An Orchard of Faith Seeds

“I advise all to go on to perfection, and search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Godliness. A man can do nothing for himself unless God direct him in the right way” (TPJS p109).

I am not an elegant writer, nor can I express the Words of God in the same way that He has made them known unto me. While reading the following scriptures, the Spirit of the Lord enlightened my mind and I understood them in a way I had not perceived before. I have arranged the following scriptures in such a way that you might understand how I was inspired to look at them. I will add my own words in (parenthesis) so if you want you can completely ignore those.

Alma 32:

(In the beginning of Chapter 32, verse 17, I read something that stood out to me as I was studying faith. I want to use an allegory of us as children being taught about flowers. There are no pictures of flowers in the house, nor are there flowers in the yard or anywhere around. We are only taught about them from books which contain no pictures and by the words of those that we trust.)

v17. If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe. (This makes sense. Because we have no personal experience with flowers, we can only imagine what they might be like. After some time, we might ask, “Will you show me a flower please, that I might know of these things?”)

v18. If a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it. (Before our actual encounter with a flower, people had told us about flowers and how beautiful they were. We had dreamed of seeing a flower and wondered what it might be like. As we are walking one day we see something in the green field next to the sidewalk. “What is that daddy?” we ask. “That’s a flower.” Now we have seen a flower, make the connection, and know what it is. We no longer need belief.)

v19. And now, how much more cursed is he that knoweth the will of God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth and falleth into transgression? (Perhaps when we saw something beautiful before this encounter, we would point and say “Flower!”. Then the correction comes, “No, that’s not a flower. That is a weed. It is only pretending to be a flower.” What happens to our lawn if we later reject the knowledge we have of the flower and instead plant all the weeds that only pretend to be flowers?)

(This is an important introduction to the lesson on faith that Alma is about to teach us. We learn that the reason God doesn’t send Angels to everyone that asks is because they will have knowledge given to them before they are ready to live by it. Laman and Lemuel beheld an Angel and still they turned away from the Lord. If we are not prepared to DO the will of the Father, it is better for us to not HAVE the knowledge of His will lest the demands of justice have claim to our souls. This shows how wise and loving our Father in Heaven is and how much He wants to give us mercy. If He were to give us our every desire, we would surely become fallen and cursed.)

v21. Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. (Like the flower.)

v22. God is merciful unto all who believe on his name; therefore he desireth, in the first place, that ye should believe, yea, even on his word.

v26. Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.

v27. Experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith.

(Joseph Smith taught in The Lectures on Faith “…it is faith, and faith only, which is the moving cause of all action in them…and as faith is the moving cause of all action in temporal concerns, so it is in spiritual; for the Savior has said, and that truly, that "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” So in order to exercise a particle of faith, we must DO something.)

v27. Yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words. (Step 1 in this process is believing. When we believe something, we accept it as truth. Someone tells us there is a beautiful plant called a flower and we believe them. This belief blossoms into faith when we go out and seek to find a flower. The desire to seek is belief and the seeking is the maturation of belief into faith.)

v28. Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. (Before moving on, forget about the flower now and picture your life as a newly plowed field. There are no weeds, no plants, just rich soil ready for the planting. You have a bag of seeds. These seeds are everything you have been taught and the resources you have available to you.)

v28. Now, if ye give place in your heart…(You find a good spot and decide to plant one of the seeds in your bag. In this allegory, what we are hoping for is a fruit tree. For this example, let’s use an orange tree, although it could really be any fruit tree. So you plant an orange seed in your empty field because you have been told that oranges are delicious and you want to grow a tree so you too can taste the oranges. Keep in mind that you have never seen or tasted an orange before. Someone gave you bags full of orange seeds and told you that if you plant them, you too can have oranges.)

**EDIT - (Someone made a wonderful remark the other day about this post. Some of us have our bags of seed and we think that because we have the seeds we have the fruit of the tree of life. No need to plant or plow, toil or labor. They hold the seeds in their hand and raise them high into the air and proclaim, "I am saved because I have fruit meet for salvation!" Such a person is deceived and will not produce fruit worthy of heaven's attention.)

v28. If it be a true seed, or a good seed...it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me. (You plant the seed and your mouth starts watering because your hopes and dreams of an orange elicit an emotional response. The brain is an amazing organ! If you were to close your eyes and picture a lemon and visualize cutting the lemon and licking the juice, your mouth will start to water. Why? Because the brain can’t differentiate between the abstract thought and reality. This might be the reaction you have when you plant the seed. You feel good about planting the seed because it is the first step towards getting the fruit.)

v29. Now behold, would not this increase your faith? (Would this not motivate you to plant more seeds?)

v29. I say unto you, Yea; nevertheless it hath not grown up to a perfect knowledge.

v30. But behold, as the seed swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, then you must needs say that the seed is good; for behold it swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow. And now, behold, will not this strengthen your faith? Yea, it will strengthen your faith: for ye will say I know that this is a good seed; for behold it sprouteth and beginneth to grow. (A few days later you see little sprouts coming out of the ground! Now you know that the seed is alive! It is a good seed!)

v31. And now, behold, are ye sure that this is a good seed? I say unto you, Yea; for every seed bringeth forth unto its own likeness.

v32. Therefore, if a seed groweth it is good, but if it groweth not, behold it is not good, therefore it is cast away.

v33. And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good.

v34. And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know. (Before, when you planted the seed, you had no idea if it would sprout. Now that the seed has sprouted you KNOW that the seed you planted is good. You now have knowledge “in that thing”.)

v34. Ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand.

v35. O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good; and now behold, after ye have tasted this light is your knowledge perfect? (Everyone has the light of Christ in them which light is able to discern between good and evil. When the seed sprouts, you can tell that the sprouting is a good thing. This is what is supposed to happen when you plant a seed. Since the seed is beginning to sprout, does that mean we have an orange in our hands, peeled and ready to eat? No. All we know is that the seed is good and alive.)

v36. Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither must ye lay aside your faith. (You can’t stop exercising your faith at this stage. You now have knowledge that the seed is alive and good, but you can’t stop at this stage.)

v36. Ye have only exercised your faith to plant the seed that ye might try the experiment to know if the seed was good.

v37. Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit. (This is where I constantly fall short. You see, I have an endless supply of seeds. The scriptures are a bag of seeds. Prayer is another bag of seeds. Revelation is an endless bag of seeds. Each time I plant one, I can see whether or not THE WORD is good. But how do I nourish my tree. How are you nourishing your tree?)

v38. If ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out.

v39. Now, this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren, and ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof.

v40. And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life.

v41. But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life. (How do we nourish our tree with our faith? Faith is the principle cause of action in all beings, so we must DO something more. What do we do? Pray, read the scriptures, go to church? These are actions that resupply our bag of seeds. What must we do to nourish this tree though?)

v42. And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

v43. Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you.

End of Alma 32.

I have said that the tree is an orange tree, but in reality, it is the tree of life. What is the tree of life?

1 Nephi 11:21-22 (1830 edition) “Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.”

Jesus Christ. He is the tree of life. He is the fountain of living water. He is the gift that God freely gave to us to show His eternal love for us. He is eternal life.

This experiment is found in the Bible as well. Jesus said “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”(John 7:16-17)

So again, I pose the question to you, how are we nourishing our sprouts? If all we do is the “Primary Answers”, then all we are doing is going around our vast field, planting seeds throughout our life and constantly resupplying ourselves with seeds. Some people don’t even resupply, but pull up the sprouts and replant them somewhere else or throw them away entirely. Then they sit there looking on the empty field and say within themselves, “What a lovely clean field I have. I don’t have any weeds or thorns or briars or thistles.” We have been foolishly led to believe that this is the fruit of our labor. It is not enough to cast away the weeds. We have to nourish our sprouts!

Partaking of the fruit of the tree of life is the goal. What does that mean to you? What are you willing to DO to obtain it? How diligent, patient, and long-suffering are you willing to be in order to finally taste of this fruit which is most desirable above all other fruit?