2.8 ...the Lord Shall Reign in Their Midst

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello, my friends, great to have you with me.

Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Welcome back. We continue our discussion inside of Doctrine and Covenants Section 1, and I've got to tell you, as I've spent time in Section 1 this week, it's really hard to pick these verses because I feel like Section 1 of Doctrine and Covenants is like power verse after power verse after power verse.

The Lord lays out why Joseph Smith was called, what the Book of Mormon is here to do, what the restoration of all things looks like, sounds like, feels like. And he also says, "Big warning to the world: Now is the time to repent and stay with the Lord." And so, all of these are power verses. But for today, we're going to look at one.

And actually, today and tomorrow are side by side, but we're going to separate them. And you're probably thinking we're going to go 37, 38, but actually, we're going to go 36-37. Our verse for today is Doctrine and Covenants, Section 1, verse 36.

And I love this one because 35 I hear quoted in different ways often. And the text of 35 talks about how peace is going to be taken from the earth and the devil is going to have a power and all sorts of chaos basically is going to ensue, right? This full peace taken from the earth.

And a lot of people see that as a... Let's take a look at verse 36. It says, and also the Lord shall have power over his saints and shall reign in their midst and shall come down in judgment upon Idumea or the world.

Now you can go down the Old Testament realm of that if you want to go down into the Bible Dictionary of that term. But really what I want to look at here is an "and also" moment. Peace is going to be taken from the earth.

Yes. Devil's going to have power over his dominion. Yes.

But what does the Lord get? The Lord shall have power over his saints and shall reign in their midst. My friends, I have had very specific times in my life when I have felt the attention—I guess, is the right word—the attention of the Lord turn directly to me and my family.

Some of those times are specific moments when I can remember my children praying, and as they pray, I feel the attention of the Lord; I feel his presence with my family. And I love that promise here: that despite peace being taken from the earth and the devil having power over his dominion, the Lord also gets power over his saints and will reign in the midst of them and come down in judgment to the world. What an uplifting thought to have the Lord reside in our midst as we go forward and face the challenges we do in life!

That's all for today, my friends. Lift up your heart and rejoice. Cleave unto the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt. For more information, visit us at www.fema.org.