My grandson, CJ was telling me about his Bible study book. It is having him be a Bible detective. He is enjoying it because it asks questions and he has to work out the answers like a detective. He said that all the scripture that is in his study book have a series of questions that he has to answer. So I thought I'd apply that to worship. Those questions are who?, what?, why?, when?, where? So I used the search engine at http://unbound.biola.edu and searched on the word worship. Then I copied all the scriptures into a MS Word document and asked the questions. These are the answers that I have collected;

Who
All the earth will turn to the Lord, All families and nations will worship someday
The prosperous will eat and worship
Those who die will bow before Him in worship
The prince shall worship at the gate, the people shall also worship at the doorway of that gate before the Lord
People of all nations will come to worship in Jerusalem
The Father wants worshippers who will worship in spirit and in truth
Encourage your children to worship


What
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name, bring an offering and worship in a holy way
Worship, purification and greeters (gatekeepers) all part of worship service
Worship with reverence, rejoice with trembling
Worship and singing
Worship and bow down
Kneel before our maker
Worship in holy attire
Listen to God as worship
Exalt the lLrd our God
Know that He is Holy
Worship with sacrifice and offerings
Make a vow and keep it
Turn from evil and amend your ways
Speak to the cities to come and worship in the Lord’s house
Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim his call to come and worship
After worship do not turn back to the way that you came
Worship only God and swear by his name
Bring first fruit as worship
Worship is only possible after a pardon of sin and a return to the right place
Worship God, know that Jesus is the spirit of prophecy
God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth
By mercies of God, present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to god which is your spiritual service of worship
Fall on your face and worship god, declaring that he is among you
Worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh
Bow to the earth and worship


Why
Give him glory, worship because he made the heaven and earth and all that is in it
Some day all nations will come and worship because of the fear of the Lord, his holiness and righteous acts
By mercies of God, present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to god which is your spiritual service of worship
The Father wants worshippers who will worship in spirit and in truth


When
When the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance – arise and worship
The wisemen saw his star in the east and came to worship him


Where
Worship on the mountain
At the head of the bed
Go and worship
Worship at a distance
Worship as part of tabernacle
Worship at his footstool
Worship at His Holy hill
Worship in his dwelling place
Worship in spirit and truth

Do nots
Do not worship other Gods, the moon, stars or other created things
Because God is jealous
Do not worship a foreign gods
Do not worship the work of your hands, silver or gold
If you teach the precepts of men – worship is in vain Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7
Don’t let anyone defraud you of your prize by delighting in self abasement and the worship of angels

Miroslav is a tall, handsome man who is nearing 30 years old. He is
one of the young men that many people look at and think that he has it all together. He is successful in business.
He's married and has a couple of children.

Miro is actually a person that I admire a lot - but not for the attributes mentioned above. It is because of Miroslav that I got hooked into the blog culture. I admire Miro for his candor and questioning. You see, until last year Miro was involved in a
Bible believing church. His parents became Jesus hippies about the time that my husband and I had outgrown it. (Even though my girls say that they can still see the Jesus hippie roots

Now Miro calls himself an agnostic. He isn't sure what he believes.
He very eloquently verbalizes the questions that many of todays generation feel.

And so that leaves me in a quandary. Was he saved and then he lost
his salvation? Was he ever saved ? He claims to have believed. But then my theology comes back - so does Satan
- Satan believes with fear and trembling.
- Something Miro is lacking is fear and trembling.
I think about the parable of the seeds and the sower and think "did
Miro's faith just get overcome by the joys and cares of this life"?

He is not seeking. He is questioning though and I can understand why. Even though he may not admit it - his awesome, loving parents had failed each other and thus him. His church failed him. What he was taught (and not taught) growing up failed him. And so he questions 'what is life all about?"

He started blogging in an attempt to make sense of life. I couldn't
resist trying to answer him. In the process he has worked wonders to strengthen my faith!

I've told him that he is in good company - Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes
when he was in a doubting mode. How long did Solomon take to write the book? He tried wisdom, hard work and foolishness. He tried wine and folly. It wasn't until much later in Solomon's life that he came to this :

“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His
commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

If you read his blog, http://miroslavsmusings.blogspot.comyou will
find jewels of thought and glimpses of failures that have brought him to where he is today.

But my question is "how could it have been prevented?" What sustains
one person when the going gets tough or when the going gets too good for that matter?
Eventually, life will allow you to see failures in yourself and others. The church is the biggest place to find failures.
My daughter named her blog, http://onebeggarsbread.blogspot.com
because of the saying "Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread". This saying should also apply to the church.

My prayer for my children since they were very little is that God
would show Himself to them to be more real than the sidewalk they stand on or the air that they breathe. Small children have the faith thing figured out. That is why Jesus said that you must become like a little
child to go into the kingdom of God. But as we grow older we forget
to look with spiritual eyes and we see only the physical around us-- like looking at a black and white photograph and thinking that is all there is.

My pastor, Phil challenged us to write out a personal mission
statement. Mine would be to bring the reality of the AWESOME God to the consideration of others -
whether they are believers or nonbelievers. I see my job of pleading with this wondrous creator for the souls of those like Miro who do not know the love and peace of God, to cry that the great
physician will supply the balm to heal hurts and relationships, to teach others the miracles that happen when people call to the Living Lord. My job is to somehow change the film from black and white to reveal the depth and richness that can only come from spending time with a living GOD.

And so this blog was born and my learning about prayer will be shared
with those that care to read it.