Development of faith requires the study of God’s word, to learn his principles, laws and wisdom. This we all know, but did you know that faith is also developed and strengthened by understanding evil?
First allow me to clarify that statement.
We are not to seek evil in any way. The light of knowledge is not gained by stepping into darkness, it is by stepping into the light. When faith is fed and nurtured by study of the word, it is also worked and tested. God allows us to be tempted or even approached by evil, then by those experiences, we can gain an understanding of evil.
It is part of our spiritual development that we face adversaries, the opposing spirits and energies. Whether these oppositions are in the world, as other people, or purely spiritual as visitations by evil, experiences will afford us understanding.
God will provide insight and knowledge before and/or after those experiences if a person is open to listen to his Spirit. If mistakes are made during those experiences with evil, then humbleness and repentance is a must in order to correct oneself and remain open to receive instruction and teaching from God.
It is when faith is increased and developed that evil wants to take a swipe. If evil can put a lid on the increase of faith and at least keep you at a low faith level, that is a consolation prize evil will accept, but if this stagnation is unacceptable and faith is increased, then evil will certainly try it’s hand.
Some may think that attacks or attempts by evil is to be avoided, well allow me to say that this cannot be avoided. Free will includes the freedom to act and everything that has the power to choose has that freedom. The teachings of this Church has always been to strengthen oneself in faith and spiritual knowledge and avoid committing sin, but no where is it taught that we can avoid evil. It is in fact the contrary, we cannot avoid it, we have to face it or stand against it. When I realized this I chose to understand evil after it tries it’s hand. I ask the Father in prayer as to why certain things happened and asked for more knowledge and skill in dealing with evil, because most of the attacks by evil have been spiritual, not temporal. Therefore the skill to defend against evil must also be spiritual and faith is at root of that defence.
What I found is that when an understanding of evil is gained, a person’s faith is deepened in the Lord because this understanding does not come from evil, it comes by the Spirit or by the Holy Ghost. As a result, the ability to stand stronger against evil occurs and my personal testimony is strengthened. Allow me to give an example.
Years ago, before I was became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I was attacked by evil while I was asleep. During the attack, everything became very dark around me and I could barely breath and could hardly speak. I finally called out for help and the evil that gripped me left. Years later, when the missionaries were giving their lessons in preparation for me to join this Church, I learned that Joseph Smith experienced the same gripping evil as I had. That past experience with evil and realization about Joseph Smith allowed me to direct my faith into the right direction, toward the Lord’s Church. Essentially, it gave me the power to make a spiritual choice and as a result, without realizing it at that time, my faith was strengthened.
The ability to make “correct” spiritual choices is important. Just think about how many people have made bad spiritual choices in relation to faith and have no clue they made a bad choice. When I listened to their claims, their testimonies, I see they lacked understanding. Not only the lack of understanding of God’s word, but a sore lack of understanding of evil. We see this in the world as well. People making bad choices, in a worldly sense, because of a poor understanding of something and as a result, problems or bad things happen. The same can happen if a person has little or no understanding of evil, because they are then prone to evil’s deceitful influences.
This Church has taught that whether it be the spirits in the heavens or evil spirits in hell, all must abide by the rules or laws that govern them or in reference to evil, the laws that restrict them. By learning these things, differences are learned as to what evil can and cannot do.
When a person does not know these differences between good and evil, then he/she is prone to fall into darkness and evil without realizing it. The absence of knowledge and understanding of evil is a determent to faith and spiritual development. As God said, salvation cannot occur in ignorance, which not only refers to knowledge of God’s word and his laws, but it also refers to an understanding of what evil is about. After all, how else can we learn the godly knowledge of good and evil without it?
Experiences with evil allowed me to understand the fruits of sin and wickedness because I saw what evil gained (or lost) by it. This deepened my testimony of this Church, the restored gospel and of Jesus Christ because those experiences allowed me to see the differences between light and darkness. Once these things are learned, even line by line, a resolve is established within that says to the effect, “Why would I succumb to evil and wickedness when I know what darkness and evil feels like?”
To be able to make connections between the temptations in the world and that of evil and darkness is what deepens and strengthens faith, because it gives faith a base and purpose to overcome evil. What I realized is that faith is not only to keep us with God, it is also a tool or weapon against evil, much like the sword of justice. A developed and strengthened faith is a powerful tool to use when faced with evil and it is a thick shield that offers a lot of protection. Take a look at how Jesus acted and responded to Satan during his 40 day fast in the desert. The responses from Jesus was faith used as a tool or weapon against evil.
As the authorities of this Church said, we are in a spiritual war. When looking at how a war is fought, it is necessary to know the enemy. It is imperative to gain knowledge, skill and experience in order to be a sturdy successful soldier. To achieve this requires an understanding of evil, what it is about, what it is like, what it feels like, so that better judgements are made between right and wrong when faced with the deceitfulness of evil.
Jesus succeeded because he was prepared. We also must do our part to prepare ourselves. This says that we do NOT seek evil, nor ask for it, but trust that God will lead you to the necessary experiences to train and prepare you. This we must leave in God’s hands and we place our faith and trust in him.
It is the process of developing our spirituality and faith that we can learn, understand and recognize evil, to see the wolf in sheep’s clothing and if necessary, sound the alarm.
Amen
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