John Bytheway taught:.
A note of caution: Faith is not willing our desires into existence. That would be exercising faith in what we want. For example, many of us have experienced the death of a loved one and have concluded that if we only had more faith, the loved one could have been healed. But again, that is faith in what we want to happen, not faith in Christ and what he, in his wisdom, wants or allows to happen.
Jesus taught, “And again, it shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed. (Doctrine & Covenants 42:48; emphasis added). When our faith in Christ is strong, we can be assured that “all things have been done in the wisdom of him that knoweth all things” (2 Nephi 2:24). This kind of faith allows us to pray with a measure of peace, acknowledging, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42).
As we all know; even when our faith in Christ is strong, we still have problems. Jacob, the brother of Nephi, told the people that if they would pray for exceeding faith, God would “console [them] in [their] afflictions” (Jacob 3;1). Jacob didn’t say that God would remove their afflictions but that he would comfort and help them through. But even in our afflictions, if we can keep the faith and maintain the perspective the gospel offers, we’ll be able to stay positive.
Elder M. Russell Ballard taught: “The best thing about living a Christ-centered life, however, is how it makes you feel—inside. It’s hard to have a negative attitude about things if and when your life is focused on the Prince of Peace. There will still be problems. Everyone has them. But faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a power to be reckoned with in the universe and in individual lives. It can be a causative force through which miracles are wrought. It can also be a source of inner strength through which we find self-esteem peace of mind, contentment, and the courage to cope. ~John Bytheway, A Year of Powerful Prayer (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013), 296-97
