Hebrews 11-12 Examples of Faith

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

In Hebrews 11, Paul mentioned many ancient men and women who demonstrated faith and received blessings for it. I love this list of righteous people who are a wonderful example to me of how I, too, can have more faith in my Savior.

Hebrews 11:4 Abel demonstrated faith by offering a "more excellent sacrifice" than Cain and was blessed with a witness from God that he was righteous.

Hebrews 11:5 Enoch had a testimony a strong testimony that his life was pleasing to God and was blessed by being translated and "not seeing death."

Hebrews 11:7 Noah "moved with fear" and "prepared an ark to the saving of his house" even before the rains started to fall. He was blessed by becoming an "heir of righteousness."

Hebrews 11:8 Abraham "went out, not knowing whither he went" and was blessed to receive the land of inheritance.

Hebrews 11:11 Sara had faith that she would conceive because God had told her she would and was blessed by being "delivered of a child when she was past age."

Hebrews 11:20 Isaac had faith to bless his sons Jacob and Esau and was blessed with a mighty posterity of two nations.

Hebrews 11:21 Jacob was faithful in keeping the commandments and was blessed to receive the land of Abraham and Isaac for his seed.

Hebrews 11:22 Joseph showed his faithfulness by doing the right things for the right reasons and was received "blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that leith under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb..." (Genesis 49:25)

Hebrews 11: Moses demonstrated faith by refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, forsaking Egypt, keeping the passover, passing through the Red Sea and was blessed with delivering his people out of bondage and was translated and never tasted death.

There are also wonderful examples of faith found in the Book of Mormon.

1 Nephi 18 Sariah, wife of Lehi, demonstrated faith by following her husband into the wilderness and raising her family up to the Lord. She was blessed with several faithful sons, including two that she bore in the wilderness.

Alma 19 Abish, Lamanite servant to King Lamoni's wife and convert to the Lord, demonstrated faith by choosing to go and tell others what had happened to King Lamoni, his wife and Ammon hoping it would "cause them to believe in the power of God" and was blessed with the blessings of the Gospel and knowing that her actions pleased God.

Ether 2 The Brother of Jared demonstrated faith by following the Lord's command to "go forth into the wilderness" and "build barges" and he was blessed by seeing and conversing with the Lord.

In Hebrews 12: 1-2 Paul encourages us to: "Lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Faith is more than just believing. It requires us to act on our beliefs. I don't think anyone does a better job of differentiating between faith and believing than Elder David A. Bednar did in a talk given at Ricks College in 2000 called "According to Thy Faith":

Frequently, the words "faith" and "belief" are used interchangeably in our everyday conversations. However, the teachings of the Prophet Joseph highlight an essential distinction between these two concepts. Remember, he emphasized that ". . . faith is . . . the principle of action in all intelligent beings" (Lecture 1, p. 31). Belief, on the other hand, is defined in our modern dictionary as the "mental acceptance of and conviction in the truth, actuality, or validity of something" (The American Heritage College Dictionary, p. 125, emphasis added). A belief is simply anything we mentally or intellectually accept as true. For example, we believe and accept as true the nature of the Godhead as taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith. We believe and accept as true the restoration of the gospel in its fullness in these latter days. And, most importantly, we believe and accept as true the reality of the atoning sacrifice of the Redeemer. In summary then, belief is the mental and intellectual acknowledgment, acceptance, and assent that something is true. Belief requires only the mind.
Faith grows out of and builds upon belief and produces action. Faith is not merely a positive mental attitude, or a strong will, or a Pollyanna-like approach to significant personal and public problems. A big "happy face" on our bathroom mirror is not an indictor of great faith. Please consider again the explanation by the Prophet Joseph Smith: ". . . faith is . . . the principle of action in all intelligent beings" (Lecture 1, p. 31).
Faith is evidenced in deeds. And as faith is the principle of action, so the opposite of faith, which we typically refer to as doubt, is the principle of inaction. Thus, if you and I have faith in Christ, we accept and live His teachings and we accept and obey His commandments. If you and I have faith in Christ, we strive to live worthily and seek for the companionship of the Holy Ghost, we repentof our sins, we minister to the poor and needy, we carefully listen to and apply the teachings of the living prophets, and we do the works of righteousness. Faith in prayer is evidenced in part when we kneel down. More importantly, however, faith is reflected when we get up and work diligently to accomplish that for which we have prayed. The true exercise of faith in prayer begins when we say, "amen." Whereas belief requires only the mind, faith ultimately requires all of our mind and all of our heart and all of our might and all of our strength."