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Lord, I Believe. Help Thou Mine Unbelief.

Lord, I Believe. Help Thou Mine Unbelief.

“Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” Mark 9:24

 

You have been called to a leadership position in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Did it come as a surprise or did you always believe that you would be called to a position of leadership?

 

Maybe you had a similar experience to mine. I had, in the back of my mind, that I would be called to serve as a bishop someday. I tried to chase the thought out of my mind because the culture of the Church is to not aspire to any calling in the Church. 

 

It wasn’t until after I was called to serve as bishop that Paul helped me understand what the Spirit was trying to teach me. Paul said in 1 Timothy 3:1 “This is a true saying, If a man desires the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.”

 

Aspire and desire are not the same thing.

 

At the time I was mixed up and believed that just thinking of serving in a leadership position was aspiring to the position. I did not aspire to the calling and office of bishop but I did live my life in a way that allowed the Lord to guide me and my family until I was called to serve as a bishop.

 

I believed and also did not believe I would serve as bishop. Once I was called I knew that I would serve as bishop. There was no more belief. I knew because it was happening.

 

The Savior helped a man with his unbelief when He encountered a great multitude and saw that his disciples were being questioned by the scribes. 

 

A father among the crowd had a son that had a dumb spirit. He took his son to the disciples to cast him out but they could not. The father brought his son to Jesus. 

 

Jesus said unto him, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

 

“And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

 

Did you catch it? The father wanted to believe that Jesus could cast the dumb spirit from his son. He just experienced the disciples failing to accomplish that request. When I read this I understood that he did not believe that it could be done, however, his desire to believe and his desire to help his son was greater than his belief that it could not be done. In other words, his desire to help his son was greater than his unbelief.

 

He followed through and allowed Jesus to help his unbelief. Jesus cast out the dumb and deaf spirit. The father witnessed it. He no longer believed or disbelieved, he knew it because he witnessed it.

 

You have been called to a leadership position in the Lord’s Church which is His kingdom here on earth.

 

Do you believe that He called you? Do you believe that you have been called at exactly the right time to have stewardship and minister to those around you? Do you believe that the Lord called you because you have special talents that He will use to build up those around you? Do you believe it?

 

What, in your life, don’t you believe and want help believing? Another way to ask this question is what do you believe that you don’t want to believe?

 

“Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, (that’s you) and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hidden up because of unbelief. 

 

Come unto me, O ye house of Israel, (that’s you) and it shall be made manifest unto you how great things the Father hath laid up for you, from the foundation of the world; and it hath not come unto you, because of unbelief. 

 

Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you–yea when ye shall call upon the Father in my name, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, then shall ye know that the Father hath remembered the covenant which he made unto your Fathers, O house of Israel.” Ether 4:13-15

 

We all have a veil of unbelief. In my case I have many. 

 

If you did not have a veil of unbelief then you would have already received the second comforter. You would have already seen Jesus and He would have personally ministered unto you as He did the brother of Jared.

 

Your veil of unbelief is what you believe that keeps you from coming unto Christ. It is also what you don’t believe that God wants you to believe.

 

If you don’t know what you don’t believe ask the Father in sincere prayer and He will reveal it to you by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 

Once you know what you don’t believe you can get to work on rending the veil of unbelief. 

 

How?

 

You can do it the same way King Lamoni began to rend the veil of his unbelief when Ammon preached unto him the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

 

He cried “unto the Lord saying, ‘Oh Lord, have mercy according to thy abundant mercy…upon me’” Alma 18:41

 

You probably won’t “fall unto the earth as if [you] were dead for the space of two days and two nights”. You probably won’t stink. Your family probably won’t start preparing for your funeral.

 

What you can do intentionally is visualize yourself having a conversation with Jesus. You can ask Him to rend the veil of your unbelief.

 

When you do this you can expect Jesus to reveal to you, by the power of the Holy Ghost, those beliefs which you must stop believing. When you stop believing the satanic whispering(s) you have heard, you will begin to believe something else.

 

Since Satan is the exact opposite of Jesus Christ, he probably told you a lie that was in complete contrast to the light.

 

I was once in complete despair because I thought, after an experience with a sister that had a panic attack and PTSD because of a conversation we had, that “I ruined her.” When I was struggling in this despair I asked Heavenly Father to show me the truth of it. He revealed to my mind, “You helped her.”

 

See the difference? 

 

I ruined her is 100% opposite to the light that the Holy Ghost revealed to me that I helped her.

 

How do I know this is true? Because as soon as this was revealed to me by the power of the Holy Ghost, and I believed it,

I was filled with an immense feeling of peace and joy that filled my soul, my spirit and body.

 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…” Galatians 5:22-23

 

Ammon “knew that king Lamoni was under the power of God; he knew that the veil of unbelief was being cast away from his mind, and the light which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness–yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul, yea, he knew that…he was carried away in God.” Alma 19:6

 

What is your veil of unbelief? Are you ready to rend the veil of your unbelief? Are you ready to begin to believe the light that will be revealed to you by the power of the Holy Ghost?

 

President David O. McKay gave a talk in the Priesthood Session of General Conference in April 1967 called “Consciousness of God: Supreme Goal of Life”.

 

I believe President McKay, the prophet at the time, teaches us how to have an experience as king Lamoni did. I will share a few quotes from his talk.

 

“The greatest comfort in this life is the assurance of having a close relationship with God, and I believe in the statement that ‘the greatest battle of life is fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.’ It has been said that ‘consciousness of God is the highest achievement in human experience and is the supreme goal of human life. This is true religion. It is a mental, spiritual experience of the highest order.”

 

He then goes on to say, “I think we pay too little attention to the value of meditation, a principle of devotion. In our worship, there are two elements: One is spiritual communion arising from our own meditation; the other, instruction from others, particularly from those who have authority to guide and instruct us. Of the two, the more profitable introspectively is meditation.”

 

As you practice the skill of meditating in the Lord’s way you will have experiences that will draw you closer to Him in no other way. You will draw near unto Him so that He can draw near unto you. He will be your teacher. He will show you your veil of unbelief. He will help you rend your veil of unbelief.

 

If you want help practicing rending your veil of unbelief please feel free to download my free PDF booklet, “How to Intentionally Apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”

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