1 Nephi 7:12 "Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him."
Alma 5:15 "Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?"
D&C 44:2 "And it shall come to pass, that inasmuch as they are faithful, and exercise faith in me, I will pour out my Spirit upon them."
What does it mean to exercise faith?
When I think about exercising my body two main points come to mind. First, it is important to do it regularly. It is not effective if I am not consistant about it. Second, it is important to push myself just beyond my point of comfort. I do not grow stronger if I don't increase the weight. I do not increase my endurance if I don't run a little farther or a little faster.
So it is with faith. We must exercise it regularly and we must push ourselves outside of our comfort zones. I know that I have enough faith to pay my tithing. That's easy for me, that's comfortable. But do I have enough faith to share the gospel with my friend? Do I have enough faith to walk out of that movie theater? Do I have enough faith to give up that favorite sin?
As I've said before, faith is something you choose. So I choose to have more faith, I choose to increase my faith by exercising it, by pushing it a little farther than is comfortable. I make the hard choices and do the hard things because I trust without reservation that God will bless me for those choices. Those blessings stated in the scriptures above are so wonderful! "The Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men," and He says, "I will pour out my Spirit upon them." These blessings are yours for the taking when you choose to exercise faith in Christ.
Love this post. Great insight Shauna. I definitely could exercise my faith a little more. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this Shuana! I've seen how exercising faith can really help in every aspect of our lives. I was feeling discouraged about school. I didn't want to do my homework or go to class, but when I started exercising faith and praying for help with my school and putting God first by reading my scriptures and now I seem to have more energy and motivation to do the things I need to do. :)
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