A Tidbit from my recent reading...

"Before anything else one must believe in God, 'that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him' (Heb. 11:6)

Faith, according to the teaching of St. Antioch, is the beginning of our union with God. One who truly believes is a stone in the temple of God; he is prepared for the edifice of God the Father, raised to the heights by the power of Jesus Christ, that is, of the Cross, with the aid of the ropes, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit.

'Faith without works is dead' (James 2:26), and the works of faith are: love, peace, long-suffering, mercy, humility, rest from all works (as God rested Himself from His works), bearing of the Cross, and life in the Spirit. Only such faith can be considered true. True faith cannot be without works; one who truly believes will unfailingly have works as well."

-St. Seraphim of Sarov, on Faith, from the Little Russian Philokalia: Spiritual Instruction, pg 25