Fight “In the Strength of the Lord” and Lay Siege to Satan

Come Follow Me September 7-13

In a jaw dropping epistle, Giddianhi, the leader of the Gadianton Robbers, writes the following epistle to the Governor of the Land, Lachoneus,

“And it seemeth a pity unto me, most noble Lachoneus, that ye should be so foolish and vain as to suppose that ye can stand against so many brave men who are at my command, who do now at this time stand in their arms, and do await with great anxiety for the word–Go down upon the Nephites and destroy them. … I write unto you, desiring that ye would yield up unto this my people, your cities, your lands, and your possessions, rather than that they should visit you with the sword and that destruction should come upon you.”

3 Nephi 3:3, 6

Lachoneus was not frightened and devised a brilliant strategy preparing for the upcoming war. The Gadiantons depended on robbing and stealing for their existence. Rather than fighting city to city, Lachoneus gathered the people in one land with their crops, animals, and possessions, leaving the land bare. They had brought seven years worth of provisions. His strategy is a reverse siege.

Effective and devastating, sieges have been used throughout history. One example is the Siege of Leningrad.

World War II’s Siege of Leningrad stands as a chilling reminder of the toll a military blockade can take on a civilian population. German forces first reached the city in 1941 … the Nazis made no serious attempts to take Leningrad by force. Instead, Adolf Hitler opted for a brutal alternative—laying siege and starving the city into submission. The 3 million inhabitants of Leningrad had been caught unprepared and lacked sufficient supplies for a prolonged standoff. In addition to daily bombardments by the Luftwaffe, they were soon forced to contend with extreme hunger, freezing temperatures and disease. People ate everything from wallpaper paste to shoe leather to supplement their meager bread rations, and some even resorted to cannibalism. … By the time the city was finally freed by the Red Army, an estimated 1 million Soviets—most of them civilians—had perished.

https://www.history.com/news/7-brutal-sieges

Being unprepared, lacking supplies, weather, and constant attacks led to disaster in Leningrad. In contrast, by centralizing resources, Lachoneus starved the Gadiantons, putting them in a weakened state when they came to war. Most important, through repentance and prayer, they were entitled to fight with the strength of the Lord.

Using the same pattern, we can lay siege to Satan by denying him power over us while gaining power to fight “In the strength of the Lord”.

We are not capable of overcoming Satan alone. Because he remembers the premortal existence, he may know things about us that even we do not yet understand. Therefore, we must pray continually for the sustaining help of our Heavenly Father in overcoming his influence …. The devil has no power over us only as we permit him,” the Prophet Joseph Smith said. “The moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power.” … A change of heart and a will to live righteously can bind Satan now. In the Book of Mormon, we find accounts of those who had received a mighty change in their hearts and could say, “We have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually”.

A Shield against Evil
By Clyde J. Williams

Gather Together

We can deny Satan our power by gathering. Today we are gathering in our families. In January of 2019, we began practicing home-centered curriculum. As explained by Elder Quentin L. Cook, it is “meant to prepare the Lord’s people for His return.” If we have children or grandchildren, are we taking advantage of the time to teach our children rather than having the world teach them? We may look back on this time as having been a blessing and a critical time to fortifying them for days to come. If you do not have family at home, you can gather virtually with friends or family not living with you.

“The new home-centered, Church-supported integrated curriculum has the potential to unleash the power of families, as each family follows through conscientiously and carefully to transform their home into a sanctuary of faith.” —President Russell M. Nelson

President Russell M. Nelson

Build Strong Fortifications and Post an Army

Each stake is a defense and a refuge and a standard. A stake is self-contained with all that is needed for the salvation and exaltation of those who would come within its influence, and temples are ever closer.

A Defense and a Refuge
Boyd K. Packer
Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Lachoneus erected extremely strong fortifications and posted an army around them. We can deny Satan power by fortifying ourselves and our families. How we do this may be different for each of us, but we all start at the same place. What is lacking in our relationship with Jesus Christ? He stands ready to provide the army and fight our battles.

We must fortify ourselves. That sure spiritual fortification is found in two words—Jesus Christ.

We Will Not Yield, We Cannot Yield
Elder W. Craig Zwick
Of the First Quorum of the Seventy

Repent and Pray for Deliverance

We cannot gain priesthood power without daily prayer and daily repentance. Because the Nephites spiritually prepared through repentance and prayer, when the Gadianton Robbers came, they were able to meet them, “In the strength of the Lord”.

‘“… great and terrible was the appearance of the armies of Giddianhi, … the armies of the Nephites, when they saw the appearance of the army of Giddianhi, had all fallen to the earth, and did lift their cries to the Lord their God, that he would spare them and deliver them out of the hands of their enemies. … when the armies of Giddianhi saw this they began to shout with a loud voice, because of their joy, for they had supposed that the Nephites had fallen with fear because of the terror of their armies. But in this thing they were disappointed, for the Nephites did not fear them; but they did fear their God and did supplicate him for protection; therefore, when the armies of Giddianhi did rush upon them they were prepared to meet them; yea, in the strength of the Lord they did receive them.”

Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 4:7-10

Every small change we make to turn us to God lessens the power we give to Satan. It is easy to be overwhelmed with the rapidly devolving and changing circumstances in our world. However, we are right where we are supposed to be.

But let me clarify a distinguishing characteristic about your identity.  You are the children whom God chose to be part of His battalion during this great climax in the longstanding battle between good and evil—between truth and error.  I would not be surprised if, when the veil is lifted in the next life, we learn that you actually pled with our Heavenly Father to be reserved for now. I would not be surprised to learn that premortally, you loved the Lord so much that you promised to defend His name and gospel during this world’s tumultuous winding-up scenes. 

President Russell M. Nelson
BYU Devotional
Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019.

This week, what is the one small change you will make to be able to fight “In the strength of the Lord” and lay siege to Satan by denying him your power?