Avoiding the Pitfall

I met with a cleint today who was struggling with the concept of hope. He stated that he felt that he would not make it to the Celestial World. Though he has made sacred covenants, completed his ordinances, and has been striving to live a good Christian life, he still felt that he wouldn't make it. I found that he was believing the distortions that the adversary was sending to him, because he had been filtering his life through the lense of shame. We processed how we keep the commandments of God to protect ourselves from the influence of the adversary--essentially to keep us from allowing the adversary to convince us that we are hopeless. When we sin, we give Satan the power to convince us that we are without hope, because when we transgress, he now has the evidence to convince us that we are hopeless (though this is a lie)--this is why we must repent immediately, so that we can tell Satan that he has an invalid argument. We must believe the Savior's words and works, we can all make it if we believe Him--more than just believe in Him and in his Atonement, but truly believe HIM!