Ether 12:41

And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.

If we want to have God with us, we must seek him. He rarely sneaks up on us. We have to use our agency to search him out. The good news is that he is not hard to find. He is practically right out in the open for those who make the effort. He is a mystery only to those who do not want to know him. And when we find him, he gives us grace, which is the gift of enabling power. He enables us to stay with him so long as we keep seeking, keep trying, keeping choosing to believe.

Ether 4:13

Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief.

What is not known generally or taught openly can be known privately when we get direct, personal revelation. The Lord does not keep secrets. He is willing to teach anyone who will come to him and ask. But we must be willing to believe what he reveals. To ask, receive, and then turn away brings condemnation.

Ether 3:12-13

And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie. And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.

When we truly know that God does not and cannot lie, when we know for ourselves that he has worked out the atonement for us personally, and when we believe him when he says he can save and exalt us, we will be redeemed from the fall like Moriancumr, Enos, Nephi the first, Nephi son of Helaman, and a host of others. We can have our calling and election made sure by the testimony of Jesus Christ himself through personal revelation. The experiences of the prophets in the scriptures are not to taunt us with unattainable goals, but to testify that such goals ARE attainable. Christ does not want to save us just in the hereafter, but in the here and now. This life is not just the time to prepare to meet God, it is the time to receive a proper introduction.

4 Nephi 1:1

And it came to pass that the thirty and fourth year passed away, and also the thirty and fifth, and behold the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands round about. And as many as did come unto them, and did truly repent of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus; and they did also receive the Holy Ghost.

A natural outcome when a group of people share a belief is to organize and come together to strengthen one another in that shared belief. This is church in its simplest form.

Helaman 16:23

I Choose to Believe - Phillips, Craig and Dean

And notwithstanding the signs and the wonders which were wrought among the people of the Lord, and the many miracles which they did, Satan did get great hold upon the hearts of the people upon all the face of the land.

I repeat: we choose what we believe. It is as easy to believe in God as to believe in Satan, or evolution, or humanism, or shamanism, or atheism, or any other -ism. We can find "proof" for whatever we choose to believe. But ultimately only one truth exists independent and outside of all tangible evidence. Those who witness that truth know the difference between reality and everything else. We can accept their testimony and put it to the test. God is no respecter of persons, and if we do as his witnesses have done before us, we can have the same witness. Nevertheless, it always begins with our choice.

Helaman 16:6

But the more part of them did not believe in the words of Samuel; therefore when they saw that they could not hit him with their stones and their arrows, they cried unto their captains, saying: Take this fellow and bind him, for behold he hath a devil; and because of the power of the devil which is in him we cannot hit him with our stones and our arrows; therefore take him and bind him, and away with him.

Isn't it interesting that the unbelievers were willing to ascribe Samuel's miraculous protection to the power of the devil rather than believe it came from God. Apparently any ridiculous belief is better than the truth when the truth involves God. Today people would rather believe in the random chance of evolution than to admit an Intelligence in their own creation.

Helaman 3:27-30

Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name. Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.

If I were marooned on a desert island and could have only one small section of scripture to keep me company, I might choose these four short verses. Mormon sums up a series of lessons learned by the Nephites during a period of relative peace following many years of war. These are truths about how God works with his children in all ages of the world. This brief discourse sums up the whole Gospel of Christ:

1. God is merciful when we sincerely repent.
2. Everyone who repents is welcome in the church and kingdom of God.
3. True members of God's kingdom believe in Christ.
4. We choose belief and faith. 
5. The word of God is not just the written scriptures. It is also revelation, both through the prophet and personally to each of us.  We must choose to receive and obey revelation.
6. Revelation from God is life-giving and powerful to change our lives. 
7. When we live the gospel, we can avoid and overcome the temptations of Satan. The gospel leads on a strict path back to God.
8. To live with God permanently is our ultimate goal and destination.
9. We can look forward to the same exaltation as the patriarchs and prophets. 

Alma 33:22

If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works.

All we have to do to put ourselves on the path to Christ is to look up, lift our eyes from the muck and mud of a sin-filled world, and focus on the Savior. Once we make a steadfast decision to seek him, he will seek us, help us, heal us, and lift us. The work is all his. The choice is ours.

Alma 32:27

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.

The theme of agency appears over and over again in the Book of Mormon. We choose what we want. Our desires are choices. Therefore, if we choose to believe, then we need to honor that choice and act upon it. Our actions are our agency at work. They are the evidence of our decisions.

Alma 30:40-41

And now what evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ cometh not? I say unto you that ye have none, save it be your word only. But, behold, I have all things as a testimony that these things are true; and ye also have all things as a testimony unto you that they are true; and will ye deny them? Believest thou that these things are true?

The absence of something is practically impossible to prove. The existence, however, is relatively easy to prove. So it is with the existence of God. Everything we see suggests a mindful, purposeful design. What's more, we have witnesses who claim to have a direct knowledge of God. To stare the evidence in the face and still claim God does not exist is to be illogical and dishonest. It takes a wilder imagination to believe that the universe, the earth, and life came about by random chance than it does to accept the concept of a Supreme Being and Creator. Accepting that God exists, however, is a much different thing than listening to him and obeying him. Obedience comes from faith.

Alma 22:10

And Aaron said unto him: Yea, he is that Great Spirit, and he created all things both in heaven and in earth. Believest thou this?

Aaron knew the true nature of God, but rather than argue the technicality of whether God is a spirit, he chose to let the little detail slide in order to capitalize on the king's willingness to accept the concept of God. When we look for points of contention, we can always find them. But when we look for areas of agreement, we can be agreeable as we teach important principles. We can always sharpen the fine points later.

Alma 19:36

And thus the work of the Lord did commence among the Lamanites; thus the Lord did begin to pour out his Spirit upon them; and we see that his arm is extended to all people who will repent and believe on his name.

No one is so lost and corrupt that he cannot improve his life by turning to God. Christ turns no one away who turns to him.

Alma 11:24

Believest thou that there is no God? I say unto you, Nay, thou knowest that there is a God, but thou lovest that lucre more than him.

Knowing God lives and loving him are two different things. The definition of wickedness is knowing about God but acting against his will, knowing about the things of God but loving the things of the world more, knowing God's power but trusting in worldly power instead. Why would we settle for worldliness when we can have godliness?

Mosiah 26:3

And now because of their unbelief they could not understand the word of God; and their hearts were hardened.

Faith starts with belief, and belief starts with a choice. Because the generation described in this verse chose not to believe, they closed themselves off from light and knowledge. They hardened their own hearts. A hard heart has no room for God. We choose the texture of our heart.

Jacob 1:8

Wherefore, we would to God that we could persuade all men not to rebel against God, to provoke him to anger, but that all men would believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross and bear the shame of the world; wherefore, I, Jacob, take it upon me to fulfil the commandment of my brother Nephi.

To believe in Christ means to believe all he said. We believe he is who he said he is, does what he said he can do, overcomes what he said he has overcome, forgives whom he said he will forgive, saves whom he said he will save. To view his death means to observe his death, acknowledge it, and accept it as ransom for us. To suffer his cross means to accept the cross of Christ and be willing to bear the load with him if need be. To bear the shame of the world is to accept the mocking and derision that the wicked of the world will heap upon humble believers. It means to stay by the Tree of Life when the masses in the great and spacious building point their fingers and taunt us to cross over to their side. This is the Christian duty: to believe, to view, to accept, to suffer, to bear, and to endure.