MASH: Modern Army Serving Heaven

 We had youth conference this week. Our theme was Modern Army Serving Heaven and our scripture was 2 Timothy 2: 3..."Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."  I shared thoughts in our opening devotional.  Here's what I shared:

Our theme for youth conference is MASH...Modern Army Serving Heaven.  Have you ever thought about being part of the army of God?  This may be phrased in a few different ways but we HAVE been taught this principle.   In 2 Timothy 2: 3 we read, "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."   I think this is telling us that life is going to contain challenges and struggles...hurdles we must overcome.  But with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as our generals, leading us through the battles of life, we can overcome these challenges.  In a familiar song we sing 

Behold! A royal army, 

With banner, sword, and shield, 

Is marching forth to conquer 

On life’s great battlefield. 

Its ranks are filled with soldiers, 

United, bold, and strong, 

Who follow their Commander 

And sing their joyful song 

Victory, victory, 

Thru him that redeemed us! 

Victory, victory, 

Thru Jesus Christ, our Lord! 

This week we will sing about being as the armies of Helaman.  In another hymn, we sing "We are all enlisted till the conflict is o'er." President Nelson has invited us to join the Lord's youth battalion.  The wording may be different but each of these things relates back to us being engaged in a conflict. 

That conflict began long ago, before we came to Earth.  We lived in the premortal world with our Heavenly Parents and with our elder brother, the Savior.  We were taught by them.  We had agency.   The spirits of our Heavenly Parents were gathered together in a Grand Council where Heavenly Father presented the plan of salvation and the need for us to come to Earth.  The adversary, also called Lucifer or Satan or the devil, rebelled against Heavenly Father.  He wanted to rid us of agency and he said, "I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor."  (Moses 4:1)  There was a war in heaven and "a third part of the hosts of heaven" (D&C 29:36) followed Satan.   That war that began so long ago continues today, here on Earth.  Satan still wants to "destroy the agency of man" (Moses 4:3) and he "seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." (2 Nephi 2:27)   There is a war raging all around us, a war over good and evil, right and wrong, freedom and captivity.  The unusual thing about this war is that the end is already known; the Lord will be victorious!  President Benson said, "Each day the forces of evil adn the forces of good enlist new recruits.  Each day we  personally make many decisions showing the cause we support.  The final outcome is certain -the forces of righteousness will win.  But what remains to be seen is where each of us personally, now and in the future, will stand in this battle-and how tall we will stand.  Will we be true to our last days and fulfill our foreordained missions?" 

WHEN I was a teenager there was an LDS movie that I watched over and over called Saturday's Warrior.  It was remade a few years ago so maybe some of you have seen it.  In case you haven't...it begins with a family and a few of their friends in the premortal existence.  These family members and friends loved each other and made promises to help one another on Earth.  Now I don't know if that's quite how it worked but Sister Nelson said, "The only thing that really matters is that you and I are doing exactly what we committed--even covenanted premortally with our Heavenly Father we would do while we are here on earth.  So, let me ask you a question:  what were you born to do?   How I wish you could watch a 10-minute video of your premortal life on Youtube."  Unfortunately, that is impossible but we do know that we made covenants with our Heavenly Father and that we were sent here at this time to accomplish specific tasks.   

But going back to Saturday's Warriors.  Did you notice the name of the movie?  Warriors.  Most of the movie takes place on Earth and the characters that we met in the premortal life are now here on Earth fighting difficult battles.     Each character faces their own unique challenges...just as we do. One has the gospel but he's not sure he believes it is true and he makes some friends that are a bad influence on him.  It seems--at least for a time--that he may lose the war against sin and become trapped by his poor choices. One has been searching all his life for the truth, but doesn't know where to find it. He is a talented artist and at one point, he is sitting in a park and sings a song about wishing he knew who he was. 

I take some paper on my hand 
And with a pencil draw a man 
The dream of what I'd really, really like to be 
A man with courage in his brow 
Who;'s licked his doubts and fears somehow 
A warrior of great nobility 
But who am I? Just a wandering kid 
A cipher on the wall, not even brave at all! 
And where's my dream like his that I would fight for? 
And where's my cause like his that I would die for? 
And in his eyes he's not a afraid 
Because you see he's got it made 
The dream of what I'd really, really like to be 
A brave and noble, fiery youth 
Who's not afraid to die for truth 
Who's tall and straight, but best of all he's free!  

He wants to know what his cause is that is worth fighting for.  Maybe you do too.   At the end even though he wants to know who he is, he worries that even if he tries, he'll just strike out or fail. 

One of the adversary's greatest attacks is against our feelings of worth.  If he can convince us that we are worthless or that we'll fail or that we have already messed up so badly that we can't fix it, then he can likely get us to fall into sin and despair. 

But here's the thing...we do know who we are. 

In the opening song in Saturday's Warrior it has some of my favorite lyrics ever: 

 
 

Who are these children coming down, Coming down like gentle rain through darkened skies, With glory trailing from their feet as they go, and endless promise in their eyes? Who are these young ones growing tall, growing strong, Like silver trees against the storm? They will not bend with the wind or the change, But stand to fight the world alone. [Chorus:] These are the few, the warriors saved for Saturday. To come the last day of the world, these are they, on Saturday. These are the strong, the warriors rising in their might, to win the battle raging in the hearts of men on Saturday. Strangers from a realm of light who have forgotten all: The memory of their former life, the purpose of their call. And so they must learn why they're here and who they really are. They must learn why they're here and who they are. [Chorus] In their sun-bright armor, they march forth to conquer all And hold their swords ablaze with fire and watch the darkness fall, But first they must learn why they're here and who they really are. They must learn why they're here and who they are. 
 

It keeps referring to Saturday...because we live in the time shortly before Christ comes again.  And YOU are these youth ...the strong, the warriors rising in their might to win the battle raging in the hearts of men on Saturday.  YOu are strangers from a realm of light who have forgotten all...and you must learn (or really remember) who you are and why you're here.   

Fortunately, you don't have to do that alone.  YOu have parents and leaders who can help you to see and learn who you are.   You have received or will receive a patriarchal blessing that will help you understand more of your mission and your unique gifts and talents.  And we have a prophet that has given beautiful teachings to help you know who you are. 

Let me read just a few of the things President Nelson has said about you in the worldwide devotional for youth in June of 2018. 

 

"Our Heavenly Father has reserved many of his most noble spirits--perhaps I might say, His finest team--for this final phase.  Those noble spirits--those finest players, those heroes (or this week we might say...those soldiers)--are you." 

 

"You are the hope of Israel, children of the Promised Day!" 

An interesting fact I just learned last week...Do you know what the name Israel means?   Israel means "one who prevails with God" or "soldier of God"...so when we say we are the children of Israel, we are saying we are the soldiers of God.  When we gather Israel through missionary work or temple and family history work, we are gathering more soldiers...we are helping more people to prevail (win!) with God's help.  Isn't that exciting?  Don't you want to be a part of that? 

"My dear extraordinary youth, you were sent to earth at this precise time, the most crucial time in the history of the world, to help gather Israel.  There is nothing happening on this earth right now that is more important than that.  There is nothing of greater consequence.  Absolutely nothing.  This gathering should mean EVERYTHING to you.  This is the mission for which you were sent to Earth." 

 One thing that helps me to have greater faith now is to realize that I knew and understood these things before when I was in God's presence.  Knowing that I believed and had faith and chose to follow Christ then makes it easier for me to make those same choices now.   

"Gaining a testimony isn’t about learning something new or even finding something that you’ve never known. It’s about understanding your divine identity and remembering the things that you’ve always known to be true."--Kevin Pearson 

How do I know who I am?   How do I remember that when challenges come or when the world tries to make me forget who I am?  One thing that helps me is knowing who the leaders in my battle are.  I know the young women have heard me say this before...but I have spent a lot of time studying the Godhead and learning as much as possible about Heavenly Father, the Savior and the Holy Ghost.  There are a lot of things in life that I don't understand...and I have a lot of questions.  So many questions!  BUt I know that my leaders, my generals can be trusted.  I know that as well as I know ANYTHING.  I know I have loving Heavenly Parents and a loving Elder Brother...and so when I am struggling or uncertain I know I can turn to them.  I know this because I have invested time in studying and prayer. 

 
 

In addition, when I begin to struggle to feel and recognize my own worth, I often turn to my patriarchal blessing. It brings such great comfort and direction to me. 

Another thing that really helps me is that I am not the only soldier on this battlefield.  We are not alone fighting this battle.  Of course, we have help from our generals.  But there are also many good soldiers all around us. You have leaders and parents that want so much to help you fight these battles and gain victory.  If you choose good friends, they will help you to make good choices and when you begin to have self-doubts they will remind you of how brave and strong and good you are.  I am SO very blessed to have friends like that...friends that believe I am even better than I really am...who see the best in me and who encourage me to become even better.   

I bear testimony that you are youth of a noble birthright...you are divine sons and daughters of God.  You ARE courageous and strong and you have a cause that is worth fighting for!   Choose now to always fight on the side of the Savior and then your victory is assured.  You are so deeply loved.