Faith

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Faith

• www.kevinhinckley.com

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Gospel Doctrine Complaint Dept?
 
                                                                                              


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From the mailbag

• Kevin,In your experience have you ever come
  across someone, who in your estimation, has
  sought diligently to gain a testimony of the Book
  of Mormon but never received one? Based on my
  reading of the scriptures I don't see that it is
  possible for an honest seeker of truth to be
  denied an experience with the Holy Ghost. That
  being the case, how do we understand those who
  say they've sought for a testimony but didn't
  receive a manifestation from the Holy Ghost?

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Merrill Bateman

• In my early years I was confused by the
  fact that some individuals read the Book of
  Mormon, prayed about it, and received the
  witness promised, but others seemed to follow
  the same course but never received the
  witness.
• I have since learned that it is not God who is
  random but we mortals. Some individuals dont
  believe they will receive a spiritual prompting
  even though they may pray.
• Others are not diligent in applying the truths
  they have been taught. An important lesson of
  life is to learn that the Father and the Son
  deliver on their promises.
• BYU Devotional, Jan 1997

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Paul

• Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
  the evidence of things not seen.

assurance
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Joseph Smith

• I might add numerous testimonies from the
  Scriptures that faith is the assurance of things
  hoped for, and the principle which prompts to
  action all intelligent beings,
• and that when
• based upon the promises of the Lord,
• unmixed with the theories of men,
• and acted upon,
• it has never failed to bring knowledge and rest
  to the weary mind in that security which comes
  from a pure knowledge of God.

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President Hinckley

• If there is any one thing you and I
  need in this world it is faith, that
  dynamic, powerful, marvelous
  element by which, as Paul declared,
  the very worlds were framed
• Faiththe kind of faith that moves one to get on
  his knees and plead with the Lord and then get on
  his feet and go to workis an asset beyond
  compare, even in the acquisition of secular
  knowledge.
• I do not minimize the need for study and labor. I
  would add to these faith and prayer, with the
  sacred promise that "God shall give unto you
  knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the
  unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost."
• (BYU Speeches of the Year,
  September 25, 1973, p. 109.)

Question How does faith aid in gaining secular
knowledge?
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Joseph F. Smith

• "The ancient prophets speak of 'entering into
  God's rest' what does it mean? To my mind, it
  means entering into the knowledge and love of
  God, having faith in his purpose and in his plan,
  to such an extent that we know we are right, and
  that we are not hunting for something else, we
  are not disturbed by every wind of doctrine, or
  by the cunning and craftiness of men who lie in
  wait to deceive.
• We know of the doctrine that it is of God, and we
  do not ask any questions of anybody about it
  they are welcome to their opinions, to their
  ideas and to their vagaries.
• The man who has reached that degree of faith in
  God that all doubt and fear have been cast from
  him, he has entered into 'God's rest, and he
  need not fear the vagaries of men, nor their
  cunning and craftiness, by which they seek to
  deceive and mislead him from the truth.
• I pray that we may all enter into God's restrest
  from doubt, from fear, from apprehension of
  danger, rest from the religious turmoil of the
  world..." (Gospel Doctrine, p58)

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Question

• Why are you at church?
• Does it matter?
• Does faith make a difference in what do daily?

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Pauls Discourse on Faith (Hebrews 11)

• Faith caused Abel to offer up an acceptable
  sacrifice to God.  Cain had little or no
  faith as demonstrated by his sacrifice (v4).
• By faith Enoch was translated. (v5).
• By faith Noah prepared an ark (v7)
• By faith Abraham went out to find the place
  of his inheritance (v8).
• By faith Sara was delivered a child when past age
  (v11).
• Abraham offered up Isaac believing that the Lord
  would deliver on his promises (v17).
• By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau (v20).
• By faith Isaac blessed the sons of Joseph (v21).
• By faith was Moses' life preserved (v23).
• By faith, Moses forsook Egypt (v27).
• By faith, Moses and Israel kept the Passover
  (v28).
• By faith they passed through the Red Sea (v29).
• By faith the walls of Jericho fell down (v30).
• By faith, the life of Rehab, the harlot, was
  preserved (v31).

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Finally

• Think about your own challenges.
• Where are you, on your own personal
  faith-o-meter?

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One mans experience

• I awoke early one morning to feel a very real
  presence in my bedroom. Although I could not
  identify who was there nor hear with my natural
  ears, I knew that I was supposed to learn
  something important. Clear words entered my mind.
  They told me "Something terrible is happening.
  Tell your daughter that it must stop or she
  will suffer unmeasurable sorrow.
• I asked, "Will she know what it is about?
• "Yes.
• "Is it too late?
• "It is not too late.
• The message was relayed to the daughter, who
  called her father later that week to tell him not
  to worry. She had received a priesthood blessing
  and was visiting with her Church leaders. Some
  time later she told her father that she had been
  contemplating terminating her activity in the
  Church.
• She had become so disillusioned by
  disappointments and seemingly unfulfilled
  promises that her life was filled with confusion
  and numbness. Her trials were far from over, but
  by then she had the support of Church leaders,
  family members, and, most important, the Holy
  Ghost.
• TODD A. BRITSCH, Sept 1997 BYU Devotional