Faith, Hope and Football

Something that has come up repeatedly in the past few days is hope and faith. In a talk given by Elder Neal A. Maxwell, he says, "Ultimate hope is...tied to Jesus and the blessings of the great Atonement...” (2 Ne. 31:20). (Neal A. Maxwell, Hope Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ Jan. 1999)
Hope is an assurance that the Lord will help us in the ways that we need. We have hope when we trust in God's promises and believe that He will "prepare a way that [we] may accomplish the thing which He commandeth [us]." (1 Nephi 3:7)Hope is tied very tightly to faith.
One of my favorite scriptures on faith is Hebrews 11:1 which says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
For you football lovers, this was an explanation of faith that made a lot of sense to me: There were three football players on a team. One of them was small and skinny. He really really really wanted to be state champ-he had a hope or desire for that to happen. But he didn't have the build or the ability to build muscle in the way that was needed for him to eventually become state champ. He didn't have the evidence that it could happen.
The second young man was very strong, very built and was a great football player simply by nature. He had the evidence that he could become state champ if he wanted to and if he worked at it. But he didn't care about being state champ and he didn't work to become it. He lacked hope.
This third football player, however, had both the evidence and the hope that he could become state champion. He was strong, fast, able, and he wanted to be state champion. He worked for it. He had both parts that are necessary for faith: a hope and desire for it to happen, and an evidence or assurance that it could and would.
Without hope, faith is non-existent. They are intertwined inseparably. We must hope or desire that God will answer our prayers before we can have faith that He will.
In the Book of Mormon in Alma 32, verse 27, the prophet Alma says, "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, 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."
This desire that Alma talks about is hope. If we can no more than HOPE that the Book of Mormon is true, that God lives, that He speaks to men on the earth today, 'let this desire work in you'. Try it out. 'Experiment upon the word'. Pray about it. The Lord has promised us that if we ask, He will answer; if we knock, He will open.
Let what faith you have be turned to the Lord. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we can learn to hope more fully. We can strengthen our faith and our belief in the ability of Christ to cleanse us from our sins, our mistakes, and our weaknesses. And as we exercise what faith we have, the Lord will bless us with more faith and more understanding. He will fill our hearts with the love that He has for each of His children. He desires us to believe in Him and to one day return to live with Him.
My challenge to you today is to 'experiment upon the word'. Read the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the 1st chapter of the Book of Mormon. Pray about it. Ask God if it is true. He will answer you if you are patient and truly seeking for an answer to guide and direct you.