Jesus Christ is the shepherd of our faith. He is the source of and orchestrator of all faith. He is both the beginning and the end of all faith; the author and finisher of our faith (see Moroni 6:4).
Jesus makes faith possible through what he does before, during, and after our exercise of faith. The Lord provides the foundation upon which we build our faith, he has created and empowered everything necessary for us to exercise faith, and he continues to work after and according to our faith.
The Lord is the reason we have faith, he is the ultimate subject of all faith, and he is the source of all improvements in faith.
Faith begins with an idea—a desire or a reason. As Paul said, “faith comes by hearing.” (Romans 10:17) All faith begins with the idea that something more than what is present is possible. This idea is necessarily absent from the mind of the believer previous to the beginning of faith. It is from this seed of an idea that the individual begins to consider and desire an as-yet unattained outcome. This idea can come from anywhere, and yet it is all from God. God is “in all things, and is through all things,” (D&C 88:41) and “all things bear record of [him].” (Moses 6:63) Everything provides an invitation to exercise faith through stirring a desire to obtain an outcome beyond what you have experienced, providing reasons to believe such exists, and giving reasons to believe certain actions on your part will result in obtaining it.