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What does it mean to be IN the world, but NOT OF the world?
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:9, 13-16
Examine the significance of these verses: Alma 34:39; Moroni 6:4; Luke 21:36.
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Lesson #1—Beware of Evil’s Beguiling Disguises
spiritually dangerous ideas and actions frequently can appear to be attractive, desirable, or pleasurable. Thus, in our contemporary world, each of us needs to be aware of beguiling bad that pretends to be good.
how blessed we are to live in this latter-day dispensation when restored gospel light can shine brightly in our lives and help us to discern the adversary’s dark deceptions and distractions.
Doctrine and Covenants 45:57
For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day.
Lesson #2—Stay Awake and Be Alert
Spiritual complacency and casualness make us vulnerable to the advances of the adversary. Spiritual thoughtlessness invites great danger into our lives.
Positioning is always so important in the scriptures. Where a verse is located is part of its message and power. There are two blocks of scriptures that repeat each other, but with slightly different wording to really teach what needs to be taught.
– Block 1 is 6-13 – Mostly the words of the Holy Ghost to the people.
– Block 2 is 14-19 – Paul’s words rephrasing the same teachings.
Both of these scripture blocks teach the sad tale of the Israelites, that Moses led out of Egypt, who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and who were not allowed to enter into the rest of the Lord. They are beautifully written and each block starts with a verse (6 and 14) that contains the pleading of the Lord for His people to hold steadfast their confidence and hope in Christ to be saved. Unfortunately, the people rejected Him because of their unbelief and they hardened their hearts, provoked God, and sealed their own fate.
Let’s compare verses 6 and 14:
6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;
When we are made partakers of Christ, we become join heirs with Christ, and thus we are part of Christ’s house.
1 Peter 2:5 explains it this way:
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Next comes the big “IF” statement. There are no two ways around it, we must hold fast our confidence and hope in Christ and all that he promised, in order for us to be made partakers of Christ. I love that the word confidence is used, because confidence includes much more than just mindless actions or obedience. For someone to have confidence in something, they must both believe with their mind and believe with their heart and feel that that thing is true. Confidence is built through experience.
Oxford online defines confidence as:
1. the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust.
2. the state of feeling certain about the truth of something.
3. a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities.
This process is not reserved for some future day or for the next life, but it is abundantly clear in both blocks of scripture and the quote by Spencer W. Kimball, it is for us “to day.”
8 To day if ye will hear his voice…
13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts…
In Spencer’s words, “As I have indicated previously, the time to do this is now, in mortality.”
Elder Donald L. Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke of the danger of procrastinating spiritual matters: “Many of us place ourselves in circumstances far more consequential than embarrassment because of our procrastination to become fully converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know what is right, but we delay full spiritual involvement because of laziness, fear, rationalization, or lack of faith. We convince ourselves that ‘someday I’m going to do it.’ However, for many ‘someday’ never comes, and even for others who eventually do make a change, there is an irretrievable loss of progress and surely regression” (“Do It Now,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2007, 49–50).
Another thing I love, is that it says in verse 14, “hold the beginning of our confidence.” In the words of Alma:
Alma 32:27
But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
If you put aside or neglect the seed, it may never sprout, it may never grow, you will never enjoy it’s fruit, and it will never bless the lives of your family or others. On the other hand, If you plant the seed and nurish it, then it grows and grows and as it grows, your faith and confidence grow with it. This process continues until it becomes a tree bearing fruit and blesses the lives of many souls, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred (Mark 4:8).
What is the greatest destroyer of confidence? That’s right….Unbelief!
Unbelief or hardened heart or a form of that is mentioned 8 times in just 13 verses.
8 Harden not your hearts…
10 …They do alway err in their heart…
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief…
13 … lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
15 … harden not your hearts…
16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke…
18 … to them that believed not?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
The root of provocation is provoke. How did they provoke God? As I pondered this, the question that came to me was, “who would provoke you more, in terms of parenting, the child that did not know the rules or reasons why or the child that knows perfectly the rules or reasons why? In times past, I kept focusing on the how, and now I realize that I must first understand the WHO. They knew better. Every morning when they gathered the manna, what went through their mind? Were they focussing on the blessing of the manna, feeling so much gratitude to God, and knowing that He was constantly feeling after them and desiring to bring them unto Him? I want to believe that this was the case, but scripture tells a different story. There fell upon them a lusting for the meats and foods of Egypt (Numbers 11:4–6). Their belief only went so far, God could provide us with simple manna, but Egypt could provide so much more. “They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways” (vs 10). They erred in their heart because they lusted after the things of this world instead of feeling after and letting their hearts yearn for and seek after a much more glorious life, even life eternal.
Are we any different? We have miracles today that are every bit as glorious as manna was to the Israelites. To mention just one, our manna is the Book of Mormon, which was preserved, brought forth, and translated by the literal power of God. We don’t have to gather it every morning, we just need to turn on our phones and feast upon its words. Do we err in our hearts, reading to just check off a box? As we read its words, do we focuss on the blessing of this book, feeling so much gratitude to God, and knowing that He is constantly feeling after us and desiring to bring us unto Him? Do we lust after the things of this world instead of feeling after and letting our hearts yearn for and seek after a much more glorious life, even life eternal?
Understanding these things we can now read Doctrine and Covenants 84:54–58 with new eyes to see, new ears to hear, and new hearts to feel and comprehend its deeper meaning.
54 And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received—
55 Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation.
56 And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all.
57 And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written—
58 That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion.
When will we open our eyes, when will we awake from our slumber, when will we rise up and be men and women in Christ, obeying, serving, and becoming like him?
Constant vigilance is required to counteract complacency and casualness.
Spiritually speaking, we need to stay awake and be alert to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and the signals that come from the Lord’s watchmen on the towers.
Focusing our lives in and on the Savior and His gospel enables us to overcome the tendency of the natural man to be spiritually snoozy and lazy.
As we are blessed with eyes to see and ears to hear, the Holy Ghost can increase our capacity to look and listen when we may not typically think we need to look or listen or when we may not think anything can be seen or heard.“Watch, therefore, that ye may be ready.”
Lesson #3—Understand the Intent of the Enemy
The Father’s plan of happiness is designed to provide direction for His children, to help them experience enduring joy, and to bring them safely home to Him with resurrected, exalted bodies.
The adversary works relentlessly to attack the elements of the Father’s plan he hates the most.
One of the ultimate ironies of eternity is that the adversary, who is miserable precisely because he has no physical body, invites and entices us to share in his misery through the improper use of our bodies.
The very tool he does not have and cannot use is thus the primary target of his attempts to lure us to physical and spiritual destruction.
Understanding the intent of an enemy is vital to effective preparation for possible attacks.
I promise that the blessings of effective preparation and spiritual protection will flow into your life as you are watchful unto prayer vigilantly and continually.
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