Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

For me, my faith in Christ is everything. It is what gets me up in the morning, helps me to be a good person, and keeps me moving when I may want to fall apart. The scriptures have provided us with great examples of people who have shown faith and received great blessings. Here are a few that are highlighted in Hebrews 11:

• Enoch – Verse 5 – Had testimony. Believed in God “…and the he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” – Because of his great faith in God, Enoch was translated.
• Noah – Verse 6 – Showed his faith by preparing for the great flood even though he could not see it right in front of him. Because of his great faith, God warned him of was to come.
• Abraham – Verse 8, 17 - 19 – Showed his faith by going on a journey without knowing where he was going. He went because God wanted him to go. Because he showed his faith, God lead him to “the land of promise.” Abraham also showed great faith by being willing to sacrifice his son to the will of God. He knew that he had been promised great blessings through Isaac and knew that by killing him, it would put an end to all those blessing but he trusted in heavenly Father’s plan and was obedient. He was blessed by having an Angel stopping him and providing for another sacrifice in his place.
• Sarah – Verse 11 – She showed her faith “because she judged him faithful who had promised.” As a result of her faith, she was blessed with strength and conceived and bore a son in her old age.
• Isaac – Verse 20 – “blessed both Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.”
• Jacob – Verse 21 – Even though he was dying, he blessed both sons of Joseph and continued to worship.
• Joseph – Verse 22 – As Joseph died, he knew that the Israelites would be saved from Egypt and gave instructions for his bones for when the children of Israel left.
• Moses – Verses 24-27 – He showed his faith by leaving all the comforts and luxury of being the part of the Pharaoh’s household and following the will of the Lord in helping his true family, the children of Israel, to leave Egypt. Through his faith, Heavenly Father gave him strength and power that only comes from God to free and lead so many people for 40 years across the wilderness.

Some other great examples from the scriptures and one from my personal life are:

• Esther – through her faith, she was able to stand before the king, without regard to her own safety, and ask for the protection of the Jews from the king.
• Nephi – through his faith, even though he didn't know how he would accomplish all that Heavenly Father wanted him to do, showed his willingness by moving forward until the plan presented itself.
• Sister Melea Johnson – shows her faith in Heavenly Father by smiling every day and spreading joy in every situation. Even as the rain falls all around, damping any hope of fun, there is Sister Johnson pointing at the sun rays through the raindrops. Because of her faith, she is able to see happiness and joy in all that she does and it is infectious wherever she goes. 

To show our own faith, Paul wrote in Hebrews 12:1-2, that we needed to put aside our worries, to stop doing sin, and endure with patience the trials we are faced with. Along with all that, we are to look at Christ who is “the author and finisher of our faith.” He bore our every sin and heartache, he endured the cross, and he allowed himself to be mocked because of his great love for us. It is our faith that will get us through all that we are asked to endure in this life.

In our student reading, we learn two things that help us understand the difference between belief and faith. Belief is something passive as in we have learned and believe something to be true. Faith, on the other hand, is a trust in what we believe that it motivates us to action. The second thing I learned is that we can have belief without faith but, we cannot have faith without belief. Faith, in essence is a living belief.

With faith being an action on our part, it is also a power. It is through our faith that we gain a deeper understanding of God and His works. Through faith, we gain strength to endure our trials or to accomplish a task or assignment. It is also through our faith in God that we receive the blessing that we need when we need them. He knows us because we are His children. If we will believe on Him and have faith to follow His plan, He will never leave us alone. I know this to be true from my own experiences but also from the experiences of others in the scriptures and from my personal life. What a strength they are to my personal faith.