"As a
small boy in grammar school, I had a teacher who made King Arthur and the
knights of the Round Table come alive. She caused me to become so
obsessed with stories of knights that I played and dreamed that I was
one. One evening I dreamed that I was a white knight on a white horse
riding over the greens of England. Suddenly, without warning, a knight
dressed in black armour and mounted on a black horse appeared at the edge of
the forest. We measured each other carefully, lowered our lances, and
charged at full gallop. The lances struck target and both of us were
knocked off our steeds.
“I scrambled
to my feet knowing that swords would be drawn and that hand-to-hand combat was
imminent. Fear gripped my heart as I saw my opponent rushing toward me
flashing a long, gleaming sword. Instinctively, I reached to my side and
drew forth from the scabbard my weapon. That is when the dream turned
into a nightmare! For in my hand was a small, dinky dagger - not a long,
gleaming sword. I woke up in a cold sweat screaming for help.
“When the
Lord draws you forth as His instrument in combating evil forces, what does he
have in his hand - a long, gleaming sword or a dinky dagger?...The saving
virtue of a sword is related to its strength, sharpness, cleanliness, and the
hand which guides it. Is it not the same with people? I would pray
that you would seek strength of character, sharpness of mind, and cleanliness
of soul so as to become gleaming swords of righteousness. By doing this,
there will be no embarrassment, no disappointment, and no nightmare when He
draws you out in battling the powers of darkness" (Elder Carlos E. Asay,
"Instruments of Righteousness", New Era, June 1983)
There is a
battle we are all engaged in with the enemy that cannot be seen. This enemy is
cleverly disguised in many evils of mortality who carefully draws his bow and
fires his darts and arrows aiming to wound so we would slowly bleed to death.
Since the
battle is directed at the destruction of our souls, meaning both body and
spirit (D&C 88:15), Paul admonished the saints of his day to put on ‘the
whole armor of God that they might be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil’ (Ephesians 6:10-13). This armor
is one of obedience and commitment to the commandments we have been given.
Every act of
disobedience creates cracks in the armour that is supposed to protect us. And
it is just such cracks that the adversary targets. Many cracks make a loose
armour. A cracked and loose armour is sufficient to cause discomfort leading to
the conviction that the armour is useless and not needed after all. Think of
how many people regard the commandments of God to be inconvenient and
restrictive.
The full
armour of God that Paul admonished the Ephesians to wear addresses all the
vulnerabilities of mortality:
Loins
(reproductive organs): typifying virtue and chastity
Heart: in the
scriptures the heart is always used to typify our conduct
Feet: typify
objectives and goals in life which would take us to perfection
Head: a place the
thoughts are stored which lead to actions
"Well,
now, the apostle Paul went one step further. He didn't leave the man just with
the armour on and expect him to cope against an army, seen or unseen. He had
his armoured man holding in his hand a shield and in his other hand a sword,
which were the weapons of those days. That shield was the shield of faith, and
the sword was the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God. I can't think
of any more powerful weapons than faith and a knowledge of the scriptures in
the which are contained the Word of God. One so armoured and one so prepared
with those weapons is prepared to go out against the enemy [and] is more to be
feared than the enemies of the light" (Harold B. Lee, "Feet Shod with
the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace", Speeches of the Year,
1954, pp 2-4, 6-7).
Don’t fear
the enemy, make him fear YOU…..
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
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