From Elder B. Eyring, of the First Presidency and his book “Choose Higher Ground” (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book):
36. A passage from the Book of Mormon, another witness of Jesus Christ, describes how hard the test is and what it will take to pass it.
“Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved.
“Wherefore, may God raise you from death by the power of the resurrection, and also from everlasting death by the power of the atonement, that ye may be received into the eternal kingdom of God, that ye may praise him through grace divine. Amen.” (2 Nephi 10:23-25).
It will take unshakable faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to choose the way of eternal life. It is by using that faith that we can know the will of God. It is by acting on that faith we build strength to do the will of God. And it is by exercising that faith in Jesus Christ that we can resist temptation and gain forgiveness through the Atonement.
We will need to have developed and nurtured faith in Jesus Christ long before Satan hits us, as he will, with doubts and appeals to our carnal desires and with lying voices saying that good is bad and that there is no sin. The spiritual storms are already raging. We can expect that they will worsen until the Savior comes.
However much faith to obey God we now have, we will need to strengthen it continually and keep it refreshed constantly. We can do that by deciding now to be more quick to obey and more determined to endure. Learning to start early and be steady are the keys to spiritual preparation, procrastination and inconsistency are its mortal enemies.
37.Let me suggest four settings in which to practice quick and steady obedience. One is the command to feast upon the word of God. A second is to pray always. A third is to be a full tither payer. And the fourth is to escape from sin and its terrible effects. Each take faith to start and then to persevere. And all can strengthen your capacity to know and obey the Lord’s commands.
You may remember, from some years ago, President Gordon B. Hinkley’s invitation to all Saints to read the Book of Mormon through by the end of the year. He said: “Without reservation I promise that if each of you will observe this simple program no matter how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God” (“A Testimony Vibrant and True,” Ensign, August 2005, 6).
That was the very promise of increased faith we would need to be spiritually prepared. But if we delayed the start of that obedience to the inspired invitation, the number of pages we had to read each day grew larger. That’s why I chose to read ahead of my daily plan to be sure I would qualify for the promised 38 blessings of the spirit of resolution and testimony of Jesus Christ. I have learned about starting at the moment a command from God comes and being steady in obedience.~~~Elder B. Eyring, of the First Presidency and his book “Choose Higher Ground” (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013)
More than that, as I read in the Book of Mormon, I prayed that the Holy Ghost would help me know what God would have me do. There is a promise of that plea being answered in the book itself. “Wherefore, I say unto you, feast upon the word of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ shall tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:3).
I determined that I would act quickly on what the Holy Ghost told me on what I should do as I read and pondered the Book of Mormon. When I completed the project in December, I had had many experiences of stretching my faith to be obedient And so my faith was strengthened. And I knew from my own experience that comes from going to the scriptures early and consistently to know what God wants me to do and then doing it. If we do that we will be better prepared for the greater storms when they come.
Those of us who accepted the prophet’s counsel and finished the Book of Mormon that year then had a choice of what to do after January 1. We could have chosen to sigh with relief and say to ourselves: “I have built a great reservoir of faith by starting early and being steady in obedience. I will store it away against the times when I will be tested in storms.” There is a better way to prepare because great faith has a short shelf life. We can decide to persist in studying the words of Christ in the scriptures and the teachings of living prophets. That is what I have chosen to do. I go back to the Book of Mormon and drink deeply and often. And I’m grateful for the prophets’ challenge and promise to teach me how to gain greater faith and maintain it.
Personal prayer can also build our faith to do what God commands. We are commanded to pray always that we may not be 39 overcome. Some of the protection we need will be direct intervention of God. But most of it will come from building our faith to obey. We can pray every day and know what God would have us do. We can commit to start to do it quickly when the answer comes. My experience is that He always answers such petitions. Then we can choose to obey. As we do, we will build faith enough that we will not be 39 overcome. And we gain the faith to go back again and again for further instruction. When the storms come we will be ready to go and do what the Lord commands.
The Savior showed us a great example of such a prayer by submission. He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane as He worked out the Atonement that His Father’s will would be to do what was so painful and terrible that we cannot comprehend it. He prayed to not simply to accept the Father’s will but to do it. He showed us the way to pray in perfect and determined submission.
The principle of exercising faith early and steadily applies as well to the commandment to pay tithing. We should not wait until the annual tithing settlement to decide to be a full-tithe prayer. We can decide now. It takes time to learn to control our spending with faith that what we have comes from God. It takes faith to pay our tithing promptly and without procrastination.
If we decide now to be a full tithe-payer and if we are steady in paying it, blessings will flow throughout the year as well as at the time of tithing-settlement. By our decision now to be a full tithe payer and our steady efforts to obey, we will be strengthened in out faith and, in time, our hearts will be softened. It is that change in our hearts through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, beyond the 40 offering of money or goods, that makes it possible for the Lord to promise full=tithe prayers protection in the last days (see Doctrine and Covenants 64:23). We can have confidence that we will qualify for that blessing of protection if we commit now to pay a full tithe and are steady in doing it.
The same power of an early choice to exercise faith and to be persistent applies to gaining the faith to resist temptation and to gain forgiveness. The best time to resist temptation is early. The best time to repent is now. The enemy of our souls will place thoughts in our minds and tempt us. We can decide early to exercise faith, to cast out evil thoughts before we act on them. And we can choose quickly to repent when we do sin, before Satan can weaken our faith and bind us. Seeking forgiveness is always better now than later.
As my father lay in his bed near death, I asked him if he didn’t think it was time to repent and pray for forgiveness for any sins that were not resolved with God, He probably heard a little hint in my voice that he might fear death and Judgment. He just chucked, and said, “Oh no, Hal, I’ve been repenting as I went along.”
~~~ Henry B. Eyring, of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ~~~Elder Henry B. Eyring, of the First Presidency and his book “Choose Higher Ground” (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013) p. 35-40
