“True faith is not to be brought about by overwhelming and intimidating intervention from God”
| “Not My Will, But Thine.” Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988.
Faith
LDS Quotes on Faith
“My brothers and sisters, temples are more than stone and mortar. They are filled with faith and fasting. They are built of trials and testimonies. They are sanctified by sacrifice and service.
| The Holy Temple—a Beacon to the World
If we do not have a deep foundation of faith and a solid testimony of truth, we may have difficulty withstanding the harsh storms and icy winds of adversity which inevitably come to each of us.
Mortality is a period of testing, a time to prove ourselves worthy to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. In order for us to be tested, we must face challenges and difficulties. These can break us, and the surface of our souls may crack and crumble – that is, if our foundations of faith, our testimonies of truth are not deeply embedded within us.
| “On Being Spiritually Prepared,” Ensign, February 2010, p. 5
“Real hope is much more than wishful musing. Hope is realistic anticipation taking the form of determination – a determination not merely to survive but to “endure . . . well” to the end. In the geometry of restored theology, hope has a greater circumference than faith. If faith increases, the perimeter of hope stretches correspondingly. Hope keeps us “anxiously engaged” in good causes even when these appear to be losing causes. Those with true hope often see their personal circumstances shaken, like kaleidoscopes, again and again. Yet with the “eye of faith,” they still see divine pattern and purpose. Whatever our particular furrow, we are to “plow in hope,” without looking back or letting yesterday hold tomorrow hostage.”
| Ensign, November 1994
In this world upheaval, in this day of wanton destruction, we, as a people must look upward. There must be trust and faith in our hearts. Hope must walk by our side. We must remember charity also. We must treasure the warm words of the Father to His Church, “Be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you” ( D&C 68:6). We who have been called to leadership in the Church of Christ must lead our people from anxiety and fear and doubt, to trust and faith in the Lord, and certainty in the outcome of the Lord’s plan of salvation. We must repeat with gladness the words of the Lord, “Fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks” ( D&C 98:1).
Above the roar of cannon and airplane, the maneuvers and plans of men, the Lord always determines the tide of battle. So far and no farther does He permit the evil one to go in his career to create human misery. The Lord is ever victorious; He is the Master to whose will Satan is subject. Though all hell may rage, and men may follow evil, the purposes of the Lord will not fail. The God of Israel, “He slumbers not nor sleeps” ( Ps. 121:4). It is well to remember the admonition of old: “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).
| Conference Report, April 1942, pp. 32-34
Faithful Hyrum had a believing heart; he did not have to see everything Joseph saw. For him, hearing the truth from Joseph’s lips and feeling the spiritual promptings whispering that it was true were enough. Faith to believe was the source of Hyrum’s spiritual strength and is the source of the spiritual strength of faithful members of the Church then and today.
We do not need more members who question every detail; we need members who have felt with their hearts, who live close to the Spirit, and who follow its promptings joyfully. We need seeking hearts and minds that welcome gospel truths without argument or complaint and without requiring miraculous manifestation. Oh, how we are blessed when members respond joyfully to counsel from their bishops, stake presidents, quorum or auxiliary leaders, some of whom might be younger than they and less experienced. What great blessings we receive when we follow “that which is right” joyfully and not grudgingly.
| “Hyrum Smith: Firm As the Pillars of Heaven,” Ensign, November 1995, p. 8
“…the truer measure of sacrifice isn’t so much what one gives to sacrifice as what one sacrifices to give. Faith isn’t tested so much when the cupboard is full as when it is bare. In these defining moments, the crisis doesn’t create one’s character it reveals it.”
| "Tithing, a Commandment Even for the Destitute," Ensign, May 2005, 34
For the natural man, sacrifice does not come naturally. He has an insatiable appetite for more. . . .Faith isn’t tested so much when the cupboard is full as when it is bare. In these defining moments, the crisis doesn’t create one’s character – it reveals it. The crisis is the test.
| Elder Lynn G. Robbins, General Conference, Ensign, May 2005
Increased faith is as vital and necessary today as it was when Jesus walked the earth. Our modern world struggles with insufficient faith. President Gordon B. Hinckley said in a conference talk: “This is my prayer for all of us. . . . Increase our faith to bridge the chasms of uncertainty and doubt. . . . Grant us faith to look beyond the problems of the moment to the miracles of the future. . . . Give us faith to do what is right and let the consequences follow.
| “Faith in Jesus Christ,” April 2001, Ensign, p. 22
“The whole visible creation, as it now exists, is the effect of faith. It was faith by which it was framed, and it is by the power of faith that it continues in its organized form, and by which the planets move round their orbits and sparkle forth their glory.”
| Lectures on Faith, 72-73