Sep 28, 2021
Hi, I'm Mike Henry with Follower of One, and today we're talking about Philippians 4:13. In our previous episode, we talked about 4:11 about being content in Philippians 4:13. Paul comes back with this statement: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” What's Paul saying here, and how does this apply to us in the workplace?
I think he's telling us that this is not a statement of that I can do anything I want. There are certain things that I just cannot do. There are things that are not physically possible for me to do. There are things that are not wise for me to do. It's not wise for me at my age to take up playing professional football. There are several things that are just kind of off the table.
This passage, though, I think is important for us because many of us face difficult work situations. Many of us face situations in our lives where we would like the circumstances to change. We would like something else to be different. We would like our employer to be different, or we would like our job situation or our finances to be different. And I believe what Paul is saying here is that anything going on in our lives is within God's control, and we can persist through those things. We can hold on to our faith and we can glorify God and honor Him in anything that happens to us.
He had spoken in the verse before. I know how to get along with humble means. He's, he's thanking them for a contribution that they made to him and he's in prison. And he's saying, thank you very much. I've learned to be content, even in this negative prison situation, I've learned how to get along and humble means, and I've learned how to prosper.
I can do all things. I can do the hard things and the easy things, whatever things Jesus gives me to do, I can do those things because I do them. And it says in my translation, The New American Standard translation, says “through him”, other translations say “in him”. There's a little variety in this word in the Greek, but because of our relationship in Jesus, we can survive the things that He gives us to survive.
We can glorify Him in them, and that's what I believe this verse is telling us today. Today in your work situation, I would like to challenge you. Let's live out our faith in such a way that we glorify Jesus. Let's look for ways to practice those five daily activities: Pray, appreciate others, know what we believe, serve others, and speak for ourselves.
We can do those five things in any circumstance in any job. We can trust the heart, then trust God, then that he will put us to work. We can trust God, then he will put us to work in the lives of the people that we come in contact with every day. Thank you for listening to this podcast or this video, and thank you for being a marketplace minister.
I would like to challenge you to live your faith daily. Go to followerofone.org. I'm on the wrong stuff here. Go to followerofone.org and check out our website and take part in the activities that we practice to help us live our faith every day. Thank you for being a marketplace minister and thank you for making a difference in your workplace.