Desire to Believe in God
Do you want to have a relationship with God? Do you want to believe in miracles; but you don’t know where to start? Let me ask you– Do you have a desire to have a relationship with God, do you have a desire to believe in miracles? Then you are in the right place. We are going to go through the steps it takes to help you have a relationship with God.
We will begin right where you are, with a want. A want to have a relationship with God.
To start we are going to take a journey into the Book of Mormon. We will begin in Alma 32.
To preface we are reading the words from the prophet Alma the Younger. He felt the prompting to go teach the Zoramites (a group of people who had stopped worshiping God). After little success among the people a group of lower class Zoramites approached Alma. They were looked down upon “because of the coarseness of their apparel.” This is where we will begin.
3Therefore they were not permitted to enter into their synagogues to worship God, being esteemed as filthiness; therefore they were poor; yea, they were esteemed by their brethren as dross; therefore they were poor as to things of the world; and also they were poor in heart.
Are you poor in heart?
They were poor in heart. Are you not also poor in heart? Do you feel hopeless? Do you feel that there is nothing to look forward to, no way to get out of the hurt where you are? You are poor in heart. This is for you. Pretend you are one of those listening to Alma, hoping for a ray of hope, something to help you believe.
5 And they came unto Alma; and the one who was the foremost among them said unto him: Behold, what shall these my brethren do, for they are despised of all men because of their poverty . . . what shall we do?
6 And now when Alma heard this, he turned him about, his face immediately towards him, and he beheld with great joy; for he beheld that their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word.
I love that Alma “turned him about.” He wanted to look at them and when he did he was excited because he saw their humility. He knows that in order for a person to come to God they must be humble or teachable as Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley said:
Being humble does not mean being weak. It means being teachable. It does not require us to be trampled upon. It means acknowledging where our strengths and abilities come from.
Now I am going to put you into this story. I have changed some of the words slightly to let you read this as if Alma is speaking to you. (The wording I changed is in italics.)
7 Therefore . . . he stretched forth his hand, and cried unto you, whom he beheld, you who are truly penitent, and said:
8 I behold that you are lowly in heart; and if so, blessed are you.
9 Behold you have said, What shall I do?
10 Behold I say unto you, do ye suppose that God does not hear you?
11 And moreover, I would ask, do ye suppose that it is easy to develop a relationship with God?
12 I say unto you, it is well that you are struggling so that you may be humble, and that you are more willing to learn wisdom; for it is necessary that you should learn wisdom; for it is because of your trials and difficulties . . . that you are brought to a lowliness of heart; for you are necessarily brought to be humble.
15 Yea, if you truly humbleth yourself, and repenteth of your sins, and endureth to the end, you shall be blessed—
16 Therefore . . . blessed will you be if you believe in the word of God . . .
17 Yea, I know you want me to show you a sign from heaven, then you will know of a surety . . .
18 Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if you knoweth a thing you will have no cause to believe, for you knoweth it.
Have you ever wondered this? Why can’t God just come down and show me who He is? Then I can believe, then I can know and I won’t have to question any more. It would be so much easier. Can’t I just have all the answers now? Can’t He tell me what the future will bring, how to solve the problem, etc?
Alma is going to explain why we have to have faith:
19 And now, how much more cursed is he that knoweth the will of God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause to believe, and falleth into transgression?
God is not giving us knowledge because He doesn’t want us to be held accountable for that knowledge. It is actually a very merciful thing for Him to do. He knows that we are mortal and that we are going to continue to make mistakes and continue to doubt. So if we have faith and believe– and then doubt; the consequence is so much easier than if we have knowledge– and then doubt. He knows that throughout our life there will be trials that cause us to doubt His love, His presence, His comfort. If we believe then there is room for doubt– that He knows you will have again.
21 And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if you have faith you hope for things which are not seen, which are true.
22 And now, behold, I say unto you, and I would that ye should remember, that God is merciful unto all who believe on his name; therefore he desireth, in the first place, that you should believe, yea, even on his word.
23 And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto you, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned.
How sweet it is that Alma mentioned men, women and children. He is emphasizing that this is for you, not just humanity, but you.
26 Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. You cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.
Alma is not expecting you to immediately believe everything he says. He wants you to listen and to ponder on the truth he speaks. Then he knows that you will allow the Holy Ghost to help you find your belief.
27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
This will be your favorite part. The part that should give you hope. Alma knows that if you will try out what he is saying, if you have just a minute amount of faith, if all you have is a want to believe that that is enough.
Desire to Believe
That is you!! You are here reading about how to have faith, how to have a desire. You being here means that you want to believe; that you have a desire. You have taken the first step!
As you continue to try, to not give up, that small minute amount of faith– that desire will cause you to think, to ponder, to try again, and eventually you will understand and you will have faith.
Alma continues on to talk about the faith being like a seed and how your faith can grow. But for today I want you to ask yourself:
Why am I here reading this?
What do I want to believe?
What is my desire?
Write down your answers
After you have answered these questions feel free to continue on to the next section where we learn about faith growing like a seed or another section that you feel good about exploring.
I know that as you desire to believe you will find God. He really is right next to you. Even when you can’t see, when you can’t feel, and when you are without hope; He is there and is excited to see you take these steps toward Him.
Alma 32:27
