Doctrinal Mastery: Mosiah 4:9

“Believe in God”

youth looking up, pondering

In your study of Mosiah 4:9–10, you learned the importance of believing in God. This lesson can help you memorize the doctrinal mastery reference and key scripture phrase for Mosiah 4:9, explain the doctrine, and apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge in real-life situations.

Focus on Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. There is nothing that teachers can do that will bless students more than helping them come to know and love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. As you prepare and teach, continually seek inspiration on how you can do this.

Student preparation: Invite students to ask family or friends about why they choose to believe in God.

Possible Learning Activities

You should teach this doctrinal mastery passage lesson after the lesson “Mosiah 4:9–10,” which is the contextual lesson for the doctrinal mastery passage Mosiah 4:9. If you need to move this doctrinal mastery passage lesson to a different week, be sure to teach the corresponding contextual lesson during that week as well.

Memorize and explain

The following is one way to help students explain the doctrine taught in Mosiah 4:9 in their own words.

Recall your experience studying King Benjamin’s invitation in Mosiah 4:9–10 for his people to believe in God. If needed, consider reading these verses again and reviewing the diagram you created in your study journal from the previous lesson.

• What important characteristics or attributes of God did King Benjamin invite his people to believe?

• How can believing in these divine attributes of God impact your life?

Choose one of the characteristics or attributes of God mentioned in Mosiah 4:9–10 that King Benjamin taught his people to believe. Share how you might explain this to someone who does not understand what it means.

Invite students to memorize the reference of the doctrinal mastery passage Mosiah 4:9 and its accompanying key scripture phrase “Believe in God; … believe that he has all wisdom.” The following is one example of how to do this.

In your study journal write the word believe in large letters. Below this, write the phrase in God, and below this write the phrase believe that he has all wisdom. Then write the scripture reference Mosiah 4:9 in large letters at the bottom. Starting from the top, say each line aloud as you point to the word, phrase, or reference. Repeat this activity multiple times until you have this committed to memory.

As an alternative to the previous activity, consider writing the word believe on the board. Explain that this word appears twice in the key scripture phrase for Mosiah 4:9. Invite students to first memorize the phrase “Believe in God,” then the phrase “believe that he has all wisdom.” Next, have them memorize the scripture reference Mosiah 4:9. Then invite three students to come to the front of the room. Assign each student to repeat one of the memorized portions. Repeat this with students in groups of three to help them commit the key phrase and reference to memory.

Practice application

Invite students to review the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. They could complete the following in a set amount of time. You can adapt this activity by listing the principles as a class and then inviting students to choose one principle and explain how they have used or could use it. Students could teach one another in order to review all three principles.

Briefly review the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge in paragraphs 5–12 in the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section of the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2023). You could try to list all three principles from memory. Then, in your study journal, record how you have used or could use these principles.

The following scenario can help students practice applying the teachings of Mosiah 4:9 and the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge to a real-life situation. Another option is to allow students to personalize their learning by creating their own scenario to practice applying the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. This can help their learning be more relevant and applicable to them.

Another alternative to the following scenario could be the video “His Grace: Choosing to Believe in God” (4:07), available on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. If you decide to use the video instead of the scenario, it may help to pause at various points and discuss with students how they saw the young man in the video demonstrate each of the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. You could also assign students one principle to look for and notice how the young man in the video used that principle. Students could then teach one another what they observed and felt.

Myra is in a class where the teacher makes fun of religion and doesn’t believe in God. These comments bothered Myra at first, but over a few months in the class, she is starting to wonder if her teacher might be right. She had always believed in God, but now she feels that she might be starting to doubt God’s existence.

Use the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge and the doctrine in Mosiah 4:9 to help with Myra’s situation or with a different scenario related to believing in God that is more relevant to your life.

You do not have to ask the following questions in class one after another. They are meant to be examples of questions you might ask as students practice using the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. Allow students to ask and answer each other’s questions. Seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost to know when to ask and not ask follow-up questions (either those listed here or others).

Act in faith

• What faithful actions could someone take if they are struggling to believe in God?

• How might taking these actions help them?

Examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective

• What teachings from Mosiah 4:9 could help someone in this situation to have an eternal perspective?

• How can someone’s decision to believe or not believe in God impact their future?

Seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources

• What additional scripture passages or experiences (that you or others have had) could help someone with this challenge?

• Where else could people find information to help them in this situation? Find at least one other source and explain how it could help.

To conclude this lesson, you may want to invite students to contemplate situations they or others have been in or may be in where their belief in God might be challenged and help them prepare for these experiences. You could do this by asking students some of the following questions:

• How could your experience today help in these situations?

• What specific things would you want to remember when your belief in God is challenged?

As part of this discussion, testify, or invite students to testify, of the importance of believing in God.

Doctrinal mastery review

Use the following review activity in a lesson you will teach soon after this one.

Begin writing the scripture reference of Mosiah 4:9 and the key scripture phrase Believe in God; … believe that he has all wisdom on the board one word at a time. Before writing the next word, pause to see if students can say it before you write it. Repeat this a few times until the students can repeat it from memory.

Supplemental Learning Activities

An alternative scenario

You could use the following scenario as an alternative to the one in the lesson.

Kanato has been a member of the Church his whole life but isn’t sure what he believes about God. With so many conflicting ideas and opinions in the world, he’s not convinced that God is real or that it really matters whether he believes in Him.