Know Your Opponent

Two football teams are battling it out. Team A vs. Team B. Each team has their playbooks that define their strategies and plans. Prior to the game, Team A secured Team B's playbook. They also know what Team B's hand signals are. And furthermore, they figured out how to tap into Team B's intercom system and hear the coaches make decisions while the game is being played.

Has the likelihood that Team A will win the game increased? Absolutely.

Knowing your opponents strategies and plans gives the upper hand. It eliminates surprise and you can effectively plan to defend against their attacks and you can launch an effective offense.

Surprise is the #1 factor in winning a battle. When Santa Ana and his troops from Mexico were fighting the Texans in the 1800's, Sam Houston waited patiently until the time was right, mounted a surprise attack, and very quickly and with very little loss completely conquered the invading army, won the battle, and concluded the war. And this was just shortly after the Mexicans had completely whipped the Texans at the Alamo.

There is a spiritual battle going on each day, and each one of us is a participant. The adversary Satan and his minions are constantly trying to deceive us with the intent to overthrow us.

"There are many spirits which are false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth, deceiving the world. And also Satan hath sought to deceive you, that he might overthrow you."

Can we be more effective in this battle by understanding our adversary? Yes! The same principle applies. By understanding that he wants to deceive us with the intent to overthrow us we can focus preventing ourselves from being deceived.

And how do we keep ourselves from being deceived?

"And again, I will give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived; for Satan is abroad in the land, and he goeth forth deceiving the nations—

"Wherefore he that prayeth, whose spirit is contrite, the same is accepted of me if he obey mine ordinances. He that speaketh, whose spirit is contrite, whose language is meek and edifieth, the same is of God if he obey mine ordinances. And again, he that trembleth under my power shall be made strong, and shall bring forth fruits of praise and wisdom, according to the revelations and truths which I have given you."

- D&C 50:2-3, 52:14-17

To Have and to Hold

To own something means it's yours. But is it really?

Some people buy sailboats and some join sailing clubs and use the clubs boats.

Sure there are some distinctions. The owner can use the boat whenever they want. The club member has to schedule. The owner pays insurance and maintenance while the club member does neither.

Picture a club member relaxing in his borrowed boat looking at nice wood paneling in the state room and enjoying the deep tones of the grains and polished surface.

Now picture a boat owner in their state room enjoying the wood paneling in the same way.

The similarities are interesting. Both enjoy it the same and neither one can take it with them.

When we die we take none of our possessions. Anything we 'own' is just a temporary stewardship. Maybe it's a few hours at a time while we sail a club boat or a few years if we buy a boat. But either way it's not truly ours because we will not possess it forever.

Our intelligence we possess forever. Our sealed relationships we keep forever. But nothing physical on this earth is ours and we are deceiving ourselves if we believe otherwise. We are but stewards of things for a brief time while we are here.

"And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you."

It's silly to be proud of our possessions because they aren't even ours which makes the pride so vain it exposes our self deception for others to see.

Everything we 'have' actually belongs to the person who created us.

- Mosiah 2:25

Proud Parents or Blessed Children

Parents spend so much time and energy raising children. If a grown child compliments their parents for being just (guided by truth, fairness, reason, and justice), what did the parents do to deserve it?

Teaching our children about physical and spiritual things will deserve that compliment. By taking the primary responsibility to teach our children we will deserve the same praise that Enos had for his father.

"I, Enos, knowing my father that he was a just man—for he taught me in his language, and also in the nurture and admonition of the Lord—and blessed be the name of my God for it—"

What greater compliment could a child give a parent than this gratitude?

- Enos 1:1

Perserverance and the Reward

Have you ever reverse-engineered a web site to programmatically extract data? Most people probably never have and never will do this.

There are thousands of hurdles that have to be overcome. Tiny details that will prevent the objective from being met. If one little semi-colon shows up in an unexpected place either the extraction will completely fail or the data will be invalid.

The only way to successfully automate data extraction from a web site is to keep at it. When a problem comes up it must be solved. This could take hours and sometimes days but forward progress is stopped until it's resolved.

Giving up anytime before the job is complete is the same as not starting at all. There is no partial completion and partial reward. It's either accomplished or it isn't.

"And let your diligence, and your perseverance, and patience, and your works be redoubled, and you shall in nowise lose your reward, saith the Lord of Hosts."

Building the Nauvoo temple was the object of the perseverance mentioned in this scripture. Nothing great is accomplished without diligence, perseverance, and patience. Redouble the effort, push harder, and the reward will be received.

- D&C 124:4

Shortest Verse in the New Testament

"Jesus wept." It may be the shortest verse in the New Testament but it's profound in what it teaches.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

"And I lay down my life for the sheep."

When "Jesus wept" he outwardly expressed the deep love he felt inside. When he atoned for us and lay down his life, he outwardly expressed the deep love he felt inside.

And for whom did he feel that love, for whom does he feel it now? You. Personally and individually.

- John 11:35, 15:13, 10:15