Free From Bondage

So this one night I was just minding my own business playing my guitar if i remember correctly. Then i hear a knock at the door, I get up, answer the door to find three of my friends standing out side. They suspiciously ask to come in, and i let them. i no sooner find my self being circled by them. One of them shouts "NOW!" and they all start running around me. I'm extremely confused and in the commotion i notice that while they are running they are holding something in their hands, and some how it was attached to me. suddenly I realize what is happening. Its duct tape! and they are wrapping me up! I try to run, but my legs are already wrapped tightly together. They make their way up my body. My arms are now strapped to my side and my hands cuffed together. I'm pushed onto the floor, there is no escaping now! They wrap more and more around me. One of them even decided to torment me by giving my face a duct tape wax job. and all awhile i'm wondering to myself  "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!?!!!" It was terrible. I was MAD! Furious! And if you know me at all, that is NOT me! But this was too much! I couldn't move, no matter what I said the teasing and tying never stopped, and the whole time I am thinking "Why? Do I really deserve this?" 

Needless to say it was not one of my finest moments. I was hurt. I was mad. I was embarrassed that I could be over powered by three girls! Ashamed. Defeated. Diminished. 

     In life when some one gives into temptation, or decides to disobey our Father in Heaven he gives his will over to the devil. The devil himself is not a kind man, but oh boy is he clever. He is so good at what he does. When you disobey you usually don't even realize that you are doing just that. Satan makes up all these excuses for you and sometimes we do not see the error of our ways. Satan makes us feel like what we want to do is okay. He gives us fake confidence. He lies to us daily, and sadly most of us get fooled. We stumble and fall into his ways, into paths of darkness. And all we want is to get out! Never do we really want to be in those paths, but we find ourselves stuck there. Ever wonder why? Why we can just free ourselves and return to the Lord? Why is it so hard to turn back? 

In the scriptures we read accounts of how the Adversary works. Through His prophets the Lord warns us of Satan's evil ways;  

And behold I say unto you all that this was a snare of the adversary, which he has laid to catch this people, that he might bring you into subjection unto him, that he might encircle you about with his chains, that he might chain you down to everlasting destruction, according to the power of his captivity. (Alma12:6)

also in 3 Nephi 1:13

 13 O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe.

Satan has no desire to please us or grant us eternal bliss. His idea is to trap us in our sins, so that he can make us as miserable as he is! What a punk. What an evil man, full of lies and false pretenses. He leads us to believe that sin is like freedom. That God's commandments hold us back from having fun, and being free. But where does Satan's plan end? With happiness? Freedom? No, it ends in eternal misery and endless woe.

When I was bound by the duct tape in my own living room, I was mad. "they had no right!" I thought. "This is my house, this is so unfair." But I let them in, and somewhere along the line I must have offended them or provoked them to want to do that to me. I have since forgiven them obviously and its a funny story that we talk about, but it relates to the gospel. When we are bound we are NOT happy. We have no freedom, we have no release. We are in bondage to those that have bound us. I can promise you that Satan has no greater desire than to have us be subjected to him. Do not listen to his enticing words and messages that he send to us on a daily basis in this world. Temptation is real. There is evil in this world. Everyday we must choose to seek for that which is good, and resist the temptations to do wrong. If we give in to those unrighteous desires we will soon find ourselves wrapped in the chains of hell. and most often it is too late. We are too far gone, and we can no longer free ourselves. 

That is when the Savior comes in. God knew that we would not all be perfect and that we would often fall into the traps of Satan, and that we would need some one to free us from his bonds. So he sent Christ into this world for that purpose.  Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane for the sins of the world. Everyone that sins (which is all of us!) has been recognized by the Savior and he has suffered our pains. That part has already been done. So now it is up to us to let that sacrifice release us from the chains that hold us back. This process is simple. It is living the gospel of Christ which requires us to have faith in Christ, repent of our sins, be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and endure to the end. 

45 O, my beloved brethren, turn away from your sins; shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast; come unto that God who is the rock of your salvation. (2 Nephi 9:45)

Turning to the Lord is our ONLY source of escape. Simply having faith in him will alone help you a thousand times more than doing it on your own! A million times more! we can not do this alone!

in the Book of Mormon, we read of two men that have taken upon themselves the duty of teaching this gospel of Christ to a very wicked people. The wicked men take these two missionaries and they bond them with strong cords and cast them into prison. In prison the wicked men come day after day to beat upon these two righteous men. They are weak, they are hungry, they are naked, and they are helpless. They remain in prison and in bonds for days, until they call upon God for deliverance. 

"...How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, O Lord? O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance. And they broke the cords with which they were bound..."(Alma14:26)

If we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we will have the power necessary to brake the bands of sin. We will have the power to overcome the temptations of the world, and we will be truly free from grief and misery, and the path way to peace and joy will be opened unto us. It all starts with faith. and if we act upon that faith and continue to obey God's commands, we will receive the blessings of Heaven!  

No one likes to be in chains. No one likes to be wrapped in duct tape. choose to follow God and you will have no need to fear! 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

LDS.ORG