iWork4Him PowerThought

A pastor is a shepherd, and a shepherd / pastor s pends time with his sheep, reassuring them with his voice and lending them a sympathetic ear while carrying them when they are weak, sick, in danger , or hurt. What's great about being a shepherd is that shepherds get to be good listeners. They may be talking to the sheep , but most sheep know they can just hang out with the shephe rd without getti...

A pastor is a shepherd, and a shepherd / pastor helps his sheep out of difficult situations . W e don't have to wait for our sheep to get into dangerous situations ; we can guide them away from danger. Sometimes , it ' s too late , and our co-workers are already in trouble. Sometimes , the people we work with don't know they're flirting with disaster, but you sure can tell. Maybe it's flirtatious...

A pastor is a shepherd, and a shepherd / pastor protect s his sheep from the enemy's attacks . What does this look like in your workplace? The enemy attacks everybody a little differently. Some he attacks with anger and bitterness . S ome he attacks with making stupid decisions . Some he attacks with addictions. You can walk alongside those you work with and show them the y are heading into enemy...

A pastor is a shepherd, and as a shepherd, a pastor guides his sheep to green pastures. What does that look like in your workplace ? Often , we have conversations with those we work with and they are not hanging out in Green pastures. They're hanging out in mud pits or sewer pits or drainage ditches. Many of them don't know anything different. They grew up in a drainage ditch, a mud puddle, or a s...

This week , we're going to focus on the role of Pastor in the marketplace. I believe that many of you have been given the gift of being a pastor/Shepherd, and that role is critical in your workplace. Pastors are guides , leaders, protectors, intercessors, and t eachers. So often , we're unaware of the gifting that we've been given. For those of you who naturally Sheph e rd people, lo ving people r...

This week, w e've talked about the shift fro m iWork4Him to I Work With H im .   We've talked about seeing the people God places before you every day .   W e've talked about involving God in our day-to-day work as we work with H im .   We've talked about involving God in our decisions as we work with him .   But we also need to remember that by working with God , we also have access to the power o...

How many decisions do you need to make in a day ?   What time to get up ?   What clothes to wear ?   What route should I drive to work ?   What should I eat for breakfast, lunch , or dinner ?   We make decisions all day long.   When was the last time you said , " God what do you want me to wear today? " Or " God , what do you want me to do with you today at work? "   I think it's incredible that I...

It took me a long time to realize that my workplace was my assigned place of ministry .   I didn't need to quit my job to go into full - time ministry .   That m y life as an insurance guy was the life that God had put me into so that I could touch the people around me .   At first , I thought it was just a job , and then I realized that these jobs were a means to an incredible end .   I needed to...

Working with God instead of for God i nvolves a paradigm shift .   Moses , Joseph , Joshua , David , and Elijah did it , and of course Jesus did too .   Each one of them worked with God on the mission H e had them on .   They were accomplishing things with God and a t H is direction .   God has placed you uniquely in a workplace with people H e loves dearly .   He is already working on their heart...

iWork4Him, iWork4Him, iWork4Him, this is the mantra we've been speaking into your life for the last 11 years .   It's what we needed to learn .   It's the reality we ne ed ed to be in touch with .   We needed to understand that our work matters to God .   We need to understand that our workplace is our place of ministry .   We need to understand that our workplace is our mission field , full of lo...

2024 is bound to be filled with awesome adventures with the Lord. There are so many things to look forward to . W hat is it that the Lord has placed on your heart to look forward to? I have been praying for years that I could just hear my heavenly father' s voice in my daily interactions and my transactions so that no matter what I'm doing,  I'm doing it with him. I spent many years working for Go...

What am I looking forward to in 2024? More adventure, more challenges, more time with my kids and grandkids. More time crafting and more time in my garden. I want more time with my mom and maybe some vacation time with Jim. What I know that I'll get in 2024 is more stretching by my heavenly father. I know I will get More time with him because that's what I need. I want 2024 to be the year where I...

Coming to the end of 2023 , do I have any regrets? No. I learned in 2023 that regrets or shame cannot define my lif e. R egrets and shame come from the enemy , and that's not how my heavenly father wants me to view my life. Did I make some mistakes? Absolutely. Did I screw up many things? A bsolutely. Did I love my wife like Christ love s the church every day? Nope, but I wanted to. Did I love eve...

As I look back o n 2023, I see that God used adversity in my life to take me from who I am to who he can use more effectively. He taught me how to wait, he taught me how to abide, and he kept reminding me that I needed to do more resting . I struggle with all these things as Jim and I tried to learn them together , but 2023 will always go down in our lives as a year whe n we learned just to be wit...

We are coming up to the new year. Which means we're coming to the end of another year. Are we going to celebrate both or just one or the other? I think we need to do both this week. Today , I want to focus on how God has done amazing things in my life this year. He loved me too much to leave me as I was . He stretched me, he taught me, he loved me , and he guided me. As I come to the end of 2023 ,...

It's the last workday before Christmas , and all through the house are Chris tmas presents wrapped and hidden in closets , hanging out with a mouse. Did you know that some people won't have gif ts this Christmas ? Not only will they not have presents but they'll also be alone on Christmas day . As you consider your Christmas plans , do they include someone new? B efore leaving your workplace today...

You know, I'm not a very good listener. I mean to be a good listener, but I get distracted pretty eas il y . I find that when I'm not being a very good listener to my wife Martha , s he gets frustrated. She would like me to be a good listener all the time. And I would like to be a good listener all the time. I am working on it , but it sure doesn't come easy. Do y ou know why? Cause I like to TALK...

One of the greatest gifts we can give others, is to be present with them. Not give them presents, although everybody loves to get gif ts, but to be present with them. So often , we're so busy this time of year ; We are too busy for conversations. We're too busy to sit down with people. We spend so much time looking for presents for them that we miss the opportunity to be present with them. Jesus t...

Christmas is an incredibly influential season in our country. People ramp up and get prepared for Christmas months in advance. But when it comes right down to it , and we're cramming through the malls to do our shopping , people aren't always very kind . As a believer in the workplace, can you be exceptionally kind to those you work with ? Not everybody is nice this time of year , but we have ever...

This Christmas season , we , as believers in the workplace , need to be a gift to the people around us. Today , I want to talk about Love. It's hard to love everybody, but Jesus told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. So Jesus knew it was hard to love, but H e commanded us to do it anyway. B e a gift to those that you work around by loving on them. Some days , it means you...

Jesus said that our unity would attract others to Christ because our unity would show that Jesus came from our heavenly father. In other words , when we walk as one in the marketplace , our neighborhoods, our communities, and our country, the message is loud and clear:  Jesus has transformed the lives of all these people , and they walk as one in love. It's so important that we , as workplace beli...

Almost 2000 years have passed since Jesus return ed to heaven. I n the last 500 years , denominational segregation has plagued the body of Christ. W e all go to different churches on Sunday. We live in a town of about 2000 people with 15 different churches and 15 different denominations. V ery little ministry is c oordinat ed for the ministry to this small town by the leaders of those churches. Th...

Do y ou know what's great about believers ? We all experience God differently. I know this because we're all different. Not one of us is the same. Jim and I got to sit down with some friends here in our small town in Missouri just the other day. We go to different churches on Sunday , yet we share a sweet fellowship in Christ. They shared some of their traditions surrounding the giving and taking...

What has amazed me most in the last 11 years is the incredible unity in the body of Christ out in the marketplace. On Sunday , we are the most segregated , separated people on the planet. But on Monday morning , when we go to work , nobody cares about Denominations. All they care about is , " I want to hang out with and do business with people who love Jesus. I don't care that you may show your lo...

Have you ever wondered where all of the denominations in Christianity come from? I mean really , 2000 years ago , there were the Jews and the G entiles . T oday , we have 43,000 " Christian " denominations around the world. What happened? I'll tell you what happened. People. Instead of focusing on the unity Christ talked about in John 17, Christ followers throughout the centuries have focused on d...