Taken from the book: Serve with Honor, Helps
for Missionaries, by Randy L. Bott, 1995.
TWO REASONS WHY THE SPIRIT WITHDRAWS
You are serving
with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, and then
suddenly the Spirit is gone. What is the matter? Is
the Lord displeased with
you? Should you pack up and go home? Should you call
the mission president?
Perhaps understanding why the Spirit withdraws from people will
help calm your
fears. Most of us are aware that when we sin, the Lord gives
us a "wake-up-call"
by withdrawing his Spirit. Isaiah talked about this problem
when he taught,
"Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your
sins have
hid his face from you, that he will not hear" (Isaiah 59:2).
The Lord doesn't
expect us to be perfect before he allows us to enjoy his Spirit.
But he does expect
us to live a certain standard of righteousness according to our
level of light and
knowledge.
Knowing that every
person comes from a different background and has had
different opportunities to receive spiritual instruction, the Lord
wisely counseled,
"Leave judgment alone with me" (D&C 82:23). In theory,
the Spirit could leave
you because you, knowing better, did something wrong, while it may
remain with
your companion, even though he participated (Perhaps quite innocently)
in the
same act. That is, it is not your place to pass judgment on
whether your companion
is qualified to have the Spirit with him or her; for all you know,
he or she could be
doing rather well considering his or her depth of understanding,
experience, and
maturity. You should concentrate on your constant worthiness.
When the Spirit
withdraws, stop and ask yourself, "Am I doing anything
wrong now that I wasn't doing an hour ago?" If you are, it
will be pretty evident.
Then immediately repent, pray for forgiveness, and continue working.
You will
make mistakes on your mission. One of the great repentance
lessons was taught
by President Brigham Young, who said, "I do not recollect
that I have seen five
minutes since I was baptized that I have not been ready to preach
a funeral sermon,
lay hands on the sick, or to pray in private or in public."
How would you like to be
able to say that? Thankfully, President Young taught us his
method: "I will tell
you the secret of this. In all your business transactions,
words, and communications,
if you commit an overt act, repent of that immediately, and call
upon God to deliver
you from evil and give you the light of His spirit. Never
do a thing that your
conscience, and the light within you, tell you is wrong"
(in Journal of Discourses, 12:103).
Can't you do the
same thing? Stop immediately and say, "Heavenly Father,
I'm sorry I've made a mistake. I'll try never to do it again;
please apply the
atoning blood of the Savior in my behalf. If there is anything
you want me to do
to make it right, reveal it to me, and I'll do it. Otherwise,
I will consider the
matter closed and go on." Too often we punish ourselves forever
because "the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41).
Our Heavenly
Father knows and understands that missionaries are prime targets
for the devil
and his angels. Although the Lord does not look on sin with
the least degree of
allowance, he does make allowances for the sinner.
You will discover
that life (not just your mission) will require constant
repentance as the Lord refines you. You may also discover
that some things
you previously considered to be "okay" are now wrong.
This realization
brings us to the second reason why the Spirit may seem
to leave a person. When you master trials and lessons on one
level, the Lord
may withdraw to some degree the directions of his Spirit, much as
a wise parent
lets go of a child's hand when the child is wise enough to cross
the street without
help. You wonder what is wrong. But sensing that you
aren't doing anything
different than you were an hour ago when you felt the Spirit striving
with you,
an appropriate response might be to humbly pray and thank your Heavenly
Father for having confidence in your ability to move to a higher
level of
commitment and spirituality. You can then examine your personality,
attitude,
habits, ways of interacting with people, and your relationship with
Deity. If you
need to work on an area, the Spirit will let you know. As
you consciously work
on improving in that area, the Spirit will return.
Time passes, and
you will feel fairly confident that you have mastered
the new Christlike characteristic. Then the Spirit withdraws.
When the Spirit
withdraws, you may not feel like being good. But you know
you are on the right
track, so you bridge the spiritual gap and do what you know you
should. Before
long, the test is over and the Spirit returns, carrying you to a
higher level. This
process may seem overly simple, but it accurately describes how
the missionaries
report their progress. The scriptures also confirm this process.
In 2 Chrinicles
32:31 is recorded this timely explanation: "God left him,
to try him, that he might
know all that was in his heart." We must learn to know ourselves
well enough so
that we are willing to do whatever the Lord requires of us--even
when we are not
highly motivated by the Spirit to do it.
If you were always
in touch with the Spirit, you would not be tempted.
President Brigham Young taught this principle in a powerful sermon:
"I ask, is there a reason for men and women being exposed
more constantly
and more powerfully, to the power of the
enemy, by having
visions than by not having them? There is and
it is simply this--God
never bestows upon His people, or upon an
individual, superior
blessings without a severe trial to prove them,
to prove that individual,
or that people, to see whether they will
keep their covenants
with Him, and keep in remembrance what
He has shown them.
Then the greater the vision, the greater the
display of the
power of the enemy. And when such individuals are
off their guard
they are left to themselves, as Jesus was. For this
express purpose
the Father withdrew His spirit from His Son, at
the time he was
to be crucified. Jesus had been with his Father,
talked with Him,
dwelt in His bosom, and knew all about heaven,
about making the
earth, about the transgression of man, and what
would redeem the
people, and that he was the character who was
to redeem the sons
of earth, and the earth itself from all sin that
had come upon
it. The light, knowledge, power, and glory with
which he was clothed
were far above, or exceeded that of all others
who had been upon
the earth after the fall, consequently at the
very moment, at
the hour when the crisis came for him to offer up
his life, the Father
withdrew Himself, withdrew His Spirit, and cast
a vail (sic) over
him. That is what made him sweat blood. If he had
had the power of
God upon him, he would not have sweat blood; but
all was withdrawn
from him and a veil was cast over him, and he then
plead with the
Father not to forsake him, 'No,' says the Father, 'you
must have your
trials, as well as others.'
"So when individuals
are blessed with visions, revelations, and great
manifestations,
look out, then the devil is nigh you, and you will be
tempted in
proportion to the vision, revelation, or manifestation you
have received.
Hence thousands, when they are off their guard, give
way to the
severe temptations which come upon them, and behold they
are gone
(in Journal of Discourses, 3:205-6)."
Perhaps you may
feel like a Mormon yo-yo! You rise to a certain level, the
Spirit withdraws so you can be tempted; you fall back where you
were, the Spirit
returns to pick you up; then it leaves again and you fall, only
to start the process
all over again. Wouldn't it be more productive to replace
that scenario with one
like this: You rise to a certain level, the Spirit leaves
so you can be tested; you
live the principle you just learned, even though you don't feel
particularly
motivated to be good; the Spirit returns to help you move to the
next higher
level; the cycle repeats over and over as the Lord perfects you?
Understanding
the Lord's process of perfecting you will help you avoid condemning
yourself
when the Spirit withdraws.
When the Spirit
withdraws because of sin, it is like a swift kick in the pants.
When the Spirit leaves because you are being tested at a higher
level, it is a pat
on the back. This congratulatory signal shows that your Heavenly
Father is
confident that you are ready for the next level in your spiritual
progression. It is
imperative not to mistake the pat on the back for the kick in the
pants. It is
equally imperative that you not think you are being congratulated
when, in reality,
you are being chastised. The adversary will constantly
tell you that the Spirit
withdraws because you are bad, have sinned, or are hopelessly lost.
Satan wants
you to give up and go home disgraced. However, if you know
what is really
happening to you, you can command him to leave. He is the
destroyer, the
great deceiver, the eternal pessimist. There is a simple yet
effective way to
decide if it is Satan telling you that you are worthless or if it
is the Lord urging
you to move ahead. When the Spirit withdraws, Satan will cause
you to feel
worthless, discouraged, depressed, hopeless, unmotivated, unworthy,
and useless;
Heavenly Father will cause the feelings of "I can do this;
I need to take another
step forward; give me another mountain to climb." Heavenly
Father will build
you up. The feelings of humble confidence, optimism, excitement,
and exhilaration
for the challenge are all indications that the Lord is coaxing you
to improve
yourself and to take the next important step on your pathway to
exaltation.
Not only will this
be a valuable lesson to learn, but you can also bless the
lives of your companions, members, and investigators. Too
many people act like
lost puppies, believing they have sinned, when they should actually
be jubilant
because our Heavenly Father wants them to take on their next great
challenge.
Your ability to discern the difference in why the Spirit leaves
could save you and
many others a lot of worry and wasted time. Knowing the difference
will also help
you to make other major decisions correctly for the rest of your
life.
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About the author: Randy Bott has many years of experience
with missionary work. He served a full-time mission in Samoa from
1964 to 1967 and later worked as a stake mission president. Recently,
he served as president of the California Fresno Mission.
An educator by profession, Brother Bott
teaches missionary preparation classes at BYU. He is also the author
of Prepare with Honor: Helps for Future Missionaries and Home with Honor:
Helps for Returning Missionaries. In Church callings, he has served
as a Young Men president, a bishop, a high councilor, and a counselor in
a stake presidency. He and his wife, Vickie, are the parents of six
children.