Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening,
this post should take four minutes to seven minutes to read from start to finish.
What are some ways that you can think of that God has grant us faith? What does "Faith" means to you?
What does "Faith" means to a immediate relative? What does "Faith" means to a friend?
I know that Heavenly Father has shown me some ways of how he has grant me faith. I have been able to learn about what is faith, and how to apply faith in life. I can think of some great ways of how Heavenly Father grant me faith and those ways are the following;
Applying faith to believe in Heavenly Father, applying faith to trust in Heavenly Father, applying faith to trust in Heavenly Father's timing, applying faith for having trust into everything will work out even when some things does not work out straight away but continue to have faith for those things to work out eventually, and so forth.
Anyways, this post focuses on a October 1983 General Conference talk, and it is called "God Grant Us Faith" by Elder Gordon B. Hinckley. I hope you would be able to learn something new while reading this post.
Elder Hinckley has mentioned the following;
"... I see the fruits of your faith, and I am grateful. I thank you for the energy you put into this work. I know that at times it feels burdensome. Some of it may appear unnecessary. But out of effort and labor comes strength, and out of service comes gladness. I thank you for your faith in the payment of your tithes and offerings.
You are making possible the growth and strengthening of this work across the world. But you do not need thanks. Every man and woman who pays his or her honest tithing has a testimony of the blessings that come therefrom. He or she can bear witness that the Lord opens the windows of heaven and pours out blessings as he has promised. (See Mal. 3:10.)
I give you the assurance, my brothers and sisters, that the work is moving forward. Wherever it is established in more than eighty nations, it is growing in strength. The faith of the people is increasing, as reflected in their increased activity. The missionary work continues to flourish.
Our young men and women continue to leave their homes to go into the world to bear witness of the Savior and of the restoration of his eternal gospel in this the dispensation of the fulness of times. (See D&C 124:41.) The work of salvation for the dead, through the vast genealogical program of the Church and the selfless labor of love that goes on in the temples, is moving at a pace never previously known.
Our people are more faithful in attendance at their meetings, and since our last conference a very substantial number of them have had opportunity to demonstrate their love for neighbor as well as for God. ... Despite the increased needs to meet such disasters, as well as aggravated problems incident to the present economy, fast offering contributions have kept pace. Thank you for this marvelous expression of faith as you have gone without meals yourselves to help those in distress.
... In August we were in Samoa and Tonga for temple dedications. Again our hearts were lifted by the outpouring of the Christlike love we experienced and witnessed among the wonderful Saints of Polynesia. Through ancient prophets the Lord promised that in the latter days he would remember his people upon the isles of the sea.
We have witnessed a marvelous fulfillment of these promises where today, among these loving and gracious people, we have scores of congregations, strong and flourishing schools to bless them with the benefits of education, and now beautiful temples of the Lord in which they may receive blessings to be found nowhere else.
... For those of us favored to attend these dedicatory services, there has come a great refreshing of our faith and an increased affection for our brethren and sisters who love the Lord and walk with loyalty to him and his commandments.
... The history of this Church is a history of the expression of such faith. It began with a farm boy in the year 1820 when he read that great promise set forth in the Epistle of James: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
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| "FAITH is a real power not just an expression of belief." - Boyd K. Packer. |
“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” (James 1:5–6.) It was faith, the simple faith of a fourteen-year-old boy, that took him into the woods that spring morning. It was faith that took him to his knees in pleading for understanding.
The marvelous fruit of that faith was a vision glorious and beautiful, of which this great work is but the extended shadow. It was by faith that he kept himself worthy of the remarkable manifestations which followed in bringing to the earth the keys, the authority, the power to reestablish the Church of Jesus Christ in these latter days.
It was by faith that this marvelous record of ancient peoples, this testament which we call the Book of Mormon, was brought forth by the gift and power of God “to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ.”
It was by faith that a small band of early converts, notwithstanding the very powers of hell brought against them, strengthened and sustained one another, left home and family to spread the word, ... in their search for peace and freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience.
... With the conviction that faith without works is dead, they drained that swampland, they plotted a city, they built substantial homes and houses for worship and education and, crowning all, a magnificent temple, then the finest building in all of Illinois.
Again came persecution, with profane and murderous mobs. Their prophet was killed. Their dreams were shattered. Again it was by faith that they pulled themselves together under the pattern he had previously drawn and organized themselves for another exodus.
... It was by faith that Brigham Young looked over this valley, then hot and barren, and declared, “This is the place.” Again by faith, four days later, he touched his cane to the ground a few hundred feet east of where I stand and said, “Here will be the temple of our God.”
The magnificent and sacred house of the Lord to the east of this Tabernacle is a testimony of faith, not only of the faith of those who built it but of the faith of those who now use it in a great selfless labor of love. Wrote Paul to the Hebrews, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1.)
All of the great accomplishments of which I have spoken were once only “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” But with vision, with labor, and with confidence in the power of God working through them, they brought their faith to reality. Behind us is a glorious history.
... It is the product of faith. Before us is a great future. It begins today. We cannot pause. We cannot slow down. We cannot slacken our pace or shorten our stride. ... Said they: “Our motives are not selfish; our purposes not petty and earth-bound; we contemplate the human race past, present, and yet to come as immortal beings, for whose salvation it is our mission to labor; and to this work, broad as eternity and deep as the love of God, we devote ourselves, now, and forever.” (The First Presidency, 26 March 1907.)
With faith we must go forward toward the fulfillment of that commitment. We must ever keep before us the big picture, while not neglecting the details. That large picture is a portrayal of the whole broad mission of the Church; but it is painted one brush stroke at a time through the lives of all members, the composite of whose activities becomes the Church at work.
Each of us, therefore, is important. Each is a brush stroke, as it were, on the mural of this vast panorama of the kingdom of God. If there are blanks, if there are distortions, if there are off-color areas, then the picture is defective to all who look upon it. Shall any of us say that with faith we cannot do better than we are now doing?
There is no obstacle too great, no challenge too difficult, that we cannot meet with faith. We live in a world where the standards of the gospel are challenged, where they are ridiculed, where sacred things are mocked. Shall we compromise? ...
In a more troubled day, the Lord said to Thomas B. Marsh: “Be patient in afflictions, revile not against those that revile. Govern your house in meekness, and be steadfast. … “Go your way whithersoever I will, and it shall be given you by the Comforter what you shall do and whither you shall go. …
“Be faithful unto the end, and lo, I am with you. These words are not of man nor of men, but of me, even Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, by the will of the Father.” (D&C 31:9, 11, 13.) Said the Savior to his disciples, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48.)
This is the commandment which is before us. Regrettably we have not reached perfection. We have a great distance to go. We must cultivate the faith to reform our lives, commencing where we are weak and moving on from there in our work of self-correction, thus gradually and consistently growing in strength to live more nearly as we should.
With faith we can rise above those negative elements in our lives which constantly pull us down. With effort we can develop the capacity to subdue those impulses which lead to degrading and evil actions. With faith we can school our appetites. We can reach out to those whose faith has grown cold and warm them by our own faith.
Let us never forget, my brethren and sisters, that each of us is a part of the whole and that what we do mars or beautifies the magnificent panorama of the kingdom of God. As our fathers labored in faith with a moving vision of the destiny of this work, even so can we. There is so much to be done, so much improvement to be made, but we can do it, walking in faith. ..."
If you would like to read the whole talk either now or in your own time, here is the link below.
Stay Tuned until next time.
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