Faith

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)

The first thing in faith is knowledge. "Search the Scriptures," then, "for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Christ"; and by reading cometh knowledge, and by knowledge cometh faith, and through faith cometh salvation.
But a man may know a thing, and yet not have faith. I may know a thing, and yet not believe it. Therefore assent must go with faith; that is to say, what we know we must all agree unto, as being most certainly the verity of God.
But a man may have all this, and yet not possess true faith; for the chief part of faith lies  not in just believing, but the taking hold of it as being ours, and in the resting on it for salvation.

First the existence of God. A man must come to God consciously.  He must have the desire to want to walk with God and must feel that that desired Companion exists.

The other part of the belief is less obvious, but no less instructive. It is the certainty of blessing for the seeker. "That He is a rewarder," a recompenser, "to them that diligently seek Him." It is no humility, it is an irreverence, to doubt God's will to bless. It is one thing to be conscious of a want of "diligence " in "seeking" — it is another thing, altogether, to mistrust the willingness of God to be found. To suppose Him reluctant to bless, is to paint Him in a repulsive form; is to make Him less gracious, less merciful, less bountiful, than any very ungracious, unmerciful, ungenerous, and churlish man; is to deny to Him one of those attributes which make Him God.


"We increase our ability, stability and responsibility when we increase our sense of accountability to God."