Personal Progress - Faith and prayer

Faith is not just a nice principle; it is a POWER.

Alma 32:21

Hebrews 11

Ether 12:27

The world's view of faith: You can have faith in anything and if you believe it long enough, it will come true. That is not true faith. It is simply being a good guesser.

True faith resides in things as they really are, in conjunction with the spirit. It is not second guessing the Lord. You know it's right even though you may not know how it is all going to unfold.

Jacob speaking of Sherem, a faith-shaker:

 And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken.

Regardless of our own unique situations, what we want to try to create, what we need to establish, is a faith like that of Jacob, a faith that cannot be shaken.

Faith is about is about wanting what God wants. And how do we know what God wants? We pray. We don't just say prayers. We pray. As Enos prayed. With mighty prayer. Mighty prayer is sincere, focused, not necessarily long, is real and not rote or trite. It commands some energy and thought. And it's work.

Beginning my 3-week journey of praying morning and night, I had not been as consistent in the mornings. I usually would jump out of bed in a rush to get kids up and going and out the door. And before I knew it it was noon as I rushed about my day accomplishing the tasks I had outlined. That had to change. I made a goal to pray every morning before leaving the bathroom. That way I had started my day on good footing.

As I prayed during these three weeks, I prayed more earnestly that I would have the spirit with me throughout the day and that I would recognize it's promptings more. What I learned is that faith is not passive, a good feeling, or even wishful thinking. It is a real power that requires real work. And prayer is the means to tap into that power. I cannot even begin to describe the peace that comes from knowing that as I pray with real intent there is a God who hears me, who loves me, who knows my name, and knows exactly how I feel when life is either good or hard.

P. S. One of my most favorite "church" songs is called He Hears Me by Hillary Weeks. As a 17-year-old girl it touched me deeply the first time I heard it. The spirit was so strong as it quietly whispered to me that prayer is real, God is real, and answers do come . . . eventually.