How to Increase our Faith

I grew up in the Church, but as a teenager I worried that I didn't have a testimony because I was looking for a big Alma-type experience. For me, the first thing I was positive I had a testimony about (and this was after I was married) was I gained a testimony that prayers are answered. Many of the answers/mini-miracles I received fit into a category I labeled in my mind as “possible coincidences” or “can be explained away.” But then I also had some answers/mini-miracles that had no other possible explanation than an answer to prayer or tender mercy. Then one day I realized how important Hebrews 11:1 was to my testimony. The JST version reads: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” All of those answers to prayers, became evidence that there was a God.

In the Book of Mormon, Jacob said it this way:

   “Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.

    “Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things” (Jacob 4:6–7).

Unfortunately the memory of those blessings fade. As President Eyring taught: “great faith has a short shelf life.”  I believe this is why we are commanded to keep a journal so we have a record of all the evidence.

Back in the October 2008 General Conference I learned something from Elder Neal A. Anderson I had never thought about before. He said:

Several years ago a friend of mine had a young daughter die in a tragic accident. Hopes and dreams were shattered. My friend felt unbearable sorrow. He began to question what he had been taught and what he had taught as a missionary. The mother of my friend wrote me a letter and asked if I would give him a blessing. As I laid my hands upon his head, I felt to tell him something that I had not thought about in exactly the same way before. The impression that came to me was: Faith is not only a feeling; it is a decision. He would need to choose faith.

In addition, Richard C. Edgley in October 2010 General Conference said:

Be aware that faith is not a free gift given without thought, desire, or effort. It does not come as the dew falls from heaven. The Savior said, “Come unto me” (Matthew 11:28) and “Knock, and it shall be [given] you” (Matthew 7:7). These are action verbs—come, knock. They are choices. So I say, choose faith. Choose faith over doubt, choose faith over fear, choose faith over the unknown and the unseen, and choose faith over pessimism.

James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ

But there is in Christ's question, "Who touched me?" a deeper significance than could inhere in a simple inquiry as to the identity of an individual; and this is implied in the Lord's further words: "Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me." The usual external act by which His miracles were wrought was a word or a command, sometimes accompanied by the laying on of hands, or by some other physical ministration as in anointing the eyes of a blind man.  That there was an actual giving of His own strength to the afflicted whom He healed is evident from the present instance.

Passive belief on the part of a would-be recipient of blessing is insufficient; only when it is vitalized into active faith is it a power; so also of one who ministers in the authority given of God, mental and spiritual energy must be operative if the service is to be effective. 

Howard W. Hunter Oct 1974

Whether seeking for knowledge of scientific truths or to discover God, one must have faith. This becomes the starting point. Faith has been defined in many ways, but the most classic definition was given by the author of the letter to the Hebrews in these meaningful words: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1.) In other words, faith makes us confident of what we hope for and convinced of what we do not see. The scientist does not see molecules, atoms, or electrons, yet he knows they exist. He does not see electricity, radiation, or magnetism, but he knows these are unseen realities. In like manner, those who earnestly seek for God do not see him, but they know of his reality by faith. It is more than hope. Faith makes it a conviction—an evidence of things not seen.

The Inconvenient Messiah by Jeffrey R. Holland

All but a prophetic few must go about God's work in very quiet, very unspectacular ways. And as you labor to know him, and to know that he knows you; as you invest your time—and your convenience—in quiet, unassuming service, you will indeed find that "he shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up" (Matthew 4:6). It may not come quickly. It probably won't come quickly, but there is purpose in the time it takes. Cherish your spiritual burdens because God will converse with you through them and will use you to do his work if you carry them well.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Point of Safe Return”, April.  2007

We need a strong faith in Christ to be able to repent. Our faith has to include a “correct idea of [God’s] character, perfections, and attributes” (Lectures on Faith [1985], 38). If we believe that God knows all things, is loving, and is merciful, we will be able to put our trust in Him for our salvation without wavering. Faith in Christ will change our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that are not in harmony with God’s will.” 

Elder Robert D. Hales – Oct 2004

As the prophet Enos learned, it means letting others’ testimonies of the gospel “[sink] deep into [our] heart[s].” 23 Let us review some of the elements of Enos’s profound, faith-building experience:

·         First, Enos heard the gospel truths from his father, just as you are hearing them in your families and in this conference.

·         Second, he let his father’s teachings about “eternal life, and the joy of the saints” 24 sink deep into his heart.

^·           Third, he was filled with a desire to know for himself whether these teachings were true and where he himself stood before his Maker. To use Enos’s words, “My soul hungered.” 25 By this intense spiritual appetite, Enos qualified himself to receive the Savior’s promise: “Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” 26 

·         Fourth, Enos obeyed the commandments of God, which enabled him to be receptive to the Spirit of the Holy Ghost.

·         Fifth, Enos records, “I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.” 27 It wasn’t easy. Faith did not come quickly. In fact, Enos characterized his experience in prayer as a “wrestle which [he] had before God.” 28 But faith did come. By the power of the Holy Ghost, he did receive a witness for himself.

We cannot find Enos-like faith without our own wrestle before God in prayer.