There are several good talks in this session, but the one that affected me the most this week was Elder W. Craig Zwick’s talk, “We Will Not Yield, We Cannot Yield.”

When I was a young girl discussions in church were often about what it would be like to live in the very last days, before Christ’s coming. We would hear people say something to the effect of, “Would you deny the church if someone put a gun to your head?” The idea being, what is it going to take for you to agree to saying the church is false, or that God is dead, or Jesus Christ won’t save you. In the very last days we supposed we would be faced with this form of attack and we would need to be ready. 

And here we are, the very last days. People aren’t going around with guns forcing us to deny our faith, necessarily, but they are filling our minds with enough doubt that several of us are denying the faith and falling off the Covenant Path.

Elder Zwick shares the story of a teenage boy who is confronted by his friends.  

Ethan was feeling bombarded with opposing values. This is the question he asked his mother: “Mom, do I need to lower my standards to keep my friends?” Ethan’s loving mother answered him with a resounding no.

I, too, unequivocally answer, Don’t do it, Ethan. Never forget that you are a son of God. He loves you. Live by your standards. Stand up for what you believe in.

So, how do we withstand these moments of temptation, because that’s what they really are. We are put in a position where we are tempted to yield, lower our standards, and give up our power.

Later, in this talk, Elder Zwick quotes Paul, the apostle, who said, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord (2 Tim. 1:7-8).”

President Nelson has been teaching us how to recognize the power within us. The power that comes from going to the temple, keeping our covenants, calling upon angels, recognizing the power of the priesthood that is available all around us. As baptized members of Christ’s church, we have an unearthly power, a heavenly power, that is more powerful than Satan is. If we can remember, in times of fear and doubt, to call upon the powers of heaven to strengthen us, the temptation goes away and is replaced with strength from on high.

When our faith is based upon our Savior, Jesus Christ, we will remember Him when we need Him. He will fight our battles. He will swoop down and save us and pull us out of the weak grasp of the adversary. Our power to overcome is simply a prayer away.