Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read that in spite of Nephi seeing the great goodness of the Lord and having His great and marvelous words revealed to him, he sorrowed because of his own iniquities. He was encompassed about with temptations and his heart groaned because of his sins. However, he still trusted in the Lord and acknowledged that God had been his support through his afflictions in the wilderness and had preserved him while traveling through the ocean. He had heard his prayers by day and given him knowledge by visions at night.   2 Nephi 4:17-23 "Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities. I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me. And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.  He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.  He hath confounded mine enemies, unto the causing of them to quake before me. Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the night-time."

In the Old Testament we read that the penalty for adultery was death.  Even though this is no longer the case as far as physical death is concerned, we can see from this how serious this offense is in the sight of God and we can also know that adultery still brings spiritual death. Deuteronomy 22:22 "If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel."

A verse with a thought booklet tells us to pray that we will not to fall into temptation.  The Lord really can help us resist temptation and avoid doing things we shouldn't be doing, if we'll ask for His help.  The story is told of a woman who was meeting an old friend for lunch--someone she used to attend church with but hadn't seen for several years, since the woman moved away. As she was sitting in the restaurant waiting for her friend to arrive, she thought of several juicy stories she could tell the woman about negative things that had happened to members of her church since her friend had moved away. But she knew it wasn't right to gossip so she said a silent prayer that she'd be able to resist passing on the negative stories. After her prayer, several women from her church walked in and ended up sitting at the table right next to her.  There was no way she could sneak in the gossippy stories with them sitting within earshot!  The Lord really does answer our prayers!  Luke 22:40 "And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation."