“Lesson 181—Faith in Jesus Christ to Build Self-Reliance: Overcoming Obstacles through the Lord,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual (2025)
“Faith in Jesus Christ to Build Self-Reliance,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual
Lesson 181: Building Self-Reliance
Faith in Jesus Christ to Build Self-Reliance
Overcoming Obstacles through the Lord
In addition to blessing us with forgiveness and healing from sin, the Savior can bless us in situations like school, work, and relationships. When we exercise faith in Jesus Christ, we invite Him to help us become more self-reliant in all aspects of our lives. This lesson is intended to help students exercise faith in Jesus Christ to build self-reliance.
Possible Learning Activities
Moving mountains
Consider drawing a mountain on the board and inviting students to draw a similar mountain in their study journals, covering roughly the top half of one page. Tell students to imagine that the mountain stands between them and building spiritual and temporal self-reliance. (If students need help understanding what self-reliance means, share that it includes things like gaining their own spiritual strength, obtaining an education, and earning enough money to meet their needs.)
Inside the mountain, ask them to write some of the obstacles they are facing that make it difficult to build self-reliance in different areas of their lives. (Examples might include a lack of available employment, educational opportunities, health, or needed support from loved ones.) Invite volunteers to write some of the obstacles they are facing in the mountain you drew on the board.
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How can obstacles in life sometimes feel like mountains?
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What are different ways people respond to these kinds of challenges?
You might invite students to ponder how they plan to deal with their obstacles to gaining self-reliance. Invite them throughout the lesson to prayerfully seek how to receive strength from the Savior to overcome the challenges they face.
Inviting the Savior’s power into our lives
President Russell M. Nelson gave the following counsel to those who face difficult challenges in their lives.
Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains
My dear brothers and sisters, my call to you … is to start today to increase your faith. Through your faith, Jesus Christ will increase your ability to move the mountains in your life, even though your personal challenges may loom as large as Mount Everest. …
Your mountains will vary, and yet the answer to each of your challenges is to increase your faith. (Russell M. Nelson, “Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains,” Liahona, May 2021, 102–3)
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How would you summarize what President Nelson is teaching?
Students may come up with various insightful summaries. One important truth is that as we increase our faith in Jesus Christ, He will increase our ability to overcome challenges.
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How can these teachings from President Nelson apply to our efforts to gain self-reliance in our lives?
Imagine you have a friend who needs a little help to believe that Jesus Christ would really help them with the obstacles in their life. Find a doctrinal mastery passage from any book of scripture that could help them feel Jesus’s desire and power to help.
Doctrinal mastery passages students might find include:
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Proverbs 3:5–6: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart … and he shall direct thy paths.”
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Matthew 11:28–30: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
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James 1:5–6: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.”
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1 Nephi 3:7: “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.”
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2 Nephi 28:30: God “will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept.”
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Ether 12:27: “If men come unto me … then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”
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Doctrine and Covenants 6:36: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”
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What passage did you choose? How could that passage help your friend understand the Savior’s desire and power to help them?
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What personal experience could you share to help your friend know that Jesus is willing and able to help us?
Consider inviting students to create two columns under the mountain on their journal page. At the top of one column, they could write “My part in building self-reliance.” At the top of the other column, they could write “How the Savior may bless me.”
You might display or distribute copies of the following statement. Invite students to read it, looking for what they could add to both columns. Students could work individually, in pairs, or small groups.
Bishop W. Christopher Waddell of the Presiding Bishopric explained how our efforts and faith in the Lord work together.
From the beginning of time, the Lord has provided direction to help His people prepare spiritually and temporally against the calamities and trials that He knows will come as part of this mortal experience. These calamities may be personal or general in nature, but the Lord’s guidance will provide protection and support to the extent that we heed and act upon His counsel. …
The Lord does not expect us to do more than we can do, but He does expect us to do what we can do, when we can do it. …
Being temporally prepared and self-reliant means “believing that through the grace, or enabling power, of Jesus Christ and our own effort, we are able to obtain all the spiritual and temporal necessities of life we require for ourselves and our families.” (W. Christopher Waddell, “There Was Bread,” Liahona, Nov. 2020, 42–43, 44)
Divide students into groups of two or three and complete the following activity and discussion. Some examples students identify could include Joseph Smith needing answers to gain more spiritual strength (see Joseph Smith—History 1:8–20) and the brother of Jared needing to provide for the temporal needs of his family while traveling to the promised land (see Ether 2:18–3:6).
Identify an account from the scriptures or Church history of someone who used both their own efforts and faith in Jesus Christ to overcome obstacles to their progress.
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What obstacle did they face?
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What personal efforts did they make to overcome the obstacle?
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How did the Lord help them because of their faith?
When students have finished the group discussion, invite a member of each group to write on the board the name of the person from the scriptures or Church history that they thought of on top of the mountain.
Discuss the following question as a class.
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What did you learn from these people that you can apply to your own efforts to build self-reliance with the Savior’s help?
How might this work in everyday life?
Help students understand how they might take practical action while trusting in Heavenly Father and the Savior to bless their efforts. You could invite students to choose one of the following scenarios and think of how the individual could exercise faith in Jesus Christ as they work toward becoming more self-reliant.
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A young man wants to serve a mission and get an education but does not have enough money to do either.
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A young woman has health issues that restrict her from many of the jobs that are available to others.
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A young man deals with severe anxiety. Social situations, including school and his employment, are very challenging for him.
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A young woman wants to be successful in school but is unable to learn as well as many of her classmates. Consequently, she is worried that she won’t be accepted to the university where she hopes to study.
Consider using questions like the following to help students discuss these scenarios:
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What actions might this person take to respond to their problem in a way that allows the Lord to help them?
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What might they do to exercise faith in Jesus Christ?
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Who might they counsel with? How could doing this invite the Lord’s help?
If students need help answering the last question, consider suggesting that those in the scenarios could counsel with parents, leaders, and professionals. In addition, they could counsel with Heavenly Father through prayer on how to best respond to their situation.
Apply to your life
You might invite students to ponder how choosing to exercise faith in Jesus Christ could impact both their current and future circumstances. Then, invite them to reflect on and answer the following questions in their journals:
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What is an area in your life where you would like to become more self-reliant?
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What can you do to overcome obstacles you might face?
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How could you act with faith in Jesus Christ as you seek the help you need?