Will work for faith

He smiled when I finished the prayer. Even with an ultra busy schedule, I had eked out time for lunch with Phillip.

The smile-making prayer was simple: “Father God, thank you for the food. Help Phillip get a job.” Phillip especially liked the job part. We were eating at a fast-food restaurant as Phillip filled out their job application form. For completion, he only lacked his Social Security number. I said, “We can get it when I drop you off. Then I’ll bring the application back here on my way home.”

After a whirlwind of other stops, I was back at the restaurant. Handing the manager the application, she said: “We’re doing interviews between two and five.” Glancing at my watch, I felt the weight of several commitments stacked ahead of me. Yet I knew, if I didn’t drive Phillip to the interview, he wouldn’t make it.

As a tension reaction, I said: “I don’t have time.”

Heading towards my car, my prayer from a few hours ago, popped into my head. “Father God…help Phillip get a job.” Thinking: “Did I really mean that prayer?”

Yes, it was a prayer of faith. Still I knew what the Bible said: “What does it profit, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” And another Scripture says, “Faith without works is dead.”

Now that I had prayed for Phillip, work was required to make the faith come alive. Still, faith and works were clashing as an I-can’t-do-everything thought crashed my mind. So the faith I needed was for God to give me strength.

My day finally ended at 11:30 p.m. Phillip got his ride. And a mountain of other tasks were completed. Praise God! All possible because I chose to combine faith and works.

Faith applied: it works!