To Know God

We can know for ourselves and strengthen our belief that God is there if we are willing to reach out to him in prayer and extend the effort to know God. In the Book of Mormon Aaron was a missionary who went to teach the Lamanites. The king of the all the Lamanites was one of the people that he taught. The king listened to Aaron and after being taught asked Aaron how he could gain all the blessings that Aaron had taught him. He expressed a willingness to give up all that he possessed to have the blessings that the Gospel provides. Aaron then taught him that if he wanted he needed to bow down and pray. Aaron taught him that he needed to repent and exercise faith in the Savior. The king of the Lamanites then prayed to God and said,

"O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. " (Alma 22:18)

Here the king of the Lamanites showed a willingness to repent and give up all that he possessed to know God. Near the end of his mortal ministry Christ taught,"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3) He promised earlier in his ministry “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matt. 7:7–8.) 

If we want to know God and effort must be made. President Howard W. Hunter taught,  

"As important as scientific research may be, the greatest quest is a search for God—to determine his reality, his personal attributes, and to secure a knowledge of the gospel of his Son Jesus Christ. It is not easy to find a perfect understanding of God. The search requires persistent effort, and there are some who never move themselves to pursue this knowledge. In place of making the struggle and effort to understand, they follow the opposite course, which requires no effort, and deny his existence." (To Know God)

The Lord had this to say to Oliver Cowdery about revelation, "you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me." (D&C 9:7) Elder Douglas L. Callister taught "If you want to know that you know that you know, a price must be paid. And you alone must pay that price."

Here the king of the Lamanites demonstrated how we can know God. He sought God in prayer. He placed everything on the altar to know God. He was willing to give up his sins; he was willing to change his identity (Alma 23:16-17); he and his people were even willing to give up their lives in order to know God. (Alma 24) 

Elder Douglas L. Callister once shared the following story in General Conference,

"Years ago a man was accused of a serious crime. The prosecution presented three witnesses, each of whom saw the man commit the crime. The defense then presented three witnesses, none of whom had seen its commission. The simple jury was confused. Based on the number of witnesses, the evidence seemed to the jury equally divided. The man was acquitted. It was irrelevant, of course, that untold millions had never seen the crime. There needed to be only one witness.

In the genius of the gospel plan, there ultimately only has to be one witness, but that witness must be you. The testimony of others may initiate and nourish the desire for faith and testimony, but eventually every individual must find out for himself. None can permanently endure on borrowed light." (Knowing That We Know)

If we want to know and gain that testimony of the restored gospel we should be willing to do as the Lamanites and countless others have done. We should be willing to pray to God, repent of our sins and ask with a sincere heart if the Gospel is true. (See: Moroni 10:4-5) As we do so, walking in obedience to the commandments of God we will be blessed with to know God and his Son. I know that even as active members of the church with testimonies we need to continually strengthen our testimonies and as we do we will be blessed with greater faith and confidence in our lives.

P.S. Mormon.org has a section telling us how we can come to know God. I commend it unto thee.