How to Develop Faith - Alma 32:21

And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

Aha! We've finally arrived at the scripture that I've used for the title of my blog! This is undoubtedly one of my favorite scriptures.

Faith does not equal perfect knowledge, but it does require knowledge nonetheless. I don't think anyone can have faith in God without first knowing about Him, which requires doing some homework. Having a desire to believe is the first step towards faith.

We can think of it as a science experiment. We start with a hypothesis - something that we want to test the truth of. Alma suggested that we "experiment upon the word". This must start with a desire. And I'm not talking about curiosity or academic interest - it must be a desire to know and a desire to believe, coupled with intentions to act on the knowledge attained. We can start this by doing a little research; learning about God and our Savior. This is perhaps done best by reading the scriptures, and quite frankly, it doesn't matter which scriptures you start with. The New Testament, or the Book of Mormon are a very good place to start. These two are probably the easiest to understand of all the scriptures.

So you read a little, and think about what you read. But again, (and I can't emphasize this enough,) you can't just read these things out of academic curiosity, you have to have a desire to believe the things that you read, and you have to intend to actually try applying the things you read. Perhaps you read the sermon on the mount, and decide to act with more kindness. Perhaps you read King Benjamin's address and try to serve your fellows. Perhaps you read Moroni's promise and decide to open up your heart to God in prayer.

No matter what it is you decide to do, if you do it with sincerity, you are exercising "a particle of faith". And what you'll find is that upon conducting this experiment, the fruits of trying to do something that He would want you to do, will bring you greater peace and joy. This is because, when we seek truth, it is given unto us: Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Another product of sincere searching is that His spirit will open up your understanding and confirm those things to you via the Holy Spirit - You will receive the fruits of the Spirit:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance... (Galatians 5:22,23)

And when you feel these feelings and attributes in your life, this will confirm your experiments and your desire with a knowledge of Him. This explains how faith is both something that is obtained, and a gift. It is obtained by sincerely seeking it, but actuated by the gift of God confirming our desires to believe.

Having gained a knowledge of the goodness of God, you have a choice. You can simply chalk it up to experience and say "Now I know", which is a weak option - since all knowledge (and faith) fades. Or you can seriously make that knowledge an integral part of your life - treat it as a principle that you will live by. This is when you have finally come to faith. A belief is something that you are totally convinced of - an intellectual stance, faith is something that is part of your core - an inviolate and driving principle, based on more than logical reasons, but on spiritual intuition. I may believe (i.e. be convinced) in God - that he has all power, etc., but faith is much more - it is a solid conviction to act on those beliefs. A man of belief says "I believe God has the ability to save me from the fiery furnace"; A man of faith steps in.

A sign of faith is that we put our beliefs into practice. When our beliefs are challenged, and we continue to hold them and stand up for them, they become faith.