Question: how do you have faith in Christ without directing that faith towards a specific outcome? Like having faith things will be okay without knowing what 'okay' means.
This is such a fantastic question because it is about faith, the very first principle of the gospel. Something we hear about all the time, but never ponder deeply enough.
I started by finding some scriptures that define faith:
Ether 12:6,4
"faith is things which are hoped for and not seen"
"whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God"
Which led me to realize, perhaps there is an important distinction between faith and hope that I am missing.
PMG 117
"Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good."
Moroni 7:25,40-41
"by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing...
How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?
And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise [or covenant]."
It seems that hope is very long term and is an assurance that we receive that we will obtain an inheritance in the celestial kingdom.
The Lectures on Faith teach that once a person has the idea that God actually exists, a correct understanding of His attributes and character, then all that remains is to obtain "the knowledge which persons must have, that the course of life which they pursue is according to the will of God, in order that they may be enabled to exercise faith in him unto life and salvation."
"Such was and always will be the situation of the saints of God, that unless they have an actual knowledge that the course that they are pursuing is according to the will of God, they will grow weary in their minds and faint;" (6:1,4)
How do we know when our course of life is agreeable to God's will? This is something that must be obtained individually, but can be facilitated by finding commandments in the scriptures and keeping them, as well as having frequent and sincere prayer. See Lectures on Faith, Sixth Lecture.
Joseph Smith is an example of someone having hope without knowing what the exact outcome would be.
D&C 122:7
Though a bunch of bad things might happen, "and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
Through all his terrible experiences in Liberty jail, Joseph Smith stayed strong because he trusted enough in God to know He had a plan for him, even without knowing what it was.
Elder Bednar told an interesting story to a group of young adults back in March of 2013. It is a story about a young couple named John and Heather. Shortly after getting married, John was diagnosed with cancer. After some time spent in treatment, Elder Bednar visited and counseled with this couple. He asked an interesting question: "do you have the faith not to be healed?" He continued, "We recognized a principle that applies to every devoted disciple: strong faith in the Savior is submissively accepting of His will and timing in our lives — even if the outcome is not what we hoped for or wanted. Certainly, John and Heather would desire, yearn, and plead for healing with all of their might, mind, and strength. But more importantly, they would be “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [them], even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19)."
The whole story is even more touching and can be found in the link below.
(https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng)
This is quite a fascinating thought to consider. In order for us to receive blessings from God, we must first trust Him, even if that requires us to accept something we don't want. This goes right along with what the Bible Dictionary says about faith: "All true faith must be based upon correct knowledge or it cannot produce the desired results." If we have the distorted notion that God will heal us or give us our desires simply because we believe in it hard enough, that is not sufficiently pure faith to produce miracles. We must be willing to accept whatever course of action the Lord takes, even if we may not like it. The stumbling block to having faith in this situation is pride that we know what's best for us. The antidote is humility and fervent prayer.
To summarize, having faith means trusting in God, and being enabled to call forth miracles when necessary. Faith leads to hope, which is looking forward to an inheritance in the celestial kingdom. Though we may not always like the things the Lord has in store for us, we must be willing to accept His will in order to have true faith. Some places to go look for more information are the Bible Dictionary and the Lectures on Faith.
This is such a fantastic question because it is about faith, the very first principle of the gospel. Something we hear about all the time, but never ponder deeply enough.
I started by finding some scriptures that define faith:
Ether 12:6,4
"faith is things which are hoped for and not seen"
"whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God"
Which led me to realize, perhaps there is an important distinction between faith and hope that I am missing.
PMG 117
"Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good."
Moroni 7:25,40-41
"by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing...
How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?
And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise [or covenant]."
It seems that hope is very long term and is an assurance that we receive that we will obtain an inheritance in the celestial kingdom.
The Lectures on Faith teach that once a person has the idea that God actually exists, a correct understanding of His attributes and character, then all that remains is to obtain "the knowledge which persons must have, that the course of life which they pursue is according to the will of God, in order that they may be enabled to exercise faith in him unto life and salvation."
"Such was and always will be the situation of the saints of God, that unless they have an actual knowledge that the course that they are pursuing is according to the will of God, they will grow weary in their minds and faint;" (6:1,4)
How do we know when our course of life is agreeable to God's will? This is something that must be obtained individually, but can be facilitated by finding commandments in the scriptures and keeping them, as well as having frequent and sincere prayer. See Lectures on Faith, Sixth Lecture.
Joseph Smith is an example of someone having hope without knowing what the exact outcome would be.
D&C 122:7
Though a bunch of bad things might happen, "and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
Through all his terrible experiences in Liberty jail, Joseph Smith stayed strong because he trusted enough in God to know He had a plan for him, even without knowing what it was.
Elder Bednar told an interesting story to a group of young adults back in March of 2013. It is a story about a young couple named John and Heather. Shortly after getting married, John was diagnosed with cancer. After some time spent in treatment, Elder Bednar visited and counseled with this couple. He asked an interesting question: "do you have the faith not to be healed?" He continued, "We recognized a principle that applies to every devoted disciple: strong faith in the Savior is submissively accepting of His will and timing in our lives — even if the outcome is not what we hoped for or wanted. Certainly, John and Heather would desire, yearn, and plead for healing with all of their might, mind, and strength. But more importantly, they would be “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [them], even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19)."
The whole story is even more touching and can be found in the link below.
(https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng)
This is quite a fascinating thought to consider. In order for us to receive blessings from God, we must first trust Him, even if that requires us to accept something we don't want. This goes right along with what the Bible Dictionary says about faith: "All true faith must be based upon correct knowledge or it cannot produce the desired results." If we have the distorted notion that God will heal us or give us our desires simply because we believe in it hard enough, that is not sufficiently pure faith to produce miracles. We must be willing to accept whatever course of action the Lord takes, even if we may not like it. The stumbling block to having faith in this situation is pride that we know what's best for us. The antidote is humility and fervent prayer.
To summarize, having faith means trusting in God, and being enabled to call forth miracles when necessary. Faith leads to hope, which is looking forward to an inheritance in the celestial kingdom. Though we may not always like the things the Lord has in store for us, we must be willing to accept His will in order to have true faith. Some places to go look for more information are the Bible Dictionary and the Lectures on Faith.
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