"If you believe...see that ye do."

Until I act, there is no power

(Maybe not relevant/important note: The original title of this was going to be “Do the work.” That will make sense if you decide to keep reading. You should totally keep reading. 😉)

(Note I feel may be more important: I think about the things I share here with you a lot. Which really means I think about you…a lot. Here’s why that’s such a gift to me - I get nudges about ideas to share. I’m led to scriptures and stories (see below) that seem to be a perfect fit for something I’m trying to write about. Which is, of course, not a coincidence.

What I’m trying to say is that you are really important to Someone. This also means I’m learning not to be casual in what I write about and in how I write about it. More than a few times I’ll just start throwing words onto a page and receive a clear “stop!” If I try again, more slowly and with prayer this time, the ideas come. If I’m obstinate, I end up putting myself in timeout until my heart softens and I’m ready to listen. I wish I could report this doesn’t happen very often, and for not very long. But that would not be true…)

I’m doing this to be helpful. So, is it helping? Are you getting anything from this? #FingersCrossed 🤞🏼

In my last post I shared my recent experience of being reminded that “by faith all things are fulfilled.” This week I’m continuing to grapple with this hard question in my spiritual journey: How can I increase my faith?

And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.

Mosiah 4:10

“If you believe…see that ye do.”

This goes back to the idea that “faith is not only a principle of [first] action, but of [second] power, also, in all intelligent beings.”

When you start looking for this pattern, it’s everywhere. Until I act, there is no power. How often I forget this! Far too frequently I get stuck in the mistake of expecting the blessing without doing the work required to receive that blessing.

• “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 (In order to receive rest we must first “come unto” Him.)

• “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” John 7:17 (First, “do his will” and then we “shall know” whose doctrine it is.)

• “But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.” Alma 32:41 (This entire chapter is filled with profound teachings about faith. The bottom line - if you don’t do the work, you can’t eat the fruit.)

• “And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore, they first believed in the Son of God.” Ether 12:18 (Another chapter jam-packed with teachings and examples of this principle.)

And now for the good stuff. Like I said, I feel I’m being led to things to share here. SO many! I want to share three of what could be dozens of examples of people acting in faith and receiving power (we could also replace that word with “blessings,” or “miracles” or any one of your favorite nouns about what happens when we act in faith.)

Two of these were “discovered” in just the past week. Each one teaches a different part of this idea of acting in faith and receiving help and hope and heavenly power to do.

Principle #1 - Put the Lord first.

This past week, President Henry B. Eyring celebrated his 90th birthday. As part of that significant moment, he was interviewed by The Church News and shared the following when asked if there were key decision points that set him on a path and that made a difference in his life.

His response:

Probably one pattern. I got a feeling of what the Lord wanted me to do — call it revelation — about myself and about the future from time to time, and those made the most difference. I have to be careful of which example to give, but one would be the time when I first left home, and I graduated from the university, and I went in the Air Force, and I was alone there, and given a terribly difficult assignment in the Air Force, way beyond my own abilities. And I thought, “I don’t think I can do this.” And then I got a feeling of saying, “Well serve the Lord, and you’ll get the power to do it.” And so the whole time I was in the Air Force, I was a district missionary for the full two years, and I would go do my very difficult thing. And then, every night, I would go out and do missionary work. And I look back now, and that little feeling of saying, “Well, OK, of all the things I have got in front of me, if I can just serve the Lord, the other things will work out.” That pattern occurred, time and time and time again, a feeling of the Lord saying, “You know, what you really ought to do is do this, and then all your other troubles … We will take care of that.”

And it happened when I got into Harvard Business School. My grades were not up to it, and I was a physics student; I didn’t know anything about business. And I got there, and I thought, “I am over my head.” And within a few weeks of arriving at Harvard, they called me into the district presidency. So, while the rest of the students were doing work all the time, I was out running all over New England. And the Lord took care of it; I did OK. And the same kind of thing [happened] after I finished at Harvard; I got a job as a teacher at Stanford University. And that was over my head, and I was called as the bishop of the Stanford Ward. And every time that I got a little nudge to do something the Lord would have me do, then He seemed to take care of everything that was over my capacity.

I’ve had a lifetime of having a feeling like, “If things are tough, find out what the Lord wants, line yourself up with that.” And President [Gordon B.] Hinckley, he always used to say how things will work out. And it was true. I would say that every time I was in some difficulty of hard things, and I turned to say, “No, it doesn’t make sense, but let us do the thing the Lord would want.” And then, you know, when you ask, “How do you explain your success?” I’m just amazed. I would say, “Every time I would turn to try to serve Him, then He somehow would take care of things.”

And I think that is [what it is] about when you said “hinge points.” Every time I made a choice to serve — when I was there at Stanford, I became the bishop of the Stanford Ward, you know, while I was struggling to try to survive, and I survived. And, by the way, I spent so much time doing it that when I finally went to Ricks College from there, the dean of the Stanford residency said, “Well, good, Hal is now going to give all his time to his Church.” So, you know, he was watching me: “What’s this guy doing when he’s putting so much time into his Church?”

My guess is, the hinge points were many times, but if they have anything in common, it was that when I was in a jam, a little bit over my head, I found a way — or the Lord found a way — to let me serve Him. And then things will work out. So, when people say, “Are you proud of your career?” I’m amazed in the sense that it wasn’t that I set out to do things, it was that I was going to do hard things. But I somehow was always nudged or invited to sort of say, “Let’s bet on the Lord.” And that worked. So, I don’t know why I was blessed. But I was blessed.

The whole podcast is a must-listen. (I hope I see A TON of clicks on the interview link. Make my day, ya’ll!)

Principle #2 - Follow promptings promptly

Also this past week, my wife and I listened to this powerful interview with Sister Amy Wright. She shared the experience of having cancer and having a hard moment during her treatment when she wasn’t sure if God knew what she was going through.

Her story:

Several years ago, I was the recipient of a simple act of service that strengthened my relationship with my Heavenly Father in a very profound and personal way. I was in the middle of battling an extremely aggressive cancer.

One week, after spending three days in the infusion room, I collapsed on the couch trembling and depleted. Several hours later, I woke up to the sound of my son coming home from school. I could not move. The bone and tissue pain had set in for the week and blisters filled my mouth and throat. I had not eaten much that day and was starving. However, the thought of moving my mouth to chew or swallow was more than I could bear.

As I laid motionless on the couch assessing the awfulness of my situation, in my mind I began to ask the following questions: “Heavenly Father, do you know that I am here? Do you know what I am going through? Do you care?” Then, the doorbell rang. My son went to answer it and came back holding a 99-cent, half-melted Frosty with the instructions, “Here, give this to your mom.” It tasted amazing! It was the perfect consistency and melted just enough where I could swallow with little effort and yet still cold enough for it to be soothing as it went down. I could not believe it! I found out later that a dear sister started off her morning with a prayer for me and my family. Then, later that day while driving in her car, the impression came, “Take Amy a Frosty now!” She knew where this impression came from and acted immediately.

I have contemplated often how she must have felt and the courage that it would have taken, knowing that on the other side of our front door was a family in crisis, barely keeping their heads above the water. And her offering? A half-melted, 99-cent Frosty. I did not know what I needed in that moment, but my Heavenly Father did! How grateful I am for this ministering angel who had the faith to listen to the promptings of the Spirit and the courage to act!

Think of the faith it took for this unnamed friend to first, ask for how to help and then, when the feeling came, to act on it without delay.

If you can make the time to listen to the entire interview, do it. Heck, of course you can make time listen to it. So listen. Do the work :-)

(Here’s another account of her experience if you want the text version…)

Principle #3 - Obtain and then act with the mind of Christ

Finally, in one of my favorite talks about faith by Brother Chad Webb, he relates the story of a young mother praying for help with her baby and not seeming to get an answer. This led her to act and then to change how she was acting.

Her story:

Celeste Davis is a young mother of three whose baby woke up often, every night. She began to pray that she and her baby could get the sleep they needed. But her prayers seemed to go unanswered. This caused her to want to better understand prayer and why she wasn’t being blessed with relief. She learned from the Bible Dictionary that “we pray in Christ’s name when our mind is the mind of Christ, and our wishes the wishes of Christ.

We then ask for things it is possible for God to grant. Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ’s name at all; they in no way represent His mind but spring out of the selfishness of man’s heart.”

So Celeste decided to make a list of the things for which she had been praying. By making this list, she realized that her prayers primarily consisted of asking Heavenly Father for what she wanted, which was for Him to change her circumstances. She then decided to make another list, writing down those things that she was certain Heavenly Father wanted for her. Of course the two lists were not entirely incompatible—He loves us and wants us to be happy. But this little exercise teaches an important truth. While she wanted to change her circumstances, He wanted to change her. So, she decided to adjust her approach to prayer in order to better align her will with Heavenly Father’s. 

She wrote:

“I came up with a little formula to help me in my prayers. It is simply this—whenever you ask for something you want and you’re not totally sure if it’s something God wants for you, tack on the phrase ‘but if not’ and then add something you’re sure God would want for you.

“For example: ‘[Heavenly Father], please help me get some sleep tonight, but if not, help me to have enough energy to be pleasant and hardworking anyway.’ ‘[Heavenly Father], please bless that my child will get over this sickness and feel better, but if not, help us to trust in Thee and be patient with each other.’ ‘[Heavenly Father], please bless that I will be included in my group of friends, but if not, even if I feel excluded, help me to be kind and generous.’” 

She continued:

“I’ve tried this out for about a year now, and I can say my rate of prayer success has skyrocketed.

“I feel like I’m finally fulfilling the real purpose of prayer, which is not to negotiate my desires, but to align myself with God.

“An unexpected benefit has been that I don’t fear hard situations or not getting what I want nearly as much as I used to because I’ve seen and felt God answer my prayers—both my desires and my ‘but if nots.”

If you believe…see that ye do.