Q2. Restoring Worship

[Pastor Ralph]

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

[JanMary]

On 8/15/2017 at 2:17 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

1. I'm growing in worship but no, it's not what I want it to be. I love worship in the congregation! I love worship music. I spend several hours every morning studying and praying. The other morning I heard "I'm the gate. I Open with worship and praise".  On my own I don't usually sing praises. I keep a gratitude journal and write what I'm thankful for every day....but it can become just getting the check mark in the box of things to do, as I was reminded this morning when I read Psalm 100:4: Be thankful AND SAY SO TO HIM...(amplified)

So that's my challenge for now. To not just write what I'm thankful for, but to stop and "bless and affectionately praise His Name" (the rest of V 4) I know that's just one part of worship, but for some reason it doesn't come as naturally, as I'd like it to be.

12/2/19  (forgot I did this study...so here's where I am 2 years later: I've learned that Silence before Him is worship (Ps 46:10 "Be still and KNOW that I Am God".  Obedience is worship. (Those were  totally new ideas for me!) I do those fairly well. My new prayer is from Hebrews 1:9  to be "Anointed with the oil of extravagant Joy and gladness!" My childhood was enforced stoicism...we were not allowed to show emotion. No crying, no silliness, (so no childish laughter) We had to act like zombies, for the most part) So when I read Hebrews 1:9 I realized that the stifled emotions had left a part of me crippled...When something wonderful happens all I've felt is a pressure in my chest....so I went forward for prayer on Sunday for this anointing so the joy can be felt and released as praise/thanks to my Abba Father! I experienced jolts of Holy Spirit electricity all over my body, so I know my emotions have been set free. Right after the prayer, someone I've been praying would find an excellent job after nearly a year of unemployment, came and told me he found a wonderful job! I started to cry tears of joy! Then a lady I prayed for a month or so ago, came and said "Holy Spirit let me know to come and tell you that when you prayed for me, a painful hip condition I've had for 9 years was healed! I've joined a gym!"   This time I felt the exultant joy and gladness !!! Thank you Lord for a new and delightful healing in me, and a new joy in worship!

[Jofel]

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be?

Answer: For me my personal worship to God does not necessarily mean that i will be in the church physically on sunday, even my work is already a worship, anything that you do and you do it for Gods glory is already an act of worshiping our God. 

What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

Answer: I think I need more personal quiet time and devotion, more intimacy with Him.

[blezed]

On 8/15/2017 at 5:17 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

My personal worship is far better that it use to be but not where I want it to be.  I need to lay again in my personal restoration and revival of faith my mediation time with the Lord.  I pray every morning but I tend to run thru my prayer.  I read God's word but tend to not really focus on what is being said.  I have truly been working on just mediating and listening to the Lord.

[Temidayo]

My personal worship is good but not perfect  so I am working towards. Learning to know God more through reading the  woRd. 

 

 

 

[Eilen]

No.  I think that I really need to talk daily with God.  I do not mean just reading my scriptures daily which I do.  I need to do really ponder over what I read.  I  need to feel God's presence.

I need to study the bible more ( I am grateful for these bible study sessions) and do what God wants me to do. 

[Anstey Jeremiah]

I think my prayer life needs work and every time I remember that it's not what it's suppose to be, I get a little frustrated. I wonder also about my fruit of the Spirit, am I maturing or am I getting puffed up and am I using comparison to determine my maturity. You know you might be as zealous  and faithful as you can be and definitely more zealous than most, but by God's standards, you wonder , do I measure up? I don't like walking alone with my convictions, it makes me feel that sometimes everybody else is right and I'm wrong.

[Santhana David]

Q2.

a)    Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be?

I was born into a Catholic family and had been a committed Christian for 30 over years minus the years as a child and the adolescent years as a teenager. I was then a member of Parish Liturgy team, an extra-ordinary minister of communion, a member of the Parish Pastoral council and so forth. I go for daily masses except on Mondays. But the due to a certain resentment and ego (I don’t wish to discuss this), when I was about 56 yrs old, I moved into an inexperienced comfortable zone missing masses on Sundays by sleeping the night away. It was really an easy transition. It was then that my mind and heart grew dull and my vision for God is gradually blurred.

 

It was during one of these days, that I was in a “bus-stop” (raining & riding a bike with no raincoat) when I heard 2 Jehovah witnesses discussing Psalm 142, which reads, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; ….” Yes! That was it. At that very moment I knew what exactly it was that I really missed.

 

I think as God raised Cyrus to release the Jews from captivity to rebuild the temple, God influenced me to rebuild and renew my inner my spiritual and physical wellbeing. Now I’m right back on track that leads to the “narrow gate”. I guess “it takes a bad to discover a good.” I now go for daily masses, except on Mondays and physical exercises to which I played no heed to and now even participating in this Rebuild & Renew course. It was a massive and a most necessary change.

 

***”except on Mondays” = no masses on Mondays as it’s an off-day for priests***

 

    What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

First I need GOD – He’s my “wake up call” – Through daily prayer disown the sense of disorientation and normalize the foundation of faith in God through Jesus with wisdom from the Holy Spirit – I also needed to recommit my Faith in my Creator in order remain faithful to Him – Only if I do these things in true faith will God restore His trust in me. Me as a vessel and temple of the Holy Spirit must only allow God to be the captain and be the crew member to do what God commands & not feelings or others influence my thoughts, words and actions - I know now that only God judges – I should just forgive and move on.

[Old Jerry]

I think that my personal worship is what it should be but some of the foundations that I need to lay again is to get excited about God. When I first learned about Him I wanted to shout it out to the world. I wanted to try to convince my friends that they needed to start worshiping God. I seemed to have lost all that enthusiasm.

[Acuatzil]

Before I read this question I had just read Ezra chapter 9...I tell you Ezras reaction to the sin of intermarriage with the pagans really ministered to me!! It moved me to worship, pray, and confess!! It made me realize that my confessions were not as deeply meaningful. I related Ezras reaction...his guilt to my own sin. I saw how devestated he was that the people of israel had sinned against God! The scriptures that really stood out were...ch9:3 so when I heard this thing I tore my garment and my robe and plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard,  and sat down astonished

End of v4... and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. 

V5 at the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting and having torn my garments and my robe I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God and said 'O my God,  I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to you,  my God for our inquiries have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has grown up to the heavens. 

Ezra goes on to tell the history of God's mercy on them even though they were not worthy of it. It is a great chapter that opened my eyes to my own guilt, shame, and motives of confession. It made me ask myself...did you confess because you were truly ashamed and guilty for sinning against God or did you confess because it was something you knew was wrong in the sight of God. Although both perspectives are good reason to confess....sincerity of heart is true worship....simply confessing out of requirement leaves true worship empty.

[Mansfield]

On Tuesday, August 15, 2017 at 4:17 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

My personal worship is always growing. I have been  ministering to the  Harvey  evacuees when I  got overwhelmed physically and emotionally. I realized some things in my personal life was hindering my spiritual life which affected  my ministry. So I  have been in prayer for spiritual restoration.

[lighthouse2014]

On 8/15/2017 at 4:17 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

My personal worship has a lot to be desired, time seems to rob most of it.

Foundations I need to revive m faith is more time during the day and prayer time needs improvement. However during the day I do get to thank the Lord for all I have and his caring for me.

 

[Smiley]

I should firstly thank God for allowing me to be part of the Bible Study. This question makes me realize that God is genuinely speaking to me and wants me to restore and revive my personal worship to him. I love to sing and praise him through songs. Though I pray, I still need to have a close relationship and daily talk to him. I need to develop more intimacy. When I read the Bible , sometimes I do not internalize it so my personal devotions has to be improved.

[hanks]

Q2. (Ezra 3) 
Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. 
Is your personal worship what it should be? 
What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?
At present I feel very satisfied with my relationship with my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I base my faith, with the help of the Holy Spirit, on Jesus and the Word. As believers we must be constantly on guard against false teachers who corrupt and distort the truth. It is easy for us to be unsuspectingly swept off our feet and lose our spiritual balance. The continual focus on divine things is a great protection against the peril of false teachers. We are to grow in grace by the increasing likeness to the Lord Jesus, and in knowledge through the study of the Word.

I know I must be careful and not become too complacent. Satan does not give up on us when we accept Jesus as our Saviour. He has a very subtle and far-reaching strategy to lead believers astray. He will try and keep us away from the Word of God. Encouraging us to ignore the Word and accept false teachings, hoping this will get us to revert to our former lifestyle. That our focus will now be on money, success, social life, pleasure, and/or sex for example. Mature believers know our true happiness is not derived from these things, but other Christians might be vulnerable. Another area Satan is active in is that of the sins of fear, worry, bitterness, pride, hatred, and so forth. We have the Armour of our Lord protecting us and helping us stand against the wiles of the devil. The weapons at our disposal are stronger than those of Satan enabling us to take our stand in the Lord Jesus. 
 

[justpassinthrough]

On 8/15/2017 at 4:17 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

 

Personally, a long time ago, I set aside a room in my house for prayer and worship. For me, I need a place that is set apart for just the Lord and myself, that I can be alone with Him, to worship and pray.

Without His presence and grace upon my life, I am lost.

I would like to be more consistent with fasting and to spend more and more time with Him, without neglecting my responsibilities to my family.

 

 

 

[Aleezah]

Excellent question! I am diligently working on my worshipping skills.  I can always improve in this area.  Admittedly, I get distracted with day to day busyness. This is unfortunate and unacceptable. 

I need to get organized and denounce procrastination in my life.  I could also use someone who would hold me accountable.  

[Bambi Girouard]

To have a sense of humor about life is important.  A soldier in a campaign is not astonished if he is wounded or worn out with fatigue.  I win some battles and lose some.  I have my work cut out for me in the New Testament.  Jesus is my coach and teacher.  He has offered me life and has shown me how to live it.  The more I come to understand that God is present everywhere – that He is within all – that I am always in His presence – the more easily I come to prayer.   The object of prayer is to LISTEN because He does speak back to us.

[hanks]

Q2. (Ezra 3) 
Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. 
Is your personal worship what it should be? 
What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?
At present I feel very satisfied with my relationship with my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I base my faith, with the help of the Holy Spirit, on Jesus and the Word. As believers we must be constantly on guard against false teachers who corrupt and distort the truth. It is easy for us to be unsuspectingly swept off our feet and lose our spiritual balance. The continual focus on divine things is a great protection against the peril of false teachers. We are to grow in grace by the increasing likeness to the Lord Jesus, and in knowledge through the study of the Word.

I know I must be careful and not become too complacent. Satan does not give up on us even when we accept Jesus as our Saviour. He has a very subtle and far-reaching strategy to lead believers astray. He will try and keep us away from the Word of God. Encouraging us to ignore the Word and accept false teachings, hoping this will get us to revert to our former lifestyle. That our focus will then be on money, success, social life, pleasure, and/or sex for example. Mature believers know that our true happiness is not derived from these things, but other Christians might be vulnerable. Another area Satan is active in is that of the sins of fear, worry, bitterness, pride, hatred, and so forth. We have the Armour of our Lord protecting us and helping us to stand against the wiles of the devil. The weapons at our disposal are stronger than those of Satan, enabling us to take our stand in the Lord Jesus. 
 

[Zilka]

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

I give thanks for my God to safe me everytime, to hear my pray and love me.  

[debs4jc]

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

I'm sure that my personal worship is not ll that it should be.  I know that I often let spending time with God slide when I get busy with other activities.  Yet I will still find time for vegging out on the sofa in front of the TV.  Ineed to make it a habit to seek rest and restoration in spending time in th presence of the Lord instad of turning to this familar and easy way to spend my "down time"

[Lionwolf]

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

My personal worship is worshiping God in everything I do. Is it where it should be? No. Everyday is a battle to keep things in focus. Time to read the Bible and the time to study God's word, time for prayer, has to be kept in perspective and not become a chore or something easily put off. Of course the activities of daily living must be handled as well. The foundation that needs to be layed again in my life is spending more time with the Lord apart from Bible study. 

[charisbarak]

My worship is not where it should be.  I need to be spending more time with the Lord, especially in prayer, acknowledging Him in every area of my life.

[Neil NRG]

On 8/16/2017 at 7:17 AM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

Worship? In Ezra 3, some were overjoyed to rebuild the alter and to be able to faithfully worship God as they did before their exile. Others were disappointed that the alter was not as beautiful as Solomons'. We can worship God in many ways and in many places, for He is right there with us; the Kingdom of God is within us. Me personally, I often get caught up in work or the plethora of media that surround us; I love when I can worship at church, but even then it is not always the same. I know God is real in our day to day lives and He is our almighty Creator, yet why do I get distracted? Why do I sometimes sin and disrespect God? Lord, I pray to be reminded that I am a son of God and You are forever faithful; that You build up my faith in You.

Foundations? For more than 18 months I got up at 3 or 4am in the morning, jumping out of bed earnestly desiring to study the word of God Recent weeks have been different, but it doesn't mean God hasn't been working in my life - He has.  Some mornings I  have spent time with my wife in prayer and seeking God's Word. Those days often flow better than others. My wife and I have found it hard to settle in a church family and there are reasons for that, for which I seek a breakthrough in our lives. My foundations would be regular personal time with the Lord, regular time praying with my wife, regular communion with a church family and regularly reminding myself of God's presence and goodness in my day to day activities and with whoever I meet. Lord, help me towards those foundation goals.

[Richard Hawkins]

My personal work is improving. I am preparing lessons to the taught whenever the need arises.

[Sapphire]

On ‎8‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 5:17 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Ezra 3) Rebuilding the temple in order to restore worship is the point of all this work. Is your personal worship what it should be? What foundations do you need to lay again in your personal restoration and revival of faith?

It is admirable how much work they did in order to restore worship to the Lord God. No, my personal worship is not where it should be. I need to get back to spending more quality time in the Word of God, and feed on the meat of the Word and not just skim through the Psalms so I wont feel guilty for not spending time in His Presence. I do try to worship Him in everything I do, but there is so much room for improvement. I would love to just get quiet in His presence and sing songs of love and adoration to Him, just for Who He is, my Lord and my soon coming King.