Do you ever think about how you put parts of your life in compartments? Or do you? 

Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. Today, and this came from yesterday's podcast, I got to thinking about how we compartmentalize things in our lives or how we might, and so I came to this verse in Romans 11:36, and I'm reading from the New American Standard Bible. "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." 

This is a doxology. It's a short statement of praise to God. "From Him and through Him and to Him are all things." So my question for us is how compartmentalized are we? Do you find that you're too busy to pray for your coworkers? Or what about being too busy to spend a few minutes helping someone else? Is the problem of busyness robbing us of the joy of walking with Jesus? If God owns it, all which we talk about in this verse for, "from Him and through Him and into Him are all things," and we spoke in yesterday's episode about how God created it all and He owns it all. 

These are all His things. All of the world and everything that we have and are, and do belongs to Him. So how is it that we put ourselves in a position where to do something with our faith means that we have to stop doing something else? I get challenged by that every time we do the Marketplace Mission Trip because I'm tempted to feel as many are that we're too busy to integrate our faith into what we do every day.  Yet we have these examples of Jesus challenging us, and from the scripture in Luke 10, for example, we have the story of Mary and Martha and Jesus telling Martha that Mary has chosen the good thing because only one thing is necessary.

Matthew 19 has the story of the rich young ruler who wouldn't sell all of his possessions, and I think we sympathize a little bit with these people and we go back about our daily lives. At least I do, but I wanna challenge myself today. What part of my daily life am I keeping from God? Do I want to do something about it? Do you? 

I mean, I get it. We can't go on an overseas mission trip, but I can't pray for the person I'm in line behind at a stoplight instead of wishing they'd get out my way. When I fail to involve Jesus in everything I do, I miss the joy of doing everything with Him and for Him. "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things." Our verse says.

How much more am I willing to miss? How about you? What can we do today? Well, to me, I start with this daily prayer and I mentioned this in yesterday's episode too. I start with "here I am. Jesus, please use me today. Draw my mind back to you." The Holy Spirit living in me has the power to help me focus and bring my attention to my relationship with Christ. Even when I'm in a difficult staff meeting or I'm being chewed out by a customer, or I'm in line behind someone slow in traffic, God can do this, and so I want to depend on him. 

Today I want to challenge us. Let's remember that all of what we experience and all of what we interact with every person that we meet, we all belong to God and we're on His plan and His program, not our own. That's how I compartmentalize. I take responsibility for the things I think I control, and at that moment I've segmented part of my life and tried to take it away from God. Today I wanna be available to God to do what He has for me to do today, and I hope you can do that too, because when we are available to Him, then we experience Him.

We experience His joy. We experience His purpose in everything that we do. Why not take a moment right now and tell God "here I am. Put me to work today, father." And watch what He does in your day.  Then join us over at https://community.Followerofone.org and let us know how it goes. We're all working to do this for one another together.

Thanks for joining us and being Marketplace Ministers to the people that we meet every day. Thank you very much.

Today on the Follower of One podcast, Mike Henry sits down with Donna Skell. With a heart for God, people, and business, Donna stays active in the Christian community. She has been part of Roaring Lambs Ministries since its inception in 1980 and came on staff in 2008. Donna is an author, TV/Radio Co-host, and Jewish follower of Christ. She loves to help people effectively tell their stories of what God has done in their life. In this episode, Mike and Donna talk about Roaring Lambs Ministries, her journey to Christ, the purpose of Roaring Lamb Ministries, how Christians are created to fellowship with God, about the Hall of Fame, the importance of sharing your faith with others, incorporating your faith into your life, and the weight of the question “How can I pray for you today?”

Outline of the Episode

• 0:29 – About Roaring Lambs
• 1:08 – Donna’s journey to Jesus
• 3:29 – How Donna ended up with Roaring Lamb Ministries
• 6:33 – The purpose of Roaring Lamb Ministries
• 8:05 – How Christians are created to fellowship with God
• 10:00 – About the Hall of Fame
• 12:35 – The importance of sharing your faith with others
• 14:23 – How to incorporate your faith into your life
• 16:07 – Asking people “How can I pray for you today?”
• 17:06 – Growing up Jewish

The Purpose of Roaring Lamb Ministries

Roaring Lamb Ministries was created to engage with Christians outside of the Church walls. Their goal is to empower and activate other Christians to not be afraid to talk about the Gospel when they are not at Church. 

How Christians are created to Fellowship with God

Christians are created to fellowship with God. Our end goal as Christians is to share the gospel to the ends of the earth. For us to share God, we need to understand him. The way that we get to know Christ is to fellowship with Him. 

The weight of the question “How can I pray for you today?”

When you go and ask someone “How can I pray for you today?” it opens an opportunity to share Christ. This question also makes the person you are talking to know that you genuinely care about them, and you desire for their wellbeing. 

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Have you ever considered the importance of ownership? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. We appreciate you joining us for these brief messages every day as a way to challenge yourself as you go into your day to live a life that's integrated with your faith in Christ. Today, I want to talk about Psalm 24:1, which I'm reading from the Christian Standard Version. "The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants belong to the Lord." That's Psalm 24:1 from the Christian Standard Bible. 

If you own or create something, you have control over how that thing is used and what it does. God created the universe and each of us, therefore He's in charge. We don't like to admit that, but it's the truth. He has given us some ability to create and some ability to choose what we do, however, exists inside of His control, and I don't fully understand that. I don't claim to. But what difference does it make in our life? Well, if I choose to believe Psalm 24:1, then when I don't have something, I can turn to God. But the question of what I want probably isn't the first question. The first question might need to be, "what does God want?" It's His stuff, and I'm His stuff. He must have had a reason for creating me, and therefore I want to find out part of that reason.

I want to understand as much of that reason as I can because I also believe that God is good and maybe we can do another post on that here soon. God's goodness leads me to believe that what He created me to do is something that I will enjoy. I can walk in His purpose for me and expect joy from that because He promises joy for us. And so I want to also ask you, what does it mean for you if God owns you? If God created you? We don't like those terms in our Western world. But today, I want to consider how God wants me to behave in the world. What difference does He want me to make? He's given us this opportunity to speak about our own lives and serve other people around us and take part in His global strategy for saving every person who will believe in Jesus.

We get to be part of that and we get to experience the joy of being part of that. I so often considered what God wanted me to do as being work. Something that would be negative and something I didn't want to do, and I was trying to do as little of what God wanted me to do as I possibly could because I believed I enjoyed these other things.

I enjoyed what I wanted to do more than what I thought God wanted me to do. But the more I follow and trust God and lean on Him, the more I understand that God's calling for me gives me joy and it gives me peace.  Therefore I need to remember that God owns me. I believe Psalm 24:1, I believe the earth and everything in it belong to God. Therefore, I want to try and use it the way He would have it used. I wanna try and take part in the lives of other people and accomplish what God would have me accomplish. I wanna be His person in my world today. 

What about you? Would you like to intentionally be more purposeful about this? One way you can do that is with our First Daily Activity. You can pray and simply tell God, "here I am God, what would you have me do today?" You punch in and you get on the clock with that prayer, and we start working for God today it's up to Him and the Holy Spirit living in us to help us understand what He would have us do. We get that opportunity. And I believe if you'll do that, you'll experience joy today.

Look back at the end of your day today, and then let us know what happened. You can drop me a line at [email protected]. You can communicate with me through our Facebook page or our LinkedIn company page or in any way that you would like. I want to know, and I want to help marketplace Christians integrate their faith into their daily life because I believe that will make our world better.

Anything that I can do to help you, please let me know at [email protected] and also consider joining us in our online community, which is https://community.followerofone.org. Thanks very much for being a Marketplace Minister and for choosing to make a difference with your faith today.

So if you would sum up the entire law, all of the old Testament law into one word, what would it be?

Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast, we've been talking about a variety of different ideas, but I came to this idea a few episodes back about the law. Today, I want to talk about this passage Galatians 5:14. "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." That's from the English Standard Version of the Bible.

The apostle Paul, who's the author of the book to Galatians, the letter to the people in Galatia, summed up all of the law in one word, and its sentence "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." The one word I believe is love. In episode 725, we talked about Romans 3:20. The law shows us this is God's universe and not ours. Part of the purpose of the law is to show us that we don't measure up. We can't measure up, we won't measure up. We don't have a choice. We can try and we're called to try and we desire to measure up, but we don't. 

Romans 3:20 says the law shows us this is God's universe. It's His plan. He's the one who made the law. He defines right and wrong. These are all up to Him. But in this passage, we're reminded that the whole law is fulfilled in one word - love. Jesus loved us. God loved us. God came to our earth as Jesus to down the cross for our sins and to make a way for us to get back to God, and this verse reminds us that if we want to do what Jesus has for us to do, we love our neighbor. We love the person next to us. We love other people. Often, that means we go out of our way. We give them something that we can't keep. We give them our time or our attention or our appreciation. We do what's best for them. Sometimes that's hard, but often it needs to be graceful. It needs to be something that we give away without purpose or reward. \

"God demonstrated his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," it says in Galatians 2:20.  We have this demonstration that we love others first. It's not based on their performance or their actions, but we love our neighbors because that's our response to what Jesus has done for us. Today in our workplaces, I would like to challenge us. Let's find ways to love others. Let's look for opportunities to love the customer that we're on the phone with, even though they're upset about a problem or two, to love a boss or someone who's created a challenging work environment for us.

We are called to give love when love is not a natural response. In that kind of circumstance, our hope becomes visible, and often we might even get asked to explain how we have a love that just transcends all understanding, as it says in Philippians 4. Our love should be something that the world sees because it just doesn't fit.

Let's live by summing up the law of Christ. Let's love our neighbor as ourselves and look for ways to do that in our workplaces today. Thank you for being a Marketplace Minister, and thank you for considering how your faith can make a difference every day in the way that you carry yourself, the way that you work and do your job, and the way that you interact with others.

Our life poured out in service to Jesus means that we go to work on behalf of Him. How would he have us do our jobs today? And if you wanna be part of a community of people who are working to make this happen more and more in their own lives, then check it out. Join us at https://community.Followerofone.org. You can sign up for free and you can also take our marketplace mission trip, which is a two-week exercise to practice living our faith regularly. We have another one starting in just a couple of weeks. Go check it out at https://community.Followerofone.org. 

Thanks very much.

Can you prove your faith? Should we try to prove our faith? 

Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. I talked a little bit about the importance of our faith yesterday, and it prompted me to remember this verse and talk a little bit about the proof of our faith from 1st Peter 1:7 "so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." That's from the New American Standard Version of the Bible. 

The proof of our faith. I often think about this phrase. What is the proof of our faith? Well, part of the proof of our faith is the fact that we behave in such a way that we demonstrate our faith. We are proving our faith by the way that we live, but we don't prove the success of our faith. The success of our faith isn't proven until we get to heaven. In 1st Corinthians 15:19, Paul said "if we have hoped in Christ in this life only we are of all men, most to be pitied."

Much of the proof of our faith exists on the other side of eternity, on the other side of death. Either eternity is there and we get to take part in it or it's not there, and we are most to be pitied. The proof of our faith though is more precious than gold, not the proof, but the faith. Faith is more precious than gold, which is perishable. Our faith isn't perishable. Gold is perishable. Our faith can be tested by fire and will be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is part of what we believe is Christians. We believe that our faith will result in praise and glory and honor when we see Jesus when we come face to face with Him. It will be a glorious day I believe because we will be able to see the proof of our faith.

It will finally be demonstrated. It will finally be obvious that our faith was true and our faith is precious, more precious than gold. This faith is what pulls us through the difficulties and the troubles of our world. Faith is what puts us in a position where we can be a blessing to others, even when we experience hardship. We can serve, even when it's not expected of us, or we can give more than others might expect. Our faith shows up in our world because we live like we're free. We live like we know that everything will be made right on the other side of death., And that's what I want to challenge us to do today.

Let's go into our workplaces today and live confident that the proof of our faith is coming. The proof of our faith is going to happen. It will happen, and it will be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. When we see Jesus again, we will experience this praise and glory, and honor. We will be overjoyed. 

We experience pieces of this now when we obey Him in our workplaces and when we go out of our way to make a difference in the lives of others. We can experience some of the praise and glory and honor now by simply trusting Jesus and doing what He says in our workplaces or wherever we go today.

So today as you go, listen to Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit prompt you to make a difference in the lives of others. You have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others today, simply because we know that our faith will eventually be proven and we will experience this praise and glory and honor when we see Jesus. 

Thank you for being a Marketplace Minister. Thank you for going into your workplace to make a difference. This podcast and our online community all exist because of the donations of generous people who've experienced what we're doing. Consider contributing Follower of One so that other people can experience the podcast, can be energized and challenged to go into their workplaces and make a difference with their faith.

We all experience joy when we do that. So thank you for following Jesus and for being a Marketplace Minister in your workplace. Check us out at https://community.Followerofone.org. You can contribute there by clicking our donate button. 

Thanks very much.

Do you work for rewards and approval? You know, I think we all do to some degree. 

Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. Today, I wanted to talk about a verse in James 1:12, and I'm reading from the New American Standard Bible. "Blessed is is a man who perseveres under trial. For once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 

Let's take this verse apart a little bit and see how it applies to us. Blessed, first of all, is the statement, and it says good on you.  We're asking for God's blessing to be given to a person and a person who perseveres under the trial will receive this blessing. The reference to man here, I think is more from the translations and the kind of gender leanings of the original Greek language. 

"Blessed it is anyone who perseveres under trial." What does it mean to persevere under trial? Well, it means to hold up, to remain faithful to God, to do what he would have us do in these trials. Sometimes the trials are temptations, and some translations use that word or tests. What we're being tested, we're seeing how strong we are, how much we can endure.

And this trial, I think, is what happens in the world. We're being reminded that the world is broken because of the actions of humans. We broke it, and yet we can persevere under the consequences of the things that happen in our world.  Once we do that, persevering, once we are approved, then He will receive the crown of life. That person will receive the crown of life, and we're told that this crown of life has been promised to those who love God. The Lord will deliver it to us. He's the one who promised it to us who love. The crown of life is this reward. I don't understand exactly what it is. I don't know if it's made up of life or if it's the award of life.

I haven't done enough study to recognize that, but I can still take away something from this verse for my life today and how we go about entering the world. We get to persist and persevere through the things that we face, the temptations to fail, and the trials that we're confronted with. As we persevere under those situations, then we know that we have a reward coming. It frees us up to be givers in our workplace. We're available to be a difference maker because we know that this is coming to us. We simply hang on for it. "We will receive this crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him." 

This is where our faith comes in. Faith is this willingness to believe the truth of this passage and what else the Bible teaches and to hold on to our relationship to God, to reach its conclusion, to reach its eternal state, where we continue in relationship with Him who will continue growing and learning but will be freed from sin. 

Therefore in our workplaces today, let's remember that we're people of the promise. We're living for something in the future, and that Promise's been given to us by God. It will be given to us by God. Therefore we're free to serve other people in our workplace. We're free to be a blessing to the people that we interact with. We're free to trust God and to persevere under the trials that we face, knowing that once we're approved, we will receive the crown of life. I wanna challenge us as Marketplace Christians today. Please continue to persevere. Whatever trials you're facing, continue to persevere and make yourself available to be a blessing to those of us around us who don't know the Lord, they don't have this promise. They can't focus beyond their circumstances, and we have been given that opportunity. So let's live that way today. 

Thank you for being a Marketplace Minister. Thank you for looking for ways to bless other people in your daily activities. Everything that we do because we trust Jesus matters and it matters forever. So how you interact with the people that you work with today, matters. Thanks so much, and if you'd like to be part of a community that's living and trying to do this, join us at https://community.followerofone.org. 

Thanks very much.

Are you holy? Do you consider yourself holy?

Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. We touched on Hebrews 12:14 yesterday, but I want to touch on it a little more today because I think I'll probably step on some toes. Let's read this passage from the English Standard Version. "Strive for peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." 

I talk about how we make Jesus visible, and what we learn in this verse is that our holiness does that. But maybe you don't consider yourself holy. Maybe you're not looking forward to being holy. I thought about a couple of things related to holiness as I started yesterday's podcast and came to this verse and I felt like we might want to talk about it a little more today. First, we need to strive for peace with everyone. This is the first caution the author of Hebrews gives us. We strive for peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

We need to have peace with everyone first. Peace is what we're going for, and also this holiness is an interesting word. In the New American Standard, it says sanctification. These are both big words for being something that is used by God. When something is set apart for God's use, it is considered holy and we are called to be holy. In Leviticus, the Jews were challenged to be holy because God was holy. He said, "I am holy, you should be holy because I am holy." And first Peter even quotes the same passage. This was a key passage for the nation of Israel. 

Our call is to be holy, to be dedicated to God's purpose. God is working towards God's purpose and we are called to work towards God's purpose, that's what holiness and sanctification are. When we're doing what God has for us to do, we're holy. That doesn't mean that we wear robes, I talked about this in the previous episode. This is not about having something that's only used on Sundays in the church necessarily, but that's kind of the way that it became interpreted in the church when I was growing up. Holy things were those things that were special and only used on Sunday and they were only used in the church. 

We are people of God. And when we do God's work, we're holy and if we strive for peace with everyone and we are listening to and obeying God, then we are this holiness that the author of Hebrews talks about in this verse.  Therefore the people around us see the Lord. I keep using the phrase. I wanna make Jesus visible. I don't have the power to make Jesus visible. However, he shows up when I obey Him and other people see my life being different when I obey Him, and I believe that's the calling that we have in the workplace.

When we live as instruments of God in the marketplace or in the workplace or wherever we are every day, other people get to see Jesus. People will see the Lord when we're doing what Jesus would have us do. That's his strategy and his plan. That's the whole reason why I believe we're still here. Otherwise, why wouldn't God just save us and take us to heaven? I believe He saves us and He leaves us here so that we can strive for peace with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. That's our calling. 

Today, I want to challenge us. Let's listen to God and do what He says. Often we tell ourselves that we don't have time. I can only do some of these things because I also have to work. Well, the way that I work is another effort at holiness. Maybe that's even another podcast today. Let's go into our marketplaces listening to God, doing what He would have us do in our workplace so that He might become visible to the people that we interact with every day. 

Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for making a difference with your faith in the world. Simply obeying God and being His weapon in the world makes us holy and therefore we can become part of His strategy so that the world might see Him. If you wanna be part of a community that considers this regularly, check out https://followerofone.org. You can join our community at https://community.Followerofone.org. 

Thanks very much.

Today on the Follower of One podcast, Mike Henry sits down with Thomas McCoy, the Interim President of the International Christian Network. The International Christian Network is a network for Christians to mobilize and interact with each other and platform. In this episode, Mike and Tom talk about Tom’s journey to Christianity, how Christ changed the way Tom works and interacts with coworkers, the International Christian Network, meeting other Christians in the Marketplace, what to expect when someone joins the ICN, how media has changed discipleship and finding other Christians in the marketplace. 

Outline of the Episode

• 0:44 – About Thomas McCoy
• 2:03 – How Thomas became a Christian
• 3:23 – Tom’s journey through different careers
• 4:59 – How Christ has changed how Tom works
• 7:27 – Tom’s position at ICN
• 10:51 – Meeting other Christians in the Marketplace
• 12:00 – What to expect when you join the ICN
• 14:02 – How media has changed discipleship
• 15:28 – What ICN offers to its members
• 17:46 – Finding other Christians in the Marketplace
• 18:53 – How to join the ICN

How Christ changes the way you work

When you become a Christian in the marketplace, you don’t insert Christ into every conversation that you have with coworkers. As Christians, Christ needs to overflow. We need to live in such a way where we don’t have to point Christ out in everything we do, to where people ask why we are different. 

How Media has changed the marketplace and how we interact with other Marketplace Ministers

Media and technology have changed the way that Marketplace Christians interact with each other. It has become easier to connect with communities with other Christians like Follower of One and the International Christian Network. Not only has media changed the way we connect with Christians, but it has also changed the way that we train to disciple and reach unbelievers. 

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How does discipline lead us to help others? 

Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the follower of one podcast, we've been talking for several days about discipline, several episodes, and today we're wrapping that up. We're in Hebrews chapter 12. Today we're reading verses 12 through 14. "Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone and the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." That's from the English Standard Version of the Bible.

The author of Hebrews is wrapping up this discussion about discipline and he goes right into encouraging other people. So we talked about discipline and how we are disciplined by God. We were disciplined by our parents. The previous episodes all discussed this discipline because I was wrestling and always wrestle with my lack of discipline, But this switch to encouraging others and to caring for others is important, and that's why I thought I would include it in this series. For the moment, all discipline seems painful. It says in verse 11, "therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees," It begins in verse 12. The author of Hebrew is encouraging us to help those of us who are experiencing discipline.

We're on the harder end of life. Let's help those around us who are going through difficulty. We can make straight paths for their feet. We can set what is lame. We can fix their broken joints and different difficulties that they're going through to the degree that we can help others and encourage others, we strive for peace with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 

Holiness is this key. Holiness is our dedication to God. It's being set apart by God. When we're holy, that means that we're doing the things that God would have us do. It's not about wearing some gown or doing all these other things, the ancient ages kind of created this model for the word holiness that I think freaks us. But when we're doing what God would have us do, we're holy; we're walking in the calling that he has for us. Ephesians 2:10 says" we were created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them."

Holiness is us doing the job we were created for. People will see that holiness when we can live a disciplined life. We can strive for peace with everyone and then they will see this holiness because we live this discipline-controlled life as followers of God.  Our challenge for being disciplined people is to go into the world and represent life following Jesus. That's our job. That's why we're still here. I always believed that I didn't want to just be saved and stay out of trouble until I died. Fortunately, God has a different plan. God plans that you and I reflect on life following Him in our various workplaces, in our difficult staff meetings, when irate customers are chewing us out, or when things are going wrong when prices are skyrocketing.

All of these are opportunities for us to walk in the calling of God to be holy so that others might see God. That's where we get our joy. The joy that comes through discipline is knowing that we walked in what God had called for us too. Today, I believe God would like you to pay attention to the people around you. I believe he wants us all to pray for the people that we interact with, appreciate them and serve them because that's one reason why we're still here. We're still here instead of with God in heaven because He has a job for us to do here.

It's to be holy so that others might see God. Thank you for being a Marketplace Minister. Follower Of One is nothing but a community of people who are trying to live life the way they believe God wants them to live it, and that's what I'm trying to do. Follower of One is my stab at trying to get a place for all of us to connect.

Why not check out https://community.followerofone.org and join us? You can create a profile in our online community. Meet other Christians. We're trying to do this daily and even take part in our marketplace mission trips. Check it out at https://community.Followerofone.org. 

Thanks very much.

I wrestle with discipline, do you,? I often give myself a pass and that's why we've been talking about discipline for the last few episodes. 

Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. I want to pick up where we left off in the previous episode, talking about discipline. We talked about the discipline of children for two episodes before this and you can check those out. Today in this passage, we're gonna read verses 9 through 11 of Hebrews  12, and I'm reading from the English Standard Version. "Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who have disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live? Where they disciplined us for a short time, as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by."

The author of Hebrews is extending this illustration. He's talking about the act of correcting us children or correcting a person. God the Father corrects us, just like our parents corrected us as we were children. The word discipline is talking about the discipline of correction. I often wrestle with discipline, but it's not the discipline of correction as much as I wrestle with the discipline of internal guidance. I don't have the discipline or what my dad used to call intestinal fortitude. I don't have the guts to make myself behave. 

In these external discipline examples that we're seeing here in verses 9 through 11. We're reminded that our earthly fathers disciplined us and we respected them. They disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but God disciplines us for our good so that we may share his holiness. I think it's important that the discipline that God brings to us, some of what happens to us, therefore must be God correcting us. God is correcting us with His actions, with the things that happen in the world. It's not all mechanical. In other words, some of the things that we experience are God correcting us. God corrects us for our good so that we may share His holiness. The benefit of this correction of God while it seems painful, will end up yielding the peaceful fruit of righteousness. It will help us discipline ourselves.

It helps us correct ourselves. We want the discipline that God brings to us from the outside to help us correct ourselves internally. Life is easier when we can control ourselves and when we can manage ourselves. We put ourselves in the places where we have opportunities to be used by God and to experience His joy. We have the discipline to wait on God and to do the things that He wants us to do. That's this whole point, for the moment, all discipline seems painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. I want to be trained by the discipline of God, do you? 

Let's remind ourselves today that the things that happened to us, happen to us for our good. Romans 8:28 reminds us that "all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose." As we continue to pursue God and find His direction for our lives and find his moment-by-moment calling for us, we will learn to be thankful for this discipline, about the things that cause us to correct. I confess I don't want God to discipline me, but I would rather have the internal discipline, the internal self-control that I can only gain through the correction that I receive. 

Let's look for opportunities today to walk in what God has called us to do. Let's remember that if we can apply this control ourselves, we won't need to be disciplined by God or by others, but rather we can enjoy life following Him. Thank you for being a Marketplace Minister and thank you for letting the word of God make a difference in your life. I pray that your difference makes a difference in the lives of the people that you work with too.

Thanks very much.