Talk on Faith and Testimony

Have you noticed that most people are mystified why Laman and Lemuel were so
rebellious? They had angels appear to them and threaten them, they had the power
of God shake them, and they witnessed many other miracles. Sometimes they decided
to obey the Lord after witnessing a miracle, but they were always soon seeking old
paths of doubt, complaining, and rebellion. The sole fact that their land lubber
brother Nephi led them to build a ship that carried them safely through storms at
sea to America, gave them undeniable proof of the things of God. During the
building of the ship, Laman and Lemuel were shaken by the power of God to enlist
their help in building.
1 Nephi 54 And it came to pass that I stretched forth my hand unto my brethren,
and they did not wither before me; but the Lord did shake them, even according to
the word which he had spoken.
55 And now, they said: We know of a surety that the Lord is with thee, for we
know that it is the power of the Lord that has shaken us.
Compare that single miracle with what was happening to Nephi during the building
of the ship: he was continually, perhaps daily, going to the Lord, planning with
Him, and receiving instructions for building the ship.

1 Nephi 18:1...And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I
should work the timbers of the ship.
2 Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by
men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it
after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the
manner of men.
3 And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord;
wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things.

For most people with human brains to hold their memories, every spiritual
experience we ever have is becoming dimmer and dimmer in our memories. Some grow
dim rapidly and some are slower to fade, but their nature is to fade. Whether
they fade quickly or slowly seems to have a lot to do with how well our minds are
prepared for the information contained in the insight. If the insight is a
comfortable and familiar thought, it may fade very slowly. However if our grey
cells had never tried to conceive such an idea before, the Holy Ghost can help our
minds contain the thought, but when that continuous help is gone, the thought
fades rapidly. Laman and Lemuel were so spiritually unexercised that the impact
of miracles on their minds probably faded more rapidly than with Nephi.

Furthermore we logically think that our ability to remember revelation should be

proportional to how impressive the experience was, but that is only after our
minds are prepared to absorb the available information on the subject, (possibly
by pondering and searching scripture on the subject.) Until then, speed of memory
decay depends more on mental preparation.

The important difference of what was happening to Nephi compared with Laman and
Lemuel was the often and continual miracles that Nephi was obtaining to
spiritually feed him. It is also significantly visible here that Nephi was
seeking and creating spiritual experiences and that the Lord wasn't just
interrupting Nephi's daily shipbuilding and handing plans to him.

The Lord in His visit to the Americas gave a simple formula for gaining safety
from the adversary.

3 Nephi 11:38 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my
name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of
God.
39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth
upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
them.

The first things it says are needed for immunity to the adversary are to repent
and to be baptized. In other words, we need to be members of the Lord's church
and achieve a certain degree of worthiness. The other requirement, to become as a
little child, may not seem so plain, for we should reject the selfishness and
rebellion of children, however adopt the submissiveness, dependence, and inquiring
of little children. Children also have an innate faithfulness, following Joseph
Smith's definition of faith which means doing things to get results. Children
seem equipped with powerful ability to learn behaviors that get them what they
want. It seems more an adult tendency to persist in neurotic behaviors that don't
work to get desired results.

Elder Richard G. Scott cast his vote that this childlike understanding of the
principle of faith is the correct one.

General Conference, April, 2002, Elder Richard G. Scott, "...exercise faith in

Jesus Christ, in His teachings, and in His limitless power to accomplish what He
has promised. The key words are "exercise faith."
True faith has enormous power, but there are principles that must be followed to
unleash that power. Moroni taught, "Faith is things which are hoped for and not
seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until
after the trial of your faith."
That means you must practice the truth or principle you have faith in."

The Lord wishes us to be dependent on Him for help and blessings, willing to
submit to His will and progressing to actively striving to bring His will to pass,
and actively learning and progressing to do those things that work to bring
blessings. The whole reason Father wants us to do the things He asks us to do, is
because those are the things that will make us happy. If we can progress to a
point where we are creating experiences daily in which Father is able to bless us
somehow with different miracles, we will approach the peak of happiness attainable
in this life. Anything we do that will bring miracles often enough into our lives
will work to give us this happiness and protection. Things that always work to
bring the Holy Ghost and accompanying miraculous insights and inspiration are
reading and reciting scriptures and stories of prophets, and miracles and
testifying. These blessings and accompanying insights and inspiration make us
happy. Doing this daily will have added effect of protecting us from the
adversary. Such daily miraculous blessings whether big or small strengthen our
testimony so it will always be strong. As we learn like children that these
things make us happy, and are continually preparing throughout the day for the
next opportunity to seek miraculous insights and inspiration from the Lord, it
will guard our thoughts and actions from sin.

In another scripture that talks of the rock we should build upon, Helaman tells us
it is the rock of Christ. He called it the rock of Christ because he knew that
this practice of continually going to God for insights, inspiration and revelation
would be the way Christ would live his life. Christ would build his life on that
foundation.

Helaman 5:12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our
Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that
when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the
whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it
shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless
wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a
foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

It is very remarkable that Father would say there is something we can do to make
ourselves impervious to the adversary. Some may be tempted to explain an
outrageous claim in the Book of Mormon with the thought that the lack of education
of Joseph may be reflected in some few outrageous things in the book. More and
more, though, I have found that there isn't anything in the Book of Mormon that
the Lord didn't intend to be there, and that Joseph must have had continuous
miraculous help in the translation. Many things successfully came through the
translation that are so deep that Joseph couldn't have had time during translation
to consider all of the important meaning in some chapters. My witness is that no
matter how smart you are and no matter how deep you go into the meaning of things
in the book, the translation retains its precision. If we are built upon the
foundation of the rock of Christ, we will not fall.

It is also remarkable that the most intelligent being that ever lived on the earth
didn't count His own brain to be sufficiently powerful for Him to figure out on
His own, "What should Jesus do?" Instead, Jesus always inquired. For Him to be
able to say truthfully that He never did anything but what Father commanded Him,
He always inquired of God.

John 5: 19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what
things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment
is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath
sent me.

John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of
him that sent me.

John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then
shall ye know that I am [he], and [that] I do nothing of myself; but as my Father
hath taught me, I speak these things.

John 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave
me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

One of the easiest and most successful activities for creating such miracles of
insights and inspiration is searching the scriptures. Just a few minutes each day
of praying for insights and help, searching the scriptures, pondering, inquiring
about questions that come up, writing insights and inspirations, and thanking,
will almost every time bring the Holy Ghost with blessings. President Benson had
a vision of how important this could be as he taught leaders.

"Bend your efforts and your activities to stimulating meaningful scripture study
among the members of the Church. Often we spend great effort in trying to increase
the activity levels in our stakes. We work diligently to raise the percentages of
those attending sacrament meetings. We labor to get a higher percentage of our
young men on missions. We strive to improve the numbers of those marrying in the
temple. All of these are commendable efforts and important to the growth of the
kingdom. But when individual members and families immerse themselves in the
scriptures regularly and consistently, these other areas of activity will
automatically come. Testimonies will increase. Commitment will be strengthened.
Families will be fortified. Personal revelation will flow." ("The Power of the
Word," CR April 1986, Ensign 16 [May 1986]: 81.) (Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of
Ezra Taft Benson, Gospel Principles and Doctrine, Scripture.)
Searching the scriptures or any other activity that brings miracles often, no
matter how small, will be completely effective for keeping our testimony bright so
it doesn't fall. As we covenant with the Lord that we will always search
scriptures often and make ourselves dependent on Father's insights, inspirations,
and revelations, we can put ourselves in a mode so we are always throughout each
day preparing for the next opportunity for a session searching the scriptures and
getting precious insights and inspiration. As we progress, this continual
preparation can become a stronger and stronger shield to help protect us from
sinful thoughts and actions. Once you start such a good thing, don't retreat from
it.

"With any major decision there are cautions and considerations to make, but once
there has been illumination, beware the temptation to retreat from a good thing.
If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is
right now. Don't give up when the pressure mounts. Certainly don't give in to
that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness. Face your doubts.
Master your fears. �Cast not away therefore your confidence.' Stay the course
and see the beauty of life unfold for you." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Brigham
Young University, 2 March 1999, Cast Not Away, June 200 Ensign

The scripture Brother Holland quotes is illuminating. The possibility of reward

for doing good is introduction to the next chapter in Hebrews. As we find
revelations in the insights and inspiration, we can do things that are the
revealed will of God to us. The promise is that having done things revealed to us
to be the will of God, we become much like Jesus, and become heirs of the reward
Jesus received for doing the will of God.

Hebrews 10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense
of reward.
36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye
might receive the promise.

Your challenge is to strengthen and to protect yourselves by using these

principles, teach these things to your children so they're safe, and when you have
opportunities to lead in the Church, to use it to protect those for whom you have
stewardship.