Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

By Elder Allistair B. Odgers

Area Seventy

“The Lord does not require perfect faith for us to have access to His perfect power. But He does ask us to believe,”¹ so we do not need complete understanding to exercise faith to access His power.

This is wonderfully reassuring to us when we may have some doubts and concerns. When we exercise faith, we are showing God that even though we don’t know the answers to all questions we are willing to trust Him and His promises.

So “Faith is to agree unconditionally—and in advance—to whatever conditions God may require in both the near and distant future.”²

Faith is a really good starting point in our journey—it is the first principle of the gospel—and faith is not having a perfect knowledge of things, but to hope for things that are not seen; but it also needs to be true, otherwise it is not faith.³

“Faith is the foundation upon which a godlike character is built. It is a prerequisite for all other virtues.”⁴

There are 3 types of faith:

“Preparatory faith is formed by experiences in the past—by the known, which provides a basis for belief.”
“Redemptive faith must often be exercised toward experience in the future—the unknown, which provides an opportunity for the miraculous.”
“Exacting faith, mountain moving faith, faith like that of the brother of Jared, precedes the miracle and the knowledge.⁵

Whatever faith we experience, it is important to note that giving only minimum effort does not generate or create faith. When we give more effort or magnify our effort, we have the capacity to exercise and experience greater faith.

Every effort is worth it. Peter exercised faith when he walked on the water. Some of us may say that his faith didn’t last very long or wasn’t very strong because he started to sink and the Saviour needed to rescue him, but as I far as I know, other than the Saviour, he is the only person who has ever walked on water. Thank you, Peter, for exercising faith and showing us that we can perform miracles when we least expect it.

“Faith is the power that enables the unlikely to accomplish the impossible.”⁶

“It takes faith to serve a mission during a pandemic”.⁷

I received a copy of an email sent by Elder L. Taleni, who is currently serving in the Hamilton New Zealand Mission. This young man was a good person before he left for his mission but now, he has become a great person because of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. With his permission, I share with you part of his email.

“My time in the New Zealand Hamilton Mission has been an amazing experience. I’ve seen the Lord’s hand over and over again and can truly testify that God is in the details . . . ‘A double minded man is unstable in all his ways’ (James 1:8). We cannot have peace if we believe one thing and behave contrary, or if we live a different life publicly than we do privately. I know by experience and by the authority of the scriptures that this is the fastest way to stress, fear, anxiety, sorrow, guilt, shame, hopelessness, and loss of testimony. Living a double-minded life of hypocrisy is how we become unstable in our ways.

“I invite you to find true inner peace through an increasing effort to make your public and private lives agree with the teachings and doctrines of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. This is definitely my focus as I know I have been double minded in many ways and this has allowed the adversary to destroy my peace and afflict my soul. But with Nephi we can cry ‘Awake my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul’ (2 Nephi 4:28). I also invite you to study and ponder 2 Nephi 4:26–28, which is one of my favourite passages of scripture.”

It takes faith for Elder L. Taleni, and us, to change.

When we exercise pure faith, unwavering⁸ and have the eye of faith⁹ we will act on the promptings of the Spirit even when we don’t have physical or tangible evidence.

May we do as the Lord says, and “Be still and know that I am God”¹⁰ and exercise faith. “Faith in Him will move mountains”.¹¹

We all have mountains to climb, mountains to overcome and mountains that feel too difficult to get over but, as President Nelson has promised, “Through your faith, Jesus Christ will increase your ability to move mountains in your life, even though your personal challenges may loom as large as Mount Everest. . . .

“Your growing faith in Him will move mountains—not the mountains of rock that beautify the earth but the mountains of misery in your lives. Your flourishing faith will help you turn challenges into unparalleled growth and opportunity.”¹²

President Nelson was asked what he thinks about during the sacrament. He only said two words: “Just Him.”

Wherever our faith is, I promise that if we put away the distractions of the world and focus on Jesus Christ and focus on developing His attributes, our faith will increase, our doubts will decrease, our capacity to live with greater confidence and assurance will abound and we will be blessed with the 3 “P’s”: greater POWER, greater PEACE and greater PROSPERITY.