Seeking Faith

One of the spiritual gifts that Moroni included in his list of gifts we might seek was great faith: “And to another, exceedingly great faith” (Moroni 10:11).  We know from modern revelation that to obtain spiritual gifts like this, we must seek them: “Seek ye earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they are given” (D&C 46:8).  So, what do we do to we seek this gift of great faith?  How do we increase our faith in the Savior?  I believe the scriptures give us several answers to this question.  Perhaps the first requirement for increasing our faith is to humble ourselves before God.  Mormon taught the followers of Christ in his day that there is no true faith without humility: “And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.  If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart” (Moroni 7:43-44).  Faith can only be developed on a foundation of humility, a recognition that without God we can do nothing.  Alma similarly focused on humility to the poor people among the Zoramites before he started teaching them about faith.  When they came to him with questions he was glad to see that they were humble, knowing that this would help them to develop faith in the word: “He beheld with great joy; for he beheld that their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word.”  Before he taught them how to experiment on the word and gain faith, he said to them, “It is well that ye are cast out of your synagogues, that ye may be humble, and that ye may learn wisdom… for ye are necessarily brought to be humble” (Alma 32:6, 12).  To be able to believe more fully in the Savior, to trust God more completely, to increase our faith, we must come humbly before the Lord and acknowledge our dependence on him.   

            In addition to humility, the scriptures teach us that to increase our faith in God we fervently ask for this gift from the Lord.  That is what his apostles did when they were on the earth: “And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith,” and He subsequently taught them about the power of faith (Luke 17:5).  We too can ask the Lord to increase our faith—this is what Helaman and his army did in their time of great trial: “Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies…. Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him” (Alma 58:10-11).  They prayed to the Lord for strength and He granted unto them “great faith” to overcome their difficult challenges.  At a later time in Nephite history others likewise strengthened their faith through prayer to the Lord: “Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ” (Helaman 3:35).  They became firmer in their faith because they humbly sought the Lord through prayer and fasting.  The Savior also showed that we can pray for faith, even in others.  He told Peter: “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32).  He recognized the need to pray for His Father to help Peter increase his faith.  He recognized that for Peter to strengthen his faith, he would need divine help.  Though we can do much to cultivate and develop and nurture our own faith in the Lord, ultimately it is a gift from our Father in Heaven that we must seek from Him in humility and in prayer.