Desire, reason, and action define the window through which God can bless you
The Lord and his servants pray that the Father’s will be done on earth and in heaven. Faith is the means that determines to what extent this actually happens. In order for reality to align more closely with the Father’s will, someone has to feel, think, and do what they would otherwise not do.
Although the Lord has power to work all miracles, he can’t do them in all circumstances. The manifestation of God’s power on earth is limited by the faith of men:
For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them.... (Ether 12:12)
...the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him... (1 Nephi 7:12)
`...he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever. (Moroni 10:7)`
When he visited the Americas after his resurrection, Jesus indicated that the great faith of the people made it possible for him to show them things he could not show those in Jerusalem:
35 ...So great faith have I never seen among all the Jews; wherefore <u>I could not show unto them so great miracles [as I have shown you], because of their unbelief.</u>
36 Verily I say unto you, there are none of them that have seen so <u>great things as ye have seen; neither have they heard so great things as ye have heard. (3 Nephi 19)</u>
Faith is the means by which God’s will is achieved. With faith, actions are taken to transform what is to what could be. No good thing can be obtained or maintained except through faith: “...by faith all things are fulfilled.” (Ether 12:3)
Your faith determines the frequency and intensity of God’s work to, in, and through you.
Do you truly believe that “the gate of heaven is open unto **all** , even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God?” (Helaman 3:28)
Do you truly believe that the only limit to your experiences with God is your faith?
God has explained that he is happy to send to us everything we are willing to receive:
...prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:10)
God will always give us everything we are willing to receive.
We are willing to receive what we are willing to desire, willing to understand, and willing to obtain. We are not willing to receive that which we are afraid of desiring, unwilling to learn sufficiently about, and unwilling to act in the necessary ways to obtain.
When it comes to what God is willing to give us, the water is already in the pipe, and there is more water than we can ever use. It will never run out. We control the flow of the water by turning on the faucet.
You control the flow of God’s blessings to you through the degree of faith you are willing to exercise. You control the flow of God’s blessings through what you are willing to desire, how well and how much you are willing to reason, and the set of actions you are willing to take.
Each of the components of faith are continuous attributes. How much desire do you have? How many reasons do you seek, acknowledge, and appreciate? How much are you willing to act given the reasons you have? How much knowledge have you accumulated?
The window of what we are willing to receive is comprised of what we are willing to desire, what degree of reasoning we are willing to apply and act according to, and how much we are willing to endure for how long to obtain what we seek.
The point of faith cycles is to persuade you to widen your window of receipt by becoming willing to suffer more, for longer, with less carnal support, with more thanksgiving, and with greater hope.
How do you quantify desire?
How much desire do you have? You can quantify desire in terms of what you are willing to sacrifice to obtain what you seek.
One story from the life of a missionary named Ammon illustrates how desire varies. When Ammon had defeated a king in battle, the king offered him half his kingdom to spare his life:
Now the king, fearing he should lose his life, said: If thou wilt spare me I will grant unto thee whatsoever thou wilt ask, even to half of the kingdom. (Alma 20:23)
Later, when Ammon’s brother taught the king the gospel, the king offered to give away his entire kingdom to know God:
`And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy. (Alma 22:15)`
In offering everything he had, the king showed that his desire for Christ was greater than his fear of death.
There is no limit to how much desire you can have. It is possible to have so much desire that you can conquer any challenge possible in this life. In fact, to overcome all things and obtain eternal life, you must desire to seek and obey God more than anything else.
Jesus plainly taught that obtaining all he offers requires a fullness of desire:
44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. (Matthew 13)
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14)
For some reason, in spite of the plainness with which God has explained the totality required to obtain him, people consistently swap out something less than everything in their understanding of what it takes. One such person came to Jesus professing reconciliation to God and was surprised when Jesus pointed out what should have been obvious to him— that he was holding back a great deal from God:
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. (Matthew 19)
If you can think of anything you wouldn’t want to go through if that were the price of obtaining what you desire, then your desire is limited. If your reasons and experiences revealed that the suffering you are unwilling to endure is in fact required to obtain what you say you desire, you will either have to increase your desire, or accept that you do not actually want what you say you want. Instead, what you really want is to avoid the suffering that has waylaid you. There will always be suffering beyond what you yet know, which is why there is no limit to the amount of desire you can have.
What are you holding back? Are you scared to desire the greatest things, because you think you can protect yourself from disappointment by doing so? A desire that is limited to only some things will never generate the actions needed to obtain all things.
Do you hold back obedience to some potential improvement you already know of? Those who limit what they will do for God limit what God can do for them.
Do not underestimate the power or potential of desire. If you open your eyes, you will see those around you with incredible desire. You may even know someone who exercises a fullness of desire. This degree of desire is within the potential of all people, but exceedingly few dare to exercise it. Most prefer to cower before the fear they have of daring to dream—of daring to believe that God truly is as good as we’ve been told by people who know him better.
Do you believe God can give you all things? The Lord said: “Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.” (Enos 1:15)
Those with great faith have great desire. They do not constrain their desires through unbelief. They dare to dream. They are happy to have God point out to them the limits of their present desires so that they can learn to desire better things.
How do you increase desire?
If your eyes are open to seeing, you will eventually realize the limit of your desire, whatever that desire may be.
You can, through thought quickened by God, produce strong enough reasons to overcome any limit to desire, provided your desire is sufficiently aligned with God. The greatest suffering we know of is what Christ endured in condescending to earth and living as he did (see John 3:16).
He succeeded because he was willing to face the terrible truth that there was no other way to save mankind, and that no one else would do what he was willing to do (see Matthew 26:39).
Perhaps you don’t have any reasons for your desire. Perhaps it is an emotion, and you don’t know where it is from or on what it is based. You just know it is there. Your challenge in increasing that type of desire is still the same—you must develop and use your faculties of reason in order to discover why you desire this and potentially modify what you desire.
Always remember that desire is a sorted list. If you reach the limit in one desire, don’t overlook the fact that this means, by definition, you want something else more than the thing you are limited in your desire for. In other words, all of us already have infinite desire . The question is merely: in what is it placed?
The content and order of your list of desires isn’t likely to be immediately apparent to you because it is abnormal for most people to spend sufficient time introspecting or to have sufficient honesty to find it out.
The story of the rich young man who came to Jesus is a wonderful example of how, in seeking him, God will reveal the next thing on our list that we don’t realize separates us from him because we assign it a higher priority than we do him. To the best of his understanding, the young man had kept all of God’s commandments. He asked Jesus what else he lacked that kept him from eternal life:
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. (Matthew 19)
By revealing more to the man about what a desire for God required in action, the man realized that he actually desired being rich more than he desired eternal life. While wealth is one potential desire, it is not the only one, and this story would be just as valid if it were about any other desire— the desire to be liked by others, the desire to be comfortable, the desire to have it easy, the desire to avoid loneliness, etc.
If you want to increase your desire, you’ll have to find out what is on your list and in what order, and you’ll have to decide whether or not to change the contents or order of that list. It is up to you.
It is critically important to desire the best things. If what you desire is less than the best thing you can imagine, you will never do what it takes to obtain all that is available. In fact, desiring even the best that you can imagine is not enough.
We are plainly told that what God has to offer lies beyond our wildest imagination of what is good:
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
In order to obtain all that he has, the limit of your actions must exceed what the greatest outcomes you can imagine would be worth. In order to obtain all God offers, you will have to achieve everything humans are capable of. This boundary lies far beyond what is worthwhile for the greatest outcomes you can imagine. This kind of faith requires complete trust in God.
If your faith were a set of monkey bars, you would get further by advancing to the next bar than you would by staying still, and further still by skipping bars as you continuously advance, but the greatest blessings of all are reserved for those who are willing to fling themselves towards the other side.
Paul said, “...he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) Those who have not yet attained complete trust in God can never rise to receive all God desires to grant them, because doing so requires you to walk through afflictions so overwhelming that their purpose can’t be understood prior to overcoming them.
How do you quantify reason?
Reason is the ability to logically represent and analyze situations. It is the ability to correctly answer the question, “what benefits?” Reason can be quantified in terms of the degree of complexity of the situations you can correctly understand.
Wisdom is the process of applying reason. While it is difficult to overstate the cost of wisdom, it is equally difficult to overstate the benefit of having it. Wisdom is a gift that will pay unlimited dividends; it will flow benefits in every situation.
You can quantify reason by what outcomes you can successfully predict and to what degree of accuracy. One who has great wisdom will know paths of great value, and will correctly predict things that no one else sees coming. The greater the wisdom, the more routinely this will occur. Because of this ability, people with great powers of reasoning tend to be successful in the worldly sense, because they see opportunities and ways to leverage them that others do not.
Most people can successfully reason through simple situations. As the situations become more complex, the number of people who have sufficient reason to correctly understand the situation quickly diminishes. Factors that limit wisdom include limits in IQ and the ability to overcome natural human bias. In both cases, one’s limits will inhibit their ability to see things as they really are. Unfortunately, in both cases, the limits of awareness include awareness of those limits. In other words, those hamstrung with a lower IQ or an ignorance of their biases do not understand the limits that come with it. They neither see their own limits, nor what would be possible without them.
As with all good things, God grants some measure of wisdom to certain people as a gift (that is, by nature). However, like all gifts from God, it is not just present in those who have received it in the form of a gift. It can also be cultivated.
God will give wisdom amply to those who seek it. No matter how much wisdom you find yourself with, God provides a path for you to acquire and apply more reason. There is no limit to how much reason you can have. It is possible to have so much reason that you can conquer any challenge possible in this life. In fact, to overcome all things and obtain eternal life, you must have sufficient reasons to seek and obey God at all hazards.
God has said in plainness that all good things are available to all people: “And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.” (Moroni 7:33) Some people actually believe this:
And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done. (1 Nephi 17:50)
These people manage to live incredible lives, finding great joy and satisfaction in envisioning, desiring, working towards, and obtaining the good things God has prepared for those who love him.
Unfortunately, instead of thinking conscientiously about what they really want, why they really want it, and how to get it, most people live their lives as if what they receive has nothing to do with what they feel, think, and do:
O how marvelous are the works of the Lord, and how long doth he suffer with his people; yea, and how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men; for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should rule over them! (Mosiah 8:20)
Everything from God comes commensurate with how diligent you are willing to be in seeking it and how humble you are in responding to what you learn:
`...Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart. (1 Nephi 2:19)`
Faith is what determines both how much effort you are willing to exert in seeking God and how obedient you are willing to be to God. Limits in effort will result in limits in learning. Limits in humility will prevent learning more about who you really are, who God really is, how reality really is, and how other people are. Lack of humility will prevent you from seeing the areas you can improve in yourself, and will therefore cut you off from making the changes that stand in the way of your obtaining what you seek.
God said that anyone who seeks him will be shown how to obtain what they seek:
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. (Matthew 7)
What does asking, seeking, and knocking look like? It means you actively search for the path to obtain what you seek, you honestly and consistently do what lies on the path and abstain from what takes you off of it or slows your progress on it, and you update your understanding of the path as you learn more about it through time and experience.
We limit what God can give us through our reasoning: what we are willing to consider, what effort of reasoning we are willing to apply, what powers of reasoning we are willing to develop, and how audacious we are willing to be in adhering to what reason suggests. What are you willing to question? How far are you willing to go in asking questions and seeking answers? How much effort are you willing to spend developing the ability to reason? How strong are you in turning away from conventional wisdom when you have strong reasons to? Are you willing to act according toreason even if it brings the ridicule, persecution, and even violence of others?
Those with great faith have great powers of reason. They are able to see the true relationship of cause and effect to a greater degree than most because they exercise more effort in learning how to reason and in reasoning about life. They do not allow their emotions to direct their paths, but do all things with reason. They are happy to have God point out to them the limits of their present understanding so that they can gain wisdom.
How do you increase reason?
The way to increase in reason is to find and apply all you can:
8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.
9 She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. (Proverbs 4)
Wisdom can be sought directly from God and through the example of those who have more than you do.
Do you believe that God can show you all things? God told the brother of Jared that “if he would believe in him that he could show unto him all things—it should be shown unto him; [and] he knew that the Lord could show him all things.” (Ether 3:26) The Lord has said that when we exercise the same degree of faith, he will show us everything:
And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are. (Ether 4:7)
If you have faith in Christ, and you believe what he has said, you will desire and work harder to receive wisdom than those who do not have that faith:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5)
As God quickens your understanding, you should pay attention to things, questioning how things work and what their effects are.
You should seek those who have more wisdom than you, and study what they teach: “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise...” (Proverbs 13:20) You should consider what they say and do, ask why, and apply what you learn to yourself.
Reason is given in accordance with the degree of effort and obedience exercised. If you invest sufficient effort to search out what is right and are then obedient to what you find, you will overtake the wise people you know. If you do not exercise greater effort and obedience than they do, you will remain less wise than they are.
How do you quantify action?
Two people can be oriented towards the same goal, yet receive different outcomes if they act differently. For example, many people in the Book of Mormon desired that the Lamanites would come to know and love God. Nephi, his brother Jacob, and Jacob’s son, Enos, all desired this outcome, and took many actions to secure it, but they each failed to obtain it. Enos’ reflections were typical of the three. He made many excuses for why they were unsuccessful:
And I bear record that the people of Nephi did seek diligently to restore the Lamanites unto the true faith in God. But our labors were vain; their hatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil nature that they became wild, and ferocious, and a bloodthirsty people, full of idolatry and filthiness; feeding upon beasts of prey; dwelling in tents, and wandering about in the wilderness with a short skin girdle about their loins and their heads shaven; and their skill was in the bow, and in the cimeter, and the ax. And many of them did eat nothing save it was raw meat; and they were continually seeking to destroy us. (Enos 1:20)
The truth is less flattering. Many years later, Ammon and his brethren, having the same goal, were successful where others before them had failed. Ammon and his brethren worked against the same exact challenges their predecessors faced. Ammon and his brethren were willing to sacrifice far more than Jacob and Enos. Every action Ammon and his brothers took lay beyond what their predecessors had considered possible. Ammon and his brothers gave up the kingdom they were heirs to, moved into Lamanite territory, and offered themselves up as prisoners and slaves to the Lamanites until God’s justice afforded them the opportunity to preach to the Lamanites and convert them through the visible miracles that they could have obtained in no other way.
Action can be quantified by production, which is the confluence of magnitude of effort and accuracy of approach. Effort and accuracy of action could be called “intentionality.” Focusing on just one aspect of intentionality is insufficient, as discussed in the chapter on action.
Intentionality is the measure of how aligned your actions, desires, and reasons are. Intentionality is reconciliation to one’s beliefs. It is coherence. There is tremendous power and peace in coherence, which comes from the constant assurance that you are on the right path, doing the right things for the right reasons, no matter what the rest of the world says or does or thinks, so far as you know. It is the key to accomplishing amazing things while being totally free from anxiety, depression, and guilt.
Intentionality is the degree to which you reconcile your desires to your actions. Intentionality means you don’t just occasionally consider what it is you want. You hunger and thirst after it (see Matthew 5:6). You take the time to honestly assess what you want, prioritize the list, write it down, and actually act accordingly, all the time, until you explicitly decide to make a change. It means not lying to yourself in the moment by excusing deviations from what it is you say you want because it is easy, convenient, or comfortable to do so.
Intentionality is the degree to which you apply your capabilities of reason to your actions. Intentionality means you explicitly formulate and analyze the results of your actions. It means you act intentionally. It also means you don’t act unintentionally. You abstain from those things that detract in any way from what it is you want, why it is you want it, and how it is you think you’ll get it. If your intent is to lose weight, you won’t just act to work towards your desired outcome in the form of exercise. You will also avoid acting in ways that detract from it, such as drinking lots of alcohol or eating too much or the wrong types of food.
One who does precisely what they have a good reason to do, and does nothing they have a good reason not to do, could be called an intentional, authentic, honest, upright person. These types of people will do things that other people are unwilling to do because they are willing to submit to reason instead of being swayed by the desire to be comfortable, or popular, or ignorant. The greatest blessings are reserved for those who react to the earliest, weakest signal suggesting something better. God holds back everything he can for as long as he can in order to favor the righteous, who will obtain what can only be obtained by those who react early and completely to the weak signal.
Intentional people will also abstain from things that other people readily do. They won’t do things just because other people are doing them. They won’t act contrary to their principles, even if everyone else does.
How do you increase action?
If you want to increase your action, you must gain more information and submit more fully to it.
The Lord knows that all things are received according to the law of cause and effect. He knows the causes for every outcome:
20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. (D&C 130)
Having created all things, the Lord knows exactly how we can obtain whatever we seek:
14 I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine.
15 And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine.
16 But it must needs be done in mine own way... (D&C 104)
But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen. (1 Nephi 9:6)
Action begets action. You increase action through acting according to what is available—both in seeking more information and changing or adding actions to bring yourself into accordance with what you learn.
To receive more, receive correction
Quantifying our desires, reasons, and actions makes room for God to show us where adjustments need to be made in our application of faith. Because there is always more God desires to give us, receiving more requires us to humbly and continually acknowledge and change what currently prevents us from obtaining everything he desires us to receive. He will show us the insufficiency of the actions, reasons, and desires we previously believed sufficient to obtain those things. He will do this by showing to us previously unconsidered actions and obstacles that require more from us than we supposed. This revelation that what we seek will require more or different desire, reason, or action than we thought is called correction.
We ought to love and seek correction:
11 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction:
12 For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. (Proverbs 3)
If you truly believe that God works according to laws of cause and effect, how can you do anything but rejoice when he reveals to you a more accurate path to what you seek?
9 ...I give unto you directions how you may act before me, that it may turn to you for your salvation.
10 I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise. (D&C 82)
The belief that God operates according to the laws of cause and effect, coupled with the idea that he loves us and desires for us what will bring us the most happiness and joy, should motivate us to continuously appeal to him for guidance and correction in receiving all he has to give.