Building Faith in Jesus Christ

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we believe that “Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” (Articles of Faith 1:1) is the first principle of the gospel. It is a foundation we must have in order to progress spiritually. Sheri L. Dew, former counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency taught, “There is nothing more important than actually knowing what we believe and what the gospel of Christ entails” (Sheri Dew, God Wants a Powerful People, p83-84).

With such a crucial foundation needed, what then is faith, and how can we obtain it?

Faith has been described in many ways. Faith is having an assurance (or promise) that there are things we cannot see that really do exist.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews11:1).

“that is, it is the assurance we have of the existence of unseen things” (Lectures on Faith, p10).

In other words faith is believing in something that exists that we can’t see with our natural eyes.

Faith has also been described as a power, and many examples of the power of faith can be found in the scriptures.

“It was by faith that the worlds were framed. God spake, chaos heard, and worlds came into order by reason of the faith there was in Him. So with man also; he spake by faith in the name of God, and the sun stood still, the moon obeyed, mountains removed, prisons fell, lions’ mouths were closed, the human heart lost its enmity, fire its violence, armies their power, the sword its terror, and death its dominion; and all this by reason of the faith which was in him…Faith…is the first great governing principle which has power, dominion, and authority over all things” (Lectures on Faith, p9-10).

“Faith is of itself a principle of power; and by its presence or absence, by its fullness or paucity, even the Lord was and is influenced, and in great measure controlled, in the bestowal or withholding of blessings” (James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p296).

Faith is also a principle of action—to access the power of faith we need to act. As we act in faith the Holy Ghost can bear witness to us of the truth; and thus we can have the glowing embers of what is known as a testimony.

Faith seems to come so easily to some, but seems so difficult for others to obtain. To me it makes sense—if there is such great power that comes from faith, wouldn’t this be a prime target of the adversary?

In the Book of Mormon we read about the threat that faith poses to the adversary and his kingdom. Captain Moroni was,

“a man who was firm in the faith of Christ…

“Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.

“Behold, he was a man like unto Ammon, the son of Mosiah, yea, and even the other sons of Mosiah, yea, and also Alma and his sons, for they were all men of God” (Alma 48:13, 17-18).

Men and women of God who have faith can shake “the very powers of hell”. If this is the case I think that the adversary would do all in his power to minimize the importance of faith, or try to cause confusion in how to obtain it, or attempt to convince us that the simple steps the Lord requires to obtain faith will never get us there, that we don't have the time to put forth the effort, or trying to deceive us by saying “something that powerful could never be obtained by man”. But, he is a liar (see Moses 4:4). I love how President Ezra Taft Benson shows the stark difference between our adversary and our Father in Heaven:

“Your Father in heaven is mindful of you. He has given you commandments to guide you, to discipline you. He has also given you your agency—freedom of choice—‘to see if [you] will do all things whatsoever [He] shall command.’…

“Satan is also mindful of you. He is committed to your destruction. He does not discipline you with commandments, but offers instead a freedom to ‘do your own thing.’ … Satan’s program is ‘play now and pay later.’ He seeks for all to be miserable like unto himself. The Lord’s program is happiness now and joy forever through gospel living” (link to lesson).

If we want to gain faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the first step is to desire it. You have to want faith before you will ever find it. In Alma we read that the Lord works according to our desires,

“for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction” (Alma 29:4).

Jerald B. Johnson, in a BYU Devotional, stated, “What we righteously desire, we usually get. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true; what we unrighteously desire, we also usually get” (link to talk). To clarify the word desire Elder Neal A. Maxwell explained,

“Desire denotes a real longing or craving. Hence righteous desires are much more than passive preferences or fleeting feelings….

“Therefore, what we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive” (link to talk).

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said it this way,

“Those who do not wish to learn and change probably will not and most likely will begin to wonder whether the Church has anything to offer them.

“But those who want to improve and progress, those who learn of the Savior and desire to be like Him, those who humble themselves as a little child and seek to bring their thoughts and actions into harmony with our Father in Heaven—they will experience the miracle of the Savior’s Atonement. They will surely feel God’s resplendent Spirit. They will taste the indescribable joy that is the fruit of a meek and humble heart. They will be blessed with the desire and discipline to become true disciples of Jesus Christ” (link to talk).

What we desire, and are willing to work toward, we will most likely receive.

In Alma we learn that “even if ye can no more than desire to believe” (Alma 32:27) that is a good start. Alma teaches that the word of God is like a seed and “if ye will nourish the word” (Alma 32:41) it will bring forth fruit.

How exactly do you nourish a word? I had to stop and think about that one.

The word nourish has a few meanings including, to sustain with food, or whatever substance is needed for life, health and growth, but also “to strengthen [or] build up” (see definition). If we want to nourish the word, we need to take the words—or the teachings and impressions that we have received—and do what it takes to see if they will grow. We know that, “if a seed groweth it is good, but if it groweth not, behold it is not good, therefore it is cast away” (Alma 32:32).

To make something grow takes time and effort—a tree doesn’t grow in a day. Just as plants need the right mixture of air, water, and sunlight, we need to give our faith (or desire to believe) the right nutrients. The Lord has outlined the steps we need to take for our faith to grow. As we follow the Lord’s plan (and not our own variation of that plan) we will discover for ourselves whether the word is good or not.

Building faith shouldn’t be approached like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. I am sure it was a whole lot easier to dig a foundation in sand than it was to dig a foundation in solid rock, but the outcome of the wise man was worth the extra time and effort he spent (see Matthew 7:24-27).

Building faith is a goal for the eternities. It is something that will take diligence and effort on our part. Desiring to gain faith—perhaps even like that of Moses, Elijah, or the sons of Mosiah—will take the desire and obedience that they demonstrated. This leads us to our next step.

The second step to gaining faith is our own personal preparation.

Oliver Cowdery had a righteous desire, but didn’t do all that was required. The Lord taught,

“Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me” (Doctrine & Covenants 9:7).

Nephi, on the other hand, “was desirous also that [he] might see, and hear, and know of these things” (1 Nephi 10:17). He then describes the process he used to obtain it:

“For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord” (1 Nephi 11:1,emphasis added).

Nephi prepared himself by taking the time to think about those things he desired. He  then knew what he was searching for, and he trusted in the Lord to guide him.

Joseph Smith desired to know which church to join. He recounts, “During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection” (Joseph Smith History 1:8). It was while he was “in the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions…[and] laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists” (Joseph Smith History 1:10-11) that he turned to the scriptures for guidance. He read James 1:5, the spirit caused him to stop and "[reflect] on it again and again” (Joseph Smith History 1:12). It wasn’t a quick thing, but “at length [he] came to the conclusion to ‘ask of God’” (Joseph Smith History 1:13). Elder Craig C. Christensen said,

“[Joseph Smith] acted for himself to find an answer. On a beautiful morning in the spring of 1820, he entered a grove of trees and knelt in prayer. Because of his faith and because God had a special work for him to do, Joseph received a glorious vision of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and learned for himself what he was to do” (link to talk).

Preparing ourselves spiritually will become a priority in our lives as we nourish the great desire we have to know the truth of these things for ourselves (see Alma 5:45-46). Sheri Dew taught that those who desire to develop faith are those who diligently seek Him. We can become true followers of Christ as we prepare ourselves by following the steps the Lord has outlined. Sheri Dew explains,

“True Followers pray. They have some kind of regular pattern of scripture study. They don’t ‘find time’ to go to the temple, they set it as a priority first and work other things around it. They welcome the opportunity to fast as a regular way of humbling themselves, putting God first, seeking answers to prayers, and strengthening their connection to the Lord. They do these things not to check them off some kind of forced obedience checklist, but because they have learned to find answers and peace in the temple, in the scriptures, and through prayer and fasting—and these elements of devotion are woven into the fabric of their daily life rather than something done on Sunday or sporadically as needed” (Sheri Dew, God Wants a Powerful People, p181).

These elements are the same ones that Alma and the sons of Mosiah followed. We learn that,

“they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.

“But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God” (Alma 17:2-3, emphasis added).

Prayer, scripture study, and fasting are key elements to obtaining faith.

Another key element of faith was shown by the 2000 stripling warriors, that fought with Helaman. He recorded “Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually.” (Alma 57:27, emphasis added). Along those lines, David F. Evans said the following,

“So it must be with us. In life it is when the rains descend and the floods come and the winds blow and beat upon us and on our house that we determine whether our faith is strong and whether we put our trust in God continually. There simply is no test until there is adversity” (link to talk).

Elder David S. Baxter reminds us,

“life’s challenges befell the wise man too. The rains fell, the winds blew, the floods rose up. Yet he survived it all because he had built upon a sure foundation and, crucially, he stayed there when the storm came” (link to talk).

We build our faith when the sun shines, but we won’t know the true strength of our faith until the wind blows and the rains fall.

We will all struggle in this life because we are here on earth to learn. We will all make mistakes, be we are not left alone to flounder. We can have faith (and believe) that Jesus Christ died for us—and all our sins. I love how Dan Clark, in a BYU Devotional, explained it,

“because we are all human and are susceptible to the temptations of the world, God did not leave us on our own to face our challenges….

“Because Heavenly Father knew our agency would get us into trouble when we don’t follow our conscience, John 3:16 beautifully states: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’

“I testify that Jesus is the Christ and that He died on the cross….I know He lives and was resurrected, which guarantees our immortality….

“Because of the infinite Atonement, the Lord is not disappointed when you fall or transgress. The Lord is only disappointed when you don’t learn the lesson and get back up and go again. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is continuous and real, which means that pain is a signal to grow, not to suffer. And once you learn the lesson the pain is teaching you, the pain goes away. In life there are no mistakes, only lessons” (link to talk).

If you can only hope to believe that there is a God who loves you, or that you have an eternally loving Savior who really died for you, hold onto that thought. Let those words work within you. Then, as you take the steps necessary to nourish that word, faith will come. It may take time, but it will come.