Courage Born of Our Faith in Jesus Christ
As we manifest our courage to choose the right, our faith in Christ strengthens.
We welcome President Rosemary Chibota to the general leadership of the Church. Her story is an example of courage born of faith in Jesus Christ.
Seventeen-year-old Rosemary found a Joseph Smith pamphlet missionaries had left at her home in Zimbabwe. She read it and immediately received a spiritual witness that it was true; Joseph had seen God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. She was taught and baptized and became an example to her parents, who joined the Church 19 years later.
Faith and courage are hallmarks of disciples of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God. He came to earth in the humblest of circumstances. He lived a perfect life. He taught us how to live our mortal lives and how to prepare for our eternal lives. Because of His incomparable love for each of us, He gave a gift only He could give, suffering for our sins, allowing us to repent and be forgiven. He was crucified on the cross and, in the majesty of our Heavenly Father’s plan, rose the third day. Because He rose from the tomb, we too will be resurrected. How sublime are the purposes of our God and how immense is our reverence for our Savior.
Spiritual Courage
Being His true disciple, overcoming the world, keeping His commandments, and trusting in Him and His promises are not casual pursuits. Spiritual courage is the triumph over obstacles, doubt, and fear in choosing the right.
It has always taken spiritual courage, born of faith in Jesus Christ, to be His disciple. “I am alone,” Moroni wrote. “My father [and all my family have] been slain in battle, … and I have not friends nor whither to go.”
Even as his adversaries were putting to death everyone who would not deny the Christ, in his courage he declared, “And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ.”
Our world is different than Moroni’s day, but discipleship always requires courage. The doubts, distractions, and deceptions of our day can be described in the words of the Apostle Paul: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.”
Our world is in constant commotion. Our phone seems almost attached to our hand, bringing a flood of information, misinformation, and now artificial information.
I grew up on a small dairy farm. For a season our three dozen cows were housed near a small canyon. Nearly every summer morning after milking, I would saddle my horse and guide the cows into a high meadow to graze, with no cell phone, no earbuds, no music, no texting. All day long, just me and the cows, alone with my thoughts. Times have changed, but our spirits have not changed. We need stillness to nourish our faith in Christ.
Faith and Courage
As we choose faith in Christ, He blesses us with the courage, sometimes in very difficult situations, to choose the right, and as we manifest our courage to choose the right, our faith in Christ strengthens.
We rejoice in the faith in Jesus Christ and the spiritual courage we see in you, our members of the Church across the world.
It is our faith in Jesus Christ that gives us the desire to humbly kneel alone and pray to our Heavenly Father. In those quiet moments when we speak with our Heavenly Father privately, independently, we are given the increased courage to choose the right. As a young man, I heard President David O. McKay say, “The greatest battle of life is fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.” As we courageously win the battles of the soul, our faith in our Savior multiplies.
Each week we prayerfully receive the sacrament and witness before God, and in the presence of others, that we “are willing to take upon [ourselves] the name of [Jesus Christ], and always remember him and keep his commandments.” Then, with courage, we are true to our covenants, and in turn, the Lord blesses us with increased faith.
It is our faith in Jesus Christ that gives us the courage to accept a calling from our priesthood leaders even when we feel inadequate or without sufficient time to accept the responsibility.
As a young attorney, President Dallin H. Oaks was energetically working in a prestigious law firm, including working evenings and Saturdays. His stake president called him to be a counselor in the stake mission presidency, necessitating at least three to four evenings per week. President Oaks reflected, “Gathering all my faith, I accepted the call.” President Oaks described this as a very important decision in his life. His faith strengthened his courage, and his decision brought increasing faith.
It is our faith in Jesus Christ that brings the spiritual courage to minister to others, live the Word of Wisdom, keep the law of chastity, honor the Sabbath day, be honest in our tithing, and trust our Father and His Son when unforeseen illness, financial troubles, or natural disaster upend our life.
A month ago I accompanied President Dieter F. Uchtdorf to Spokane, Washington, where fires destroyed more than 800 homes. We visited members whose neighborhoods were completely destroyed. “Our family is safe,” Cody and Haylee Woodbury said to me, “and our faith is secure. We can build another house.” Their faith in Jesus Christ lifted their courage, and their courage has elevated their faith.
It is the faith of tens of thousands of remarkable young men and women across the world that gives them the courage to get up before the sun rises to attend seminary and then to serve missions and, upon returning, to marry and begin a family. And for those not able to marry, their courage helps them to remain true to their covenants.
With faith in Christ and remarkable courage, a young mother prepares her small children for church, knowing that some Sundays will be more a wrestle of survival than a spiritual renewal.
It is our faith in Christ that gives us the spiritual courage to speak openly with others about our Savior, make covenants in the house of the Lord, repent and receive forgiveness, follow living prophets, and be guided by the quiet impressions of the Holy Ghost.
Recently a noble woman of deep faith shared her testimony in church. Confidentially, I knew that she had been devastated by the betrayal of her husband. But with courage born of her faith, she powerfully declared that in happiness or unspeakable grief, she would trust in the rock of her salvation, her Savior, Jesus Christ.
With our hope alive in Christ, even with life’s challenges, we too may be, as the Apostle Paul said, “troubled on every side, yet not distressed; … perplexed, but not in despair.”
Promises and Testimony
I promise you that as you strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ by believing and following Him and keeping His commandments, your answers will come, your spiritual power will increase, and your courage in following Christ will define your eternal soul.
The Savior declared, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
Peter and John were in the room when the resurrected Christ appeared to the Apostles. “Behold my hands and my feet,” Jesus said, “that it is I myself: handle me, and see.”
Soon after this sacred experience, disbelieving rulers confronted Peter and John about healing a man unable to walk. “Filled with the Holy Ghost,” Peter and John declared, with courage born of their faith, “If we this day be examined … by what means [this man] is made whole; be it known unto … all … that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.”
As Peter and John of old, I too witness the reality of “Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” He lives. He guides this holy work, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.