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Faith Like a Mustard Seed Still Moves Mountains: A 7-Day Practice When Your Faith Feels Small · ToddTalks--Spirit By Design: Your Weekly Survival Guide

• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: What does it mean?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: What does it actually mean to have faith like that of a grain of a mustard seed?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Faith isn't measured primarily by how much you know, how confident you feel, or how dramatic your belief sounds.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Faith becomes powerful when you act on what you already know and trust Jesus Christ enough to take the next step.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're going to talk about today.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Faith like a grain of mustard seed.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Small faith, big power.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Small faith, big power.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Bitty bitty living space.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is Todd Talks, Spirit by Design, where I help you design the spirit life that you desire to help you prepare for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: President Russell M.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Nelson specifically taught that the mustard seed represents a small but growing faith.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: He also emphasized that the Lord does not require perfect faith before we can access his power.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: He asks us to believe and exercise our faith.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So how much faith do you need?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: How much faith do I need?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Do we need faith?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Is faith important?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I would say yes, faith is important.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever thought, I wish I had more faith?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've prayed for something and wondered, do I have enough faith for God to answer this prayer?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus gave us a fascinating answer.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: He said, He didn't say you needed faith the size of a mountain.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: He said you needed faith like the grain of a mustard seed, and you could move a mountain.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Huh.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Matthew 17, 20, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible unto you.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now how big how much is nothing?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's nothing, right?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: If nothing is impossible to you, well, impossible means I am possible.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing is impossible.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: That means if your faith is strong enough, anything is possible.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Luke 17, 5 to 6 says, and the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus responded by teaching them about the mustard seed.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: So what if the issue isn't your that your faith is too small?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: What if your faith simply hasn't been exercised yet?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: You see, we often mistake not having enough faith or having thinking we have too little faith that our faith is too small when we haven't even tried to follow it?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Haven't tried to exercise it.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do your muscles get bigger if you don't exercise them?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's a rhetorical question.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Of course they don't.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: So what's so important about a mustard seed?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we always why does faith always compare to a mustard seed?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know how big a mustard seed is?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's tiny.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: But its significance isn't its side, it's how much potential there is inside of it.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: A tiny little mustard seed grows into this massive, massive plant.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: President Nelson taught that the mustard seed represents a small but growing faith.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Faith isn't, you know everything, you never have doubts, you're never afraid, you know exactly how God's going to respond or solve this.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's knowing enough about Jesus Christ to take the next step.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Really, it's quite simple.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's taking one step, one foot in front of the other, moving forward with a desire to believe.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where let's talk about aviation.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm a pilot, I like the flying thing, right?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: When you're flying an airplane, you don't need to know every detail of what the next six hours or whatever is going to entail to begin the flight.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: You look at the weather, you look at the charts, but you don't know everything that's going to happen.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: You aviate, you navigate, you communicate.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: You keep it simple, just like last episode.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: You keep it simple.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel is simple, right?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: When flying in the weather, you trust your instruments because you can't see.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: You trust your training, which helps you to trust the instruments.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: You trust the airplane that it's not gonna fall out of the sky.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And you execute one step after another.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we want God to give us the entire plan before we're willing to take off in our life.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Faith works differently.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: God gives us just enough light for the next leg of the journey.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: He helps you see the next step.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you don't even see the next step until you've taken the first one.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Faith doesn't mean knowing the entire route.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Faith means trusting the one who does.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And who's that?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, our Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: If we can even begin exercising a particle of faith, a tiny little bit.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: If we only have the desire to believe, guess what?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be blessed and shown the next step.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Alma doesn't tell people in Alma 32, first you need to become certain.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: He tells them to experiment upon the word.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: He says, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's Alma 32, 27.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Let the desire work in you.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: When you desire something and you let it work in you, it grows.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's the mustard seed of faith.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: You may not have certainty yet.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Key word being yet.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: But you have enough desire to say, I'm willing to try.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Faith doesn't always begin with certainty.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes faith begins with just the willingness to try.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then what do you do?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: You pray, you study, you act, you obey, you take the first step, you learn, you grow.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Line upon line, precept on precept, step by step, you move forward.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's just what a seed does.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: You take that seed, you put it in the ground, you hope it grows.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: You have faith it grows, right?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know that the sun and the earth and the water are gonna work on that little seed and it's gonna sprout a little root and it's gonna sprout a little leaf, and then it's gonna grow up out of the ground, it's gonna grow into this massive thing.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine you're flying in IMC, we call instrument meteorological conditions.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're in the clouds, can't see the runway, can't see the horizon, you can't see anything.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, you could be spinning upside down and you couldn't tell the difference.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Except you got instruments.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: The instruments tell you whether you're right side up or upside down.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Often when you're first learning to fly, especially when you're learning to fly in the weather, you want to trust your feelings and study your instruments, and that can lead you to think you're flying straight and level and you're in a descending turn right into the ground.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: There are seasons in life when your emotions may be unreliable, circumstances look terrible, prayers may go unanswered or seem to be unanswered, the future looks unclear, and fear is loud.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's when your faith says, I'll trust the instruments.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Spiritually, those instruments include the temple, scriptures, prayer, personal revelation, prophetic counsel, the Holy Ghost, the covenants you've made, previous experiences.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: All of those things can combine to help guide you.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: They're your instruments to get you through the rough patches.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Elder Jeffrey R.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Holland taught in Lord, I believe, that when answers aren't immediately forthcoming, we should hold the ground we have already won and remain true to the faith we already possess.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be a featherweight.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let the winds and the fiery darts of the devil blow you off the path.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the people I've seen on social media that have left the church for silly reasons, and they let the whims of the world or the fiery darts of the evil one push them away from the church.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Faith isn't the absence of fear.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can be afraid and still have faith.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: President Russell M.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Nelson once used an actual flight through turbulence to illustrate faith versus fear.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: He described a passenger who became terrified during the turbulence and contrast that fear with the stabilizing power of faith.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Faith doesn't mean nothing bad is going to happen.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Faith can mean that whatever happens, you trust in Jesus Christ.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the faith to move mountains doesn't always mean what we think.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it truly does mean to move mountains.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, in order to move the mountain and have the faith to move the mountain, the Lord hands you a shovel.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Moving mountains also can mean what mountain are you trying to move?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Is it addiction?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Resentment?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Fear, self-doubt, anger, financial stress, a broken relationship, grief, discouragement, temptation, or uncertainty about the future?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: The scriptures describe faith, moving mountains, but the mountain isn't necessarily geographical.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Duh.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: The church's gospel topics material emphasize that strengthening faith in Jesus Christ helps us overcome challenges, and President Nelson is taught that our mountains can include things like loneliness, doubt, illness, and other problems.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the miracle isn't that God removes the mountain, the miracle is that he gives you the strength to climb it.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes he gives you a shovel and the strength to dig.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Faith is the principle of action.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's powerful.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Faith isn't passive belief.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Faith says believe, act, experience, and grow.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Not believe, wait, hope something changes.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's the world philosophy.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: You can sit in the cockpit and believe airplanes fly.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: But eventually, you have to start the motor and advance the throttles.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: You have to rotate and you have to fly the airplane.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's not going to do it itself.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: So what's the difference between I believe and I will act?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: This comes down to a practical matter, right?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: What does your faith cause you to do?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: If I believe Christ can change me, I repent.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: If I believe God hears prayers, I pray.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: If I believe scripture contains light, I study.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: If I believe covenants matter, I keep them.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: If I believe God has a plan, I stop demanding the entire plan before taking the first or the next step.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: If I believe Christ can heal, I turn toward him rather than away from him when I'm hurting.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, this mustard seed, the process.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Plant.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Put the word of God in your heart.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Believe.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Allow yourself to believe, even if that belief begins very small.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: The desire to believe.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Act.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: I've been harping on this all year long.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Do something consistent with what you believe.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Listen for personal revelation.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Act on it.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Nurture.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Once you're moving forward, prayer, scripture, obedience, covenants, and spiritual habits nourish what you're doing and grow.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Over time, small faith becomes spiritual strength.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Learn about Christ, choose to believe, act in faith, and ask Heavenly Father for help.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: The mustard seed analogy is not an excuse for spiritual laziness.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't saying a tiny amount of faith is all you will ever need.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: He's saying that that's the seed that will start to grow in you.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: The goal isn't I have mustard seed faith, so I'm done.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's I have mustard seed faith, so I'm going to cultivate it because I need help.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: God isn't asking you to bring him a force.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's asking you to plant the seed.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then he's asking you to water it, protect it, nourish it, give it time.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: President Nelson taught the Lord does not require perfect faith for us to have access to his perfect power, but he does ask us to believe.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Your faith doesn't have to be perfect for Christ to work with you.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need perfect understanding, perfect confidence, perfect spirituality, or perfect consistency.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite people that has faith is Tiffany.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Tiffany has a strong faith.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: She doesn't have the book knowledge of the gospel.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: She will admit to that.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: But she knows it and has faith and believes, and as she has exercised it over the years, it has grown into a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: When you turn towards Christ and take the next step, every step is easier.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that about her.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: So what does your next step look like?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: If your spiritual life were a flight, ask, are you on course?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Are you flying by instruments?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Listening to the right frequency, maintaining your altitude, responding to warnings, correcting deviations, communicating with God, correcting your course?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Are you actually flying or are you being flown?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because you can spend your entire life studying aviation without ever leaving the ground.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Likewise, you can study faith without ever exercising it.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, for the next seven days, pray every day.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Pray for one specific thing.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Read your scriptures, identify what you know to be true, and take an action consistent with that belief.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Record what happens.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Don't demand immediate results, just repeat.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: The objective isn't to create dramatic spiritual experience, it's to exercise the seed of faith.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Faith, like a grain of a mustard seed, isn't about having a tiny amount of faith and being satisfied with it.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's about taking the little faith you have, planting it in Christ, acting on it, and allowing him to make it grow.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to move the whole mountain today.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Take your shovel and start digging.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Take the next step.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Aviate, navigate, communicate.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Believe, act, grow.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: In Ether 12.6 it says, You receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the question isn't, do I have enough faith?
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the better question is, what am I willing to do with the faith I already have to increase my faith?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is Todd Talks, Spirit by Design, and I hope that you can exercise that particle of faith and grow and become the person that the Lord needs for you to become.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you like this, like it, share it.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you feel like hitting that donate button helps me to bring more and more of this to you to help you grow your faith.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: As always, have a blessed day.