Success

"We know we are successful if we live so that we qualify for, receive, and know how to follow the Spirit."

Julie B. Beck, "And upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit," Ensign, May 2010, 12

faith is a choice

"Faith is a choice, and it must be sought after and developed. Thus, we are responsible for our own faith. We are also responsible for our lack of faith. The choice is yours."¹

Satan's counterattack is for us to believe that if we could only see proof of God's power we would then be able to believe and have faith, but as the scriptures have taught us:

"Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."²

Elder Edgley also said:

"By moving forward into the unknown, armed only with hope and desire, we show evidence of our faith and our devotion to the Lord."

Choosing to have faith, or not, is an individual choice and is one that we cannot make for anyone else, nor can we depend upon someone else's faith. We must make the choice on our own. What will you choose? Will you follow the example of Joshua from the Old Testament when he said, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"³?

What can become!

"Even though the Prophet was haggard, pale, and penniless after his long confinement [in Liberty Jail], it did not take him long to make his leadership felt. He found a swamp where the Mississippi makes a horseshoe bend. It was practically deserted; there were only a half-dozen houses. It was a place in which nobody seemed to have a great interest. The owners of this mosquito-infested swamp were happy to sell the land to the penniless Saints for promissory notes, payable over a term of years. " 'Characteristic of the Prophet, he renamed the place to meet his desires. Not what it was, but what, with the faith and work of man, the region might become—"Nauvoo, the City Beautiful" ' (William E. Berrett, The Restored Church, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1965, p. 149). "The faith of the Prophet rallied the people, and a special zeal seldom witnessed in all of man's history swept over this people. 'That deep and abiding strength was to change a swamp into a great city; miserable shelters into splendid houses; penniless people to the most prosperous citizens of Illinois. That missionary zeal was to carry the gospel into many lands and double the membership of the Church. And all of this in the short time of five years! " 'What a program. And what an accomplishment! A people stripped of all earthly possessions, money, homes, factories, lands, rebuilt in five short years, a city-state which was the envy of long-settled communities' (Berrett, The Restored Church, p. 150). A miracle had occurred!"

L. Tom Perry, "Nauvoo—A Demonstration of Faith," Ensign, May 1980, 74

if we could

..if men could comprehend eternal things, as God comprehends them, there is no man on the earth, no matter how wicked he may be, but what would be willing to keep the commandments of God, and to pass through anything that God ordained, for therein he would see there was salvation and eternal life. - Wilford Woodruff

The Devil tells the truth.

"If the devil never told the truth he would not be able to deceive mankind by his falsehoods. The powers of darkness would never prevail without the use of some light. A little truth mixed with plausible error is one of the means by which they lead mankind astray."¹

Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 4:108-9. Quoted in "Chapter 25: King David's Call to Lead Israel," Old Testament Student Manual Genesis- 2 Samuel, 1981, pg 283.