This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood Session of the April 1993 Conference.
Ever since President Nelson's talk in Conference a few months ago, I've been noticing mentions of faith and power everywhere! This whole talk by Elder John K. Carmack is about faith. I still feel like I'm not quite putting together all the pieces of faith in order to understand exactly how to use it to draw down the power of the Savior into my life! But at least I am gathering some of those pieces and getting glimpses of understanding about how it might work. This talk had a few parts I liked. Elder Carmack says:
Rather than relying on faith, we are tempted to stay with the comfortable and tangible tools of our temporal lives to accomplish priesthood callings…These tools are useful…They include our natural intelligence; education and training; preparation, with manuals, handbooks, agendas, and budgets.…Add faith, however, and priesthood service becomes magnificent. Two candles suddenly burst into four hundred watts of light. More to the point, we tap into the Lord’s power source, and our actions move in rhythm with His. The Lord compensates for our deficiencies. Vast, unseen reservoirs of dynamic power supply our needs.
He tells the story of Nephi and his brothers getting the brass plates:
They tried wisdom, charm, persuasion—tools they were comfortable using. They even offered to trade precious things from their family, from their treasure, in exchange for the plates. Nothing worked. In fact, they fled for their lives, accused of robbery.Only then did Nephi turn to pure faith. Here’s how it worked. He convinced himself that the Lord had assigned him to get the plates. Next he conceived the mental energy and trust to try again. “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.” (1 Ne. 3:7.) Without knowing what he would do, Nephi began moving forward while his brothers skulked outside the city walls. “I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.” (1 Ne. 4:6.) Now he was moving by faith—confidence in the unknown, hope in things unseen. You know the rest.Notice that faith and trust in the Lord came first. Then came action. He had no plan except confidence in the Lord. It was really a “ready, fire, aim” approach, the opposite of conventional wisdom. Laman and Lemuel thought it foolhardy. Then the Lord’s plan unfolded with Nephi being guided by unseen hands.
I also liked this part:
A brief but profound phrase in the book of Abraham describes the complete power of God’s faith. “There is nothing that the Lord thy God shall take in his heart to do but what he will do it.” (Abr. 3:17.) With faith we can get the right things to do into our hearts and the words and mental exertion to do them. It may require leaving unstructured time in our planning and on our agenda. Then faith would have some air to breathe.Lots of interesting things to think about in those words!
Although faith often includes positive thinking, it is much, much more than that. Faith taps into divine sources and is a manifestation of unity and partnership with the Lord. Even the ideas and words formulated by faith come by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the power to accomplish the words formed by faith comes from God.
If you're just going to read one talk from this Conference session, though, might I suggest President Hinckley's talk "Some Lessons I Learned as a Boy"? It's SO good. It's just a bunch of reminiscences (for which, characteristically, he asks us to "forgive him") about his life, but it's so touching and so personal that you feel like you're hearing from your own grandpa. I just love President Hinckley. I put that in present tense because although I loved him when he was alive, I feel like I love him even more now as I revisit his old talks. There is always such power and depth in his words, and even when it seems like he's simply telling a story, you can feel—even through just reading it all these years later—the truths behind what he chooses to say.
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