followHIM - How do the scriptures turn me away from evil? • followHIM Favorites • Oct. 17 - 23

Episode Date: October 13, 2022

Hank Smith and John Bytheway answer a question from this week's Come, Follow Me study.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/old-testament/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producers, SponsorsDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another Follow Him Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I'm here with the amazing and incredible and perfect John, by the way. If you've been following Follow Him Favorites this year, you know that we take a single question from each week's lesson and try to talk about it for Follow Him Favorites. Well, John, the question for this week is from Jeremiah chapter 36. This is out of the come follow me manual. It says the scriptures have power to turn me away from evil. And it talks about how Jeremiah was recording his prophecies in a roll of a book on a scroll. And it says, so it may be that they, the people, may return every man from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity. So tell me, how did the scriptures turn someone away from evil? I want to

read my scriptures, and I also want to turn away from evil. How do they have to do with each other? I think sometimes it's not even exactly the words that we read. Some of these chapters in the Old Testament, as we're all learning, are you really have to slow down. They're hard to understand. Have you ever heard that old saying? If you want to talk to God, pray. If you want God to talk to you, read your scriptures. Just the fact that you're opening your heart to God by reading the scriptures, that right there is going to bless you. We all know that when Satan tried to tempt the Savior, that the Savior answered each of those temptations with a verse of Scripture. Yeah, he quoted Scripture. Yeah.

Sometimes those verses really will help us fight temptation. We'll remember things. But I think the very act of just trying to have God in your life, it just gives you the Holy Ghost. It gives you the Spirit of the Lord. And that will always help you. Whether what you read necessarily is exactly what helps you or the act of trying to understand what the Lord's trying to say to you, that itself will help you too. What do you think? I think you're absolutely right. I did a talk one time called Temptation Killers and Temptation Killer number one was scriptures.

I use that example you use from Jesus's life that he quotes scripture in the face of temptation. And so I encourage the audience to find temptation killing scriptures and memorize them, whatever those might be. Like when Moses says, who art thou? I am a son of God. That's a great one. From the book of Ether and more on did that, which was wicked in the sight of the Lord. So it helps you go, I don't want to be like moron. I don't want to do what's wicked in the sight of the Lord or Joseph of Egypt. When he said,

how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? So find some temptation killers in your scriptures and memorize them. I remember Elder Scott saying a memorized scripture can become like a close friend there when you need it. In the time of need, it will show up next to you as a close friend. I always needed more friends in high school than I had. So that was really helpful to have a couple of close friends at my side. And I think you were right about that. Maybe it's not about understanding every word, but it's trying to get into that same spirit that the author had when they wrote the scripture. If you can try to get into that same feeling, I kind of call it like being in the zone when you're reading your scriptures and you're, maybe you don't understand every word, but you're feeling something. I think that feeling can carry you through the next day of,

I want to keep this spirit. Yeah. You'll remember Oliver Cowdery in section six, Oliver Cowdery had to get a revelation to tell him that he'd already received a revelation, which tells us that sometimes you don't understand revelations. Sometimes you don't understand the scriptures, but the very act that you were there trying to understand is a protection. I love what you said. Have some verses in your head that help you have some positive ones too. Not just that say, don't do that. But like one of my favorites is first Corinthians two, nine, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for them that love him. It just says no matter how wonderful or beautiful you can imagine it,

it's better what God has prepared for them that love him. And that motivates me to love God. And part of loving God is if you love me, keep my commandments. Yeah, I think so. I think the more you can get in tune with the spirit, and that comes from reading scripture. And again, when I was first reading scripture, I remember John, when I was young, it was mostly me just looking for good thoughts, good quotes. I didn't really understand every

verse or every word, but I would find a good phrase and I would mark it. Usually on every page, you could find a good phrase, a good quote, or a sermon in a sentence, as you like to call it. And as you do that over and over and over, you're going to get more in tune with the Spirit. And as you get more in tune with the Spirit, believe it or not, sin is going to look less and less attractive to you. Remember what the people of King Benjamin said? We have been changed by the Spirit. We have no more disposition to do evil. It'll change the way you look at sin. You'll look at something and go, you know what? That doesn't seem as good as it once did to me. And that's because of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost can actually do that for you. So

I would say, get into the scriptures, look for those words and phrases. If you've never done it before, look for those power words and phrases, keep doing it every day. And as you do, you'll become more aligned with the spirit. You'll feel that attractiveness towards things that are really good and holy. Yeah. I had a class from Gerald Lund, who was elder Gerald Lund, a member of the Seventy for a Time. And he talked about some of our approaches to try to get people to read the scriptures. He said, there's bribery, there's guilt, there's, he called it the medicine approach. You're not going to like this, but it's going to be good for you. But the one thing it just came to me that I loved was he called it, there's another approach.

And that is the approach the scriptures themselves use. And he called it promises. And I actually have a handout I give to some of my classes and say, fill in the blank. What is the promise here of scripture study? And the fun thing that they all recognize, they're not read the scripture. So someday in the next life, you'll have a reward. It's right now type of things. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.

When I read the scriptures, my path is lighted. I know better where I should be going, what I should be doing. One that comes to mind, 1 Nephi 15, 24. Nephi is explaining to his brothers, Lehi's dream, Nephi's vision of Lehi's dream, right? What is that rod of iron? It's the word of God and whoso will hold fast unto it, they would never perish. And never is a strong word, isn't it? Neither could the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them. I mean, fiery darts. How would you like people shooting arrows at you?

Would you like it any better if the arrows were on fire? But if you're holding on, you'll never perish. What a strong promise. And those can build us up. So Elder Lund's approach was there are promises from scripture study that instead of guilt, shame, bribery, medicine, there are promises and look for those. Those are kind of fun too. Oftentimes we say, read the scriptures and it'll help you stay away from evil and you might not understand it, but keep doing it. It's kind of like the farmer who plants a seed,

the savior says, and doesn't know how it works, but he keeps doing it. It's kind of like the farmer who plants a seed, the Savior says, and doesn't know how it works, but he keeps doing it. And he knows that at the end it works, he eats. So don't give up on it. Even if you don't know exactly how it works, you'll learn more about how it works as you do it, as you keep at it, as you keep getting back into those scriptures. And then I would say, just add one more little thing, John, is that you can write your own scripture. As you pick up your pen and ponder the things of God and start to write in your journal, perhaps that can become scripture for you. It could become the things of your soul. So I'll add that in too. Just think about writing your own. Well, we hope you'll join us on our full podcast. We're with Dr. Michael Wilcox, who you will just absolutely love for these sections. And then

join us next week back here for another Follow Him Favorites.