Sunday Lesson

Sunday's lesson was #18 Stay on the Lord's Side of the Line given by Julee Schneider

George Albert Smith often repeated the counsel of his grandfather George A Smith of "there is a line of demarcation well defined between the Lord's territory and the devil's territory. If you stay on the Lord's side of the line you will be under His influence and will have no desire to do wrong; but if you cross to the devil's side one inch, you are in the tempter's power and you will have lost the spirit of the Lord." He would ask himself when he had a choice to make "which side of the line am I on." All safety, righteousness and happiness are found on the Lord's side of the line.

The world would have us believe that the Lord won't really require us to follow those commandments and teachings of the prophets and that we can do as we please, but we know that the result of living our lives as we please will be the loss of the Holy Spirit.

President Smith used to think that all those rules and laws were a way to punish us if we messed up, but he soon came to realize that the Lord blesses us in our obedience and is the only way to true happiness and peace in our lives.

The adversary will make every attempt to influence us to turn from God and destroy our happiness. None of us are free from temptation and the way will not always be easy. Satan will tirelessly and carefully try to lead us down a path of destruction and Nephi saw our day and the tactics that Satan would use. The scriptures can give us guidance in our day to day lives in how to overcome these temptations of the adversary. When we make a commitment to stay on the side of the Lord and strengthen one another and associate with others with a similar determination, we are able to live by the influence of the Holy Ghost. God allows us to choose which side we will be on and He will never forsake us when we choose to stay on the Lord's side.