There has been, and will forever be, many discussions on the subject of "faith", because as we mature spiritually, our understanding of faith continues to grow. Faith is the ability to believe in something we have not seen or witnessed with our own eyes. Heb. 11:1: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

The whole chapter of Hebrews 11 is about the faith of many who are familiar to us, and should be studied as a witness to the need for faith and the need to increase it. Verse 6 is very straightforward in this regard. Referring to Heb. 11:1, "...faith being the assurance of things hoped for:..."; if we understand this scripture, then the spirit with us has been enlightened and we now have a sense there is something greater than we are. If we are truly inspired, we will also have the urge or need to know what that is.

Because the natural man does not have this inspiration, he is, of course, perplexed.
(1 Corinthians 2:9-15)

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Hebrews said this: "through faith and patience we inherit the promises" (Heb. 6:12). This may be taken along with what the Apostle Peter says in I Peter 1:7-9. He states in verse 9, "the object of our faith is the salvation of our souls." These scriptures should arouse our senses to the fact that there is nothing more important than what we believe, and that faith in God is not just important, it is required for our salvation.

Without a deep and abiding faith; therefore, it is impossible to please God. If we do not have, and continue to have, a deep and abiding faith in God, it is possible for us to be lulled into believing that there is only this life and we may begin to believe that we should do what our human tendencies want to do...simply, to put our trust in the things of this world.

How do we increase our faith in God? First of all, it is not easy. If it were, there would be no need for anyone to write about it. Mankind is continually degrading God by saying that we can serve Him a little, live the way we want, and in the end, He will overlook our folly. This is one of the ways that we are failing when it comes to increasing our faith. We must really take to heart the scriptures, suchas, "you cannot serve God and mammon" (the world). Referring back to Heb. 11:1, what is it that we are hoping for? Our salvation or worldly pleasures? We cannot have both.

Moroni 7:5-6: "For behold, God hath said, a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift or prayer unto God, except he shall do it with real intent, it profiteth him nothing. For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness." I will add as well, the sacrifices of the unrighteous are not acceptable to God.

I believe that the reason we are not enjoying the fuller blessings of God is because of our unbelief, which is a lack of faith. Until we come to know, through faith, the promises of God and that He is not only able, but willing to give them to us, our faith may be mediocre at best. We can refer to Hymn #262 which offers these words in the first verse: "Rise up oh men of God, Have done with lesser things, Give heart and soul and mind and strength, to serve the King of Kings."

In conjunction with this, please read: D & C, Section 4.

Your Brother in Christ,
Bill