Wax Strong in the Spirit

Since my last post I have been clean both body and mind.  I have not had any desire to look at pornography.   I have been studying in the scriptures about the Spirit.  I prayed this morning to learn more about how to receive the Spirit stronger in my life.  I read in the scriptures about the story of Alma the elder and when he was teaching the people during the reign of King Noah.  He taught them something that I had not noticed before.  In Mosiah 18:26 Alma teaches, "[a]nd the priests were not to depend upon the people for their support; but for their labor they were to receive the grace of God, that they might wax strong in the Spirit, having the knowledge of God, that they might teach with power and authority from God." (emphasis added)  I had always looked at the section of that verse that talked about the priests not receiving any support from the people.  It was next part that surprised me, "for their labor they were to receive the grace of God, that they might wax strong in the Spirit."  You must labor in the kingdom for the opportunity to receive the Spirit stronger in your life.  I testify that is true.  

Examples of the strength of Spirit
Let's look at some examples of this for a minute.  

Missionaries
Today, we had a returned missionary speak in sacrament meeting.  For the missionary who is obedient to the mission rules and follows the counsel of God and their Mission President, the Spirit is stronger in them then most any other person on earth.  They have their whole "might, mind, and strength" focused on the work of the Lord, on building the kingdom of God on earth.  I could see this in the face and hear it in the words of the returned missionary as he spoke.  He gave examples of experiences that required great faith and required the Spirit to be very strong with him to be guided to do some of the things and perform some of the miracles which were done during his missionary service.


The Leaders of the Church
The one group of people that compare in the strength of the Spirit to the missionaries are our leaders.  Just look at the Prophet and the Apostles.  Their focus in on building the kingdom of God.  As they spend tireless hours working towards this end, the Spirit of God grows stronger and stronger in them each and everyday.  As I did with the returned missionary I heard today, you can see and hear how strong the Spirit is in our leaders when you watch General Conference.  We will all have an opportunity to be a part of this next weekend.


Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of this.  He devoted his whole life to building His Father's kingdom as it is His kingdom as well.  He labored unceasingly to do His Father's will.  The Holy Ghost was so strong with the Savior that He always knew what the will of His Father was and had the strength to do it, no matter what the cost.


If we are truly to be able to have the strength to overcome the addiction to pornography and do our Father's will, we must have the Spirit with us.  In order to have the Spirit with us, we must labor in the vineyard.  By laboring in the vineyard, the Spirit will grow stronger and stronger in us which we will enable us to overcome temptation.  


We cannot do it alone.  Only with the help of God through the influence of the Holy Spirit can we reach our potential and overcome our addiction.

Remember, Remember...

I almost forgot, or maybe tried to forget, about this blog.  A comment that was left on my last blog post helped to bring it back to my memory.  I also remembered why I started this blog in the first place.  I needed this blog so I can share my triumphs and my failures and to get comments from other people, as in the latest comment that was posted.  I have felt that it is a responsibility of mine to help others (and myself) overcome the addiction to pornography.  I have not been doing my job.  The important thing for me is that I follow the promptings of the Spirit.  As I do that, the Spirit will grow stronger within me.  That Spirit is what will allow me to withstand and eventually overcome my addiction to pornography. 

Making Progress

It is amazing to me that no matter how much a person might know (namely myself) about pornography and how to fight it. It doesn't make it any easier to stop looking at it. I guess I did make some progress though. I have done extremely well since my last post, which was on Sunday, October 12, 2008. I think part of that was due to the strong impact that my answered prayer had on me and part due to the fact that for half the week I was on vacation at my parents and at the in-laws where there was little to no access to the internet. Today was my first day back to work since last Wednesday. I was tired and probably bored, trying to think of something to do before I left for home. That caused my eyes and mind to wander. I looked for about ten minutes at what I consider soft porn. There was no nudity but there was women what very little clothing on.

I was beginning to go down that funnel and starting thinking about other websites I could go to that would give me the information I desired. I then had another thought. I needed to pull myself out of this funnel immediately. I went to my blog and watched the video "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" from YouTube that was on my last post. It is amazing how the Holy Spirit overpowered the weakness of the flesh. I came out of the funnel and an immediate impression that I needed to post this experience. In some way, I pray that this experience can give others hope that there is a chance for anyone to slowly but surely overcome and change your brain's habits from sexual addiction to something more wholesome and good.