What is Faith?

Some of us often wonder what faith really is. I hope as I try and explain faith, that you may understand it more fully. Faith is the first principle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When you hear the word "faith" what do you think of? I first think of my Lord and my Savior Jesus Christ. We must first have faith in Him, and through Him we can acomplish all things. To better understand faith let us go to the scriptures. This scripture can be found in the Book of Mormon in the book of Alma. 32nd chapter 21st verse explains faith and what it is. "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." I reall like This verse because if we knew everything what would be the point of coming here to Earth and going through all these trials? We need to have faith that all will go well, and that God will give us comfort when we need Him, and if we go to Him, He will give us comfort. There are many stories of faith in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible. One that comes to mind is found in the New Testament. This is found in Matthew ch.15 starting in the 22nd verse. This is when Peter sees Christ out in the Sea......

" And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

 23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to ^apray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

 24But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.

 25And ^ain the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

 26And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

 27But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good ^acheer; it is I; be not afraid.

 28And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

 29And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

 30But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was ^aafraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

 31And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little ^afaith, wherefore didst thou ^bdoubt?

 32And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

 33Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God."(lds.org/scriptures)

I really like this story of Peter. It showed that at first he had great amount of faith. Then along the way he lost his sight on the task at hand. I know life can get crazy sometimes and we loose sight of the task at hand. But I know that as we focus on the task at hand, which is to return to our Father in Heaven, and Endure to the End, we will be blessed.

I hope that this has helped you understand faith a little bit more, but if you have anymore questions or would like to learn more about faith please visit www.mormon.org or www.lds.org