"Faith in Christ, The First Principle of the Gospel" by Vallan Sherrod

Faith is listed in the Fourth Article of Faith as one of the first ordinances and principles of the Gospel. Yet, what exactly is faith? One of the more famous scriptures answering this question is Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” What are we to hope for? In Hebrew, the words faithful and truth share the same root. This suggests that we have faith in the truth. In John 14:6, we find that the truth is Christ when he said, “. . . I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The truth is the Savior, Jesus Christ. Enos 1:8, where the Lord answered Enos' prayer in the Book of Mormon, is a great scripture that emphasizes this point, “And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole.” We must root our faith in the Savior and his Atonement.

When we exercise faith, there are many blessings promised in the scriptures. One blessing is that God will answer our prayers when we exercise faith in him. Enos remarked on this principle in Enos 1:15, “... Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.” Enos is not the only one who has remarked on this great principle. If we ask in faith and what we ask is right, God will always answer our prayers. He has done this numerous times for me. One such experience was when I was on a staff at a Scout camp. On Wednesday of the week-long camp out, all those on staff were asked to present a spiritual or inspirational thought to the participants that evening on what was called the Vesper Trail. When I am put on the spot, I usually forget everything I can share. Thus, when it was only a half hour or so before we had to share our thoughts, I still hadn't come up with anything to say. I decided to say a quick prayer asking Heavenly Father what I should say, and it was amazing! Immediately after I opened up my eyes, a thought came to my mind of an experience I had earlier that week, and I knew that experience was what I should tell the participants of the camp. I knew God was there to answer my prayer. This is just one of the many experiences that have taught me the power and truthfulness of praying in faith.

These answers to our prayers come through the Holy Ghost. In Jarom 1:4, it reads, “And there are many among us who have many revelations, for they are not all stiffnecked. And as many as are not stiffnecked and have faith, have communion with the Holy Spirit, which maketh manifest unto the children of men, according to their faith.” When we have faith, the Holy Ghost is with us, and through him, God can answer our prayers.

The greatest blessing of having faith in Christ is found in Mosiah 3:12, “. . . [S]alvation cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is why faith is such an important principle. Only through faith in Christ can we be saved. I have seen this principle countless times as I have been reading the Book of Mormon this semester. Actually, it seems right that we would have to have faith in Christ in order to be saved by him. If we don't have faith, then we will not act on that faith by following his commandments. If we don't follow the commandments, then we cannot be saved.

How do we obtain this faith? In Jacob 4:6, Jacob gives us an answer, “Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.” We can obtain faith by searching the words of the prophets in the scriptures and the words of today's prophets. The spirit will testify of their truthfulness. We also obtain faith from our experiences when the Spirit witnesses to us of the truthfulness of our faith. Another great way to obtain faith is given by Alma in Alma 32:28-29,

Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me. Now behold, would not this increase your faith? I say unto you, Yea; nevertheless it hath not grown up to a perfect knowledge.

When we are wondering whether a principle is true or not, we practice it, and if it is good, the Spirit will let us know of its truth.

Once we have obtained our faith, it will constantly be tried by adversity. Everyone is tried for there faith, “Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith” (Mosiah 23:21). It doesn't matter how bad or good we are; our faith will always be tested through trial. A great example of this is Job. He was living the best he could, and his faith was still tried through tremendous adversity. How can we strengthen our faith so we can get through these hard times like Job did? One way is to continue to exercise our faith and pray for help. “But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction” (Jacob 3:1). If we continue to exercise our faith, then God will help lighten our burden. However, it does not mean that everything will instantly become better. When Alma's people were in bondage to the Lamanites in the Land of Helam, they had to exercise patience in their afflictions. “And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage” (Mosiah 24:16). We too must exercise patience in bearing our trials. Another strength to help us in our trials is our past experiences. A member of my Bishopric called these “defining moments.” These are moments in our lives that we have come to a surety of a truth. Jacob had such moments to strengthen him when Sherem tried to “shake” Jacob from his faith,

And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken. (Jacob 7:5)

When our faith is tried, we should look back to those moments when we knew of a surety that our faith was true. These moments will give us strength in our current trials.

Finally, I would like to note Alma 7:24 which remarks on the importance of faith. “And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.” When we exercise faith with hope and charity, we will always be following God's commandments, so we can become more like him. I know that when we pray in faith that God will answer our prayers. He will also help us through our trials. Things will always work out in the end, even if they seem nearly impossible. We just need to keep exercising our faith.

Works Cited

The Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981.

The Holy Bible. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1979.

The Pearl of Great Price. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981.