MANIFESTING POWER OF FAITH

 

“If all the sick for whom we pray were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended. No man would have to live by faith.

“If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there would be no evil – all would do good but not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency, only satanic controls.

“Should all prayers be immediately answered according to our desires and our limited understanding, then there would be little or no suffering, sorrow, disappointment, or even death, and if these were not, there would also be no joy, success, resurrection, nor eternal life and godhood.”

-          President Spencer, W. Kimball, “Faith Precedes the Miracle”, p 97

In all that President Kimball said here, the test of strength, development of character and growth of power is the most significant. 

A few years ago I wrote a post on the social media extolling the virtues of Christ’s grace and His power to save us, but not only in regards to our overall salvation, but in every aspect of our lives. I basically attacked the often repeated phrase of our day, “you are enough”. I said we are never enough without Him.  My comments highly aggravated one reader who commented to me that I was wrong to be making people believe in and rely on a person they couldn’t even see. She said when she needed something to happen in her life, she gathered up all her strength and she went ahead and did it, not relying on anyone else. I thought at the time that this was her way of denying the existence and power of Christ. I replied that I don't have the power to make anyone do anything, it is up to the individual what they believe and do.

I have learnt since then there is some truth in this. I had come to the point where my faith in God became the only thing I relied on, to the denial of my own power. I have learnt of late that sometimes we rely on God far too much to do things for us, to rescue us from situations we don’t like, to heal our cracks, to make every situation better….and when He doesn’t we question His goodness, His mercy and even, in the end, His existence.

Imagine if God did everything for us. We would remain like toddlers for eternity, relying on a parent for our very existence. Sometimes we forget that we are here to rise to the status of a god. Some years ago I received an understanding that we are here to learn to harness the power of faith, without which we cannot become gods…..but not just any faith. The faith that we are to have in our control is manifesting faith. This is the power of the individual.

This is manifesting faith…. It is speaking the Word and creation comes into being (John 1:1-3); it is sending forth the winds, the rains and the floods from your mouth and controlling the elements according to your will (Ether 2:24); it is cursing the fig tree and watching it wither as you speak (Matthew 21:19,20); it is speaking to the tempest waves of the sea and watch it become still (Mark 4:39). It is seeing the end result in your mind and bringing it into being.

Brother of Jared learnt this lesson well when he presented 16 stones to the Lord and saw His finger light them up (Ether 3: 4-6) and when he ‘said unto the mountain Zerin, “remove” – it was removed.’ (Ether 12: 30). If God exercised His power in our behalf constantly, we would never come to learn of the strength of our own power. Yes, there are things that are beyond us at times, when we can do something ourselves and when we have to rely on the Lord. The trick is knowing the difference. If we combined faith in ourselves and faith in God, we would be unstoppable.

Think about it…..Christ couldn’t walk FOR Peter on the sea of Galilee….He could only say: “Come” (Matthew 14:29)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Come by David Bowman)