I love the principle of FAITH, but at times it can be a little elusive for me. So I am always seeking to deepen my understanding of this amazingly powerful principle.

I have a dear friend who taught me about faith a few weeks ago. In her home, my friend displays a little plaque with these words:

“Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.”

Max Lucado said it similarly:

“Feed your fears and your faith will starve. Feed your faith, and your fears will.”

I was also reminded that faith is something we have to practice. But as with any skill, we become good at what we practice.  Day after day, we can choose to immerse ourselves in faith-building activities. Things like feasting on the scriptures, soaking in quiet moments of meditation, retreating to the temple, listing gratitude, singing praises, communing in prayer, finding our ancestors, and easing the burdens of others will not only build our faith–it will build us. I can think of no greater use of our time.

And even when we are living the more routine parts of our days, we can infuse the ordinariness with faith. Thinking about favorite scriptures as we wash dishes; singing hymns while we fold laundry or drive to work; encouraging those around us as Christ would do; noticing the tender mercies ever apparent; choosing patience over anger; and a myriad of other ways will fill our hearts with faith.

One of my absolute favorite ways to increase faith, is to simply state it–out loud or even quietly to myself:

“I have faith.”

I learned this from my mother. There wasn’t a day that went by on our mission in Portugal that she didn’t wake up and say with the brightest smile on her face, “Eu tenho fé! I have faith!” She taught me such a profound lesson through her example.

The wonderful thing is, when we state our faith out loud, even if we feel it is small or weak, our faith begins to grow. And it sends a message to “the opposition” that we aren’t giving up and we will not be discouraged or defeated.

My friend taught me another profound lesson–one that I’ve learned before but have such a hard time putting into practice. The lesson is this: we wouldn’t let anyone bully, put-down, or discourage one of our family members or friends–so why do we let the adversary do this to us? If someone we cared for was being mistreated, we would boldly stand up for them and order the bully to leave. Likewise, we must learn to do this for ourselves when our fears and doubts and discouragements come knocking. We can’t let anyone or anything paralyze us with despondence. We are spirit children of God and with faith in Him, we can move mountains.

So state your faith. State it boldly in the face of your enemies.

Remember: darkness always flees from the light.