Followed By Mercy
The Followed By Mercy Podcast
Real Grace, Honest Hope
You might notice a new name and a fresh look, but the heart behind this podcast is the same. After years as the World Evangelism Podcast, I sensed God leading me to a deeper, more personal path centered on His relentless mercy and the kind of honest hope that can reach into every hurting place. That’s why this show is now called Followed By Mercy Podcast. The format may shift, and the tone may be a bit more personal, but my mission hasn’t changed: I still believe the world desperately needs to hear the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. You are welcome here if you’ve been with me from the beginning or just found us now.
What if God’s love is more personal, stubborn, and relentless than you ever imagined?
Welcome to The Followed By Mercy Podcast, where we get honest about pain, hope, and the kind of grace that finds you right where you are, five days a week. This isn’t about religious performance or church routines. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt worn out, unseen, or unsure if they belong in the story of God’s love. Every conversation is rooted in this reality: God loves you right now, just as you are, and He isn’t giving up on you.
Here’s what you’ll find in every episode:
Experience God’s Relentless Love
Every show starts by reminding you that the Shepherd knows your name, cares about your story, and isn’t offended by your failures or questions. This is personal—it’s about God’s unwavering affection for you.
Find Your Place in His Heart
Once you grasp how fiercely you’re loved, sharing that love with others doesn’t feel forced. It becomes the most natural thing in the world. Real grace overflows.
Prayer That Changes You
We pray together—not just for the world “out there,” but for the battles and hopes you’re carrying right now. These prayers are honest, rooted in Scripture, and meant for hearts that need a gentle touch from the Shepherd.
Discover Your Unique Role
Whether you’re called to go, give, serve, or show kindness in your corner of the world, God’s mercy meets you where you are. You’re not just a bystander. You are His beloved, invited into the story He’s writing.
When life knocks the wind out of you, this is a place to catch your breath. You’ll hear the encouragement that meets you on your hardest days, and your honest questions will be welcomed. No pretending, no heavy-handed advice—just the reminder that your Shepherd is right there with you, walking every step with you, even when you feel like giving up.
Why does this matter? Because some days, it feels like nobody sees you or cares what you’re going through. But the truth is, you have a Shepherd who never takes His eyes off you, lets you slip through the cracks, and never gives up on you. That kind of love can put you back on your feet, and it might be the hope someone else is waiting to see in you, too.
If you’re longing for more than just religious talk—if you want to know you’re not alone and that God’s mercy is following you all the way home, you’re in the right place. Whether you listen in the car, on a walk, or in a quiet moment, let every episode remind you: God’s mercy is after you right now, ready to bring real grace and honest hope.
Subscribe today and join a community to discover what happens when loved people become loving people. The journey’s just beginning, and there’s a place for you here.
Followed By Mercy
The Distorted Lens: How Our Hearts Shape Our Vision
What shapes the way you see the world around you? In this conversation, Austin Gardner and Robert Canfield unpack the profound truth that what fills your heart determines what you notice and how you interpret life. Just like buying a Tesla suddenly makes you see them everywhere, your spiritual focus shapes your perception of reality.
Many believers struggle with a distorted view of God. Instead of seeing Him as the generous and loving Father He reveals Himself to be, they see Him as harsh, demanding, and quick to punish. That lie began in Eden when Satan suggested that God withholds good things. It continues today, keeping countless Christians from resting in their Father’s kindness.
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible tells the story of a God who delights in His people. He created paradise in the beginning and promises its restoration at the end. Jesus came to give abundant life, yet so often Christianity gets twisted into striving, earning, and fear rather than joy and trust. Even Sabbath principles were meant as an invitation to lean on God’s provision, not a burden to carry.
When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, the promised seed who crushed the serpent’s head, we stop comparing ourselves to others and striving for validation. Instead, we rest in God’s declaration of our righteousness through Christ. As Psalm 35:27 says, “The Lord takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”
If you are ready to see the world through new eyes, this episode will help you rediscover the generous heart of your Father who delights in your well-being. Share it with someone who needs encouragement to trust God’s goodness today.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Welcome back to, followed by Mercy, our podcast. I'm joined again by Robert Canfield and we've been talking to you a little bit about what's in your eyes shapes what you see, so you know it's really in other words, it's kind of funny is what you already have in your heart is actually affecting what you're seeing. So you're seeing what you're looking for. You know how that works, robert. You can remind them of this. You know I drive a Tesla, get made fun of by you and all my other friends, but once you drive a Tesla, you see Teslas everywhere. That's right. You know, whatever car you got, you never noticed that on the road before I didn't. But all of a sudden now you notice it everywhere they. But all of a sudden now you notice it everywhere. They are everywhere. They're taking over the world. Well, would you agree that? You see what you're looking for? That's right.
Austin Gardner:You see, we see what we're looking for and so, if we look at it that way, in Matthew 6, which we've been discussing with you before you're to set your affection on the Lord. He said you can't serve two masters. He said you got to love. One affection on the Lord. He said you can't serve two masters. He said you got to love one or hate the other. He said lay up treasure in heaven, don't lay up treasure down here. I want you to have a single eye. I want you to not have an evil eye. But if your heart's set on God, you'll start seeing God. If your heart's set on you or on treasure on earth, or on prosperity, or on how you compare to your neighbor, it begins to affect everything around you.
Robert Canfield:So true. You know, when Paul was talking to the church there at Philippi, he tells them to not look. Look not every man on his own things. He told that church stop looking to yourself. And then he says I want you to look on others, right and other things. And then right after that he said why don't you let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus? What he was saying was is, when Jesus was here, he wasn't focused in on himself, he was focusing on others.
Robert Canfield:That's convicting, and the reason why he was focused in on others and the reason why he was full of compassion, he was serving others and loving others, was because he was focused in on doing the will of the father. And so when my mind is focused in on him, then it often goes out and sees how I can bless others. But yet we live, like I said, we live in a world that's totally contrary to that, and it's everything is get me in mind as much as I can when I can, and it comes, it happens. When that happens, it makes for a miserable world.
Austin Gardner:Well, without a doubt, I think what I'm thinking affects what I'm seeing. What I want affects what I'm seeing. What I hunger for affects what I'm seeing. What I want affects what I'm seeing. What I hunger for affects what I'm seeing. And so, all of a sudden, I measure myself against others based on what I see. And I'm not seeing God. I'm seeing me. I'm seeing dollar signs, or I'm seeing sin, or I'm seeing fear and I'm seeing things, or I'm seeing fear and I'm seeing things that are because my lens is warped I got a dirty lens. I'm seeing things based on my heart. And the Lord said guys, you're going to have to figure this out. I'm it. It's really. You don't get to play both sides of the road, which is what we typically do. We typically want to give God on Sunday morning. Maybe for real good Christians. We want to give him a few minutes every day, reading the Bible.
Robert Canfield:But I got to live a regular life. They do that and what you said, what you're thinking, is what you're seeing, and I think a lot of times people don't really want to think about God because they think he's a mean, evil, wicked God Not evil, not wicked but he's just up there to get his and his. He's the boss. He's the boss, he's the judge, he's harsh, he'll break your legs, but that's so not true, and maybe that's why the people don't want to look at the good and gracious God they have.
Austin Gardner:They don't realize, because the devil is what twisted our minds ever since the Garden of Eden.
Robert Canfield:He wants us to think poorly of our Father. He's keeping this from you. Do you not realize? As soon as he does this, as soon as you eat this, you'll be like God. You'll be just like him. You don't realize? He is exactly what you just said. He has twisted the way we view the God of heaven. The one that created us wants to spend time with us, the one that wants the best. He distorts the view of our Father, and maybe that's why I don't know maybe that's why a lot of Christians would rather look at other people, compare themselves, or they don't really want to spend time and think about the wonderful, good, gracious, amazing, kind God they have. But yet, time and time, and throughout the Scriptures, we're told to look to Jesus, to look to Him. We sing about it, but we don't think about it.
Austin Gardner:To be honest with you, we sing more about a sweet God than we preach about a sweet God. We sing more about God loving us than we would. We don't preach that.
Robert Canfield:Maybe. Maybe it's because we have, like you said, that distorted view, and that's what we're focused on, and when we come to church, it's not this turn your eyes on Jesus and look full in his wonderful face. We're not thinking of a wonderful face. We're thinking of a wrathful, vengeful God that's going to chastise us for the wrong that we've done that week, or we think of a God that just only wants to take from us.
Austin Gardner:We tend to think of God as not wanting us to enjoy life, which is so not true. Jesus said I'm coming that they might have life and have it more abundantly. And Paul told Timothy. He said God gives us richly all things to enjoy, so the Lord takes pleasure in us. He delights in us, so the Lord takes pleasure in us, he delights in us.
Robert Canfield:You know, I think, what you're just saying. Those Israelites, after they had been given the law, they were told was it one year out of seven? They were supposed to let their fields rest, mm-hmm and I was thinking about that, and that'd be a scary thing, wouldn't it Like, if my whole entire life, how I took care of my family, how I took care of myself.
Austin Gardner:That's a good point to be bringing up right now.
Robert Canfield:That I was not to work the fields and do the thing that was going to provide for me and mine.
Austin Gardner:I can't trust God to take care of me. It is all about my scrambling and my struggling and my striving and my work. And to say we have turned Christianity into come unto me and I'll make you work. Come unto me and you can't have things. Come unto me and I won't take care of you. And that's totally the opposite of what the scriptures teach.
Robert Canfield:Well, it's like we have this almost thing where we have to say this prayer or we think this thought that then we get to go to heaven, right, and then from there on it's my strength and it's no longer trusting God, it's no longer a sweet time of like I'll take care of you. You know what I mean. It is more like I've got to earn it, I've got to work for it and it's just. I think it's a distorted view. I think we've distorted the view I was thinking about, that exact thought about the Israelites. They had an entire year where they're not supposed to be plowing and planting. They were supposed to give the ground rest.
Austin Gardner:He said I'll make that last year's harvest enough to get you through.
Robert Canfield:And they were supposed to say that's enough, god, what you gave me is enough. And their eyes were supposed to be fixed on the giver and not the gift. But yet you go back to what we talked about in the previous podcast, how you can't have two masters right. And their master said you got to focus in on me. And they're like well, this other master, he's the one that really provides for me, and Jesus is like that's not true at all.
Austin Gardner:You know, I think maybe, if I think about what you're talking about here, can we, can we you remember the law of first mention?
Robert Canfield:Explain to people listening what we call the law of first mention and hermeneutics, Bible study principles, Okay so when you try to interpret or try to figure out what a person is trying to say or what the meaning of what they're saying is, you usually take and say, okay, where does he?
Robert Canfield:People use words, and words mean things, and so when you're trying to figure out what words mean, you find out what the author, how he used that words in other places. And so what you do is you take that word wherever it's first mentioned and you trace it through the rest of his speech or his writings and you figure out how he uses that word and what context was he using it, what did it mean, what things were around it, what was he using it, what did it mean, what things were around it, what was he conveying? Because a lot of times people use words and it means totally different in one way or another. So you have to go back to the first mention and then you trace it along to figure out what that author was trying to get across and portray.
Austin Gardner:All that to take you back to this. Where does the father start the story? The father says I'm going to give you back to this. Where does the father start the story? The father says I'm going to give you a revelation, I'm going to tell you who you are, I'm going to tell you where you came from. And then he proceeds to tell us about how he built paradise. He built the Garden of Eden, he built all of it, and he did it perfectly, beautifully, wonderfully. He said it's good, it's good, it's good. And then he made a man and he put him in there and he said that man needs somebody to make him really complete. And he met a woman, so a man and a woman together. And then he said now it's very good.
Austin Gardner:And so you start the Bible off with this wonderful, generous, fantastically beyond imagination, kind, generous and wonderful God who did all of that for Adam, who let Adam look and see that there was nothing that could be his helpmate, who gave Adam a helpmate. And God started everything that way. And yet somehow the devil steps into that beautiful paradise and twists the image of that wonderful God. And before you jump in and start talking about it because it's beautiful when you end the Bible, you know what we get back to, don't you Him coming to us? We get back to another paradise. We get back to every. He'll wipe away every tear and there'll be no more All that old stuff. He says we'll forget it. We're going to forget all that.
Austin Gardner:He's going to get rid of it. He said I'm going to take you back to paradise and I'm going to come with. I live with you. He built a place where he'd walk and talk with us. He's going to do it again. And in the middle of the Bible. What's he say? I came to give you life and give it more abundant. He said. I give you all things richly to enjoy. He said I take pleasure over you. I'll get that verse and read it in a minute. I want you to just go ahead and jump in First mention. You don't get a bad picture of God until the devil steps in, devil steps in.
Robert Canfield:Man messes up, right, we mess up, and then we hide from him because we think he's going to do something right, because we shall surely die that day. Right, and I believe Adam did die. There was a spiritual death but brought death into the world and it passed upon every man. But even in that, if you really do believe the scripture, he comes to the man and the woman and he promises them a seed. He comes to the man and the woman and he promises them a seed. And you talked about like in the beginning, he gave us all this wonderful stuff and it was good. And it was good and it was good.
Robert Canfield:And after man brought sin into the world and death passed upon all men, right, god came and he gave them a promise. And that promise is what they were supposed to focus in on. One day there will be a seed that's going to destroy that sin. One day that seed will bruise his heel but crush the serpent's head, and they were supposed to think about that. So when Eve, she bears a son, she's like God's given me a man, she's gave me a son. And so where was her mind at when Adam changes, he gives the woman, her name, eve, right, why did he say? You're the mother of all things living.
Robert Canfield:So their mindset was like God gave us a promise to get rid of this. God gave us a promise to get rid of all this stuff. They were supposed to be thinking about this seed, and so, as they went throughout, they had this seed that they were supposed to be focused in on. It seemed like they were focused in on and so, and that we know that seed to be that one that's going to crush Satan's head, the one that destroyed sin and death. It was Jesus, and when we look to Jesus, everything falls into place, everything, and it doesn't matter circumstances, it doesn't matter where we're at. When that single eye is focused in on Jesus. I'm not looking at other people and I'm not comparing myself with them. I'm not looking and seeing their failures and their faults.
Robert Canfield:I don't have to put them down to make me look better.
Austin Gardner:That's one of the problems. When you don't have a single eye, you've got the evil eye. You're like. I measure myself by them, so I need to be able to put people down.
Robert Canfield:Well, that shows that your focus isn't on what Jesus, who Jesus is and what he's done in your life. Because if I need validation from someone else, then I'm seeking for their approval. I'm seeking to make me feel good when the God of heaven already says you're my elect, you're my chosen ones, and I'm like, why would you need anything else? What out there is greater than that knowing that I'm right with God, that he looks at me and when he sees me he declares me righteous, he says I'm perfect, I've kept the law always. I mean, when I think on that I mean I don't know about you that makes me like say, oh, thank you, I love you, I want to serve you. What can we do today? What are you going to do through me today? I mean it just changes your whole perspective in life.
Austin Gardner:The evil eye that we're talking about comes from the whole beginning story, and I want to challenge you, if you're listening, I want you to think about this. Everything was perfect until the devil stepped in and he said God ain't as good as y'all say he is. He's keeping back from you. So God had built a paradise. He came down in the afternoons and walked with Adam. He loved Adam. He met Adam's needs, gave him everything. He said y'all can have anything in this garden you want. Eat it, enjoy it, play with the animals, enjoy life. It's great, it's yours. Just take care of your garden. The only place I don't want you to get is that tree of knowledge of good and evil, and until now, all we got is a wonderful picture of God. And do you not realize that every time you have a negative view of God, you're following the guy who started all the complaining and started all the whining? Isn't that true? It's very true. And we go back to look at him. And so I was just looking for the verses.
Austin Gardner:Let me read this to you. I don't know that you ever pay attention to these verses. Psalm 35, 27 says Let them shout for joy and be glad that favor my righteous cause Yea, let them continually. Let the Lord be magnified, which has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. Did you know God has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant? In Psalm 147, 11, it said the Lord takes pleasure in them that fear Him, them that worship Him, in other words, in those that hope in mercy. And so there are two verses right there that make it very clear how much he loves you and how much he feels that way about you. And then he said to Jesus this is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. And then Jesus prayed John 7, 23 and said let them figure out that that's exactly what I feel about them. And so, from the very beginning, we have this wonderful father.
Austin Gardner:And so why do we have an evil eye? Why do we have an eye that is turned on God and turned away? It's because we've listened to the devil, who said God's not good, you need to do it. Why did Robert mention a while ago that one year of rest, one day of rest? You know what God was saying was.
Austin Gardner:You can trust me, I don't want you struggling, I don't want you busting it, I want you enjoying what I made for you, and yet we've turned that into competition. I don't like you and my evil eye makes me be critical of you. And now, because my eye is on myself, I look at you negatively. I need to be able to put you down. I need to find fault with you. I need to remind you that you're not quite as good as me, because if you were, then I wouldn't be anybody. Well, I don't know if it's been of any value to you today. We'll be back with some more. We'll look at the beam and the moat and some other things. Thank you for listening. Robert, you want to say any final words?
Robert Canfield:I'll save that for the next one. All the stuff I'm thinking about that.
Austin Gardner:Okay, well, I'm looking forward to talking with you again. So share this with somebody and tell them to come be with us. All the stuff I'm thinking about that, okay Well, I'm looking forward to talking with you again. So share this with somebody and tell them to come be with us on the Followed by Mercy podcast. God bless you.
