Next comes desire . . .

I thought I would continue with Alma 32 since it has to be one of the best lessons on faith in the BoM. Last night I drew from my studies that to find faith, one must begin with humility. So what comes next? From what I read in Alma 32 it seems that the next ingredient is 'desire'. But, now that I really think about it, these two are more one-in-the-same than they are individual steps.

"Yea if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until you believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."

Humility is desire. It can be a desire to change; a desire to do good; a desire to serve; a desire to believe. Too often humility is associated with being quiet and maybe even a little lowly, but humility is really a great power. You are in complete control because you have given away the controls. You recognize that you don't have the power to do it all, but that someone else does. He does. These are the beginnings of faith--the seedlings of which Alma speaks. It isn't so much humility then desire then . . . Humility is desire. Soon we will have faith. . .

Faith begins with humility

When Alma taught came across the poor Zoramites who had been thrown out of their places of worship he was excited and saw it as a great opportunity to teach the gospel. People who have been humbled are much more receptive to the teachings of the gospel. They are looking for answers; they realize that their is something so much bigger and that they just can't do it on their own. Alma saw this as fertile ground--a perfect environment for the seeds of faith to be planted. Before someone can trust in the Lord with all their mind, might, and heart, they have to be humble and realize that their way will never work and that the only way to win is by giving in to the Lord's way. Alma saw that these people had come to that realization; they wanted someone to show them a better way. They were willing and ready.
Am I willing and ready? Am I trying to build faith without the sufficient amount of humility? Just like any recipe, if you don't include all the important ingredients, you will not get the desired product. Faith begins with humility.

"Let not any man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." I have read verses 5 and 6 of James 1 over 1000 times, however, I don't know if I ever paid any attention to the next two verses? It is so easy to get caught up in the misconception that true faith is being able to ask anything of the Lord and receiving it. If this is your desire and your thought process you are the unstable, double minded man that James speaks of. It is total irony or, better yet, hypocrisy. You claim to want only what the Lord wants, but at the same time expect what YOU want; how does that work?? If that isn't unstable, I don't know what is. There is a much bigger picture. This is probably the one case in life where you want to be a loser. Losing w/ the Lord is the only option. You lose yourself to Him and He will make you the greatest Winner!

What greater gift can one receive than that of knowing that the path which they are on is pleasing to the Lord? This is one of the blessings of faith in Jesus Christ. If faith is weakened and we chose our own path then His spirit will be withdrawn and we will be left to "kick against the pricks", until we can recognize our mistakes and seek His forgiveness. However, when we seek His counsel and receive confirmation of the path we have chosen via the Holy Spirit, our faith is strengthened. This is true power!

My mission president once spoke of his love for power. He went on to say that most men thrive on the power that the world provides with position, fame, and fortune. The power he thrived on, however, was that which comes from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In this sense, I can say that, personally, I have never known someone more 'powerful' than him. He knew exactly where he stood with the Lord and his faith was unshakable.

We can all attain great power through consistent faithfulness in the Lord and His commands!

A child has faith in his loving parents because they have always sought out what is best for him, to protect him, and to provide for him. A dog can trust its owner because they have always taken care of it and shown it love and affection. A patient can trust their physician because they have spent many years studying and practicing medicine and they have always put their best interest first.
So how does one trust or have faith in Jesus Christ?
It is hard to trust in someone you do not know; the first step to developing faith in Christ must be learning of him through his words and the words of those who testify of him. The Bible dictionary says that "the Lord has revealed himself and his perfect character, possessing in their fulness all their attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in him without reservation."
When you understand who Jesus Christ is it becomes easy to place all your trust in him because as a perfect being, he will not let you down.
We can have faith in Christ because He is the Son of God. He is perfect. He died for us. He lives!

"Faith is to hope for things . . . which are true." "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

The Bible dictionary states that "All true faith must be based upon correct knowledge or it cannot produce the desired results."

Is this to say that people of other 'faiths' do not demonstrate true faith because they participate in religions that do not possess the fullness of the gospel? Can they not be blessed for their faith? These are questions that I don't believe I have all the answers to, however, I think it is easy to acknowledge that people outside of this church can demonstrate faith and be blessed for doing so. The first principle of the gospel is faith in Jesus Christ. Anyone who displays faith in Christ is demonstrating true faith, for he is the Son of God--this is correct knowledge.

This is why our faith must be centered around Jesus Christ; because He is the Truth. If we begin with Him, we can be led to everything else that is true and good. Each sunday, temple session, meeting, gospel discussion, missionary moment, whatever it may be, let it be done with faith in Jesus Christ and then truth will follow and that faith will become greater.

FAITH

As I begin my studies of podiatric medicine it is becoming clear to me that I want to do something that sets me apart, something that makes me unique. I've even joked about being a 'turf toe' specialist!? Who knows . . . it could happen??
On a more serious note, I have been thinking a lot about the topic of faith as of late. We discussed it this past Wednesday at school during institute and the faith that Father Abraham demonstrated through all his trials. At one point, it appeared as though he had lost everything important in his life even though he had been 100% faithful to the Lord. My mind turned to the words in Mosiah that promise us that when we are obedient to the Lord he blesses us immediately. But where was Abraham's blessing?? How about Abinadi as he was burned to death for his faithfulness and so many others who suffer when you would expect great blessings from the Lord. My mission president taught us that there is a great blessing that comes every time we are obedient and demonstrate faith in the Lord. That blessing is the change that we experience. Every time we decide to follow Christ, no matter the consequence, we are changing. We are becoming incrementally more and more like him. What greater blessing could we expect? And it is immediate!
I have decided that just as I feel it important to focus in on a specific area of podiatric medicine, the same goes for the gospel of Jesus Christ. If my focus is on faith in Him, how can I fail?! Specializing in a specific discipline of medicine will not make me less knowledgeable about my field, it will only help me understand everything else that much better. As I set this goal to make FAITH the center of my studies, I believe the same will happen; all other teachings, doctrines, and principles will only make more sense.
I know that it is through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ that all mankind can be saved.