There is a stark contrast between light and dark, obvious physical signs that make it apparent what time of the day it is. When it is day and the sun is shining, we can see the physical world clearly. The warmth of the light feels good and we are comfortable when we can discern our surroundings. The rays of the sun on us are good for our physical, spiritual and mental well-being – the sun can actually make us feel happier. When night comes and dark descends, we literally can’t see as well as we could in the daylight and it is difficult to make out details and see things clearly. The dark of night feels more oppressive, and if we’re in total darkness it is impossible to see – we need some light source to guide our way. We may be able to see the evident differences between light and dark with our natural eyes, yet from a gospel perspective, the signs of light and dark may not be so apparent to our spiritual view.
Life’s metaphors of light and dark are profound. I learned that by using the ideas of light and dark as I made my way through my unwelcome new reality, it helped me discern what was happening with me and my family and which direction I should take. So let’s talk about light verses darkness in a spiritual sense.
Christ is light. In the scriptures, Christ is often referred to as “the light of the world”. I love that analogy, because it’s so literal and easy to understand. Christ set an example for us to follow and taught us how to live. If we follow His example, we walk a path that is illuminated by His light and it puts us in a mental and spiritual state of being a part of His glorious light. We feel happiness and joy, comfort and peace in His light. Christ and his angels of light are ever at hand, by our side to help us and guide us on a path of light. Christ’s light is real and there to help us, but we must choose it.
Satan is darkness. Satan’s darkness is equally as real as Christ’s light. Just as Christ’s desire is to buoy us up, Satan’s desire is to pull us down. Satan and his followers are ever by our side, hoping to lead us down their path of darkness. Those dark spirits are active and would like nothing more than to have us share their misery. That would delight them, though I’m not sure why, because I don’t think they ever feel satisfied when another soul joins their ranks. They want more and more of us, not because it brings them or us any happiness, but just to keep us away from Christ’s light. They will do all they can and try any means possible to pull us into their darkness, just because they don’t want us to choose the light.
I share my witness with you that both the light and the dark do exist and are very real. I have heard some people say that they don’t believe there is evil such as Satan. They dismiss that thought as a ridiculous notion and think there is no such being. I want to declare that I know that is a lie. Satan is real, just as Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father are real. I have seen how Satan can take the soul of a man and control him to the point that he doesn’t care what damage he does to anyone else, just so long as his own personal appetites are satisfied. This is the mind of a perpetrator. The problem with choosing Satan’s path is that those personal appetites that must be satisfied never really can be satisfied. That’s the dark beauty of Satan’s plan – pull them in, let them think they have control. The truth is that they have just lost all control by controlling someone else. They have lost the ability to have self-control by giving it over to the dark side.
We are all faced with choices every day, and we have two options – we can choose Christ’s light, or Satan’s darkness. So how do we choose the light over the darkness? To keep the light with us, we must take action by seeking good things, praying, reading our scriptures and following Christ’s example in our own lives. We must choose to shun the temptations of Satan. We need to acknowledge that Satan and his spirits exist and that they are trying to get into each of us, trying to have place in us. Sometimes they will succeed, and when they do we must send them away. We can literally tell them to leave, maybe even command them to leave. Once we’ve sent them away, we need to replace the darkness with light, the Lord’s light. We must invite the light to be with us after sending the darkness away, or the darkness will return.
I remember one night in particular when my children were small. One child was struggling with the dark spirits that had been introduced through Phil, and it appeared that those spirits were trying to take over. Feelings of anger, sadness, confusion and emotional pain, my child was too young to understand what was happening. I sensed those dark spirits, I felt them in my home. When I was raising my children, I tried so hard to invite only things that would bring light, but the dark spirits saw this child as an easy target because of the former abuse. I felt their darkness getting stronger and stronger that night, more dark spirits joining the numbers as the minutes passed. I couldn’t believe what I was feeling, but I knew I couldn’t sit by and do nothing but let them come. I stopped and gathered my thoughts and through a prayer, spoken out loud, I commanded them to leave my home. It didn’t take long, and almost instantaneously my child calmed down. I felt a departure of the darkness leaving, as if they were floating away through the walls. I went to my child’s bedside and said another prayer, asking that the Lord’s light would come and descend upon all of us and our home. A sweet spirit replaced the darkness and a feeling of calmness came over us.
That was a powerful lesson to me. I learned that we must recognize and acknowledge the darkness around us, then invite it or command it to leave. If you feel darkness in your life, send it away, tell it that it’s not welcome in your home, your mind or your heart. Then pray with all the energy of your being that the Lord’s sweet spirit will be with you. You will feel as if a blanket has been wrapped around you to bring you comfort and peace, brought to you through the light of The Lord.
I’ve also noticed a pattern of Satan’s attempt to bring darkness into my life. There are times when I am trying to do good or something right, I often meet with an adversarial force to keep me from doing it. When I’m not trying to be particularly in tune with the spirit and just going along in life, it seems that the adversary leaves me alone. He must see good choices as a threat to his evil works, but when we’re stagnant in our commitment to make good choices, he can back off because he knows we’re not making any spiritual progression. Often the adversary comes when I’m trying to do something to help someone else, and he puts things in my path that make it very hard to finish my service. Those things might be thoughts in my mind or they might be real physical things that arise to divert me from actually following through with my good deed. I caught on to this negative pattern that Satan placed in my path, so the next time as I prepared to do that good thing, I prayed fervently that the adversary would not come and influence me or create a problem. Things went flawlessly, and I was able follow through with my good intentions. But I should have been more on guard, because later that evening and the next day, Satan had his way. He sent negative messages to my mind, and by the next evening I was in the depths of depression over nothing when I had just felt like I’d been truly feeling the spirit twenty-four hours earlier. We can never let our guard down. We must always be watchful and know that Satan may try to influence us each day in different ways. He may try a particular strategy one day, and when we have caught on to his game and have figured out that approach, he will try another tactic the next day. Sometimes his line of attack is so obvious that it’s laughable. Other times he sneaks in the back door of our minds and we don’t see him coming. When that happens we often don’t recognize him for what and who he is. Negative thoughts come from Satan. They come from him as he comes for us, and he will always keep trying to influence us for ill.
When choosing between the light and the dark, think of it as a war. Satan verses Christ, or rather us verses Satan. Misery verses happiness and joy. The choice sounds easy, doesn’t it? But it’s not easy and this war rages on every day. Some days will be easier than others, but our goal is to win! By winning, we get to have Christ’s light with us and feel His peace and His love. We need be at the ready and to have our emotional and spiritual weapons ever at hand so we are prepared for the fight when Satan’s soldiers arrive.
I have a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and of His perfect light. I know it is true, I have seen the Lord’s power of light and happiness in my own life. I also have a strong understanding of the power and darkness of Satan. I can look back and see how Phil slowly lost his light and his soul by following the dark lies of the adversary. Satan is as real as Jesus Christ. Know that, believe it and be watchful.
Many times in the beginning of this trial, I felt like I was in a dark tunnel, uncertainty and fear swirling all around me. But without fail, there was always light shining in that tunnel from the other end. I just needed to keep moving toward the light and eventually I emerged from that tunnel. And once I was out of the dark and fully into the light, the warmth I felt from God’s light would give me the vision to see as He wanted me to see.