Teague Bible Church

Lazy Birds

I don’t play any video games. It is probably a good thing to play some video -type games, but I just am not interested at this time. I do wish I had all those quarters back that we used as a family in the arcades at the mall. I had mastered “Tron.” My kids had mastered all the karate ones. My wife thought she could take it or leave it till “Mrs. Packman” and the mechanical “Whack-A-Mole” came out. By the way, a curse on whoever thinks that the screen version of “Whack-A-Mole” is worth playing!

I did like playing “Angry Birds” when that was around, and in the real world you do occasionally come across a disagreeable bird. However, I have yet to come across a lazy bird. I know there are the kind who steal food and a nesting place from others, but even that takes some effort, at least.

When I say lazy bird, get a picture of a robin standing up next to a streetlight, mid-day while others are working, beer in one hand, and a pack of cigs rolled up into one of the sleeves of his t-shirt. For you old dogs; (no pun intended) James Dean; with feathers.

I was in my office looking out the window one day. Wondering and praying with intense worry,(which means I was only talking to the ceiling) about how we were going to get through the next few months. A robin was working , right outside my window. He begins pulling a worm out of the ground. He was so close I stopped moving so as to not scare him away. I marveled at how busy he was! He was not lazy, and certainly not angry!

Yes, He was not lazy, but boy was he helpless to make those worms be right there, at the right time! It turned my thoughts from the hard- working bird to the provisions for the bird. No matter how active he was he could not supply food for himself. It helped answer a question for me.

How much do I do, and how much does God do?

This passage came to mind and it brought such peace over my soul, and has brought continued peace over my being ever since.

” For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air, that they do not plant, nor do they harvest, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?

And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

Do not worry then, saying, ‘ What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’

For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6: 25-33 JWP

I Want To Skip The Training Program !

We had a young lady in our church who told me that the answered prayers she received, because of our church interceding for her, was a great thing! She had this complaint however, “I believe if you could teach them to be more faithful I would receive more answered prayer, please work on that!”

We took a close look at a few of Paul’s prayers for the churches. Ephesians 1: 15-19a, 3:14-21. Philippians 1:9-11. Colossians 1:9-12. There are many others, but these reflect the “Training Program” we all enter into when we became saved. Notice no mention of health and wealth.

As I read these to her she said, “Well, that is nice, but what those folks really needed was for their plans and dreams to be fulfilled, and God can most certainly do it if He really wanted to!” I said, ” He loves us too much to leave us to find our own happiness, in our own way. Does it not make sense that He knows more about what will make us happy, over and above, what we think we want to make us happy? Besides, have you not experienced getting just what you wanted, and then came the let -down afterwards?” She said, “Yes, what causes that?”

I said, “Sin has caused us to want what will not satisfy. We are fooled by the fanfare and bright lights of worldly things. He wants to make us like Christ in our character, to be like Christ in our hopes, and yes, even our dreams.”

“Will I still get all of these answered prayers?” I said,” Well, you are young in the faith, and as it was for me at that time, it seemed every prayer, even the little ones, got answered. Over time I noticed that the ‘Training Program’ had priority over what I might request in prayer.”

“I suppose you could have a parent who bailed out their adult children every time they got into financial trouble, but we all know that is a bad parent. The parent wants the good feeling of being a parent, but is doing a bad thing. The focus changed to making the parent feel good, instead of really helping the child. God is never that short-sighted.”

“Wow, to really get close to God, and know and live out your life destiny, will involve great suffering, right?”

I said, ” If their was another way I would have found it by now, because I fight the ‘Training Program’ every day, but it is right; and pure; and it has transformed me. What’s happening is this; God will burn out, scrap off, cut out, pull you away from, the things of the world and give you more of Himself. Of course, He still answers prayer for the things we need in this life. I refer you to Matthew 6:33.”

” So at church they will pray for your needs. And God has met those needs thus far, right.” She said, “Right.” I said, “If the people at our church really care, they pray for more than your next physical need to be met. I see how you arrived at some of the things you said at the first. Most prayer request at any church are about health and wealth, right?” “Yea, why is that?” she said.

“Young lady I will leave that for you to figure out. Read those prayers of Paul and line your thinking up with that. Come back and give me a report.”

She moved to another city, I moved to Texas. 20 years later I got a report. She gave the most amazing testimony. She had a richer tone in her voice, she said her false dreams were smashed, yet replaced with a maturity she did not think was possible for her. She had lived the reality of Philippians 3: 7-14.
She said, “Praise God for unanswered prayer. Not because He was unwilling to answer, but because He kept to the ‘Training Program.’ He simply loves us too much to leave us to ourselves. That is true love and true greatness. My friends look at me funny now when I say to them, ‘I really don’t want a thing this world advertises as fulfilling. I can see through it now.’ ”

A. Romans 8: 28-31 and Hebrews 12: 1-13 The Training Program.

B. Romans 12: 1-2 How you know you are in the right frame of mind
to receive training.

C. Ephesians 3:14-21 The daily results in which you know it is working.

JWP 3/27/19