A Reason For Our Faith

In the last General Conference, President Eyring said, "I pray that you will ask Heavenly Father for the faith in Jesus Christ you need to make and keep the covenants that will allow the Holy Ghost to be your constant companion." What struck me about this invitation is that it recognizes that there is a process here. If we want to have faith, we have to have a reason for that faith. God doesn't just zap us with faith because it makes us look holier. When we ask for faith, we must do so because we intend to take action with our faith. If we are sincerely praying for faith, it's because we intend on taking some path that will require more from us then we have to give, and we ask for that faith trusting that the Lord will be with us to help our unbelief as we go forth in action. President Eyring's statement also recognizes that choosing to make and keep covenants is not something that we should expect to accomplish without God's help. If we don't yet have the faith to live up fully to the covenants we make, then we should ask for that faith and go forth trusting and hoping that God will be with us to lift us up when we stumble. And we should also recognize that our efforts to make and keep covenants have a purpose or a reason why as well. We make and keep covenants for the purpose of allowing the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion. We may often be disappointed if we try to skip to the end of the line and simply ask the Lord to grant us the companionship of the Holy Ghost. If we want to be led and guided by the Spirit, then we have to recognize that we must be true to our covenants if we wish to have the Spirit as our constant companion, and we have to further recognize that if we are going to keep our covenants then we are going to need more faith than we have presently, and that if we pray sincerely for the faith we need to keep the covenants we need to have the spirit to be with us, then God will be far more likely to answer this prayer because it has a plan of action and it recognizes that faith and obedience and the worthiness of the holy ghost's companionship are all inextricably linked. It's like when Nephi was commanded to build a boat, he asked the Lord where he could find the ore to make the tools to build the boat and the Lord answered his prayer because Nephi prayed with a plan of action and had worked out what is the first link in the chain that would bring him to his goal. He didn't ask the Lord for directions to the nearest shipyard or lumberyard or even hardware store. He asked where to find ore that he would have to dig out of the ground and then smelt and then shape tools and then shape timbers until finally he got to the part where he was ready to build a boat. We need to honestly look at our prayers and ask ourselves, is there something smaller and more fundamental that I should be asking for first, that will help me get to my bigger goal? And if we've gotten to the place where we can't go any smaller or simpler, then we pray for that, not on its own, but as the first link in the chain that will lead us to our eventual goal. Of course God wants us to pray for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, but if we aren't making and keeping the necessary covenants we will not be worthy of the Holy Ghost's presence. And of course God wants us to pray for the ability to make and keep covenants, but if we don't believe in those covenants or have the faith to keep them even when it is hard or inconvenient or scary, then we will continue to find reasons to forsake them. But if we want the Holy Ghost and we want to be worthy of the Holy Ghost by keeping our covenants and if we ask for the faith to keep the covenants so we can be worthy of the Holy Ghost, then God can work with us. And like Alma says, if we can't even ask for faith, then we can start with asking for the desire to believe. God asks us to become as a little child, to swallow our pride and do the smallest, simplest thing, to shrink down our goals to the size of a mustard seed, and then plant that seed and water it and weed it and take all the necessary steps to have that tiny seed grow and grow and grow to something that far surpasses our initial vision.