2.182 No Weapon That is Formed Against You Shall Prosper

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.

It's great to have you with me. Today, let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Have you ever been willing to stick your hand out there just a little bit and then wham, get smacked?

We're going to talk a little bit about that today. And there's kind of a reasoning for that, I think, especially in terms of growing in the gospel. And so let's take a look.

We are reading this week, We're also reading this week Alma chapters 20–24. And some of these verses and sections, I should say, go together. We learn in Doctrine and Covenants that we should simply bear testimony of the gospel in these difficult times when people are arguing about whether the gospel is good or bad and all these types of things.

The Lord, like, "Hey, just remember to bear testimony." And so we get that inside of Doctrine and Covenants. And then we get the real life version of that in Alma chapter 20 as Ammon and King Lamoni go and bear testimony as well. So I love the interlocking that always happens inside of our readings.

Our verse for today actually is going to connect to a past episode. So I put the link to the past episode inside of this episode, primarily because these thoughts come together. It's been a while since we were there, but you're going to want to go back, should you so choose, to episode 112 of season two.

And I have the link inside of here. So 2.112. Inside of that, there's a phenomenal reference to a talk by Elder Neal A.

Maxwell that talks about this attempt to try and grow and struggle. The enemy is combined, right? That's what it's going to reference.

I don't want to rehash that one, but I want it in context of what we're trying to do here today. Our verse for today is Doctrine and Covenants 71:9, and it is a wonderful reminder from the Lord that he's got our backs. It's only part of a sentence, so you'll want to continue 9 and 10 combined together, and then 11 also would be great. 9.

Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: "There is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper." Now, do we have the faith inside of that? You see, the world is absolutely hedging up. We, as we continue to try to grow in our testimonies, to try to grow spiritually, are going to face challenges.

And then there seems to be the kind of this why does this happen moment. And I came across a talk from President Harold B. Lee in the I just wanted to share two paragraphs inside of it.

It says this: "In the last months there seem to have been awakened in me new wellsprings of spiritual understanding also." I know full well the truth of what the Prophet Joseph told the early missionaries to Great Britain. And this is the quote from Joseph Smith: "The nearer a person approaches the Lord, the greater power of the Lord is manifest in the adversary to prevent the accomplishment of his purposes." There is no shadow of doubt in my mind that these things are as certain today as in that day. But also I am certain that as the Lord said, "no weapon that is formed against you," and "if any man lift his voice against you, he shall be confounded in mine own due time." My friends, if you are experiencing challenges in your growth, know that the Lord is here.

Know that you've basically kind of been assigned more challenges because you are trying to approach the Lord, and the nearer you approach the Lord, the greater power will be manifested by the adversary to prevent the accomplishment. It doesn't make it easier, but what it does is give us an opportunity to increase our faith in the Lord and trust in the idea that truly "no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper." May you and I stand in that faith, knowing that we go forward bearing testimony of the Lord, holding that testimony, showing that light to others, and that He's got our backs. That's all for today, my friends.

Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave into the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt.