A Prayer of Faith

When it comes to gardening and anything to do with growing things, I know very little. (My thumb is whatever color is opposite of green!) But I do have some deep feelings about growing spirtual things. There have been many things going on in my world that have caused me to ponder on the value and necessity of a firm and strong testimony. I have been reminded that a testimony is not something we can take for granted, nor something that stays strong without conscious effort on our part.

Interestingly, last night I just flipped open my Book of Mormon. And wouldn’t you know it? I opened right to Alma 32:28:

Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

Alma gives us some important keys to “growing” a testimony. We learn in the verse before this one that we need a desire to believe. If we have that, here we learn that we need to give place for a seed to grow. And where do we need to give place for this seed? In our hearts. A testimony is, first and foremost, something to be grown in our hearts.

What is another responsibility as we seek to grow this seed? He tells us we need to be careful not to cast it out by our unbelief. I think this is significant for a couple of reasons. First of all, I sense him recognizing that it’s likely that we will have some sources of unbelief in our minds and hearts and lives. A testimony is not grown in a vacuum of only pure desire and perfect belief. Just as weeds can easily overtake a tender, beautiful garden, a testimony can easily be overtaken by weeds of doubt and unbelief if we don’t choose to pull those weeds. That’s the second message I get. We have to choose what to do with doubt. Do we let it grow, or do we pluck it out of our hearts? A focus on unbelief and doubt does not give the Spirit room to nourish our testimonies, but rather causes us to “resist the Spirit of the Lord.” The law of the harvest reminds us that we reap what we sow. (See also Galatians 6:7-8, Romans 8:6.)

Another scripture that I love which relates to this concept is the story of Peter walking on the water. When Peter’s eyes were focused, in faith, on the Savior, Peter was able to walk on the water. As soon as his gaze shifted to the storm and the waves (sources of doubt and fear), he began to sink. The Savior gently rebuked Peter for his doubt. Faith cannot exist where doubt is the focus.

What else does Alma teach us in this one simple verse? He teaches us that faith is a process. More than likely, many of us are past this stage of initial seeds of belief. But I think that his teachings are relevant still, because it’s often through repeated experiences with things that feel “delicious” to us, that “enlighten [our] understanding,” that “enlarge [our] soul[s]” that our testimonies are strengthened. Again, as we choose to focus on and give place for those things that will invite the Spirit, such as the word of God found in scripture and the words of our living prophets, we put ourselves in a position to have the roots of testimony delve deeper into the soil of our souls.

The rest of Alma 32 is also a rich feast of counsel about keeping our testimonies strong. They require constant nourishment, constant care. No wonder our leaders counsel us to feed our testimonies every day! These are not simplistic, checklist-driven tasks that they are putting on our to-do lists! They are given for our very spiritual survival. We choose each day whether we will truly nurture our trees of testimony. Let us not be fooled by the easiness of the way. These simple activities each day and each week can have a profound effect on how involved the Savior can be in our lives and how prepared we can be against the storms of the adversary that are raging about us (see Helaman 5:12).

I invite you to study the parable of the sower as well. Notice the similarities to Alma’s message in chapter 32. There are rocks and thorns, as well as seeds and roots. And what enables our seeds to grow? Good soil is the key. We are the ones who can choose and control the condition of our heart. Will we sow stones and thorns, or cultivate a place rich with faith and openness to the Spirit? Even the best seeds will fail if the soil is not well prepared and maintained. Take a moment also to compare this parable to Lehi’s vision of the tree of life in 1 Nephi 8.

The last scripture I want to mention is in Jacob 5, Zenos’ allegory of the olive trees. Usually this allegory is used to teach about the house of Israel, but I also think there is a message about our personal testimonies.

Nevertheless, I know that the roots are good, and for mine own purpose I have preserved them; and because of their much strength they have hitherto brought forth, from the wild branches, good fruit.
But behold, the wild branches have grown and have overrun the roots thereof; and because that the wild branches have overcome the roots thereof it hath brought forth much evil fruit; and because that it hath brought forth so much evil fruit thou beholdest that it beginneth to perish; and it will soon become ripened, that it may be cast into the fire, except we should do something for it to preserve it….
And it came to pass that the servant said unto his master: Is it not the loftiness of thy vineyard—have not the branches thereof overcome the roots which are good? And because the branches have overcome the roots thereof, behold they grew faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength unto themselves. Behold, I say, is not this the cause that the trees of thy vineyard have become corrupted? (Jacob 5:36-37, 48).

There are many things that may catch our attention along the way as members (or investigators) of the Church. What I have seen time and time again is that too often, people focus on the branches and let them overtake their roots of testimony. What do I mean by that? To me, the roots of testimony are based in our knowledge of God’s existence and love; our understanding of His plan for us (that we are here to be tested to see if we will follow Him, so we can be made worthy to return to Him again); our reliance on the Savior; and our conviction that the Restoration was real and divinely driven. The saving doctrines taught in the first few Articles of faith are the roots of our testimonies. The branches might include intellectual understanding of different elements of the Church, details of Church history, past teachings that are not binding on us now, or other things that might take our attention away from truly coming unto Christ and partaking of the power of His Atonement. It’s not that we should never study any particular aspect of the Church or gospel that may interest us. But it is critical that the roots of our testimonies be maintained, lest an unbalanced focus on the branches “overrun the roots,” “[bring] forth…evil fruit” in our lives and hearts, and allow our concern for things we don’t necessarily understand to “[grow] faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength unto themselves” and corrupt our trees of testimony.

We live in a time where there is a wealth of information at our fingertips, even about the Church. Let us remember that not all information is of equal value, and not all information will feed the roots of testimony that are key to true understanding and so essential to our spiritual survival. May we seek first the kingdom of God and His truths, and come unto Christ. As we search the scriptures and the words of the prophets, we will find the greatest opportunity for the Spirit to come into our lives and hearts, feeding our roots of faith. It is the Spirit who can teach us the truth that we all seek. Let us not rely on our own understanding as we grow our trees. Let us not cast seeds of testimony out by unbelief or doubt, or focus too much on things that we cannot yet understand. We have the promise that we can understand all things if we stay true to God. We can do this by walking in faith, diligence, patience, and obedience and by nurturing strong trees of testimony that, “by and by” can become a “tree springing up unto everlasting life” because we will be able to partake of the tree of life (see Alma 32:41-42).

This last scripture comes from Jacob:

Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.
Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.
Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore… despise not the revelations of God….
Behold…he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old.
But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble (Jacob 4:6-8, 13-14).

May we nourish our trees of testimony with the plain, wonderful, powerful word of God, that the truths of God may take root in our souls forever!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 at 11:34 am and is filed under Every Word. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.