Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge, Part 1

Act in Faith

A young man holding scriptures and pondering.

One of the purposes of doctrinal mastery is to help you learn and apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge to become more like Jesus Christ. This lesson is intended to help you understand and apply the specific principle of acting in faith in Jesus Christ when difficult challenges and questions arise.

Determine pacing. Avoid taking too much time on the first part of the lesson and then having to rush through the rest of the lesson. As you prepare, estimate how much time it will take to help students engage with each section of the lesson.

Student preparation: Ask students to reflect on their experiences struggling with a difficult challenge or with questions that are not easily resolved (either from their own life or from others’ lives). These may include things such as an unanswered spiritual question or a difficult trial. Invite students to ponder how they have responded or would respond in these situations.

Note: It may be best to teach this lesson toward the beginning of the school year. If this lesson is taught at a different time of the year, consider teaching in its place a doctrinal mastery lesson that students may have missed when school was not in session.

Possible Learning Activities

When difficult challenges and questions arise

Invite students who participated in the student preparation activity to consider sharing, as appropriate, the experiences they have had facing difficult challenges and questions. Consider using their experiences in place of the scenarios below.

During mortality, we all encounter difficult challenges and questions that may not be easy to resolve. Read the following scenarios while thinking about similar experiences you or someone you know has had.

A young man has a lot of questions about the Church’s policies and begins to wonder if the Church is really true.
A young woman sees a post on social media that questions a doctrine of the Church. Now she begins to wonder about that doctrine herself.
A young woman wonders if prayers are really answered after her brother suffered and died from a terminal illness, despite prayers and blessings offered in his behalf.

What are some of the different ways people could choose to respond when they face difficult challenges or questions like these?

Students may benefit from doing the following self-assessment as a writing exercise in their study journals. Consider displaying the following paragraph for students to see.

Take a moment to reflect on your experiences facing difficult challenges and questions. It might be helpful to think about the following questions: Have you had success in finding answers? What has helped you find peace? What has not?

Consider noting and even displaying students’ responses to the next question. If students have already shared these from their student preparation, consider skipping this question. These responses will be referred to again at the end of the lesson.

What are some questions or challenges you have (or that other people you know have) that are not easy to resolve?
Why do you think Heavenly Father allows us to have unresolved questions rather than always giving us the answers?

When questions arise, it is important to remember that the Lord urges us to ask questions and seek answers (see Matthew 7:7–8; James 1:5–6; Doctrine and Covenants 42:61). Asking questions and seeking answers is a vital part of our effort to learn truth, followed by applying and living what we have learned in our quest to become more like the Savior and our Heavenly Father.

Three principles that can guide us as we seek to resolve questions or issues and grow in our understanding of eternal truth include:

Act in faith.
Examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective.
Seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources.

All three of these principles can be important to use when you face questions and concerns that are not easily resolved or when you experience trials.

Act in faith

This lesson is intended to help you understand the following principle: As we act in faith, the Lord grants us peace and strength while we seek answers to our questions and concerns.

Answer the following question in your study journal.

What do you think it means to act in faith?

Deepen your understanding of what it means to act in faith by completing the learning activity below. It may be helpful to study with someone else so you can practice explaining your understanding and learn from others.

Give each student a copy of the following handout to study in pairs or small groups. As students study together, listen closely to what they are doing. Help reinforce their learning, teach and clarify misunderstandings, and help them stay on task.

What Does It Mean to Act in Faith?

Read the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2022) “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge,” paragraphs 1–2 and 5–7 and the following statement by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. As you study, look for what it means to act in faith and what can help you to apply this principle when you have questions.

Faith does not fall upon us by chance or stay with us by birthright. … Faith in Jesus Christ is a gift from heaven that comes as we choose to believe and as we seek it and hold on to it. … The future of your faith is not by chance, but by choice. …

Faith never demands an answer to every question but seeks the assurance and courage to move forward, sometimes acknowledging, “I don’t know everything, but I do know enough to continue on the path of discipleship.”

Immersing oneself in persistent doubt, fueled by answers from the faithless and the unfaithful, weakens one’s faith in Jesus Christ and the Restoration. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him” [1 Corinthians 2:14]. …

Although your beginning fire of faith may be small, righteous choices bring greater confidence in God, and your faith grows.

(Neil L. Andersen, “Faith Is Not by Chance, but by Choice,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2015, 65–67)

Why do you think it is important to act in faith when we have questions and concerns?
What did you learn from these readings about what it means to act in faith?

Before the next activity, consider allowing students the opportunity to discuss and teach one another what they have studied, what has stood out to them, and what questions they have. They could consider the following:

What characteristics and attributes of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ increase your confidence and trust in Them? How can knowing or believing these things about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ help you to act in faith?
What are some actions you might take as you strive to act in faith when facing difficult questions or challenges?
Are there other resources you are aware of that could help someone else learn how to act in faith?

Recall the difficult questions and challenges you are facing, or review the scenarios from the beginning of the lesson. With one of these in mind, practice applying what you have learned about acting in faith by responding in as much detail as you can to the following questions.

What is the challenge or question you have chosen to practice acting in faith to?
What are two or three ways someone could act in faith in this situation?
What about this situation might make acting with faith in Jesus Christ difficult? How could you overcome these challenges?
What would you specifically want to remember about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ while you are in this situation? How might remembering those things help you?

Consider allowing students to share with the class their responses, including their testimonies of what the Holy Ghost has taught them during the lesson about acting in faith. Inform students that throughout their time in seminary they will continue to have opportunities to practice applying this principle. Invite them to begin or continue to practice using this principle in their own lives.

Commentary and Background Information

Is it wrong to have questions about the gospel?

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency taught about the value of honest questions:

It’s natural to have questions—the acorn of honest inquiry has often sprouted and matured into a great oak of understanding. There are few members of the Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled with serious or sensitive questions. One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith—even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith is to hope for things which are not seen but which are true.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters—my dear friends—please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Come, Join with Us,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2013, 23)

How can I increase my ability to act in faith?

President Russell M. Nelson taught about a process we can undertake to increase our faith:

Our faith increases every time we exercise our faith in Him. That is what learning by faith means.

For example, each time we have the faith to be obedient to God’s laws—even when popular opinions belittle us—or each time we resist entertainment or ideologies that celebrate covenant-breaking, we are exercising our faith, which in turn increases our faith.

(Russell M. Nelson, “Embrace the Future with Faith,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2020, 75)

Real-life scenarios of individuals acting in faith

Consider watching one or both of the following videos, looking for what you can learn from these individuals that can help you act in faith when you have difficult questions or challenges.

Principles of Peace: Faith #PrinceofPeace

Why shouldn’t I be afraid of unresolved questions?

Supplemental Learning Activity

Seeking answers to questions

To help students better understand why Heavenly Father allows us to grow by letting us seek answers to our questions, consider showing examples of websites that contain a “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) page. Help students understand that the purpose of an FAQ page is to provide quick, easy-to-find answers to potential problems.

Why do you think that Heavenly Father doesn’t just immediately give us all the answers to our questions like an FAQ page does?