He Did Deliver Me from Bondage
by Colleen C. Harrison
O How Great is the Nothingness of the Children of Men (Helaman 12:7) – Part 2
Read the Preface Here
Read Part One Here
Step One: Admitted that we of ourselves are powerless, nothing without God. (Mosiah 4:5; Alma 26:12)
Principle One: I of myself am powerless-nothing without God.
TOTAL BANKRUPTCY
For the natural man is an enemy to God [lives in ways that separate himself from God and His true principles], and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever. (Mosiah 3:19)
Here’s another one of those scriptures that we avoid likening to ourselves personally by applying it generally to all of humanity. It’s too bad when we use this kind of generalization. This scripture, like all others, does not have power to change our personal lives until we read it for ourselves, applying it to ourselves individually. (For I, ____________ [insert your name here], when I am turning away from God, living on my own resources, thinking I have some power outside of what He gives me, am choosing to behave like a “natural man” type of person. I have had the potential and freedom to choose that way from the time of my own personal fall when I left heaven and came to earth. Now, as a mortal, I am powerless to restore my former oneness with Him and with my eternal family in heaven. And besides that, I can’t even quit using my addiction without His grace and power.)
Therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls. (Mosiah 3:25; emphasis added)
Therefore, I had drunk (or in my case, eaten) damnation to my own soul-behaving in a way that blocked my spiritual growth. This damnation, or bondage, is the inevitable result of a life run on self-will and self-reliance.
And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. (Mosiah 4:2)
The day had to finally come for me when I was willing to admit I was in that completely powerless situation of nothingness.
Even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness. and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility. (Mosiah 4:11)
For behold, are we not all beggars? (Mosiah 4:19)
It’s tempting to consider it some kind of cruel fate that God would require us to come unto Him-and when we do, to have our own nothingness “rubbed in our face.” With that to look forward to, why even go? Who wants such a helping of humble pie? Practically no one. Little do we realize that while we resist this admittance of total bankruptcy, the Lord Jesus Christ has enough mercy and grace to make up for all our shortcomings. He only awaits our thorough and fearless admittance of need. Hear His tender affirmation of this:
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. For if they will humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. (Ether 12:27)
Speaking of those who would inherit the promised land, the Lord said:
And except they repent and turn to the Lord their God, behold, I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies; yea, and they shall be brought into bondage; and they shall be afflicted by the hand of their enemies. (Mosiah 11:21)
Until the fateful day of September 11, 2001, we who have been born and grown to adulthood in the United States of America had no idea there were vicious and merciless enemies in our midst. The closest most of us have come is the little girl in sixth grade who enjoyed hating us as much as we did her; or maybe the neighbor who didn’t keep a confidence we once shared. Under these circumstances we have been lulled into a slumber of complacency.
Most of us are just as ignorant or complacent towards the “enemies” of our spiritual life-our fears, resentments, guilt and sorrows-as we were of our physical enemies. We choose to hide in various compulsive or addictive behaviors rather than confront them. These retreats from the battle line of reality eat away at our sanity and our security and make us our own-and our loved ones-worst enemy. Just as in the time of Captain Moroni, the enemies within our hearts are our greatest threat.
While we here in the United States were spared for over two hundred years from the attacks of outside enemies, we were free to become a people who could pay attention to the deadly enemies of the human spirit-our fears, resentments, guilt, and bitterness of heart. Instead, far too many of us spent most of our discretionary time and money on the “things of this world.” It is my prayer that it is not too late for us to repent (turn again) to the Lord God of this land, even Jesus Christ (Ether 2:12).
CONCLUSION:100% Powerless without god
And there was no way that they could deliver themselves out of their hands. (Mosiah 21:5)
For I am unworthy to glory of myself. (Mosiah 23:11)
And were it not for the interposition of their all-wise Creator,.they must unavoidably remain in bondage until now. (Mosiah 29:19; emphasis added)
Here are three more scriptures to “liken unto ourselves” if we want them to really speak to us. Blending them together, we might hear them say: There is no way, child, that you can deliver yourself from your enemies-your fear, your anger, and your guilt-that you are attempting to avoid by using your addiction. Avoidance is not deliverance. Of yourself you are unworthy and have no glory or power. Until you realize that it is the power of Christ and His atonement and grace that is “sufficient for you” (Moroni 10:32), you will remain in bondage, having no power of yourself to free yourself.
We must all come to a place where we realize the following as Ammon did:
Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my own strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself. (Alma 26:12)
I behold that ye are lowly in heart; and if so, blessed are ye. (Alma 32:8; emphasis added)
And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy. (Alma 32:13)
In this last verse God reveals to us plainly His motive in allowing us to be afflicted by our own sins or the sins of another: He is trying to bring us to a place where we are so “bottomed out” in the depths of humility that we will finally give up hope on any other sources except Him, and turn from reliance on “the arm of flesh,” whether it’s our own or someone else’s. He can’t give us all that He has unless we repent (which means simply to turn again to Him). He can’t cross our agency and just make us be humble, so the only resort He has is to allow us to be buffeted and to suffer until we are ready to turn to Him.
For he beheld that their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word. (Alma 32:6)
We face two kinds of afflictions in this world: those that come upon us seemingly without our choice or foreknowledge, and those we bring upon ourselves by our own choices. One way or the other, all afflictions are for only one purpose: to bring us to Christ, for He is “the word,” and the only name whereby salvation cometh.
Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name. (Helaman 3:27; emphasis added)
The key phrase here is “sincerity of their hearts.” If we are rigorously honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we have really prayed “in the sincerity of our hearts” (with real heartfelt emotion) only when something so big and so traumatic was happening-a loved one was dying, for instance-that we knew we had no other resort except God. On those occasions we prayed as if every word, every emotion, was being ripped straight out of our deepest, most central inner place-our hearts.
Only when we can get up every day of our lives and admit our own powerlessness in the same manner we do in the face of death will we have come to realize the truth as these scriptures have been trying to convey it to us.
ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK:
1. Think and pray about being willing to attend a Twelve Step meeting if it’s possible to do so, and take part in the sharing time. It is the tradition in Twelve Step meetings that each person who so desires may have a turn to share his or her thoughts, feelings, and insights without interruption or comment from others. A great deal of learning goes on, in the same spirit described in the following quote from the Prophet Joseph Smith, found in Truman Madsen’s book Joseph Smith the Prophet (p. 84):
First, they were not simply to listen to one speaker. A teacher was to be appointed, said the revelation, and “let not all be spokesmen at once; but let one speak at a time, and let all listen to his sayings, that when all have spoken that all may be edified of all, and that every man may have an equal privilege.”
A beautiful teaching principle: the need for each person present to participate, contributing his or her insight and experience on a given theme.
2. Call another member of the Twelve Step program you have chosen to attend (or a good friend) and share something you’ve thought or felt as you’ve done your reading, scripture study, and capturing. These “reach out” calls are some of the most powerful services we can give in a Twelve Step program.
3. Be willing to teach your spouse, child, parent, or close friend some of these ideas if the comfortable opportunity presents itself. As you teach by the Spirit, you will find that you learn more every time you rehearse the material.
Preparation for discussion of principle Two: “I GLORY IN MY JESUS” (2 Nephi 33:6)
Step 2: Came to believe that God has all power and all wisdom and that in His strength we can do all things. (Mosiah 4:9; Alma 26:12)
Day 1:_ 2 Nephi 2:2-One element of the greatness of God is His ability and desire to consecrate our afflictions for our gain. Look up the meaning of the word consecrate in the dictionary. Write the definition in your journal. Write about the afflictions that have come into your life. Keep in mind that afflictions can be trials, heartaches, or illnesses, anything that causes you pain and distress, including your own mistakes. How have you seen the consecrating power of God applied to these afflictions?
Day 2:_ 2 Nephi 4:19-Nephi, a prophet of God, humbly admits to God that he is harassed by temptation and sin. Why do you think God wanted him to record this and then allowed it to be preserved and handed down to us? Who is it that has strengthened Nephi? Who has he learned to trust? What do you think it is that he trusts the Lord can do for him? Can you trust that the Lord has enough mercy and power to redeem even you? Why?
Day 3:_ 2 Nephi 33:6–I glory in _________, I glory in _________, I glory in my _________, for he hath redeemed my soul from _________. Copy this scripture into your journal, filling in the blanks. Hell is a state of being “dead” or “damned.” Addictions put us in hell on earth. Our spirits feel dead or stopped from growth. Write about a behavior that you keep repeating that keeps you from growing and being a progressively better you. Who is it that Nephi assures us has power to get us out of our personal hell?
Day 4:_ Mosiah 4:6-I often say that I believe in the goodness of God, but when it comes right down to believing that this goodness is extended to me by my Savior I lose my faith. I would ask you in the words of King Benjamin “if you have come to a knowledge of the _________ of God, and his matchless _________, and his _________ and his _________ and his _________ towards [you]“? Has this happened to you? Describe how this belief (or lack of it) impacts your life and influences your compulsive/addictive behaviors.
Day 5:_ Mosiah 4:8-Salvation means to save or preserve something precious. Christ’s atonement is His testimony to us of how precious we are to Him and to the Father. Keep track today of some of the little ways, the positive coincidences, the tiny blessings that demonstrate your preciousness. At the end of the day, record a few in your journal. If you do not honestly feel precious before Him, speak to Him, in writing, of your honest feelings.
Day 6:_ Mosiah 11:23-When we are under the influence of any addiction, one way to describe our situation is to say that we are in _________. Is our addiction really the primary sin we need to repent of, or is it just a symptom? According to Abinadi, what is the true root of sin?
Day 7:_ Alma 24:10-Capture this scripture for yourself. What does it teach you personally? Freedom from the bondage of addiction is a gift from God. Here Alma thanks God for three great gifts. What are they? Write about them in your own words.
He Did Deliver Me from Bondage can be found at most LDS bookstores or purchased online at www.rosehavenpublishing.com
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