Today was my first Sunday teaching Relief Society in the Relief Society room surrounded by the other women in my ward in over a year, and it was wonderful! Today's lesson was taken from President Russell M. Nelson's Sunday morning talk, "Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains."
Before jumping into the content of the talk, I have one question: From a secular point of view, who or what has great power?
The women in my ward answered: political leaders, the wealthy, high profile advocates, celebrities.
President Nelson said, “Faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest power available to us in this life. All things are possible to them that believe.”
Do you believe that? Do you believe that the power of faith is more powerful than the secular list we just made?
One sister said that it depended on where she was in her personal faith. Sometimes she has enough faith to not led the problems of the world get to her, and other times the world pulls her down into depression.
Another sister brought up President Nelson's clarification of what faith to move mountains means: "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 may be loneliness, doubt, illness, or other personal problems. Your mountains will vary, and yet the answer to each of your challenges is to increase your faith."
Piggy backing off of that, another sister explained that for her, visually, her mountains are a brick wall. Each brick is one struggle, and she can't break down the whole wall at once, she has to do it one brick at a time; which requires faith and patience.
President Nelson said, “Faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of all belief and the conduit of divine power… Everything good in life - every potential blessing of eternal significance - begins with faith. Allowing God to prevail in our lives begins with faith that He is willing to guide us. True repentance begins with faith that Jesus Christ has the power to cleanse, heal, and strengthen us.”
Three of many scripture verses that back this statement up:
Moroni 10:7 And ye may know that the is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.
D&C 63:9-10 But, behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe.
Yea, signs come by faith, not by the will of men, nor as they please, but by the will of God.
D&C 64:34 Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.
What do these verses teach us about faith? Faith precedes God's power, signs, blessings, miracles, etc. And we need to be willing to work towards it.
President Nelson acknowledged that exercising faith can be overwhelming. And he gives two suggestions to help us out:
1. Experiment with your faith. Figure out how it works in your life.
Alma 32:27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, eyes, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
Matthew 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
While talking about the mustard seed symbolism, I was reminded of a personal experience from a week ago. I was working in my garden in the heat of the sun. Clouds covered the sun, a cool breeze blew, and some light rain fell. It was heaven to work in that environment. After I finished, as soon as I went inside, the clouds moved, and it was sunny again. I thought, "Wow! How lucky!" The Spirit in my head answered, "That wasn't luck. The Lord took care of you in your garden today, and he will take care of you as you look for a job. The Lord will provide."
I believe that Heavenly Father will lead me to the right job this summer. He did last summer, he'll do it again.
2. President Nelson reminds us that our faith does not have to be perfect to work. He uses words like: potential, growing, to describe faith. “The Lord does not require perfect faith for us to have access to His perfect power. But He does ask us to believe.”
President Nelson then challenged us to "start today to increase your faith" and gives us five steps to help us increase our faith:
1. Study: Christ’s mission and ministry, the doctrine of Christ, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, miracles. Where do we find information about those specific topics? The scriptures.
2. “Choose to believe in Jesus Christ.” President Nelson said, “Take your questions to the Lord and to other faithful sources. Study with the desire to believe rather than the hope that you can find a flaw in the fabric of a prophet’s life or a discrepancy in the scriptures… Allow the Lord to lead you…”
3. Act in faith.
What is an example of acting in faith?
One sister shared that she went through a time where she spent three years applying and interviewing before she got the job she has now. Three years. She said that it got to the point where she didn't even know why she was doing this anymore. But she felt to keep trying, and faith is what kept her going to continue to apply.
Another sister shared that she never considered serving a mission until she started going to the temple once a week with her friends. In the temple, she felt inspired to serve, and moved forward mission preparations, and is getting ready to turn her papers in!
4. Partake of sacred ordinances worthily.
It takes faith to participate in sacred ordinances, and continuing to participate increases our faith.
5. Ask your Heavenly Father for help.
What do the five underlined words have in common? They are verbs, actions words. Faith requires action. We can't just sit there and wait for it to happen.
I will end with my favorite quote from this talk:
“Do not minimize the faith you already have. It takes faith to join the Church and remain faithful. It takes faith to follow prophets rather than pundits and popular opinion. It takes faith to serve a mission during a pandemic. It takes faith to live a chaste life when the world shouts that God’s law of chastity is now outmoded. It takes faith to teach the gospel to children in a secular world. It takes faith to plead for the life of a loved one and even more faith to accept a disappointing answer.”
What is something you did this past week that took faith?
We didn't have time for anyone to answer that question today. So, if you are comfortable answering publicly, put it in the comments. If not, write it down in your journal. Or make this question a part of Family Home Evening this week and share it with your family.
