By Rachel Lewis
Coming out of spiritual darkness and into the light is essential to achieve happiness, President James E. Faust said Sunday Sept. 10 during a CES fireside.
“We are definitely entitled to an increase in spiritual enlightenment if we first seek the kingdom of God and its righteousness,” said Faust.
President Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said, “Daily scripture study turns on the light of our spiritual perception and turns on our spiritual perception and opens our understanding to further knowledge.”
He said attending sacrament meeting, partaking of the sacrament, serving in church callings, and paying tithing are ways to recharge spiritual batteries.
President Faust spoke to a crowd in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, and his talk was broadcast in the Marriott Center on BYU campus and other locations around the world.
President Faust said there is a necessity to bridle passions for personal growth and progression.
“We must wait for the proper season in all things,” President Faust said.
“Goodness restrains your carnal desires, but it also helps you find yourself in liberation,” President Faust said. “It is seeking positively for those things that are worthwhile. It is coming out of the darkness and into the light.”
He said that the faith of the righteous is not too heavy to bear.
“Those who come out of darkness find that faith carries them. Faith is not heavy; faith lifts and gives us wings to carry us over hard places.”
President Faust said it”s important to rid oneself from the restraints of darkness.
“Darkness comes from fear, discouragement and sin,” he said.
The darkness and fears that accompanied September 11th — the rising fear of terrorists and hijackers — may not be the only terrors in life.
“Your enemies are not all terrorists or high-jackers, but may be found in your peer group,” he said.
He encouraged everyone to free themselves from the influences of drugs, alcohol, intimacy out of marriage, and pornography.
“We should all become defenders of faith. As we defend our faith, we come out of darkness and come toward the light,” President Faust said.
“The gospel contains the answers to life”s challenges and problems. It is the sure way to happiness and the fulfillment the Savior promised which is peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come,” he said.
This was the first talk of the season for the CES Fireside series.
