Throughout Deuteronomy 12 the people of God were told to rejoice, both in all that they did and their worship of God Almighty. It is clear that God wants His people to have joy in their lives. It should be a normal response when the worshipper comes to understand all the love God has for His children and His desire for their good. This truth seems to have escaped much of the church for many centuries, especially from the 1500s through the 1800s. One has only to look at the facial expressions of church leaders in old paintings to see that this truth of joy was lost on them. The attitude during that time must have been that it was a sin to smile!<\/p>\n
But God tells us to rejoice and be happy as we worship the One who has given us life both here and into eternity. Of course there are difficult times, storms and trials blow through every life. There are times when difficulties crowd in on every side. That is when we must press in and choose a correct attitude. We can always choose to be thankful, to forgive, to release, and to rejoice before God. This reality, that we can choose our attitude, is one that continues to grow in importance the older we get. There is a natural accumulation of bumps and bruises along the road of life that, if not handled correctly, will turn into resentments and even bitterness. We believe that’s why God places so much emphasis on joy in worship.<\/p>\n
When we lift our eyes off of our own current, thorny circumstances, set them on the One who dwells in eternity, and choose to be thankful for what He\u2019s given us (easy and difficult), then everything else is brought into correct perspective. We all have a choice, each day, regarding the attitude we will hold on to. We cannot change what happened yesterday. We cannot control most of the factors coming at us tomorrow, but there is this one thing, this one, critical thing we can control today, and that is our attitude. God says to us today, “Rejoice before the LORD your God.”<\/p>\n
“We chose to rejoice before You this day, LORD. Thank You for giving us breath and strength to rejoice in what we do have\u2014a personal relationship with the living God.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deuteronomy 12 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0These\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:\u00a0\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.\u00a0\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall not do so unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God. 5<\/sup>\u00a0But unto the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And there ye shall eat before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hath blessed thee.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall not do after all\u00a0the things\u00a0<\/em>that we do here this day, every man whatsoever\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>right in his own eyes.\u00a09<\/sup>For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God giveth you.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0But\u00a0when\u00a0<\/em>ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the\u00a0LORDyour God giveth you to inherit, and\u00a0when\u00a0<\/em>he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0Then there shall be a place which the\u00a0LORDyour God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the\u00a0LORD:\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And ye shall rejoice before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that\u00a0is<\/em>within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0But in the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.\u00a015<\/sup>Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water. 17<\/sup> Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0But thou must eat them before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God in the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth.\u00a0 20<\/sup>\u00a0When the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0If the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>them alike.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood\u00a0is<\/em>the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.\u00a0\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do\u00a0that which is<\/em>right in the sight of the\u00a0LORD.\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0Only thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take, and go unto the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0shall choose:\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the\u00a0LORDthy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest\u00a0that which is\u00a0<\/em>good and right in the sight of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God. 29<\/sup>\u00a0When the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.\u00a0\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt not do so unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God: for every abomination to the\u00a0LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.\u00a0\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Throughout Deuteronomy 12 the people of God were told to rejoice, both in all that they did and their worship of God Almighty. It is clear that God wants His people to have joy in their lives. It should be a normal response when the worshipper comes to understand all the love God has for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5905"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5905"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16013,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5905\/revisions\/16013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}