After quoting Paul’s statement that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1), the Prophet Joseph Smith said:
“From this we learn that faith is the assurance which men have of the existence of things which they have not seen, and the principle of action in all intelligent beings.
“… Faith … is the moving cause of all action in [intelligent beings]… .
“And as faith is the moving cause of all action in temporal concerns, so it is in spiritual… .
“… But faith is not only the principle of action, but of power also, in all intelligent beings, whether in heaven or on earth… .
“Faith, then, is the first great governing principle which has power, dominion, and authority over all things; by it they exist, by it they are upheld, by it they are changed, or by it they remain, agreeable to the will of God. Without it there is no power, and without power there could be no creation nor existence!”
(Lectures on Faith 1:9–10, 12–13, 24).
Mormon pointed out that faith and hope are inextricably intertwined. If a man has true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he possesses an earnest hope or expectation that through Christ’s atonement and resurrection he, personally, may “be raised unto life eternal” (Moroni 7:41). Thus, “if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope” (v. 42).
“As used in the revelations, hope is the desire of faithful people to gain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God hereafter. It is not a flimsy, ethereal desire, one without assurance that the desired consummation will be received, but a desire coupled with full expectation of receiving the coveted reward. Paul, for instance, was not hesitant in affirming that he lived, ‘In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began’ (Tit. 1:2), and Peter assured all the elect that ‘by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ’ their ‘lively hope’ of ‘an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven’ for the saints, had been renewed or ‘begotten’ again. (1 Pet. 1:1–5.)”
(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 365).