Yield to the Enticings of the Holy Spirit

Mosiah 3:19 “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”

This is a well known and oft quoted scripture, but it holds a phrase that seems (incredibly) to have heretofore gone unnoticed by me: “ unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit.”

I usually associate the Holy Spirit with words like strive, prompt, teach, and persuade, but not entice. So that’s a new thought for me. I learned that Spencer J. Condie, taught that the word “entice” is among other “very strong action verbs” that all indicate “a positive influence which the Holy Ghost can have in our lives by actively helping us in our quest for perfection. [ A Mighty Change of Heart, Ensign, Nov 1993]” And I looked up the word entice to see what more I could learn. “Entice” means “to attract artfully . . . by arousing hope or desire [Merriam-Webster Dictionary].”

This gives so much more meaning to me about the mission of the Holy Spirit and has been on my mind almost constantly for several weeks - bringing me more in tune with the Father’s will.