The Fruits of Faith

Look Up, My Soul – The Divine Promise of Hope, Book by Gerald N. Lund

Story of man and tithing - pp. 30 – 38

Answers to our Prayers

Bible Dictionary: “Prayer”

Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them.

Effects and Fruits of Faith

Lectures on Faith  Seven:  19. All things which pertain to life and godliness are the effects of faith.  20. When faith comes, it brings its train of attendants with it - apostles, prophets, Evangelists, pastors, teachers, gifts, wisdom, knowledge, miracles, healings, tongues, interpretation of tongues, etc. All these appear when faith appears on the earth and disappear when it disappears from the earth. For these are the effects of faith and always have attended and always will attend it. For where faith is, there will the knowledge of God be, also, with all things which pertain thereto: revelations, visions, and dreams, as well as every other necessary thing, so the possessors of faith may be perfected and obtain salvation.

Faith is Power

Bible Dictionary: “Faith”  (2^nd paragraph)

Faith is a principle of action and of power, and by it one can command the elements, heal the sick, and influence any number of circumstances when occasion warrants (Jacob 4:4–7). Even more important, by faith one obtains a remission of sins and eventually can stand in the presence of God.

(4^th paragraph)

Although faith is a gift, it must be cultured and sought after until it grows from a tiny seed to a great tree. The effects of true faith in Jesus Christ include: 

(1) an actual knowledge that the course of life one is pursuing is acceptable to the Lord (see Heb. 11:4); 

(2) a reception of the blessings of the Lord that are available to man in this life; and (3) an assurance of personal salvation in the world to come. 

These things involve individual and personal testimony, guidance, revelation, and spiritual knowledge. Where there is true faith there are miracles, visions, dreams, healings, and all the gifts of God that He gives to His saints.

Lectures on Faith

Six:  2. It is essential for any person to have an actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to the will of God to enable him to have that confidence in God without which no person can obtain eternal life. 4. Such was and always will be the situation of the Saints of God. Unless they have an actual knowledge that the course they are pursuing is according to the will of God, they will grow weary in their minds and faint. 7. Let us here observe that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation. For from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things. It is through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life. And it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. 

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said: “… the submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!  Consecration thus constitutes the only unconditional surrender which is also a total victory!”  

      (“Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father”, October 1995 General Conference)

Talks and Articles

Elder John K. Carmack, “Lord, Increase Our Faith,” Ensign, Mar. 2002, pg. 57

“Prayer: The Soul’s Sincere Desire”  article in Ensign, August 2002