D&C 88:118 states, “And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” I think that most, if not all people understand the concept of learning by study, but what does it mean to learn by faith? The Bible Dictionary states, “To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone.” Although one supposes that by this definition one could have faith in a number of different things, the point of this message is to provide us the way to maximize our learning. Scripture tells us in Proverbs 3:5&6, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” In all our ways we are to trust God to be the source of all our blessings, and this is especially true when it comes to our learning.
 

When opening our books to study, we should remember that the first principle and ordinance of this Gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and we should meekly and humbly, with a heart that is sincere in its desire to obtain that which God may reveal to us through our studies, seek our Heavenly Father’s assistance through prayer and petition in the name of his beloved Son Jesus Christ for help from on high. Having offered up our prayer, and having the gentle confirmation of our Heavenly Father hearing our prayer through the witness of the Holy Ghost, we should believe that God will grant our petition and bless us with what we have asked for.
 

This trust and confidence in the Lord and his blessings is the basis for our learning by faith. In a talk given in the 2006 General Conference, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated, “Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon.” Learning by faith requires that we act in order to be acted upon and receive the learning we are seeking through our studies. We must follow the Savior’s instructions when he said in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
 

May the Lord bless your efforts to learn by study and by faith.
 

Craig Fujisue
 

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 28th, 2015 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.