I have been reading this great book called A Heart Like His by Virginia H. Pearce. It has started out to be a fabulous book and one that has been making me think deep thoughts. Of course it helped that on Sunday in Relief Society we had this incredible lesson on personal revelation. Brent and I have had a few discussions about the book and about personal revelation since then and I must say I have been a little surprised by my thoughts and his thoughts. Here is my question for the day. If we can learn to listen to the Spirit and learn to tune in when He is trying to speak to us and give us the guidance that we need, then can we in turn, learn to listen or better yet recognize the things that Satan is saying to us so that we can block them and not be persuaded with the evil he is trying to fill our heads with? Basically can we learn to immediately decipher our own thoughts from the spirits whisperings, from the devils evil? Is it wise to be able to know the devil as well as we know the spirit. Of course I don't want an intimate relationship with the devil but I do want to know the Holy Spirit as well as I know myself. I of course want to be able to know when the devil is trying to push me into something that is wrong and I want to be able to recognize that before it actually happens but I wonder if getting close to the devil is kinda like sleeping with the enemy. Will I become weaker by becoming closer? Another thought that I have is that the spirit will of course, by my faith, let me know when Satan is getting out his hooks to lure me in, so do I only trust in the spirit to tell me or like I said before do I get to know Satan better so that I can guard myself against his antics? I don't really need answers I guess but it is something that I have thought about today and thought I would throw out into the blogging world. I would love to know your thoughts though!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
A question for the day!
I have been reading this great book called A Heart Like His by Virginia H. Pearce. It has started out to be a fabulous book and one that has been making me think deep thoughts. Of course it helped that on Sunday in Relief Society we had this incredible lesson on personal revelation. Brent and I have had a few discussions about the book and about personal revelation since then and I must say I have been a little surprised by my thoughts and his thoughts. Here is my question for the day. If we can learn to listen to the Spirit and learn to tune in when He is trying to speak to us and give us the guidance that we need, then can we in turn, learn to listen or better yet recognize the things that Satan is saying to us so that we can block them and not be persuaded with the evil he is trying to fill our heads with? Basically can we learn to immediately decipher our own thoughts from the spirits whisperings, from the devils evil? Is it wise to be able to know the devil as well as we know the spirit. Of course I don't want an intimate relationship with the devil but I do want to know the Holy Spirit as well as I know myself. I of course want to be able to know when the devil is trying to push me into something that is wrong and I want to be able to recognize that before it actually happens but I wonder if getting close to the devil is kinda like sleeping with the enemy. Will I become weaker by becoming closer? Another thought that I have is that the spirit will of course, by my faith, let me know when Satan is getting out his hooks to lure me in, so do I only trust in the spirit to tell me or like I said before do I get to know Satan better so that I can guard myself against his antics? I don't really need answers I guess but it is something that I have thought about today and thought I would throw out into the blogging world. I would love to know your thoughts though!
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4 comments:
I think we need to know about Satan. We don't need to do an indepth study or teach Gospel Doctrine lessons about him by any means. But, we better darn well know his tricks and be able to teach our children how to avoid his deceit!
From experience, I can say that if one becomes overly devoted to their religion, it can lead to arrogancy towards fellow people. I've seen many who were highly dedicated to their church snub other members who weren't as pious, treating them the same as those who don't go to church. As if their dedication gives them carte blanche to behave accordingly, figuring their devout piouness forgives them of all. This is one of Satan's methods that is easily overlooked. Remember Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan women. Did Jesus snub her? No. Then why do we act "holier than thou"? I feel this is the biggest trap Satan lays for us and sometimes we confuse it as inspiration from the holy spirit. Clever & sneaky.
It's been said on many occasions that "the wise man learns from the mistakes of others, the fool has to learn from his own". History is a great teacher. 'It's all been done before', so ignorance is not a real good excuse. There is no need to personally know Satan. We can see how he works through the actions of others (Rich gave a good example of this). There is no need to duplicate these actions just to 'see how it works' or to 'get the experience'. As tempting and desirable as these actions might be, they only lead us down the wrong way, usually with very harmful repercussions.
On the flip side of the coin, we can also see how God works through others as well.
It's up to the individual to which direction they want to follow. Freewill has been given to everyone.
It might be difficult to comprehend the difference on occasion, but there certainly is one in every case. I've found that if you need to question it, then don't do it. There are several examples in the scriptures on how to tell the difference from the 'light' from the 'darkness'. The one that I found the easiest to comprehend was given by Mormon. His son Moroni wrote this down in Moroni chapter 7, verses 15-17. He also gave a warning not to abuse this in verse 14. The whole chapter is a good read into this subject.
Cindy, I'm not worried about you. You are a spiritual being. I KNOW that about you! Love you girl! PS, you totally called me out...I know, I am bragging a little. :) Can't help it. I'm still so excited about the new home. :) Love your blog!
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