"And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?
Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.
Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions."
2 Nephi 4:27-29
You know, I was listening to this in the car and it struck me how personal all of this was for Nephi. He knew every single person on the continent at the time... the enemies that he is praying about are members of his family who want to murder him, not nameless strangers who cut him off in traffic or an overbearing boss that he could move on and forget.
We face a lot of these same things in life... we are tempted to anger about people and situations that we can't control, and if we give into it, that allows Satan to destroy our peace and afflict our souls. We're tempted to do less or be less because of people who stand in our way.
Like Nephi though, with the Lord's help, we don't have to give in to that anger, and we don't have to choose bitterness or resentment or turning away from what we can be. Instead, we can turn to God and find that inner peace again, even when our enemies are close, and extremely burdensome, as they were for Nephi. Today, let's banish that affliction of the soul, no matter how tempting, and turn to the Lord to regain our peace.
Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.
Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions."
2 Nephi 4:27-29
You know, I was listening to this in the car and it struck me how personal all of this was for Nephi. He knew every single person on the continent at the time... the enemies that he is praying about are members of his family who want to murder him, not nameless strangers who cut him off in traffic or an overbearing boss that he could move on and forget.
We face a lot of these same things in life... we are tempted to anger about people and situations that we can't control, and if we give into it, that allows Satan to destroy our peace and afflict our souls. We're tempted to do less or be less because of people who stand in our way.
Like Nephi though, with the Lord's help, we don't have to give in to that anger, and we don't have to choose bitterness or resentment or turning away from what we can be. Instead, we can turn to God and find that inner peace again, even when our enemies are close, and extremely burdensome, as they were for Nephi. Today, let's banish that affliction of the soul, no matter how tempting, and turn to the Lord to regain our peace.
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