Failure: Requisite for success

I have been continually fascinated by success. By what is is, how our views and beliefs about ourselves and the world shape it, and most importantly, how we obtain it. It involves a great deal of self-analysis, goal setting, planning, and of course work. But there is an important aspect involved in the process of becoming whatever it is that we desire to be that causes us to fail. It causes us to fear our potential. That is failure.

Exact Obedience

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In the Book of Mormon there is a story about two-thousand and sixty young men who go to war. Their parents had made oaths of pacifism and couldn't produce experienced warriors to aid their country's army. These 2,000 young boys offered their services to their nations efforts to defend their lands despite never having fought before. 

Doubt

Doubt is to consider something unlikely. It is a lack of trust and confidence in ourselves, our relationships with good people, and God. Doubt is a poison that flows from fear. It is immobilizing, crippling, and can lead to despair. It is rightly said that Doubt and faith cannot exist in the same mind at the same time. William Shakespeare wrote  'Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.'.

Doubt is the absolute inverse of faith.

A proper understanding of doubt, where it comes from and how it affects us, helps us to be able to recognise it in ourselves and to change. What I've found is that there are three main motivators for the actions or emotions of people. They are fear, duty, and love.

It is far easier to begin to doubt, or to allow doubt to grow, when we are motivated purely by fear. Our thoughts and motivations sound more like 'I have to go to work or else I'll be fired' or 'I have to get good grades or my dad will kill me'. Fear is a very selfish motivation, and causes us to focus a bit too much on ourselves.

I love the story in the Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 46. This is about a man named Amalikiah. He wanted to overthrow the government, and to be a king over the people. He was very sneaky and crafty and started to lead the people to his way of thinking. Many people were deceived into thinking they would be more free under his rule, others wanted power and social status. They were motivated by selfishness and pride.

Then Captain Moroni shows up. He was in charge of the Nephite armies when he was just 25 years old, and many people respected him. He put on his battle armour and made a banner where he wrote the reasons why the people had their freedom. He rallied the people around this banner that reminded them of their God, religion, freedom, and peace, wives, and children—

He called upon a higher motivation  within the people. He pulled on their desire for the welfare of others as opposed to themselves. This banner is called the title of liberty, and served as a rallying cry for the people for years to come. I even have a statue of Captain Moroni raising that banner on my desk.

As we learn to focus on our righteous, selfless desires instead of our own doubts and fears, our faith will increase and we will eventually forget that we even doubted at all.

"Let your faith roar so loud that you do not know what doubt is saying!"

Strengthening our Faith

While I've been reading the scriptures I've found that there are many different ways that we can strengthen our faith, and there are some things that can hinder and harm our faith and our spiritual sensitivity. In a very basic sense, when we do what is right we come closer to God. When we choose to sin, we fall further away from Him.

I love the prophet Alma's explanation of faith and how it can grow. He compares the word to a seed.

Faith and Belief

This week I have been studying a little bit about the difference between faith and belief. I found that faith and belief are very different things. Belief in the dictionary is defined as a view, a mindset, or a way of thinking about something in particular. Faith on the other hand is a trust or a confidence in something that we can't see the end result of. Belief is something that we feel and think, but when we have a true trust and confidence in something, we will act on it. That is faith.

What is faith?

Hello! My name is Rob DeBry, I am a Mormon missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Over the past few weeks I have been studying faith in the scriptures, and I would like to report what I have learned and share weekly how my faith has grown. I feel it would be best to start by defining Faith.