Sundays- Not Online? Who am I kidding!? Reflections

I decided to take off the little icon that used to be on the right side of my blog that says Offline Day because I really cannot say that there is a day of the week that I am not online. I have tried very hard to stay off on Sundays under the pretense that we try to focus more on Godly things. But I cannot say that we do any more 'focusing' when I am not online than when I do get online. We try to focus on God every day in some way. It seems that Sunday is the day I wrap up all my 'online' activities: usually homeschool scheduling, searching for last minute resources, catching up on Yahoo! Groups.

Today, in Sunday School a question was asked about praying for God to 'move mountains.' The question was pertaining to Matthew 21:22- "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Pastor definitely agreed that, if we are believing when we pray, and it is God's Will, then our prayer will be 'answered'. Of course, sometimes the answer is not what we want to hear and we continue to ask because we have not been granted a 'yes' to our prayer. During the session I was reminded of a scripture but could not for the life of me find it. During service, however, it came to me. James 4:3- "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." At first, I guess that Pastor (and others) may have thought that the person asking this question wanted something big, such as a new vehicle, or something like that. I suppose if we had thought of who was doing the asking we perhaps wouldn't have assumed that. He was asking specifically because the church is attempting to 'wait on the Lord' to have the means to complete the building of the church add on. Some would say that it is wrong to pray for something that appears to be a 'material' want because we already have a church that is acceptable- perfectly fine to meet the needs of our congregation. Pastor reminded us that whatever we ask for should bring glory to God. If it does not, then do we really need to pray for such things? Whose interests are we asking to be satisfied? A very good point that Pastor also brought out in relation to prayer: healing. When there are people who are suffering or dying, we often ask for healing. God can and does work wonders in the lives of believers (and non-believers in my opinion- whether they believe it or not) because it will bring glory to Him. There are times when He does not 'heal' because it brings more glory to God when they are given grace to endure. An example is Paul; his affliction of poor eyesight he 'thrice' prayed fervently that God would heal. God did not heal Paul's affliction so that we could understand (as well as Paul) that God's grace is sufficient. 2 Corinthians 12:9- "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

I thought that our Sunday School was very very good and well timed. I love the songs we sang today. The one I appreciated the most was My Savior's Love. It reminded me that Jesus died for me because He loves me. He didn't just love the people who were alive at the time He was crucified, but He loves me now, today. He loves every person, every one of us. There isn't one that He doesn't want to be saved, to believe in Him and be saved. Whether or not we believe that Hell is a 'lake of fire and brimstone' but it is absolute absence from God. Absence from His light and love. The lake of fire and brimstone is bad enough to think of but the absence of God's love just scares me so much more than an actual pain.

I am reminded today that "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things."- Philippians 4:8 That is what I want my every day to be focused on. Posting on Sundays, if I feel the urge, I think will help me to focus on those things.