Yesterday, I blogged about my kids battling every day in our homeschool. They battle with their will and desire to push through the challenges of learning. That is a pretty great battle to take part in. We are learning our whole lives. Keep your will and desire strong in this life and it will lead you to great things.

There is another battle I want to blog about today. In the pre-existence, when we lived with our Heavenly Parents, there was a council. We were told of a need to come down to earth and receive our bodies and to go through experiences. We would not remember anything from before. We would have to make choices. We would make mistakes.

No unclean thing can return to the presence of God.

– 1 Nephi 10:21

Because of this, we needed a way for everyone to be able to return to God. Jesus offered to be a perfect sacrifice, to die for us so that could be possible. The Glory would be to God.

Lucifer, his brother, wanted everyone to be able to come back. No one would be lost. We would all be made to obey, and the Glory would be to Lucifer.

God chose Jesus’s plan which honored everyone’s agency to choose. Lucifer’s plan took away agency to choose which is the most important to God.

There was a war in Heaven. I’m pretty sure this particular war was of words. A battle of words. Lucifer took a third of the host of Heaven with him and they were cast out. They did not get to receive their bodies.

Now we are on earth, and everyone has their agency. It is pretty messy at times. Satan and his followers continue to make things tricky for us who cannot remember who we are and why we came here.

He wants us to forget. He wants us to use our agency to do terrible things. He does not want us to use the Atonement of Jesus Christ to repent. He wants us to stay stuck where we are. Miserable and disconnected from God. After all, when we are disconnected from God is when Satan has the most power over us.

He wants us to indulge in all of the things. It reminds me a bit of Pinocchio. The children are enticed to go off to this amusement park far away from home. There they can do anything they want. It isn’t until much later that they all turn into something they don’t want to become that they regret their choice. Their agency is taken from them, and they become trapped.

It seems almost as if Satan’s plan is still in effect, but this time, it is not to get us back home. His plan now is to do everything in his power to keep us from returning back to our end goal: home to our Heavenly Parents with our beautiful new celestial bodies.

We are told in the Bible of great wars and rumors of wars and really scary things that will come before the second coming of Jesus Christ. Fires and Earthquakes, etc.

It can be intimidating to think about. Now think about the last several years. There has been so much turmoil. So much destruction. So many natural disasters. It seems as though Christ will come very soon, doesn’t it?

I don’t know when He will come. I look forward to it, I am ready for Him to bring peace. I cannot wait to embrace Him.

I want to make it very clear that we are in a battle here and now. A spiritual battle. Every time you put your phone down to quality time with your family, Satan takes a hit. Every time you pray throughout your day, he loses some more. Every time you choose to read the scriptures instead of watching tv or playing video games, he is frustrated.

The more we put a concentrated effort into choosing God over the things of the world, Satan is confounded. Satan made a very enticing world, just like the amusement park in Pinocchio. What is enticing you? Where is your focus? Are you trapped and you don’t know it? Do you actually have the ability to use your agency?

In a previous post, Holiness to the Lord, I talk about Temples. I recently heard a talk given by David A. Bednar, he talks about a temple president. This president had an office by the temple doors. Again and again, he would hear people leaving the temple sigh and say, “Back to the real world.”

This really bothered the temple president, and he didn’t understand why. Finally, one day, understanding came. As he heard someone say it again, he rushed over to them and said, “No brother, this is the real world here.”

I think of this often. When we are in the temple, we are the closest we can be to our Heavenly Father. The temple is dedicated to Him and no unclean thing should enter. That includes Satan and his followers. Being in the temple is a most amazing feeling. It is peaceful, full of light, and reverence.

It is no wonder when it is time to leave, that many people sigh and say, “Back to life.” I don’t love to leave the temple myself. I can feel a very real difference when I am there. I love to be in the temple. It feels like home.

Well, if it is the closest we can be to Heavenly Father on this earth, doesn’t it make sense that it would feel like home? It is in the spiritual building that I can rest from the cares and trials of the world. I can remove my armour and feel the peace of God.

I am so grateful for the apostle Paul who wrote about the Armour of God in Ephesians 6:10-18.

He tells us to be strong in the Lord and His power and might. (vs. 10)

To put on the whole armour of God so that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (vs.11)

Because we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places… (vs. 12)

we need to put on the armour of God so that we can withstand in the evil day. (vs. 13)

Stand therefore, have the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, your feet fitted with shoes of the gospel of peace. (vs. 14-15)

With a shield of faith that can quench the fiery darts of the wicked, a helmet of salvation, and sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. (vs. 16-17)

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. (vs. 18)

My friends, what an amazing set of armour this is. I hope that you read this post today and find renewed vigor and determination to fight your spiritual battles.

It is easy to feel safe when we cannot see our enemy. We must be on guard constantly. These are the final days. This is when our spiritual battles make the most difference in the whole of the war.

I want you to think about Christ coming in the next five years. Would that motivate you to make some changes in your life? Now think about Him coming back in the next two years. Does that help you to feel a stronger urgency? What if He came tomorrow? What if today was all that you had to do your best knowing that tomorrow He will come?

Now, I want you to live every day that way. You will make mistakes. It is part of this life. BUT, we have His Atonement, which gives us our ultimate weapon against Satan: The ability to repent of our sins, our misdeeds, our mistakes. To be forgiven. To forgive ourselves. And to begin anew. Ultimately, to be able to return home to our Heavenly Parents.

Remember, Paul was actually not always an apostle. He was able to repent of his sins and then become an apostle of Jesus Christ.

In the Book of Mormon, there is a person names Alma the younger. He was a wicked teen. He went about with a group of friends trying to turn people away from God. He had a visit from an angel telling him to stop. He went on to become an amazing leader of the church and teaching the gospel with the Spirit of God in his life. Even until his death. (Mosiah 27, BOM)

You have all the things that you need to turn away from things of the world (Satan’s new plan) and to turn to God and Jesus Christ.

This blog is here to help you. Trick your algorithm. Pray and read your scriptures. Seek His will. You can do this. I have faith in you. Keep it small and simple and great blessings will be added to you.