Fixed With a Determination to Conquer

Yesterday right before the mountain bike race for my younger son, the father of his friend asked my son what his goal was for the race. He didn’t have one, but his friend was in front of him, and when the friend said his goal was to get 40^th, my son said that his would be 39^th to beat his friend by one position. And so, I was very amazed when my son actually came in 42^nd , exactly one position ahead of his friend who was in 43^rd , all the more difficult because my son fell during the race in a sand trap. The fact that he achieved his goal was a reminder to me that goals really are important to help us accomplish great things in our lives. In the missionary handbook Preach My Gospel, we find this quote from President M. Russell Ballard about goal setting: “I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.” In other words, we need goals to help us reach our full potential in life. Goals can help us focus our efforts on what is most important. When I was on my mission Elder Charles Didier taught us this principle in these words: “The difference between activity and result is challenge.” In other words, the difference between just doing things (activities) and actually accomplishing good things (result) is challenging ourselves (by setting goals). I have thought about that over and over the past two decades and am convinced of its truth—we need to be challenged in order to become the best we can. The Savior Himself gave us the ultimate goal we should strive for: “Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am” (3 Nephi 27:27).

               I think that the experiences of Helaman that are described in Alma 58 help us to see some important principles of achieving righteous goals. Helaman was with his army in a difficult situation with so many Lamanites threatening them. He described his specific goal: “And behold, now it came to pass that our next object was to obtain the city of Manti” (v1). They wanted to obtain the city of Manti that the Lamanites had taken from them. His first plan to achieve this goal was to reach out for help: “I thus did send an embassy to the governor of our land, to acquaint him concerning the affairs of our people” (v4). That was a reasonable thing to do and a simple way he might be able to achieve his goal, but it didn’t work. He did not give up, though, and instead he did what is most important in our goal seeking: “Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, yea, and also give us strength that we might retain our cities, and our lands, and our possessions, for the support of our people” (v10). One of the best things we can do to obtain a goal is to realize that we need help from the Lord and to first reach out to Him in fervent prayer. Helaman continued with these words in his description of what happened, “Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him” (v11). In other words, he next obtained revelation from the Lord that he could indeed achieve this goal to obtain the city of Manti and stay protected from the Lamanites. In other words, it was a righteous desire. Helaman described what this did for them: “And we did take courage with our small force which we had received, and were fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies, and to maintain our lands, and our possessions, and our wives, and our children, and the cause of our liberty” (v12). I love that phrase that he was “fixed with a determination to conquer.” Once we have goals set and a confirmation from the Lord that they are good, we need a strong determination to do everything we can to achieve them with the Lord’s help. And then next he made a detailed plan of how he was going to accomplish his goal to retake the city of Manti. They would lure the Lamanites out of the city, leave Gid and Teomner hidden in the wilderness with a small part of the army, and then they would sneak back to the empty city to take it. It was a brilliant plan, inspired by the Lord, and it worked when they went to work and put it into action. So, with the Lord’s help and reassurance, with determination, with a plan, and finally with focused action Helaman and his army were able to achieve their goal. And surely these principles apply to us as we seek to accomplish the things the Lord wants us to do in our efforts to become like the Savior.