12 Applying these principles in our lives requires more than a mere belief it requires adjusting our minds and hearts to these divine principles. Furthermore, Moroni invited them to ask God, with unbreakable determination, that they would not fall into temptation. When Moroni called upon the people to believe in Christ and to repent, he urged them to come unto the Savior with all their hearts, stripping themselves from all uncleanness. She told me that as she exercised her moral agency in righteousness, that negative, involuntary thought immediately disappeared. Although it caught her completely by surprise, she reacted against the situation in a split second, saying to herself and to that thought, “No!” and replaced it with something good to divert her mind from the unwelcome thought. This member told me that when she awakened on one particular morning, an improper thought that she had never experienced before unexpectedly entered her mind. This analogy reminds me of an experience that a very faithful member of the Church shared with me some time ago. Therefore, just as the magnet is unable to exercise power over a faraway metal object, as we resist temptation, it fades away and loses its power over our mind and heart and, consequently, over our actions. The magnet loses its power over it only when the metal object is placed far from it. The magnet’s invisible force attracts the metal object and holds it tightly. Metaphorically speaking, yielding to temptation is like approaching a magnet with a metal object. Our ancient and modern prophets have constantly reminded us to resist temptation in order to avoid losing our spiritual traction and becoming confused, disoriented, and disillusioned in life. Maxwell once emphasized this principle by saying, “Desires … determine the gradations in outcomes, including why ‘many are called, but few are chosen.’” 11 When such thoughts are permitted and even invited to stay, they can shape the desires of our heart and lead us to what we will become in this life and eventually to what we will inherit for eternity. 7 Only then may we achieve “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” and which will “keep hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” 8 The Savior Himself instructed the elders of the Church in February 1831, “Treasure these things up in your hearts, and let the solemnities of eternity rest upon your minds.” 9ĭespite our continuous efforts to seek out the Lord, inappropriate thoughts may penetrate our mind. 5 The scriptures refer to this alignment as “stand fast in the Lord.” 6 This course of action implies that we continually conduct our lives in harmony with the gospel of Christ and focus daily on everything that is good. Seeking Christ in every thought and following Him with all our heart requires that we align our mind and desires with His. 3 This gives us the promise that we can walk in His light and that His guidance prevents the influence of darkness in our life. 2 Being aware of all that is necessary for us in this life, the Savior invites us to seek Him in every thought and to follow Him with all our heart. In this poem’s semantic parallelism, the Psalmist praises the Lord’s divine attribute of omniscience because He truly knows every aspect of our souls. “Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.” 1 “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. In his poetic hymn of praise, the Psalmist declared:
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