New Faith × Work: The Formula the Enemy Doesn't Want You to Find

You can spin every number on a combination lock except the right ones, and it will never open. That's a trap I see so many business builders and ministry builders fall into — myself included at times — skipping the sequence and hoping to land on the result anyway. It doesn't work. Skipping ahead doesn't get you into the safe faster; it just keeps you locked out.

In this episode, I want to break down a simple truth I've learned the hard way: faith and work have to be dialed in together, and in order. The enemy doesn't need to break your lock. He just needs you to keep spinning past the numbers that actually open it.

The Counting Trick

I like to open with a quick exercise. Count out loud, starting at one. Most people, without realizing it, skip straight to a big number — because we're wired to want the payoff without the sequence. But a combination lock doesn't care how badly you want it open. It only responds to the right numbers, dialed in the right order.

That's exactly how I've experienced building a business and building ministry. There's a combination — and when you find it, growth doesn't just add up, it multiplies. One puts a thousand to flight; two puts ten thousand to flight. That's the power of working the sequence in partnership with God instead of grinding alone.

The Formula: Faith × Work = Results

I lay out a formula I've come to lean on that's straight from Scripture: F × W = R — Faith times Work equals your Result.

Your why is the thing most likely to get you to your result — not because a big why magically produces results, but because it's what keeps you hanging in there when the work gets hard. Without vision, people cast off restraint. With a big enough vision, you stay disciplined enough to actually finish.

Here's the catch I've had to learn: your endurance will never be greater than your why. If your hard season outweighs your reason, the lock stays shut. But when your reason grows bigger than the season you're in, the tumblers start to line up — and that's the moment I've watched real momentum begin.

What James Taught Me About Endurance

One of the stories I keep coming back to is James — Jesus's half-brother, who didn't believe Jesus was who he claimed to be. James grew up watching his older brother make an extraordinary claim, and he doubted it, right up until Jesus was crucified and rose again. That moment changed everything. James went from skeptic to writing, "a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" — a complete identity shift.

James later wrote to believers who were losing everything for their faith — homes, safety, community — and told them to consider it pure joy when they face trials, because testing produces endurance, and endurance, allowed to finish its work, makes you complete, lacking nothing.

I love digging into the original Greek word for endurance — hupomone — described as the quality of someone who isn't swerved from their purpose, even under the greatest trials. Endurance isn't just refusing to quit. It's staying locked onto the direction you were given, even while everything around you applies friction.

That friction — the doubt, the slow season, the thing that hasn't worked yet — isn't a distraction from your breakthrough. It's literally what turns the tumbler.

Finding My Actual Why

So how do I dial in the "work" side of the formula? I like to ask myself what I call the $10 million question: if every prayer in your life were already answered — health, finances, everything — and you still had $10 million to pour into building the Kingdom, where would you put it? Who would it reach? What would change because of it?

That answer is closer to your real why than most goals you're currently chasing. It's the thing that would still light you up on your last day on earth, knowing it was the legacy you left behind.

The Takeaway

Faith and work aren't competing priorities — they're numbers in the same combination, and they only open the lock when they're dialed in together, in order. Your trials aren't keeping you from your breakthrough. They're building the endurance that gets you there.

If you need some clarity on where you are on your own journey, go to purposedrivenbuilder.com and take the 60-second Builder Quiz.