Welcome to the PMF Workshop for February, 2022. I’m your host, T. M. Moore. Each month we provide teaching, encouragement, activities, and resources to help you in working your Personal Mission Field, so that you can become more consistent and effective in realizing the presence, promise, and power of God’s Kingdom in your daily life.

This month’s Workshop is entitled, “Let’s Review: Disciplines.” Our text is Psalm 90.12, 16, 17:

So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom…
Let Your work appear to Your servants,
And Your glory to their children.
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.

Ready?
Paul wrote that the life of faith is expressed in good works. We were saved to do good works (Eph. 2.8-10). We must purify ourselves from all sin and nurture an attitude of being zealous for doing good works (Titus 2.14). He reminds us that we must maintain good works and always be ready to do good at every opportunity (Titus 3.8, 14; 3.1; Gal. 6.9, 10).

Moses said that we should prepare for daily good works by seeking the Lord in prayer. We should ask Him to help us “number our days”, that is, to budget each day’s time for how we intend to redeem it for the Lord and His Kingdom (Ps. 90.12; Eph. 5.15-17). This sounds a lot like what we might think of as planning.

But Moses also prayed that God’s glory and beauty might be upon us (Ps. 90.16), that is, that the works we do, together with the words we speak each day, would point people to the Lord and would embody and declare His holiness and goodness. In the final part of our text, Moses seems to take his day’s work into his hands and offer it to the Lord as a sacrifice, that He might receive and establish that work for His glory and praise.

Indicated here are four disciplines which we can master to help us in working our Personal Mission Field. We said that the goals of working our Personal Mission Field are to (1) increase boasting in the Lord; (2) achieve and maintain relationships of mutual encouragement and edification; (3) take Jesus to the limits of our Personal Mission Field, to every place and person; and (4) to seek opportunities for expanding our Personal Mission Field as the Lord leads.

But if we are to achieve these goals consistently and increasingly, we’ll need to discipline ourselves for the work we’ve been given to do. So let’s consider four critical disciplines, suggested by Moses and Paul, that can help us become more consistent and fruitful in working our Personal Mission Field.

Four disciplines
The first of these is preparation. We need to prepare each day not just with a view to its individual tasks or duties, but as a foray into our Personal Mission Field, with all our mission goals in mind. Such preparation will involve fortifying and equipping ourselves with Scripture reading and prayer. As we prepare, keep in mind the people we will see, the mission work we might do, and for all our tasks and responsibilities, so that we do everything as unto the Lord, and not merely as unto people. Prayer should lead us to more specific planning. What specifically will we do to seek and advance Christ’s rule of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14.17, 18) in the work that is before us this day? We may need to equip ourselves in some way as part of our preparation – review our testimony, perhaps, or the Gospel; think of conversation starters for the people we’ll see; or take along something to share or help someone. Keep working to improve in some discipline. Prayer, planning, and daily equipping are essential aspects of preparation we all must attend to if we’re going to further the Kingdom in our Personal Mission Field.

The second discipline is demonstration. Moses prayed that all his work would have the beauty and glory of the Lord on it. What do we need to do to make sure that we show Jesus and His love to the people around us? We’ll want to make sure there’s no lingering sin in our lives. Always remember that Jesus is with us, watching over us and ready to guide us in showing Him to the world. In our times of preparation, we should even think about how we will show Jesus in the places we go and to the people we’ll see that day, and offer ourselves as living sacrifices, so that God will receive and bless our good works (Rom. 12.1).

The third discipline is conversation. Let the words you share, whether many or few, written or spoken, be seasoned with the grace and truth of Jesus. Think ahead about what you might say to someone. Be quick to listen and slow to speak, and when you do speak, try to affirm and edify others. Look for open doors of opportunity in conversations through which you might lead someone to a closer consideration of Jesus.

Finally, learn to think and work for transformation. First, of course, in yourself. How do you need to grow in Jesus? To improve in your work, so that more of His beauty and holiness are evident more of the time? Nurture a vision of how the beauty and glory of God and the riches of the Gospel and Kingdom of Jesus might look as you work to establish and enhance these in all your relationships, roles, and responsibilities.

Seeing God’s Kingdom come in our Personal Mission Field won’t just happen. We’ll have to work at it, aiming at the goals we have mentioned and mastering the disciplines that allow us to number our days with wisdom and pursue our work unto the beauty and glory of the Lord.

…

Here are some activities you can practice to help you improve your disciplines for working your Personal Mission Field.

1. First – and we remind you of this every month – make sure you have mapped out your Personal Mission Field. Keep this map handy so that you can review it, use it for prayer and planning, and add new people to it as the Lord leads.
2. Review the disciplines outlined in this Workshop. Evaluate the state of each of these in your own life. Identify areas where you can improve, and begin setting aside the time to do so.
3. Write to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and request our free ReVision series, “The Disciplined Life.” This series of seven studies can help you make better use of your time for working your Personal Mission Field. The series includes additional tools and worksheets to help you improve.
4. Keep your Personal Mission Field map before you as you pray, and pray for the places you’ll go and the people you’ll see that day, using the goals we reviewed in the previous Workshop.
5. Share with a prayer partner what you are doing to improve your disciplines for working your Personal Mission Field. Ask your friend to pray for you and to ask frequently how the work is going.

One thing that will help you in working your Personal Mission Field is to organize all your reading, study, learning, and time around knowing, loving, and serving Jesus. Our book, Know, Love, Serve can show you how to do this and why you should. A free copy is available at The Ailbe Bookstore. Just click the Know, Love, Serve offer in the rotator window on the home page a www.ailbe.org.

That’s it for this month’s Personal Mission Field Workshop. Share your stories and ideas, or send your questions to the website, www.ailbe.org. Until next month, for the Fellowship of Ailbe, and for the Personal Mission Field Workshop, this has been T. M. Moore.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.