Spiritual Defenses

I know I've already blogged about Elder Rasband's recent General Conference talk, Build a Fortress of Spirituality and Protection, but I want to blog about it again because I want to stress the importance of having strong spiritual defenses. We know that we are at war with Satan and that our enemy is always on the attack. To fight this, we need to have spiritual defenses that are as strong as we can make them. We need good habits that help us steer clear of temptation whenever possible. We need a strong connection with the Spirit, so we can discern when an attack is coming and how we can best prepare to fend off that attack. And we need to have a great deal of will-power so we can effectively put our feet down and resist whatever temptations we cannot avoid.

This battle is ongoing, and our souls and the souls or others are at stake. In this battle, offense is practically useless, since our enemy is immortal. In contrast, defense is everything. The only way we can win this fight is by consistently, nearly constantly, fending off the enemy's attacks and reinforcing our spiritual defenses of good habits, the Spirit of discernment, and a good deal of will-power. As long as we maintain defenses like these, Satan cannot defeat us. Try as he might, and he certainly will, Satan cannot overpower us. His only chance is to get us to let our guard down. That's why it's so vital to constantly maintain strong spiritual defenses.