Surveys

The God who is worthy to be known and served for who He is, is Himself the answer to this world's longings. And those who know Him best are best equipped to serve Him. He is their message. If we have discovered the glory of God in the face of Christ, we must not hold back. The God of glory must be made known.  Tom Wells

One of my responsibilities at work is to sell my bosses sports tickets if he decides not to use them. This week I had tickets to sell so I went onto the website to list the tickets. The problem is when I went out to sell the tickets certain “enhancements” had been done on the website.  By enhancements, I mean they changed the way the screen looks so that it is unrecognizable.  So I have tickets and a parking pass to sell.  In the process you are required to print your tickets, (which allows you to download them to your computer), and then you can upload them onto the site to sell. 

So I am moving through the site reading all the new screens and one of the newer screens is one where it requires you to look at each uploaded ticket and select a button that says “Yes” I want to sell this ticket and then you press a button that says please confirm because if you do this wrong you will incur extra charges.  So I click through all the tickets and then I try to upload the parking pass and it starts looping me back through the tickets and gives me a message that says, “You must replace one ticket with the parking pass.  You only have space for four items.”  So at this point I call the contact number because I am stuck in a neverendingloopingnightmare. 

A representative gets on the line and I explain the situation.  I ask her why they changed the website?  She says, “It is due to customer requests for enhancements to the site.”  So she then tries to walk with me through the process and she can’t get it to work either so she says, “Can I put you on hold “briefly” so I can determine how to fix the problem." 

As I am sitting on hold I get another call on my phone and it is my boss, so I hang up.  I return to the site the next day and the screen is totally different.  It is not even the same screens I used before and I have no problem getting the tickets listed along with the parking pass. 

Here’s the kicker.  This morning I get to work and I have a survey online from the company where I sell the tickets and this is what it says, “Thank you for using our site. We are always working to improve the ticket listing experience and have randomly selected you to participate in our Customer Experience survey. If you have 5 minutes to spare, we would appreciate hearing about your ticket listing experience.

Do you ever get the feeling that your computer knows more about you than you think? I’m thinking random selection is not the case; they know where I live and work. 

Have you ever asked yourself if we took God’s survey about how we are doing as a Christian what would our response would be?  The following is a sampling of questions and I took the liberty of revising them for God’s survey.

Select 1 through 10 (1 meaning poor and 10 being excellent) and other options Falls Short or N/A. (by the way this is exactly the options in the online survey for this company).

1.    How well is your life organized?

2.    Are you using My tools wisely?

3.    Have you navigated through my Instruction Manual?

4.    Have you navigated through all the Books?

5.    Usefulness of the selling tools.

6.    Were Jesus’ instructions clear enough? 

7.    How useful are the tools I provided for salvation?

8.    Did you complete the process? Repentance & Baptism

9.    Did the disciples give you a variety of tools to use?

10. Would you recommend me to someone else?

11.  Am I accessible?

12.  Do you try to make changes to My Word?

13.  Am I your primary resource in times of trouble?

14.  How likely are you to refer others to me in the future?

15.  How likely are you to return to Me and My Resource in the future?

16.  Have you looked elsewhere besides Me for peace, love and hope?

17. How does your relationship with Me compare to your other relationships?

18. What reason do you have for not accepting me as your Savior?

19. Did I explain the commission/fee structure well enough? 

20. Which tools from my resource are you using to help others know Me?

21. I provided My Son as an instant download.  Why haven’t you accepted Him as your Savior?

22. Did I make it clear how you can receive payment for following Me?

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I don’t think I would do so well in the response to Your survey.  You give me everything I need in one manual that will help me live a Christian life and within the pages of this manual, Jesus and the many others listed in the Bible have given clear instructions for me to follow.  Help me to do a better job of glorifying You in everything I do and to study Your Manual so that I can show others Your great love.
   
Scripture: Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,  and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,  far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.  Ephesians 1:15-21

I Want To Be a Singer

God loves to hear your singing - so sing.  Rod Parsley

I was thinking this morning about how I love to sing.  When we were kids my parents had one of those stereos that are made to look like a piece of furniture.  It had a radio and a turntable for albums and records. The stereo was in our formal living room and I can remember putting a record on and pretending we had a microphone and all the right moves.

We sang in church and in the car.  There were six in our family so it could get pretty loud. 

Several years ago I was out at my parent’s farm mowing the back pasture.  I had an iPod and headphones and I was driving the tractor around and around the pasture.  That can get pretty boring because besides a few trees there is not much out there.  Every once in a while I would see a snake or mice and a couple of times the neighbors dogs came over to chase the tractor but other than that it was just me and the tractor.  I would take that opportunity to make the pasture my stage, and the snakes, mice, dogs and any birds who happened to be hanging around, my audience.  It was great.  I didn’t have to worry about anyone hearing me and the birds weren’t going to critique my vocal abilities and tell me how badly I sing. It was the perfect audience. 

In my dreams I could see myself in front of a huge audience and my voice would sound something like Celine Dion.  But let’s get back to reality.  Unbeknownst to me, I didn’t realize with the headphones on that I was singing as loudly as I was and that my nephews who were up at the house could hear me from the back of the field.  Have you ever noticed that when you sing with headphones on you sing more off key? One of them turned to my Mom and said, “What is that noise?”  Leave it to kids to be truthful.  My Mom proceeded to tell my nephews that it was their Aunt Bren singing out in the pasture. 

I have since given up hopes of becoming a superstar on the national stage as a singer.  God just didn’t bless me with that kind of talent.  What He did give me is a heart for Him and a passion for singing.  So I have moved to a different stage.  My car is my stage and God is my audience and you know what I figured out.  He doesn’t care if I am in tune or if I remember the words correctly, or if I skip over the words I can’t figure out.  As long as there is passion in my heart for Him, my audience of One is listening and that is really what matters most. 

So if I sing a little too loud and a little off key and miss some of the words, I hope you will understand Who I am singing for because my heart is filled with praise for Him.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I love to sing and especially songs of praise and worship for You.  Music for me is one of those things that can bring tears to my eyes and joy to my heart.  Thank You for the gift of music.  It is one of my favorite things to do when I want You to know how much I love You.

Scripture: They wander up and down for food, and howl if they are not satisfied. But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, my God of mercy.  Psalm 59:15-17

Look Up

This is one of the basic truths in the Bible. If you're a believer, nothing comes into your life that hasn't been filtered by your heavenly Father. Your life is not a random series of freak accidents and occurrences and circumstances. God never does anything by accident. He has an appointed time for everything in your life. Even the bad times? Yes.  Rick Warren

Do you look up or around as you negotiate the treacherous waters called life?  One of the greatest lessons I learned over the past few years is to look up.  When I have a question about faith, sorrow, blessings and happiness in my life I look up. God has the answers and he will reveal them to us if we look up instead of around. 

When we look around instead of looking up, we place our faith in those around us instead of the One who created us.  Remember the verse in Romans 8:28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. God has a purpose for each one of us and we can fulfill His purpose or deny it.  He gives us the ability to choose. 

One of the traps of Satan that I frequently fall into is that I often look to those in the world around me to give me answers.  One of the most important lessons I have learned in my life is that every person we encounter is a sinner.  That includes me, pastors, deacons, brothers, sisters, parents and friends.  There is not a single person on this earth who is not a sinner.  Jesus was the only person to ever live on this earth that was sin free.

About 6 months ago I ordered a publication online called Voice of the Martyrs. It was mailed to me free of charge but I have not read it yet. Yesterday many of you read my devotional about the Syrian man I met at CVS.  After that incident I went online to read my emails.  One of the emails I received was from the publisher who sent me the book.  The email was about the war in Syria and about the people who are fleeing that country.  Then I meet my husband for dinner last night and he read my devotional yesterday and then he tells me I received something in the mail about Syria. 

What this tells me is God is speaking to me. I am still not sure what he is trying to tell me.  It could be that he wants me to pick up the book and read it.  It could mean he is just reinforcing that I was right to tell that gentleman that I would be praying for his family.  I pass by that CVS every day on my way to work.  As I passed by that store the gentleman came to mind and I prayed for him and his family. 

God is continuously sending us signals.  Too many times we ignore them because we call them coincidence.  God doesn’t work through coincidence.  He works with purpose.  If we want to hear His voice we must look up and pay attention or we will miss an opportunity to glorify Him.           

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You know everything that will happen in my life and I know I don’t have all the answers.  It is not by chance or coincidence that things have occurred in my life.  If I pay attention and continuously look up to You for the answers, You will reveal them to me. Sometimes I can’t see what Your plan is for me, but I do wait eagerly for You to reveal it to me.  I praise You Father.        

Scripture:  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.  Romans 8:18-30

Walk Across the Room

Just a few steps and a friendly hello may be all it takes to change someone's life—and their eternity! And the good news is, it has more to do with taking a genuine interest in another person and listening to their story than it does with learning evangelism tactics and techniques.  Bill Hybels

Hearing God.  Having the guts to respond.  Bill Hybels

Several years ago I read a book by Bill Hybels called “Just Walk Across the Room”.  The book talks about how Christians need to take that first step toward another person to begin the conversation about salvation.  I would like to share with you an incident that happened this morning.

There is a CVS on the road to work.  At 6:00am it is the only thing open besides fast food places serving breakfast or Quik Trips and 7-Elevens. Periodically I will stop in at the Consumer Value Store and buy those little containers of fruit or a milk and single serving cereal for breakfast. 

I always see the same gentleman who works in the store.  After seeing him over and over again I started talking to him while I was checking out.  One day I asked him his name.  The next time I saw him I asked him if he owned this particular store.  That opened the conversation for him to tell me that he works the morning shift.  That would be the 11:00pm to 7:00am shift.  This morning I stopped in to get fruit and he sees me come into the store.  He comes over to ask if I need any help.  I will point out that he had never done that before.  I picked up what I needed and then we started to the front and I asked him how he was doing.  He said he is tired because he didn’t sleep last night.  I asked him was it because his mind wouldn’t stop running and he said yes.  He then tells me that his family is in Syria and he can’t sleep because he is worried about their safety.  His wife and children are here but his parents, siblings and cousins are all in that country and have fled their homes.  Due to the fighting in their country he worries continuously if they are safe. 

The first thought that came to me was how would I feel if my entire family was in a country where there is war and you don’t know whether they will survive a day much less survive for you to see them again.  At that point God opened my mouth and I asked him if I could pray for his family.  I wish you could have seen the light that came on in his eyes when I asked that simple question.  I asked him what their last name was so that I could pray for them.

I drove away from the Consumer Value Store praying with tears running down my face.   

This is what Bill Hybels meant in his book.  We have to walk across the room and take that first step.  We have to show others that we genuinely care about them.  That is the only way we will reach other people who don’t know the Lord.  I don’t know if this gentleman is a Christian or not and I don’t even know what his faith is or if he practices any form of religion but I do know he appreciated my question.  It was written on his face. The only way some people will ever reach heaven is through each of us taking that step of faith and walking across the room.       

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I admit I used to be afraid of speaking about You to others.  That was my sinful nature.  My fear came from the possibility that the person I spoke to might be offended and my people pleasing nature made it worse.  I wanted people to like me so I didn’t speak of You to others.  I am no longer afraid and I praise You for Your great mercy on me.  Thank you for giving me the courage to step out in faith to help another person who is hurting.  

Scripture:   Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.  But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.  Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”  Matthew 9:35-38

Unconditional Love

He came to pay a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay. - Author Unknown

This weekend Mom, Dad and I did an event in Waxahachie.  It was crazy and it was fun but the best part was I had the opportunity to spend time with my parents.  I must say preparing for these events takes a lot of time, effort and work.  My parents are both in their 70’s and as my husband often says, they have more energy than anyone he knows. 

On Saturday morning I got up early and was waiting for Mom and Dad to stop by and pick me up to go to the event.  Before I left the house my husband asked me if I had cash on me because he wouldn’t have time to go by the bank before he went to work.  I told him I did but I only had a twenty so I gave it to him.

Later that morning while we were at the event I saw something that I wanted to buy someone for Christmas but I didn’t have cash on me so I asked my Mom if I could borrow $40 from the cash register and I would pay it back when I went to get cash.  So Mom tells me to just take what I need so I took out two twenties from my cash register.  I also reached over and picked up a business card and wrote on the back, “I owe Purple Ranch $40 and then I signed below it.  I dropped the card in the slot for twenties and didn’t think about it again that day.  So this card was stuck in the middle of the twenties. 

Sunday I drove out to my parent’s house to work on things for our next event.  So I am sitting at the kitchen table filling bottles with product when Dad walks out of his office and hands me a card and then he turns and goes back to his office.  I look down at the card and it is the business card that I left in the cash register.  Written in red ink across my “I Owe You” were these words, “Paid in Full”.  

The first thought that crossed my mind was Jesus. That is what Jesus did for me on the cross.  He paid my debt of sin in full by dying on a cross.  That is what I call unconditional love.  It doesn’t depend on my goodness, how many things I do for others, what I look like, where I’ve been in my life or how many sins I’ve committed.  My debt is “Paid in Full.  If we can ever wrap our arms around the love of Jesus for us, it should humble us.  If we ever understand the true reality of what that means, then we will know how we should act toward others.  God wants us to be like Him.  If we ever hope to be like Him, then we must turn to others and mark their debt “Paid in Full.”         

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I would give my last dying breath for my parents.  They sacrificed many of the luxuries of life for their children.  They taught me what it means to love unconditionally.  The legacy they leave behind will be that they taught me to love others.  That is a treasure worth more than anything I can obtain in this world.  Thank you for reminding me what it means to have a debt “Paid in Full.”     

Scripture:  But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.  Romans 8:9-11

Game of a Lifetime

Controlled anger against sin and genuine love may dwell in the same heart at the same time and be directed toward the same person. It is legitimate for us to be angry with our children over genuine disobedience. At the same time, we must not express that anger in sinful ways (yelling, screaming, nastiness, irritation, etc.) but in loving ways for the good of our children.  Wayne Mack

I went to my nephew’s football game last night.  As I was watching the game I started hearing someone yelling on the sidelines.  You could hear this guy over everyone in the stands.  This guy was yelling and swinging his arms and basically making a spectacle of himself and not in a good way. 

So I am sitting in the bleachers trying to watch the game and this guy keeps walking back and forth pacing and every once in a while he would stop and do some prolonged yelling.  I overheard someone behind me in the stands tell someone that this guy was going to have a heart attack if he kept it up.  This guy wasn’t just yelling to hear himself yell, he was yelling at people.  You have probably guessed by now that the person doing all of this was the other team’s coach. 

I started thinking about what this guy is teaching these students standing on the sidelines.  When one of them messed up a play he would get right in the kid’s face and yell and berate him in front of the whole team and everyone in the stands.  Every time he did it I cringed.  The sad part is these kids probably look up to this guy and want to be “just like him”.  He is doing a good job of teaching them that yelling and arm swinging and being obnoxious is an appropriate way to behave.

If you think about it this guy is not the only one who is teaching kids how to behave in life.  Every one of us has a responsibility to younger people to teach them right from wrong, love others, and then share the good news of Jesus with them.  If we lose our temper or say things hurtful and harmful to anyone else, not just kids, we have failed in our responsibility as a Christian to show others who Jesus really is.  

We are playing the game of a lifetime and how we play it will mean the difference in our salvation and if we interact with anyone on a daily basis; we are affecting their lives for eternity too. If we step back and put ourselves in the other persons shoes, what kind of job are we doing.  Are we like this guy who yelled and berated and belittled his players?  I wanted to jump over the fence and get in the middle of the team and tell them this is not the way it is supposed to be.  If this guy doesn’t love you, there is Someone who does.

What kind of job are you doing in showing others the love of Christ?  If we put ourselves in another’s shoes and don’t like what we see, that is our wake up call to do something about it.  If we ever hope to make a difference in this life, we must be the first to change.      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of not expressing the kind of love You show me.  Help me look past another person’s faults to the broken person within who may have never seen You.  I want to show others You in all my actions.  I also pray for that coach who is teaching students how they should behave.  His behavior was not a good example of how we are to live.  I praise You for your loving kindness and for showing and revealing Yourself to me in so many ways.  You are amazing!  

Scripture:   Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.  Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.”  Ecclesiastes 9:17-18

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!

“If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.  Matthew 18:6-9

Temperature Gauge

When the corn is nearly ripe it bows the head and stoops lower than when it was green. When the people of God are near ripe for heaven, they grow more humble and self-denying... Paul had one foot in heaven when he called himself the chiefest of sinners and least of saints. John Flavel

I remember when we were kids Mom would take our temperature to see if we had a fever.  This helped her to determine if we were ill and it also made it possible for her to decide what medicine we might need to make us well. 

A Christian needs to apply this same form of measurement to non-Christians.  By that I mean we need to gauge how much we say and the way we say it.  If we handle an encounter with a non-Christian wrong, it can mean that individual who is not a Christian may never come to know Jesus as their Savior. 

When I think about it from that perspective, it scares me.  If we misread the other person’s temperature it becomes a life and death matter.  This life and death matter doesn’t just mean they die and are buried.  It means the difference between eternal life with God or an eternal death with Satan. 

So basically we hold that person’s soul in our hands. Have you figured out that God is a touchy subject with a lot of people?  If I approach someone and start telling them everything they are doing wrong in their life, how far do you think I will get with helping them to know God?  If I condemn them before they even understand who God really is, I am leading them away from God instead of toward Him. 

One thing I have learned over the years is that how we tell our story makes a difference in how the other person will react to it.  If I humble myself before them and show them where I have sinned, it forms a bond between us.  It tells the other person that I am a sinner too and have failed. 

Too often the scenario goes something like this.  We are a Christian and have sinned.  The problem is we want the other person to see us as a Christian so we cover up the sin or sins we committed in the past and pretend that we are sin-free.  We elevate ourselves above the other person.  If you read any stories about Jesus in the Bible he humbled Himself to others.  He didn’t “Lord” it over them.

My theory is, gauge a person’s temperature before I open my mouth.  The results can mean eternal life or eternal damnation.       

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, how I approach others about You can mean the difference in where that person will live for eternity.  Please help me to know what to say and how to say it so that others are not turned away from You.  If I am humble, I believe I can point others to You.  How I gauge their temperature can make a world of difference.     

Scripture: He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Proverbs 28:13

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.  For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.  Hebrews 2:14-18