Day 260 The Spirit Doth Not Dwell in Unholy Temples

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me, and know that I'm cheering for your every success. It's been a while since we had a savory salt checkup from the neck up.

Welcome today to Day 260 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today, we're going to be reading Helaman chapter 4, verses 7 through 26, and that will wrap up Helaman chapter 4. And this is pretty much a checkup for us, my friends.

Helaman chapter 4 gives us a laundry list of things that the Nephites are doing that actually take away the blessings of the Lord. It's a great place for us to go and see for ourselves what behaviors, what attitudes, what habits come into or maybe sneak into our lives that may drive away the Spirit and ultimately the protection of the Lord. In fact, in verse 23 of Helaman chapter 4, right at the tail end—this isn't our verse for the day—but it says, "the judgments of God did stare them in the face." So, I hope you.

We're going to take some time today and do a little personal checkup and see if any of these things are creeping into your life. We're going to see the consequences of it here in our verse for today, in Helaman chapter 4, verse 24: "And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them. Yea, it had withdrawn from them, because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples." This is such a permeating verse here.

This goes into every level of our lives as I see it. I think it's always interesting because the Book of Mormon, generally speaking, we have kind of a small group of Nephites, big group of Lamanites. And somehow, this small group of Nephites, with the Lord's help, is able to keep back this large group of Lamanites.

That's just generally the ebb and flow of the Book of Mormon. And yet we see here that the Nephites' wickedness, their choices, their own decisions have led them to have the Spirit of the Lord withdrawn from them. And it's left them weak.

And how weak? We learn inside these verses as well that they're down to a one-to-one, man-to-man level of weakness, right? Like now, all of a sudden, this mass of Lamanites that's always been there, that they've always been able to hold back because the strength of the Lord has amplified and magnified the things they can do.

Now we see that when it gets down to a one-to-one, there's an issue here because they are simply outnumbered. And that's the situation the Nephites find themselves in. My friends, the Lord amplifies our works.

He magnifies the things we're capable of doing when we follow the commandments and when we make covenants with Him. And then, if we break those covenants and those commandments, He withdraws, and that amplification and magnification is withdrawn as well. And we are left to ourselves.

And that does not end well for the Nephites. I think it's worth us checking to see today, inside these verses, where we, each one of us personally, can have one or two of these things in our lives that we focus on. We repent, and we get back in line with the commandments of the Lord to continue to be doing the best we possibly can in the circumstances that we are in.

The Lord has given us. Go forward, my friends. You got this.

I got this. We can do this, and we can have the Lord in our lives to amplify and magnify the things we choose to do. That's all for today, my friends.

Remember that, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt. I'll be here tomorrow, and I hope you are too.