Eric Poulin

Where is thy faith?

I’ve been studying a lot about faith recently and I’ve discovered a fresh perspective on having Faith in Jesus Christ that I’d like to share.

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we should be experts on the subject of faith. We can quote scriptures to describe it, such as:

Hebrews 11:1

“…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Ether 12:6

“…faith is things which are hoped for and not seen…”

Alma 32:21

“faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”

Joseph Smith, the latter-day prophet described faith as a

“principle of power, the moving cause of all action.”

Another writer in the early 1900s named Napolean Hill who spent 30 years studying the most successful people in America, said,

“Faith is the only agency through which the power of God can be harnessed and used by man” (T&GR)

We are constantly told we need be in possession of this stuff called “faith” and that we should be striving to develop and increase it…, but do we really understand what it is? Why is faith a principle of power, and exactly how do we go about getting it?

The standard primary answers (read the scriptures, pray, attend church) don’t explain why those activities can lead to faith and those activities don’t always lead to increased faith if we don’t understand the principle at work.

Let’s first ask ourselves, why do we want faith in the first place? It is because the promises of Jesus and His prophets are so great that we want them to be true, even though we don’t have hard evidence. We all innately feel a sense of longing for more than what the world offers; we feel a sense to break free from some invisible chains that hold us down. We want to believe in something that can help deliver us from these unseen bonds.

Nephi tells us that

“the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.” (1 Nephi 1:20)

We learn from Enos that

“Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive, in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.” (Enos 1:15)

Also, Moroni, after giving his famous promise that we can know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, warns us to

“deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.” (Moroni 10:7)

Moroni later reminds us that Christ said

“If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me.” (Moroni 10:23)

You see, with faith we can be free to do anything through God’s power…. But, how is faith built, increased and sustained?

In the book of Luke, the 12 apostles asked Jesus to “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). Jesus explained through parable that humble obedience is one way.

Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy explained in the April 2009 General Conference that

“desire, hope, and belief are forms of faith, but faith as a principle of power comes from a consistent pattern of obedient behavior and attitudes.”

Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught that

“faith is a gift of God bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness. It is always given when righteousness is present and the greater the measure of obedience to God’s laws the greater will be the endowment of faith” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 264).

Personal obedience is an excellent way to increase our faith. However, often our pattern of obedience is cyclical, driven by an excited emotion from a motivating or spiritual experience and then wanes until the next motivating experience. If we rely on external influences, even the church, to provide these motivating or spiritual experiences to recharge our desire for obedience, our faith will waiver and we become as James described:

“he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord” (James 1:6-7)

We can develop and maintain a pattern of obedience and faith that doesn’t depend on constant recharges that are out of our control. Let’s see how.

We know that faith has been compared to a seed by Alma. (Alma 32) Our desire to know and have faith is what motivates us to plant the seed, and, when tended and given sufficient time, that seed of desire can grow and bear fruit, from which we can determine if the seed or desire was good. And what fruit should we look for? The fruit of the Spirit, which is

“love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Once your faith has bloomed into a fruitful tree – it now bears thousands of new seeds from that one small initial seed, which are ready to be planted in the hearts of others. So long as you tend to your tree, you’ll have an unlimited supply to share.

You may say to yourself, “How can I have more faith in my current situation? Haven’t I already done all I can?” Remember that you cannot define who you are by what you see now. What you see now is a result and reflection of the sum of your past decisions… but your past decisions are not who you are. Who you are is what you decide to do now. It is true that your environment matters, so change that if you can, and after you’ve changed your environment as best you can, bloom where your are planted – choose to start now!

The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans

“… faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

Regarding that, Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles said:

“The very fact that you are [here at church] means that you are hearing God’s word. The first step to finding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is to let His word…touch your heart. But it is not enough merely to let those words wash over you, as if they alone could transform you. We must do our part. Or as the Savior Himself said, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” In other words, hearing requires an active effort. “Faith without works is dead.” It means taking seriously what is taught, considering it carefully, studying it out in our minds. As the prophet Enos learned, it means letting others’ testimonies of the gospel “[sink] deep into [our] heart[s].”

Everything begins as a thought. Enos had, no doubt, heard his father many, many times speak of the Savior and His gospel. Enos’ faith came from hearing the word and as he was thinking about what he had heard, he had a desire to know for himself; a desire for remission of his sins. When his sins were forgiven and his guilt was washed away, he asked “Lord, how is it done”? The Lord replied,

“Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen.” (Enos 1:8)

The lessons that Enos received from his father, repeated time and time again, seeded his thoughts until he developed sufficient faith. Stated another way,

“faith is a state of mind that may be induced or created by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind through the principle of auto-suggestion.” The repetition of affirmations is like giving orders to your subconscious mind and it is the only known method of voluntary development of faith – absolute belief that you can do something.” T&GR (Napolean Hill)

The church provides much in terms of facilitating our “hearing the word” and then helping us act on our knowledge. The church has numerous programs including Primary, Sunday School, Relief Society, Quorum and class instruction, study guides, scriptures, ward, stake and general conferences, magazines and special broadcasts to name some. These “programs” of the church are designed to provide these repeated instructions to our minds and the resulting actions based on those thoughts that will provide us with sufficient faith to save us. The church helps us develop a paradigm in our lives.

A paradigm is a system of beliefs (or a multitude of habits) that govern how we define ourselves and program our lives. Like a computer program that tells a computer how to operate, we have programs that govern how we operate our lives. We call these programs habits. Some are good programs and some are bad but they are all created by repeated exposure and practice. The church seeks to help us install good programs into our personal paradigm – hence the programs of the church that seemingly repeat the same (or similar) material year after year. These programs of the church help install faith in us. They start with a thought, usually through instruction, and then they invite us to act. If we let the program become a habit in us by engaging the thoughts with emotionalized action, we can develop the faith necessary to change our lives, change our personal paradigms, and begin perfecting ourselves – becoming more like the Savior.

Napolean Hill wrote that

“All thoughts that have been emotionalized (given feeling) and mixed with faith (absolute belief in your ability), begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent or counterpart. However, this is not only true of thought impulses that have been mixed with faith, but it is true with any emotion – including negative emotions.” (T&GR)

Hence, we can develop bad or weak paradigms (groups of habits) if we don’t fully accept the programming or with repeated exposure to negative influences, both of which are a detriment to our faith in Jesus Christ.

Case in point: some of Jesus’ disciples, tried to exercise their new but weak faith by casting out a devil from a possessed boy, but were unable. Jesus cured him with no trouble. When the disciples asked why they were not able, Jesus said

“Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew 17:20)

Jesus went further to explain that fasting and prayer can strengthen our faith to be able to accomplish difficult tasks.

Henry Ford once said

“Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right”,

which sums up the experience of those disciples.

Developing a strong faith, one that will constantly motivate us to do good, and help us obtain our righteous desires, can be done. Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy said,

“We get what we focus on consistently.”

Hence the encouragement to have daily scripture study, daily prayer weekly church attendance and other frequent spiritual activities. The Savior encouraged us to have a prayer in our heart always. How’s that for constant focus? Having a prayer in our heart means to be on task, in alignment with our beliefs and acting on what we believe. When we mix in strong emotion, even passion with consistent focus on the attainment of a goal or desire, our faith is strong enough to make it happen. Imagine your prayers as a radio signal being sent heavenward. Until you get passionate about what you are asking about, the signal isn’t going to be very strong, perhaps not strong enough to reach its destination and therefore will be lost into the ether. The system that God has put in place to respond to our faith responds best to strong faith.

Strong faith is best obtained by believing and acting as though you already have the object of your prayers. James teaches us that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). We have to act like we already have what we are asking for, otherwise, our faith won’t be strong enough.

Think of the miracles of healing that Jesus performed. The people that came to be healed truly believed they would be healed. They had absolute faith and were totally committed to the idea that Christ would heal them. And what did Christ say to them? “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” The last time you asked for a priesthood blessing – did you have faith like that? Or did you ask for a blessing of health, but still plan to take the next day off work to recuperate?

If you feel overcome by fear to start acting this way – it may be that you are addicted to fear. Addicted to fear? Yes, that’s right – a habit of choosing to give in to fear instead of choosing the path of faith can be considered an addiction. One of the best ways to overcome fear is to use a higher brain function trick which will give control back to the reasoning part of your brain instead of the fight or flight part, which is what actually causes fear. Here’s the trick. As soon as you feel yourself begin to feel fear, close your eyes and for about 1 minute focus on being genuinely grateful for something really meaningful to you. I imagine each of my kids smiling and making a silly face and I really feel over my whole person the love I have for them. Almost immediately you’ll find the feeling of fear subsiding and your ability to reason has returned. Now you can reason with your fear. You can verbally re-affirm your path of faith to yourself and reason with your fear about how irrational it is. State to yourself how you will feel once you’ve made this right decision. Try the following:

I am so happy and grateful now that ___________________

Also be sure to pray for what you want, not what you don’t want – and truly feel how it is to have the thing you want. In the book of Mark, the Savior said:

“Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” (Mark 11:22-24)

Even the use of the word “try” is warned against because it gives the suggestion to our minds of an ongoing effort. The concept of “trying” implies an ongoing effort. You don’t want to try – you want to succeed. If you pray that you may have success in trying, the Lord may do just that – help you try, but may prevent you from succeeding, because if you did succeed, then He could no longer help you try – which is what you asked to do. Robin would tell you to use “faith language” and completely remove the word try from your vocabulary.

There are numerous other examples I might have used and numerous other practical ways to help develop strong faith. Remember that faith is the beginning and must be maintained and nurtured. Peter tells us that to our faith we should add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity. (2 Peter 1:5-7) In fact, when we do these things diligently, surviving trials of our faith, Peter tells us that we will make our calling and election sure and that

“if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (2 Peter 1:10)

Now, we’ve covered a lot of material on faith, but still we’ve only scratched the surface of a deeper understanding. What you’ve done now is heard the word. Now it’s up to you to study for yourself, internalize and get passionate about your faith in Christ and what you can accomplish with it.

I know for my part, that despite the downturned economies of the world, the prevalence of sin and apathy around us and despite the challenges that surely lay ahead of me and my family – I have never before in my life been so confident that God will take care of me and my family’s needs as I continue to do my best – and as I align myself to the principle of faith. It is my faith which gives me this confidence. I know by sure and tested experience, that anyone who wishes this same optimism can obtain it. This principle can guide your life – it will feed you, sustain you, bring you happiness and lead you to have all that you need even to eternal life. That is what I know for sure.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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