#2 and #3

#1- Posted yesterday!

#2- Bear with me on this part.  I have scriptures below but will first tell my feelings.  The story in Matthew tells of a man that has been swept clean, so to speak of evil.  He did not fill that emptiness within himself.  Eventually all of that old stuff returned and even worse came in.  He had not replaced the evil with good (whatever that evil was) Even more evil than the original filled that space.  IF you clear bad, of any sort, from your life then you MUST replace it with good....good behavior on all levels, in all things, must be elevated. Not perfection but improvement of worthwhile action. 

So the reverse of this also rings true to me.  IF you are doing something in spiritual habits, and you do not keep it up, then life will get tough or at least less than the level of spirituality that it was.  the goodness of the Gospel can be crowded out of our lives if not carefully maintained.  Once we start something of a religious nature then we must keep it up or we lose it.  We lose not only the habit but we lose the available blessings and eventually we replace our Church activity and spirituality with individual apostasy and inactivity. 

I've seen this with Missionaries that had fantastic Missions and they come home, coast a bit, slack off and end up an inactive/bitter/apostate. 

We've all seen Converts embrace the Gospel through baptism, and then for whatever reason, drop out and have ill feelings towards what they once enjoyed and join the realm of apostates. 

And saddest of all...active friends/family that turn on the doctrines/apostles etc. and join the ranks of enemies of the Church.  It happens. 

AND it can happen to all of us IF we do not stay on guard.  Personal maintenance of the spiritual aspect of our lives is mandatory to stay actively and healthily involved in the Gospel.

Peter cautioned us, warned us, very concisely...
12:20 For if after they have ^aescaped the ^bpollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are ^cagain ^dentangled therein, and ^eovercome, the latter end is ^fworse with them than the beginning.

That goes along, in my way of thinking with...
Alma 24:30 And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once ^aenlightened by the ^bSpirit of God, and have had great ^cknowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have ^dfallen away into sin and transgression, they become more ^ehardened, and thus their state becomes ^fworse than though they had never known these things.

and also goes along with Matthew 12:43-45
43 ^aWhen the ^bunclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.

 44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.

45 Then goeth ^ahe, and taketh with himself seven other ^bspirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last ^cstate of that man is ^dworse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

(check the footnote vs. 45 on state.  There it is, in black and white!- individual apostasy.  Also footnote for worse refers to the Alma 24:30 vs. that I printed above)

#3- I am desiring to grow beyond where I am right now so I have to make a serious commitment to anything that I take on, to increase my simple small acts of obedience-- whether it be quite intense or something new or just a slight bump-up.  I am seeking greater understanding and how to incorporate what I learn into a habit.  And this brings up the next thought that has been rolling around in my mind. 

Opposition always comes when religious change/improvement is sought.  I have an inkling of what I'm desiring in the way of growth and I'm excited.  I have some illumination, so to speak and there is great counsel, great warning, about that sort of thing...when you have a glimpse of what can become a reality....

Hebrews 10:32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions...

 The hope I have?...my soul deep desire and that peek of light, a haze of illumination, is enough to set me marching forward....with my eyes wide open and my guard up!