Yield to No Temptation

The scriptures make it clear that one of the mortal experiences that the Savior had to endure was to suffer temptation.  Abinadi taught the priests of Noah, “And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation” (Mosiah 15:5).  Alma described the ministry of the Savior, saying, “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind” (Alma 7:11).  He didn’t just suffer three temptations in the wilderness and that was it; He suffered temptations of every kind and likely throughout His whole life.  King Benjamin gave us these words of the angel: “And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death” (Mosiah 3:7).  I’ve usually considered that last phrase, “except it be unto death” to be associated only with the physical pains described in this verse, but perhaps it also is connected to his suffering of temptations; in other words, “He shall suffer temptations, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death.”  We likely have no idea how severe His temptations were that He faced.  But He did not yield to those temptations, for as modern revelation states, “He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:22).  Paul put it this way: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).  We can trust in the Savior to help us through temptation because He experienced it all without ever yielding. 

                Christ then is our perfect example in resisting temptation, and the scriptures are replete with admonitions for us to similarly “yield to no temptation” (Doctrine and Covenants 9:13).  There is a common theme about what the antidote to temptations that come upon us is: prayer.  Amulek taught the Zoramites, “Be watchful unto prayer continually, that ye may not be led away by the temptations of the devil, that he may not overpower you” (Alma 34:39).  The Savior taught us to pray these words to the Father, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (3 Nephi 13:12).  He similarly admonished us, “Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat” (3 Nephi 18:18).  The Lord invited us in our dispensation, “Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work” (Doctrine and Covenants 10:5).  He also encouraged us, “Pray always, lest you enter into temptation and lose your reward” (Doctrine and Covenants 31:12).  In another revelation He similarly said, “Pray always that you enter not into temptation, that you may abide the day of his coming” (Doctrine and Covenants 61:39).  The Lord has promised that He does “prepare a way for [our] deliverance in all things out of temptation,” and so we must go to the Father in the name of His Son for protection and help and that deliverance (Doctrine and Covenants 95:1).  We will be tried and tempted in mortality, and we must reach out to Him for help always in resisting the cunning enticements of the devil.  As Alma invited us, “But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear” (Alma 13:28).  With His divine grace and sustaining hand, we will not be tempted above that which we can bear but He will “prepare a way for our escape” (2 Nephi 9:10).