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“Who is your constant companion?” was the question posed by
Elder Fraser Bullock, Area Authority Seventy, in his devotional
address to Brigham Young University-Idaho students on Tuesday,
September 20.
“We should strive to keep an eternal perspective in mind as we
move through life’s varied experiences. We can easily get
distracted with all the commotion about us and get pulled into
the day-to-day enticements of the world. We should ask
ourselves, ‘Who is our constant companion?’ Is it the world, or
is it the Spirit? The answer to the question can, in large part,
determine our ultimate destiny,” Elder Bullock said.
Elder Bullock discussed how Satan sends the message that there’s
too much to do to fit in daily scripture study and just going to
church on Sunday is okay. “Being passive in our spiritual
pursuits is a victory of the adversary,” Elder Bullock said. “It
is not enough to take a casual approach to our divine destiny
that all will be okay.”
Another weapon used by Satan is distraction.
“Through the constant barrage of the TV, the videos, the
Bluetooth cell phones, the I-pods, the Internet, the satellite
radio, the CD players, we receive a constant infiltration from
the declining moral standards of the world and can fall victim
to its message,” he said.
He warned that the Spirit can’t break through all those barriers
and how important it is to live worthy to receive the Spirit and
His promptings.
Elder Bullock then counseled with students on ways to have the
Spirit as a constant companion. He suggested a daily devotional
to “sup from the word of God, ponder the things of life and then
approach Him in earnest prayer.”
He continued by reminding students of the challenge given by
President Gordon B. Hinckley to read the Book of Mormon by the
end of the year. He added that reading the Book of Mormon as
part of a daily devotional could “build a stronger spiritual
connection to the Lord that is essential to move forward
spiritually.”
Elder Bullock quoted President Hinckley, who said, “We live in a
world of rush and go, of running here and there and in every
direction. We are very busy people. We have so much to do. We
need to get off by ourselves spiritually…Get by yourself and
think of things of the Lord, or things of the Spirit…Think of
the things of God. Just meditate and reflect for an hour about
yourself and your relations to your Heavenly Father and your
Redeemer. It will do something for you.”
Along with a daily devotional and reading the Book of Mormon,
Elder Bullock advised students to think of the Savior walking
beside them and how they would act. “We can utilize this
approach in fighting temptation. It bears similarity to having
the Spirit with us, and to help guide and direct us,” he said.
President David O. McKay once said that as Satan is resisted, he
becomes weaker and individuals arrive at a point there their
“souls might bask in the light of the Holy Spirit.”
Elder Bullock taught that basking in the light of the Holy
Spirit brings many blessings including knowing the right path to
take, having the Spirit guide through out all aspects of life,
receiving gifts of the Spirit and having a Comforter at all
times of need.
Elder Bullock concluded by saying, “Let us each have a daily
devotional to keep that eternal perspective we need and to have
the Spirit as our constant companion. With this foundation, we
can avoid the pitfalls of the world and be better prepared for
the difficult challenges when they come. Ultimately, we can then
experience the eternal happiness the Father and the Son have
made available, all dependent upon us.”
Next week’s devotional speaker will be Brother John Ivers,
Associate Dean of the Foreign Language Department at BYU-Idaho.
Devotionals are held Tuesdays at 2 p.m. in the Hart Auditorium
with additional seating in the Hinckley Chapel, Taylor Chapel
and Kirkham Auditorium. Devotionals are broadcast on KBYI-FM
100.5 at 2 p.m. and rebroadcast Tuesdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays
at 5 p.m. |