With an Everlasting Faith – Alma 7:6

6 But behold, I trust that ye are not in a state of so much unbelief as were your brethren; I trust that ye are not lifted up in the pride of your hearts; yea, I trust that ye have not set your hearts upon riches and the vain things of the world; yea, I trust that you do not worship idols, but that ye do worship the true and the living God, and that ye look forward for the remission of your sins, with an everlasting faith, which is to come.

Sometimes when I think of faith, it looks like a sprint. A person exercises faith, and in relatively short order they see a miracle occur. I think this is one way that we experience faith, and I think it can create a virtuous cycle in our lives: we exercise faith, we experience miracles, and our faith is thereby strengthened so that we can exercise more faith (see Alma 32:29-30).
However, there are some miracles which require sustained faith over time. For example, when Jesus’s apostles were unable to cast a devil out of a child and asked Him why they couldn’t do it, He replied:

Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:20-21).

Another example: think of the sustained faith over time exercised by Alma and his friends before the miracle of his son’s conversion (Mosiah 27:17, 22-23). Alma may have wished that a single prayer of faith would accomplish the objective, but it was the sustained faith over time which eventually yielded the outcome he sought.
Now we see the son, Alma the Younger, talking to the people in the city of Gideon about the importance of having an “everlasting faith” in order to receive a remission of our sins at the end of our lives. That is the ultimate miracle, and it is worth our patience, diligence, and faith throughout our lives to achieve it (see Alma 32:41-43).
Today, I will remember that some miracles require sustained faith over a period of time. I will continue to exercise my faith toward blessings which I have not yet received. I will recognize that a part of having faith is not giving up when the desired outcomes don’t materialize immediately.

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