Topic: Desire, How to gain a desire

Alma 32:21 > Enos 1:1-4 > The Acts 9:1-6 > Alma 36:5-21 > Matthew 11:15 > Matthew 7:24 > The Acts 2:37 > The Acts 10:44-48 > St. John 16:13 > Alma 32:26-27 > Matthew 21:22 > Alma 32:28-31,37 > Moroni 7:6,9 > Matthew 13:23 > Psalm 10:17 > Romans 10:17-18 > Deuteronomy 4:12 > 2 Nephi 9:31 > Proverbs 8:33 > Ezekiel 33:31 > Luke 6:49 > Hebrews 5:9

Before we can do truly worthwhile things in life, we must first have within ourselves a true desire to do them and then the faith to do it. Desire is a sense of longing for or hoping for an outcome. Faith is the fundamental motivator of all human action. Desire, coupled with faith, is the fire that kindles action and accomplishment. When a person desires something, their sense of want is excited by the thought of it and when this desire is coupled with the faith to achieve the desired outcome, positive action is taken.

If I desire to be a better basketball player, but I do not have the faith to motivate me to practice, take lessons, or to do whatever it takes to get better, then I will never improve. If I desire to be more knowledgeable in a particular field of study, but do not have the faith to motivate me to put forth the effort to study and learn, then I will never have the knowledge I desire. A desire in such circumstances is merely a wish if we do not add faith. The absence of keen desire causes depression of body and spirit, a deflation of action. When we see a soul in such a state, we see sadness, melancholy and slothfulness; he has removed himself from the rise and fall of most feelings; desire, itself, has dried up.

Faith is a critical aspect of desire and is dependent upon several factors. The Book of Mormon teaches in Alma chapter 32 verse 21 that faith is not a perfect knowledge. In other words, when we set out on a course of action kindled by our desire and motivated by our faith, we do not know for sure if we will be successful, yet the possibility of success is real. We set out exercising faith in the accomplishment of our desire. Alma also teaches that we cannot have faith in something that is not true, nor can we have faith in the impossible. An example of this would be outside limitations. For example, if I have a desire to travel to the moon, but there are no rockets to take me there, then no matter how much desire I have or how motivated and committed I am, it is not going to happen, therefore, it is impossible to exercise true faith in my desire; eventually the action will cease. Another limitation would be my own physical self, such as physical strength, stature, weight and so forth. Can I be an NBA star if I am only 5’ 8” tall and weigh a mere 125 pounds? Or, can I be a professional football quarterback if I’m blind? So, faith is the great motivator, but I can only have faith in things which are true or possible; without it all action ceases.

If I know I should do something, but do it not, what is missing? We can come up with a few adjectives to describe such a person: Lazy, uncommitted or faithless. Here are my fundamental questions, “How do I get to the point of wanting to do good and worthwhile things if there is currently no desire to even want to? If I lack desire is there something I can do to create it? Is it possible to generate desire where there is none? We learned in the previous paragraphs that faith is the great motivator; does this mean that if I do not have any desire I do not have any faith? It seems that a logical answer to these questions is, “If I want to gain desire, I need to build my faith”. So how do I create desire where there is none and how do I build faith in my desires, which will lead me to action? It may be worthwhile to examine how we got into such a terrible state to begin with. How did we get to the point in life where we have no desire to do anything worthwhile or anything good? Certainly such a person would be in a state of despair! Can we imagine such a person? Can we imagine someone in such a state of faithlessness that he has little or no motivation to do any good? Let’s examine three basic human needs that motivate us to action.

A person has three basic appetites that must be met or else life will eventually cease; 1. Food, we have a basic need for food. Without food we will eventually die. When we get hungry enough, the desire for food and the faith we have that food will cure our hunger will motivate us to eat. When food is extremely scarce, some people have been known to resort to steeling in order to obtain food, 2. Sleep, sleep deprivation can be very harmful if not fatal to life. If a person goes without sleep long enough, eventually the body will just shut down; if this happens at a bad time, such as when driving, it can be fatal. Typically, when a person becomes so fatigued and so desirous for sleep, he will be motivated by his desire and his faith that rest will cure his fatigue; he will seek rest, 3. Shelter, shelter only becomes a concern to mortal life when we are exposed to extremes of cold or heat. Without proper shelter, a person exposed to extreme cold will freeze to death. A person exposed to extreme heat will give way to heat or sun stroke, which will eventually cause death. A person exposed to such extremes will be motivated by his desire and faith in the comfort of proper shelter to seek it out.

I site these basic human needs to exemplify that a person, when he recognizes a fundamental need, can find within himself desire and the faith to motivate him to action. There is another human need we need to examine, although it is not life threatening to our physical bodies, it is life threatening to our spiritual well being; and although many may not recognize it for some time, eventually, we all will recognize and desire the need to change or to repent. In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Enos was such a person. He recognized a deep need to repent and change the course of his life. In Enos chapter 1 verses 1 through 4, Enos states that his soul hungered. Due to this hunger of soul, desire for forgiveness of sin became the overriding desire in his heart and through a spark of faith in God, he acted upon his need. Saul, in the New Testament and Alma in the Book of Mormon, through heavenly visions, came to a realization that their lives needed to change. With this realization, they acted upon this new desire of their hearts and in faith turned to God for the help they needed to change. (See The Acts chapter 9 verses 1 through 6 and Alma chapter 36 verses 5 through 21) As with the example of physical needs sited earlier, these needs are spiritual and although they are spiritual needs, they can be just as fierce as physical needs.

The point I hope to make with these examples and what I hope you are realizing is that when a person finds himself in such deep despair, whether it be physical or spiritual, desire will be born and the faith necessary to bring the person to action will be found. This does not take away an individual’s final choice, he can still choose not to act and perish, or he can choose to act and live, but I believe that ultimately this is the way that desire is born within us. We recognize a need and from that need the desire is born to satisfy it.

At this point, let us examine what the scriptures teach about desire. In Matthew chapter 11 verse 15, Christ calls to the people saying, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” In other words, I have ears they work just fine; so He calls to me to hear Him. In the scriptures, in most instances, when we are called to hear we are called to hearken, to listen and to obey what we hear. Hearing is an active verb; it requires paying attention, giving heed to the speaker, internalizing the message and acting upon it. The hope is that with the call to hear, a desire will spring up in our hearts to hear what is being said and then in faith actively listen and then obey. Christ’s teachings in Matthew chapter 7 verse 24, helps us understand this. He says we must hear and do! An example of hearing and doing is found in Acts chapter 2 verse 37; Peter was teaching a large group of people and when the people heard what was being said they asked, “What shall we do?” Obviously, they were hearing, listening and internalizing. Upon doing so, they desired to act upon what they heard.

Up to this point, we have discussed our role in the process of building desire. At this point, it is very important that we discuss who Heavenly Father has made available to us to help us build desire.  In Acts chapter 10 verses 44 through 48, we learn of this important gift. While Peter was preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, the Holy Ghost fell upon those who were listening. As a result, they were converted to what was taught and they desired baptism. Jesus Christ promised His Disciples in St. John chapter 16 verse 13, that the Spirit of truth, which is the Holy Ghost, will guide them into all truth! I want to emphasize ‘ALL TRUTH’. Yes, even truth about me and what I need to do to create desire in myself to do good, to do things that are worthwhile. So, where do I go from here? How do I get the Holy Ghost to guide me into all truth? In Alma chapter 32 verses 26 and 27, Alma reminds me that faith is not a perfect knowledge; he calls upon me to let my desire work within me to exercise a particle of faith in what I am taught at this time. In the book of Matthew chapter 21 verse 22 Christ’s teaching is to pray! I must ask for desire! I need to pray and ask God to bless me with desire! Returning to Alma chapter 32, now read verses 28 through 31 and 37; Alma calls upon me to experiment on the Word. Give it a try, what is it going to hurt! But I must try in faith, believing in my Heavenly Father that He will bless me with the Holy Ghost and that the Holy Ghost will endow me with the desire I need. I must pray with the determination that I will act upon the answer I receive or else nothing will happen, I will not receive an answer to my prayers. This is taught by Mormon in the Book of Mormon in Moroni chapter 7 verses 6 and 9. I must pray with real intent of heart! When I pray, or as I pray, I need to listen for an answer. When I use the word listen I also mean feel for an answer. The Holy Ghost when He comes upon a person, the person may not hear anything as with the ear, but may most likely feel the answer. Another way the Holy Ghost works upon us is through Scripture; as we study the Word of God we will often be led by the Holy Ghost to find the answers we are looking for, in this case an increase in desire. So, as Alma invites back in Alma chapter 32, we need to experiment on his word. He likens the word to a seed. If we plant the seed and it grows, then we know the seed is good, or we know the Word is good. If we then take care to nourish the seed, it will eventually grow to become a tree bearing good fruit. In other words, the word will have grown within us and by exercising our faith unto action we will see the word grow within us unto the production of good works. We will no longer be that lazy or uncommitted individual, but rather we will become fully engaged, active and productive. We will have come to know the truth about ourselves and what we need to do to produce good works and lead a worthwhile and productive life. See Matthew chapter 13 verse 23.

The following verses, I hope, will serve to motivate and plant faith in your heart in the sure promises of God. Psalms chapter 10 verse 17, the Lord will hear the desire of the humble. Who are the humble? The humble are those who recognize their dependence upon God, search for truth and bend the knee in prayer; the humble are those who will hearken to the word when it sounds in their ear or felt in their heart. In Romans chapter 10 verses 17 and 18, Paul teaches that faith will come by hearing the word! The word has gone forth throughout the earth, will you stop and listen and obey? The Lord will probably not speak to you out of a burning bush as with Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 12, but He will speak to you out of the mouth of His servants. Moses listened, will you? See 2 Nephi chapter 9 verse 31. After Moses listened, he did what he was commanded to do. So must you. As we learned in Alma, when we DO, we learn the truth; as we learn the truth, the truth will also serve to strengthen our desire. Last of all, remember Proverbs chapter 8 verse 33: Hear instruction, be wise and do not refuse it. Do not be like the people as Ezekiel spoke of in chapter 33 verse 31, “They hear thy words, but they will not do them”, or like those of whom the Savior spoke of in Luke chapter 6 verse 49! Rather remember Hebrews chapter 5 verse 9, “He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him”.

When we have a vision of what we can become, our desire and our power to act increase enormously.