The faith of the people of Limhi is one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon, so I loved hearing Elder Soares speak about it during conference. Limhi’s people were in bondage because of their past sins, but the Lord offered them hope of deliverance.

Brothers and sisters, please consider the importance of the invitation King Limhi gave to his people and its relevance to us. He said, “Lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God.” With these words, Limhi invited his people to look to the future through the eyes of faith; to replace their fears with the optimism of hope born of faith; and to not waver in placing their trust in God regardless of circumstance.

I love the invitation to lift up my head and rejoice. The truth is it’s easy in life to look down and get discouraged. It’s easy to be weighed down by sin. Satan seeks to keep our heads down and our eyes on the things of the world. We need a regular prophetic reminder to look up.

Elder Soares described the deceptions of Satan as follows:

Brothers and sisters, if we are not rooted by steadfast trust in God and the desire to serve Him, the painful experiences of mortality can lead us to feel as though we are burdened by a heavy yoke; and we can lose the motivation to live the gospel fully. Without faith, we will end up losing the capacity to appreciate those designs of our God regarding the things that will happen later in our life.

In these moments of trial, the adversary–who is always on the lookout–tries to use our logic and reasoning against us. He tries to convince us that it is useless to live the principles of the gospel. Please remember that the logic of the natural man “receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him.” Remember that Satan “is an enemy [of] God, and [he] fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth [us] to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.” We must not allow him to deceive us; for when we do, we falter in our faith and lose the power to obtain God’s blessings.

Satan wants us to forget who we are and who is fighting for us. He wants us to believe that change is impossible. But it isn’t, thanks to Christ and his atonement.

If we are steadfast and do not waver in our faith, the Lord will increase our capacity to raise ourselves above the challenges of life. We will be enabled to subdue negative impulses, and we will develop the capacity to overcome even what appear to be overwhelming obstacles. This was what enabled King Limhi’s people to make a spectacular escape from their Lamanite captivity.

I’m grateful for the atonement of Christ which is the power of God for our deliverance from bondage.