Words and Faith

I’m working hard preparing for the classes I’ll be teaching next week at BYU Education Week. On Monday I am teaching a two hour class called “Faith Works By Words,” and I am very excited about the things I am learning. The class is based on teachings from Lectures on Faith in which the question is asked, “What are we to understand by a man‘s working by faith?” And the answer is, “We understand that when a man works by faith he works by mental exertion instead of physical force. It is by words, instead of by exerting his physical power, with which every being works when he works by faith” (7:3). After this statement examples are used of how God, using words, created the world by saying, “Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3), etc., and how prophets of God stopped the sun or the rain or in other ways changed the course of events by using words.

It is easy to read that and think it has nothing to do with us. That is how God and prophets work, but I can’t make the sun stop in its course so the instruction has nothing to do with me. But creation accounts are all symbolic of what you and I need to do to become new creatures or in other words to be born again. This second birth happens only if we create it and how do we bring it about? By using words.

Words have power and when we use them correctly we increase in faith and gain the power to overcome the adversary. In the book of Revelation we are told that in the pre-mortal life Lucifer was cast out of the presence of God and came to earth where he tempts mankind to fall as he did. But some people triumph and those who do we are told, “Overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11). The power to triumph over evil is available to all of us through the Atonement and is made operative in our lives by the words we use.

I’m giving you a whole hour long lecture in a few paragraphs, but the gist of this is that words have power and whenever we use good words we build our faith and whenever we use negative words we eat away at our faith. When we start our day thinking, “This is going to be a good day!” we grow in faith and when we start our day thinking, “Another day of dreadful work which I hate” we decrease in faith. Faith isn’t a matter of what words we use to think about religion. Faith is a matter of what words we use when we think and speak.

I know a woman in her late 60s who has never been married. Instead of becoming bitter or self-pitying over that fact she rejoices each morning when she wakes up by saying, “Wow, I’m one day closer to the day when I find my eternal companion.” She is using words to build and sustain and create faith. She, in essence, is saying, “Let there be light.” And by her words she is creating a life of faith, and it is good!

"It Was Good"

There are a lot of lessons to learn from the creation account we find in Genesis. But one of the most important is how God teaches us the concept of process. Life is meant to be a process-not an incident.

In the beginning God organized the world by doing one thing at a time. When He was finished separating the water from the land, He didn’t get discouraged because He didn’t have plants or animals or a finished world yet. He stepped back, enjoyed the work of the day, and said, “It is good.” He rejoiced in what He had accomplished.

There is a lot we have to learn from this. Instead of going to bed each night frustrated over what didn’t get accomplished or upset at ourselves for things we said or did wrong, or feeling like there is still so much growth we need to make that we will never be the person we want to be, we need to make it a practice to each night look at what went right that day, what we accomplished, what we learned and rejoice in the growth. Sometimes the very days that we did or said things wrong are our best learning days. Instead of fretting over what went wrong, we should concentrate on the lessons and rejoice in them, but then move on to what we did right. The best way to grow is to take what is right and build on it. When we wallow in the Pit of Illusion because we are concentrating on all we did wrong, we don’t grow.

Like God, we need to see the progress in each day, then step back and rejoice because, “It was good."

Daily Ceativity

I’ve been concerned for two days that when I wrote aboutcreativity the thought would come into your mind of painting pictures, or writing music, or creating books. That may be part of the creativity that ensues, but the creativity I’ve discovered from Living in Truth is much, much more extensive than that.

When we Live in Truth the blessing of creativity is something that exists in every moment. It is part of everything you do. Children are bickering and you suddenly have a creative idea as to how to stop them in a way that teaches instead of reprimanding.  You encounter a very grouch clerk at a store and you suddenly have a creative stroke of genius as to how to interact with him in a pleasant way that you can see influences him for good. You encounter a situation that is usually very boring like waiting in a long security line at the airport and instead of stewing and fretting impatiently you suddenly have a creative idea as to how to use that time in a pleasant and profitable way. 

As I said before, creativity is the ability to take two things and make something new out of them. In the last example, you take time and the long line and instead of enduring a nuisance you create moments of learning or making new friends or spreading goodwill to those around you. You create something new in that moment that didn’t exist the moment before. That’s the blessing of creativity that comes from Living in Truth. The poem, story, picture, music you may also create is icing on the cake, but not the cake!

I Am A Creator of Good

In the beginning of the Bible we are told that we are created in the image of God. We are also told that God created us as well as this whole earth and everything in it. From this it is apparent that God is a creator, but there is a “hidden” message here.  If we are created in God’s image and God is a creator, we are creators. It is in our nature to be creators.

On the other hand the adversary is a destroyer. Everything he does is meant to tear down, destroy, abolish, and obliterate. 

Understanding this difference becomes very helpful when assessing our own lives and progress. At any point in a day we can determine who we are following by simply asking, “Am I creating or destroying?” If I find myself gossiping, I’m obliterating good thoughts others may have toward the person I'm gossiping about. If I find myself being critical, I’m tearing down. If I find myself getting angry, I’m destroying.

But if I find myself loving, or serving, or giving the benefit of the doubt, or finding the good in whatever is happening, I’m creating. I’m creating good. As children of God, it is intended that we be creators of good just as our Father in Heaven is.  The power to be creators has been given to us through the Atonement. We just have to choose to do it.

Knowing I have the power, right now I’m going to create a good day. How about you?

God Created Woman

Genesis means “beginnings” and I love the stories in Genesis, particularly the creation. In the beginning God took six periods of time and proceeded to create the earth and all that is on it. After each period of time he declares, “It is good.” But after he creates man, he says, “Is is not good.” The reason is because man alone is incomplete—he is not completed in the image of God which we are told in Genesis 1:27 is both “male and female.” In other words, a man alone cannot be a God but must be sealed to a woman to be like God.

So to complete man in the image of God, God figuratively takes a rib from the man and makes a woman. This is an interesting metaphor. We’ve all heard the comparison that God used a rib instead of a foot or a head because woman was to walk beside man and not be ruled over by man. But more interesting is the fact that in the Hebrew the word translated as rib also means side. The King James translators could just as accurately have translated the verse to read that God took one side of the man and made woman.

It is also interesting to understand the words translated as help meet which in Hebrew is ezer knegdo. Ezer, which appears 21 times in the Old Testament,means help and 16 of those times it refers to God. Throughout history people have used this verse to maintain that woman is to be man’s servant and subject to him. But God is not our servant nor is He subject to us. Servitude and subjection are not the meaning of the Hebrew word ezer. Instead it means the kind of help that alleviates a problem. Because of the Fall you and I have a problem, but Jesus Christ is our help in that He overcame the problems of the Fall. Likewise, the creation of the woman also solves the problem of man being incomplete and alone.

Knegdo was translated as meet, which means "necessary or suitable," but that is not a very good translation. The word knegdo is better translated as “exact counterpoint.” Just as my right hand is the exact counterpoint to my left hand, woman is the exact counterpoint to man. Sealed together they are completed in the image of God.

This metaphor of the creation of man and woman is powerful in what it teachers us about what the relationship of men and women, especially husbands and wives, should be as we journey through life. We are to be equal partners, walking together in the pursuit of Eternal Life.

(If you want to read more about this it can be found in my book Man, Woman, and Deity.)

Rejoice in the Process

There are a lot of lessons to learn from the creation account we find in Genesis. But one of the most important to me is how God teaches us the concept of process. Life is meant to be a process-not an incident.

In the beginning God organized the world by doing one thing at a time. When He was finished separating the water from the land, He didn’t sit down and cry about how He didn’t have plants or animals or a finished world yet. He stepped back, enjoyed the work of the day, and said, “It is good.” He rejoiced in what He had accomplished.

There is a lot we have to learn from this. Instead of going to bed each night frustrated over what didn’t get accomplished or upset at ourselves for things we said or did wrong, or feeling like there is still so much growth we need to make that we will never be the person we want to be, we need to make it a practice to each night look at what went right that day, what we accomplished, what we learned and rejoice in the growth. Often the very days when we did or said things wrong are our best learning days. Instead of fretting over what went wrong, we should concentrate on the lessons and rejoice in them.

Like God, we need to see the progress in each day, then step back and rejoice because, “It is good."

Let There Be Light!

I’ve always been fascinated by the creation story that begins our Bible. Think about the first sentence for a moment: “God created the heaven and the earth.” The majesty, the grandeur, the power, and the miracles inherent in that simple statement are mind boggling. But most intriguing is the fact that God begins with darkness and a formless void which He makes into this amazing earth. In other words, He began with a very negative set of circumstances and changed them into something very positive.
Right now I am looking at the bright pink roses in my back yard, the grassy green expanse of yard, the bright blue sky with puffs of white clouds adding a touch of whimsy, trees already heavy with budding fruit, and I marvel that God created this out of a formless, dark, void. Imagine what would have happened if He had said, “There’s nothing good here. I can’t make something out of this mess. I need at least a little something to build on.” But He didn’t. He took what He had and worked with it until he “saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:12).
And how did He do it? He began with a simple command, “Let there be light.”
I think there is a lesson in that for me. Much of what I encounter in this lone and dreary world is chaotic, dark, formless, and painful. Negative things abound in a telestial world. But the creation story teaches me that as His child I have the power to change the negative into something positive. When I encounter negative situations I can follow His example and command, “Let there be light.”
The way I use this is when I come into a negative situation, such as grief, stress, being critical of others, feeling discouraged, feeling rebellious, any negative thing, I press my tongue to the ridge in the roof of my mouth and say the words, “Let there be light” or “Let in the light.” It may sound silly, and I’m not sure why or how it works, but it does. When I do this, I can feel the negative feeling leave and the positive “light” take its place. The words would probably be enough, but pressing my tongue gives me a physical sensation that then becomes connected to this change in feelings and like Pavlov’s dog it helps assure the response. It is also something I can do without anyone seeing or knowing what I am doing.
I know it sounds over simplified, but commanding light worked when creating a world and it works in creating our lives.
[photo by Gilbert Tremblay]