Kindling the Fire of Faith

  I have been asked by our Relief Society presidency to prepare an article for each month's Relief Society newsletter on spiritual preparedness.  They have someone else doing one on temporal preparedness.  I thought I might just as well publish those articles here as well.  For May, I chose to write about the prophet's admonition to increase our faith in Jesus Christ:

In April’s conference President Nelson admonished to prepare ourselves spiritually by increasing our faith:

“What would you do if you had more faith?  Think about it.  Write about it.  Then receive more faith by doing something that requires more faith.”

Is faith a gift or a choice?  The answer is yes to both.  As we put forth effort to increase our faith, the Lord will bless us with more faith.

Those of you who went to girls’ camp know that you need kindling to start a fire.  You can’t just set big logs on fire.

Here are some suggestions of kindling we can use to start our fire of faith:

1.    Testimony.  In the bible dictionary, we read, “Faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith.”  Hearing the testimony of others can help us kindle our own faith.

2.     Scripture and Prayer.  President Monson said, “I reiterate what we have been told repeatedly- that in order to gain and to keep the faith we need, it is essential that we read and study and ponder the scriptures.  Communication with our Heavenly Father through prayer is vital.  We cannot afford to neglect these things. . .”

3.    Study the Words of Modern-day Apostles and Prophets.  Elder Neil L Anderson said, “The guidance of the First Presidency and the Twelve help protect our faith.”  Study the conference talks as if your faith depends on it, because it does.

4.    Kindle Gratitude for the Mercies of God    In Moroni 10:3 we are told the steps to gaining a testimony.  The first is to read, the second (and often overlooked) is to ponder upon the mercies of God.  I think doing so is an important key to maintaining our faith.  Are we looking for the little miracles and blessings in our lives?  In one of my favorite hymns, we sing, “Hast thou not seen all that thou needest hath been granted in what He ordaineth?”  (Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, hymn #72.)  Gratitude is important kindling for our fire of faith.

 

Faith is a gift, but faith is also a choice.  We must choose to move forward when things are dark and build the fire of faith by adding the kindling of hearing testimonies, scripture study and prayer, conference talk study, and looking for and expressing gratitude for the mercies of God.  As we prepare the fire with the kindling, that will allow the Holy Ghost to light the fire of faith in us- blessing us with the gift of faith.