Cast Satan's Influence Out of Your Life

In his recent general conference address, President Nelson spoke of ways that we can overcome the influence of the adversary in our lives. One way is through repentance: “Please do not fear or delay repenting. Satan delights in your misery. Cut it short. Cast his influence out of your life! Start today to experience the joy of putting off the natural man.” As we repent of those things we have done wrong we invite the Savior into our lives to give us forgiveness and strength, diminishing the power of the evil one over us. Another way is through fervent prayer: “One of our greatest challenges today is distinguishing between the truths of God and the counterfeits of Satan. That is why the Lord warned us to ‘pray always, … that [we] may conquer Satan, and … escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.’” As we are tempted by evil, as we face doubts and discouragement, as we are surrounded by the anger and wickedness of the world around us, we must turn to the Lord in fervent prayer for His help in overcoming the hands of the servants of Satan who do his work. President Nelson quoted a scriptural example of this in the story of Moses: “When Satan came tempting Moses, he detected the deception because he had just had a face-to-face interaction with God. Moses quickly realized who Satan was and commanded him to depart. When Satan persisted, Moses knew how to call upon God for more help. Moses received divine strength and rebuked the evil one again, saying, ‘Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship.’” President Nelson then encouraged us, “We should follow that example. Cast Satan’s influence out of your life! Please do not follow him down to his ‘gulf of misery and endless wo.’” We must plead every day for the Lord to cast out the influence of the evil one from our lives and homes and families so that, like Moses, we can worship the one true God.

                A third way that we can overcome the influence of the adversary is through the study of the scriptures. President Nelson encouraged us in these words: “With frightening speed, a testimony that is not nourished daily ‘by the good word of God’ can crumble. Thus, the antidote to Satan’s scheme is clear: we need daily experiences worshipping the Lord and studying His gospel. I plead with you to let God prevail in your life. Give Him a fair share of your time. As you do, notice what happens to your positive spiritual momentum.” It is surely instructive to us that when the Savior faced Satan and his temptations, the Lord responded with the power of the word of God: “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God…. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God…. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:4-10). There the Savior quoted passages from the law He had given to Moses, possibly what we now have in Deuteronomy 4:3, Deuteronomy 6:16, and Exodus 34:14. If the Savior turned to the scriptures to overcome the attacks of the adversary, surely we should likewise each day treasure up the word of God as we strive to protect ourselves and our families.  

                A sobering experience yesterday reminded me of the story that President Packer told of his own home. He recounted how a wall behind his house was a covered in English ivy and was a nesting place for finches. He related, “One day there was a great commotion in the ivy. Desperate cries of distress came as 8 or 10 finches from the surrounding woods came to join in this cry of alarm. I soon saw the source of the commotion. A snake had slid partway down out of the ivy and hung in front of the window just long enough for me to pull it out. The middle part of the snake’s body had two bulges—clear evidence convicting it of taking two fledglings from the nest. Not in the 50 years we had lived in our home had we seen anything like that.” President Packer continued, “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience—or so we thought. A few days later there was another commotion, this time in the vines covering our dog run. We heard the same cries of alarm, the gathering of the neighborhood finches. We knew what the predator was. A grandson climbed onto the run and pulled out another snake that was still holding on tightly to the mother bird it had caught in the nest and killed.” He asked himself, “What is going on? Is the Garden of Eden being invaded again?” He then said, “There came into my mind the warnings spoken by the prophets. We will not always be safe from the adversary’s influence, even within our own homes. We need to protect our nestlings.” As my children grow older I am seeing more and more how true this is and how hard we must work to combat the influence of the evil one in our homes and in the lives of our families. We must seek to do as President Nelson taught, repenting daily, praying fervently, and continually treasuring up the word of God so that we can say with Moses each day, “Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory” (Moses 1:20).