used

This morning, the Gideons offered a gift of a pocket-sized copy of the New Testament plus Psalms and Proverbs. This was not the first time they made me this offer. In fact, I almost turned them down because I already had two such books at home, and those were just the ones from the Gideons, not counting the several copies of the scriptures I got through my church. Yet, as I thought about the two Gideon New Testaments sitting on the shelf at home, I realized that they weren't doing much good for me just sitting there, so I took the small book the Gideons offered me this morning, I read from it, and I profited by it.

None of the scriptures available to us do us any good unless we read them, and having scriptures on your shelf at home isn't as useful as having scriptures on hand. Theoretically, I already had a copy of the scriptures on hand, on my phone, but those scriptures, though ever-handy, are often ignored except in lessons or in family scripture study. Having a paper copy of the New Testament in my front pocket reminded me to actually read it, and it was when I read it that I felt the Spirit, not just when I had it in my pocket.

It may not be convenient to carry paper scriptures around, but that's actually one of the benefits. The inconvenience of those scriptures reminds us of their existence, and their single-purpose nature reminds us that the only reason we carry them is to read them occasionally. Unlike the other two, I think I might keep this Gideon mini-Bible on hand for a while, and read from it from time to time. I've already gained an insight and a portion of God's Spirit from it. I think it'd be wise for me to continue to carry a small set of scriptures whose only purpose is for me to occasionally read them. Then, maybe I actually will.

Treating Sin

At the start of Elder Dale G. Renlund's talk Our Good Shepherd, he drew a few parallels that can teach us important things about sin and Jesus' attitude toward it and us. As you might have guessed by the title of his talk, Elder Renlund compared Jesus to a good shepherd and us to His sheep. The unique part of his analogy is in his comparing sin to a disease, using ideas from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables to explore how a shepherd might react to an ill or blemished sheep.

As Elder Renlund put it:

As the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ views disease in His sheep as a condition that needs treatment, care, and compassion. This shepherd, our Good Shepherd, finds joy in seeing His diseased sheep progress toward healing.

Our Good Shepherd loves His sheep, diseased though we are. And mostly because of His love for us, He hates sin because it is harmful to us. Yet, even though we are sinful, He doesn't hate us. He hates the sin, but loves the sinner. He hates the disease, but loves His sheep. His joy is to help us become free from sin, to be cured and healed, so we can return into our Heavenly Father's presence.

I'm not sure if I've ever thought of sin this way, but it offers an interesting perspective into the nature of sin and why Jesus wants us to be rid of it. Our sins are much like a disease, infecting and weakening our souls. No wonder Jesus would rush to our aid to help us be rid of it.

Vigilance

I've learned that battling Satan isn't really about fighting him. Fighting him is fairly easy. Many of his temptations can be overpowered by simply deciding to fight it. It's true that some of his temptations are difficult to resist, but in my opinion, the real fight has more to do with vigilance than strength of will. Satan, knowing that he is weaker than we are, uses stealth and trickery to try to weaken and defeat us before we even realize that he's there. Often, he's nothing more than a nagging thought in the back of our mind or a lingering negative emotion. Such things typically escape our notice, and are thus allowed to fester and poison us until Satan thinks we've been weakened enough to try to tempt directly. The trick, then, is to take notice of Satan's subtle influence and use our strength to our advantage, forcing him out of our minds before he can get a proper foothold. If we let him linger, he can weaken us, but if we oust him quickly enough, we can maintain our strength and our advantage in any spiritual conflict against him. The devil is sneaky, and he knows what strategies give him the best chance of winning, but his best chance lies in avoiding direct conflict until he has given himself the upper hand. We can rob him of that advantage by being vigilant and dealing with him directly as soon as he makes his first move. Don't let the devil sneak into your mind. Be watchful and force him out.