Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast."

Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

James 2:17 & 26 "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

There is no greater blessing, and no greater attribute for any person than the possession of faith. It is by the free gift of faith only God can give, that our soul will find salvation. Despite the misunderstanding of many; our works have nothing to do with salvation. Works will determine our eternal reward, but only faith in God's perfect plan; made possible by the death of Christ on the cross, will there be salvation.; Therefore we should make every effort to clearly understand and cultivate a strong faith in that plan for salvation. It might surprise some to know there are different stages of faith. In Romans 10:10 we are told, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." By this we can know one can believe enough to try to be righteous and good; but that is not enought to be saved. try to be righteous and good; but that is not enough to be saved. Only when we believe strongly enough to not be ashamed to stand up in public and confess Christ are we promised that he will confess us before God and the angels to guarantee our salvation. Scripture tells us, "Even the devils know there is a God and tremble in fear." So just to believe there is a God is not faith; but faith becomes a reality when we take action to do something to demonstrate putting solid trust in an effort to keep the commandments of God. I have an individual analogy that compares Godly faith with riding a bicycle. Does that seem foolish to you? If I think about it, I have found it helps, and I hope it might help you: if you can visualize it. If you spend effort to pedal while on a bicycle it is easy to keep it upright and move forward to reach your goal. But if you do nothing and remain still, it will fall, you might get hurt, and you will never reach your goal. The same is true with faith. If you exercise it, you will move forward and obtain your desires. But even though you might believe in serving God, you will fail, (fall), and suffer hurt if you just do nothing. But the half brother of Jesus, James, said it better than we can in the Scripture, above for our text. We must realize our faith will die and amount to nothing unless we use it to trust God. Faith will create Godly works, and Godly works will keep our faith alive and growing stronger every day.