Faith

Faith is not a generic gift that leads to salvation. That's a humanistc way of thinking.

The Bible records various kinds of faith, bit only one saves. The rest lead us away from God. Romans 1.

 

I believe Latreia, that you do not understand the attributes of God. Therefore you cannot understand the attributes God gave to man in the Creation.

Typical of the attributes God gave to man are:
Love
Mercy
Faith
Justice (at least a sense of Justice)
Grace (yes man possesses Grace that is not God's grace) lest we could not behave graciously one to another.
Free Will
and others

Why then would Creator God not allow us to use those attributes to the maximum extent possible? They are in the image of God. We possess them, and Yes they are a gift to us, but they were given to us through Adam a man that sinned. The Sin did not alter our make-up, but it did separate us from Holy God.

Until you recognize that, you will remain in you current confused state.

 

Well, we are saved by grace. The avenue is through faith.

This is a really simplistic picture, but in my mind, faith is kind of like the bridge Jesus built between God and man, using Himself. That is a gift for sure. But any one of us can say "Yup, that bridge is Jesus; that's for sure," which is belief concerning Jesus (not in Him, though!). But walking that bridge -- well, that's the choice of each individual. Another way of putting it is "do you walk the walk or just talk the talk?"

That bridge is a gift. Our walk is based on our willingness to trust and obey, even as redeemed men and women.

One of the joys of getting older, now having a good 30 years of walking with the Lord behind me, is that I can look back and see His faithfulness time after time in my life, and thus trust and a quiet walk in faith are coming more easily now. I know the bridge holds, and I know Who is walking with me as well.

But I also remember my first years in faith, and how deeply I depended on the reassurances of my older sisters in Christ to keep me going in faith when I was feeling shaky.

I was saved by the grace of God. I was given that bridge of faith leading to Him. As I have gotten older, I have found myself walking more and more firmly and with a stronger stride on that bridge, and I praise God for that. Gradually the Holy Spirit is accomplishing His work in me, for there is no way I could have become what God wants me to be by myself!