Living by the Power of Faith, part 6

Increasing Faith

·        If you want to increase your faith, you must set up experiences that will cause you to stretch

·        A missionary who can already memorize five concepts in one hour and sets that as his goal is foolish---he knows he can do it

·        As long as you try to do only what you already know you can do, you are not going to grow much

·        You must look beyond where you are and what you are capable of doing to pull down power from heaven to help fulfill it

1.     Increasing Your Hope

i)       You must hope with all your heart for a good cause, that it will come about, and if you exercise your faith in it, and if it be right, it WILL come to pass

ii)     You must spiritually perceive something that the world cannot see. You see it spiritually in your mind and then with patience wait for it. Then you have something to hope for.

2.     Hearing the Word of God

i)       Any time we have the opportunity to hear the word of God preached by the Spirit, we have an opportunity to increase our faith

3.     Reading Prayerfully the Word of God

ii)     If we will liken the scriptures unto ourselves, they will give us hope

iii)   By studying the prophecies and words of the Lord, our hope and faith in the Lord will truly become unshakable

4.     Acting in Accordance with Present Understanding

i)       “The only way to receive additional faith and light is to practice according to the light which we have: and if we do this, we have the promise of God that the same shall grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”- Orson Pratt

ii)     “Belief and unbelief are independent in men, the same as other attributes. Men can acknowledge or reject, turn to the right or to the left, rise up or remain seated, you can say that the Lord and His Gospel are not worthy of notice, or you can bow to them. Your own experience may satisfy you that faith is not brought into requisition by the presentation of either facts or falsehoods to the external senses, or to the inward perceptions of the mind.”- Brigham Young

5.     Keeping the Commandments

i)       Probably the greatest counsel that anybody could give you, if you want to increase your faith, is that faith will come according to your personal righteousness

ii)     If we can pray with confidence that we are trying to be sinless, not that we are perfect, but that we are trying to live up to what we know to be right, then we will have the assurance that what we ask for, the Lord will grant

iii)   When our own hearts condemn us, we cannot obtain the faith and assurance necessary, nor the confidence to ask the Lord for a blessing

6.     Sacrificing through Trials and Tribulations

i)       It is rather easy to make a covenant. As members of the Church we make many covenants. But the Lord is asking for more than that. To make the covenant is only the beginning.

ii)     The Lord is going to prove us to see if by sacrifice we will keep the covenants we have made

iii)   You need to look closely at your own life for the things that the Lord wants you to sacrifice. Most often, He wants us to give up our sins.

iv)   “A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; for, from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things.”   - Joseph Smith