The greatest need in the church and throughout the entire world right now, speaking individually and collectively, is more Faith in Jesus Christ. Society continues to spiral downward, while anger and hatred continue to spiral upward, all due to a decline in faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ is seen in the works and words of humankind. Just look at the words and works of people, and you quickly see little faith in Christ. Faith in Christ is the first principle of the true gospel of Jesus Christ: We believe that the first two principles of the gospel are, (1) Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, (2) Repentance.
Having faith in Christ is a choice. Our sincere prayer is, “Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5).
“Faith cometh by hearing” (Romans 10:17). Hearing the name Jesus Christ increases our faith in Him. Seeing the name Jesus Christ increases our faith in Him. Our own Self-talk saying, thus hearing the name Jesus Christ, increases our faith in Him.
Elder John Carmack said, “ if we want increased faith, such as Enoch gained, we must give ourselves over completely to our Lord, utterly trusting Him and striving to act as He would act in all circumstances. No matter how difficult and impossible the circumstances we face, we must retain the attitude that we are still in the Lord’s debt. Just keeping the commandments, while laudable, may be enough to maintain our faith but not enough to increase it. We must continue sacrificing and serving with no thought of reward. We do it out of love and gratitude for the Lord, to whom we owe everything.”
If we have complete trust in Him, our faith will increase, and that means the strength of our belief and our power to act will increase.
Elder John Carmack continues, “To increase our faith, we must
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Do what is right and serve the Lord because we know, trust, and love Him with all of our souls.
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Harbor no thought that we deserve a reward or thanks for what we do, although rewards will surely come.
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Humbly ask, seek, and knock.
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Never demand anything of our Lord, because we are always in His debt.
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Leave to Him the final decision in all things, having the attitude “Not my will, but thine be done.”
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Be prepared to sacrifice, even unto death, for our entire mortal lives.
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As members of the Lord’s Church, we can increase our faith, if we desire, by going beyond the minimum requirements of the gospel and developing complete trust in the Lord. All of this is part of the golden ore found in Jesus’ interesting and subtle parable given in response to the early Apostles’ request, “Increase our faith.”
See the complete article, “Lord, Increase Our Faith” by Elder John Carmack
