Believing Christ: the nature of Faith

A few months ago I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting about "believing Christ, not just believing in Christ."  Our ward had just suffered several trials, including the sudden death of one of my dear neighbors who discovered he had an inoperable brain tumor about a week before he died.  I am not one of those people who watches for the bishopric on my caller id and then moans when they ask if I will speak.  If you know me, you know that I love to talk and that I don't get stage fright.  I was pleased to be able to study this topic and speak on it the next Sunday.  A lot of times when I'm preparing a talk I wait until the day before to do anything about it, but because the topic was so dear to me I spent the whole week studying and praying.  My talk went well.  I felt so good about it because the Holy Ghost was telling me the whole time that what I was saying was true.  In several parts I choked up, especially when reading the words of Christ.  Afterwards, I felt that I should share it on my blog but I somehow never got around to it.  It's been on my mind, though, and recent events in my friends' lives have spurred me to share the important things I learned with you.  I don't think you'll regret the few minutes it takes to read it.

How Can I Pray in Faith?


When I was a teenager I went out to the barn to feed the horses and found that one of our barn cats had had her kittens and abandoned them. They were all dead except one, a strong-willed white kitty that declared very loudly that she was hungry. I brought the kitten in the house and for 10 days I fed the kitten every few hours. I took care of all kinds of messes and was a mother to that cat. But she developed some problems I couldn’t fix. I wept at the thought that my kitten might die. It may have been only a cat, but to me she was very important. I loved her. I plead with Heavenly Father that He would heal the cat or help me to know how to help her. I remember feeling so conflicted as I prayed. Did I have enough faith? I DID have faith that Heavenly Father could heal my cat, but I didn’t know how to have faith that He would heal my cat. What if I firmly believed that He would and then He didn’t for purposes known only to Him? If simply having confidence that God will do something would make it happen every time then God would be nothing more than a Blessing Vending Machine, dispensing our wishes for the correct amount of belief. I knew that wasn’t true. And yet, I had heard of so many stories in which someone prayed with unshakeable faith, believing with all their heart that a miracle would come, and it did. Why does that only happen sometimes? If it didn’t happen in my case was it because I didn’t have enough faith? Or because God isn’t there or doesn’t care? What is the difference between the person who prays with confidence that something will happen and the person who pleads and begs, hoping that their prayer will be answered the way they want?

I finally prayed that God would heal my cat but then added “thy will be done.” Her health got worse until she was suffering constantly and I felt it was right to have her put to sleep. Years after this incident I still struggled with these thoughts: I had faith that God could do things, but would He? How could I know? My answer came through a study of Faith.

The Bible and the Book of Mormon tell us that “Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true”. [Heb 11:1, Alma 32:21] The first part is obvious; if we could see the things we hoped for we would have knowledge, not faith. But the last half is perhaps the most important. We can only have faith in things that are true. When I was 7 or 8 years old I prayed that it would never have to be night again so I would never have to go to bed again. I had heard that if we prayed for something in faith we would get it. So I prayed with all the faith I had that the sun would not go down. You’ll never believe what happened that evening: it got dark! I was so upset. What I did not understand at the time was that it is impossible to have faith in something that is incorrect. We can believe all we want that something untrue is true, but that will not be faith. We cannot have faith that the sun will not follow the order that God has decreed any more than we can have faith that Christ will save us in our sins while we do nothing to repent. Such things cannot be. God is not a changeable god.

There are certain things that are absolute truths in which we can have perfect faith. For example:

• God exists

• We are His children, and He loves us

• By virtue of Christ’s Atonement, when we repent God will forgive us

• He will do what is best for our eternal happiness [Moses 1:39]

You can probably think of many more. It is that last truth that often causes us both joy and pain and which was the answer to my teenage confusion. In that instance I could not have faith that God would save my cat because it wasn’t in accordance with His will; it wasn’t true. (Of course, I didn’t know that until after she died, but we’ll get to that in a minute.) What I could have faith in was that my Heavenly Father loved me so perfectly that He would do what was best for my eternal happiness. He would not be swayed by my pleas to escape an experience that was necessary for my spiritual growth. How wonderful! How painful!

So then, what of those stories we all hear of someone who had faith that something would happen—a loved one healed, a needed job granted, an eternal companion found—and it happened? How did they know that it was something true and not just a wish? There is only one way to know the will of God. Jacob in the Book of Mormon tells us “the aSpirit speaketh the btruth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really care, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us dplainly, for the salvation of our souls.” [Jacob 4:14] If we are in tune with the Spirit we will know what is true. We can receive a revelation of God’s will in a certain circumstance and consequently have faith that it will happen.

Joseph Smith said that in order for one “to exercise faith . . . [one must have] an actual knowledge that the course of life which one is pursuing is according to [God’s] will.” [Lectures on Faith] If we are keeping the commandments we will have the Holy Ghost with us. We have all been baptized and have received the promise that the Spirit will be with us if we live righteously. By living worthy to have His companionship the will of God will be revealed to us.

In D&C 141:45-46 we learn that if we are “full of charity towards all men” and “let virtue garnish [our] thoughts unceasingly; then shall [our] confidence wax strong in the presence of God . . . The Holy Ghost shall be [our] constant companion.” Our righteous efforts will give us the confidence to pray with faith for the things the Holy Ghost has revealed to us.

Of course, sometimes it is God’s will that we not know what will happen. That is when He wants us to have faith in Him and His ability to choose the best path for our lives. That is when He wants us to not only believe in Him, but to believe Him.

To believe Him when He says

“Fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.” [DC 6:34]

“If the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” [DC 122:7]

“I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” [DC 84:88]

“Be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.” [DC 6:37]

We must believe His words. Christ said to Moroni, “He that will not believe my words will not believe me—that I am . . . and will not believe the Father who sent me.” [Ether 4:12] We must believe the things Christ has told us in order to have faith in Him, in order to be saved.

The hard truth for us to live is that we may not always find out in this life why we had to go through a certain trial. We may even become confused when we pray for something and receive a feeling of peace that we interpret as an affirmative answer to our prayer, only to find that our prayer is not answered in the way we thought it would be. Perhaps the feeling of peace was only the Lord telling us that He is watching over us, doing what is best for us, not what we think is best. Sometimes we just don’t know.

A dear friend of mine had two children and felt strongly that she should have one more. She had had three miscarriages and got pregnant again. Naturally, she and her husband were very anxious about the baby. They both prayed fervently that the child would be allowed to be born to them. When medical problems developed she received a blessing from her husband in which they were promised that the child was fine and healthy. Relieved, they put their faith in this blessing. A short time later they were devastated to learn that she had an ectopic pregnancy that could not continue. She shared with me that this was the most trying experience of her life. She struggled to reconcile the blessing she had received—which they felt that the Spirit had confirmed—with the tragedy that had followed. She said that finally she had to put her trust in God and accept that some things won’t be understood until after we pass from this life. I admire her faith so much. Recently she wrote:

Whenever I get sad that I haven't been blessed with more kids, or sad that I have lost so many kids due to miscarriages, all I have to do to put a smile on my face is think about my 2 beautiful wonderful miracles. I am grateful that I have been blessed with motherhood, for many years it didn't seem possible. I know that our Heavenly Father gives us trials to strengthen our faith--and I know that answers do come to our prayers--usually just not in the time we would like.

In the April 2011 General Conference, Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy said…..

“Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.” [Alma 36:3]

Elder Richard G. Scott said, “To exercise faith is to trust that the Lord knows what he is doing with you and that he can accomplish it for your eternal good even though you cannot understand how he can possibly do it.” (Ensign Nov 1995)
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That friend recently experienced her fifth miscarriage.  My heart aches for you and your husband, Rachel!  I love you.