• Day 41
    • Principle: Faith precedes miracles.
    • Read: 2 Nephi 4:1 - 4:27
      • What did Lehi teach his grandchildren about faith?  What blessings of faith did he demonstrate?
    • What do you learn from Ether 12:12, 18 about miracles? 
    • Dallin H. Oaks taught about the combination of faith and miracles.  
      • “Faith is essential for healing by the powers of heaven. The Book of Mormon even teaches that ‘if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them’ (Ether 12:12) [see also 1 Nephi 7:12; D&C 35:9]. In a notable talk on administering to the sick, President Spencer W. Kimball said: ‘The need of faith is often underestimated. The ill one and the family often seem to depend wholly on the power of the priesthood and the gift of healing that they hope the administering brethren may have, whereas the greater responsibility is with him who is blessed. … The major element is the faith of the individual when that person is conscious and accountable. “Thy faith hath made thee whole” [Matthew 9:22] was repeated so often by the Master that it almost became a chorus’ [“President Kimball Speaks Out on Administration to the Sick,” New Era, Oct. 1981, 47]” (“Healing the Sick,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2010, 49).

      • “As we exercise the undoubted power of the priesthood of God and as we treasure His promise that He will hear and answer the prayer of faith, we must always remember that faith and the healing power of the priesthood cannot produce a result contrary to the will of Him whose priesthood it is. This principle is taught in the revelation directing that the elders of the Church shall lay their hands upon the sick. The Lord’s promise is that ‘he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death,shall be healed’ (D&C 42:48; emphasis added). Similarly, in another modern revelation the Lord declares that when one ‘asketh according to the will of God … it is done even as he asketh’ (D&C 46:30) [see also 1 John 5:14; Helaman 10:5].

        “From all of this we learn that even the servants of the Lord, exercising His divine power in a circumstance where there is sufficient faith to be healed, cannot give a priesthood blessing that will cause a person to be healed if that healing is not the will of the Lord.

        “As children of God, knowing of His great love and His ultimate knowledge of what is best for our eternal welfare, we trust in Him. The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and faith means trust. I felt that trust in a talk my cousin gave at the funeral of a teenage girl who had died of a serious illness. He spoke these words, which first astonished me and then edified me: ‘I know it was the will of the Lord that she die. She had good medical care. She was given priesthood blessings. Her name was on the prayer roll in the temple. She was the subject of hundreds of prayers for her restoration to health. And I know that there is enough faith in this family that she would have been healed unless it was the will of the Lord to take her home at this time.’ I felt that same trust in the words of the father of another choice girl whose life was taken by cancer in her teen years. He declared, ‘Our family’s faith is in Jesus Christ and is not dependent on outcomes.’ Those teachings ring true to me. We do all that we can for the healing of a loved one, and then we trust in the Lord for the outcome” (“Healing the Sick,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2010, 50).

    • From what Dallin H. Oaks taught and the scriptures you read, how are faith and miracles connected?
    • How would you teach what you learned to a friend?
    • Additional Study
      • Dallin H. Oaks, “Healing the Sick,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2010, 50
      • The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden, Children's Songbook No. 237
      • God Is Love, Hymns No. 87