Trust and Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement

By Elder Carl Maurer

Area Seventy

From the first words in the Doctrine and Covenants, the admonition to hearken to the voice of the Lord and to listen together has been given so “that faith also might increase in the earth.¹”

Consistently in our day, the Lord’s prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, has shared that “The long-standing objective of the Church is to assist all members to increase their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Atonement.²” What can we do to develop greater trust and faith in our Saviour Jesus Christ and in His Atonement such that it increases in the earth?

In Proverbs 3:5-6, Solomon’s encouragement to us comes with two admonitions, a warning, and a faith-filled promise. The admonitions are: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart” and “in all thy ways acknowledge him”; the warning instructs us to “Lean not unto thine own understanding”, and the glorious promise is that “He shall direct thy paths.³”

Today we are all faced with many challenges and disappointments. Do we go to the internet or other sources for understanding even though faith and trust in the Lord is what He has asked of us? Do we choose secular substitutes to lean on, rather than building faith and trust in Him as our source of strength?

‘Leaning’ suggests physically listing or moving to one side. Sister Bonnie H. Cordon said that “When we physically lean toward one side or another, we move off center, we are out of balance, and we tip.”⁴ Our invitation from the Lord is to keep our lives centred in Him and not on our own understanding. How can we do that when challenges and disappointments come our way?

I suggest four ways to increase our faith and trust in the Saviour. These may seem like the old favourites, but I invite you to see them as your favourites as you give them increased attention in your life.

Leaning on the scriptures

The scriptures provide a way for us to increase our faith and trust in the Saviour. King Benjamin taught us to have the scriptures always before our eyes so we can read and understand God’s will for us, so we do not dwindle in unbelief.⁵ I remember our family’s efforts to develop daily scripture study. We would always ask, “Where are the scriptures?” It was not long before our children would say, “Where are the scriptures, Daddy?” We “should remember to search them diligently, that [we] may profit thereby”.⁶ Our family’s faith will increase each day as we diligently read the scriptures together.

Trust and power of prayer

Spending meaningful time in prayer will increase our faith to better act upon the tasks of the day. We need more than a simple and infrequent prayer; we need to cry out to Him always. When we pray, we come to know that His ways are higher than ours.⁷ We can share our burdens with Him, and they can become light.⁸

I have such fond memories of the power and blessings of prayer in the mission field. We prayed so many times—at the start of every day and over everything we did. I remember asking my first companion, “How many times can we pray?” His response taught me so much: “We really need His help, so we ‘pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart’.”⁹ We prayed and prayed and prayed and we were blessed.

Repent and change

Are we filling our lives with clutter that distracts from increasing our faith in the Saviour? Are we unwilling to evaluate ourselves or do we go to great lengths to excuse our behaviour? Perhaps we could ask ourselves each day how to become more Christlike. Partaking of the sacrament at church each Sunday is one way to we can turn our thoughts to the Saviour, review the past and know if we must repent.¹⁰

Put God first

Putting God first means that we can trust Him to make more of our lives than we can on our own. My grandson received an old bike with rusty handles. To help him be excited about this bike, his father showed him how to sand the handles and then promised to bring his favourite colour paint to coat them that afternoon. After 15 minutes of sanding, the task seemed more challenging for this little guy than he had expected, and he complained about the difficulty, to which his father said words we can all take comfort in: “You do the best you can, and I will make up the difference.”

I share my testimony that as we develop our trust in the Saviour, and have faith in Him, and lean not on our own understanding, we will better hear the voice of the Lord in our lives, and He will direct our paths.