Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.
You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.
You are not to do as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit, since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. And there rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns, who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.
Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer, according to the blessing the Lord your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it. But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts. Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns—and you are to rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you put your hand to. Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.
When the Lord your God has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and say, "I would like some meat," then you may eat as much of it as you want. If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat. But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
But take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give, and go to the place the Lord will choose. Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat. Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.
The Lord your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.
Deuteronomy 12
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The theme of today’s devotional is worship and what better day to talk about it than the Sabbath.
So I will start with three questions and I think you, the reader, will fit into one of the three:
1. Are you not seeking or attending a church right now?
2. Are you currently seeking a church home, worshipping in different churches until you find the right one?
3. Are you currently attending one church regularly?
See which of the questions fit you and I’ll get back to them in a minute. First, we need to go to the scriptures.
For there we see Moses talking about the matter of worship with Israel before they cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land. In the seven verses above, we see Moses make a true distinction between the right and wrong way to worship.
Israel was commanded to completely destroy “all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.” Israel was not to allow any place to stand where any other god was worshipped other than the one, true God…the Creator God who was giving Canaan to Israel.
Israel was also told to not “worship the Lord your God in their way”. Instead, they were to “seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.” In other words, God would show Israel their appointed place of worship and they were to rejoice and bring their tithes, offerings and gifts to Him there, celebrating the way God had blessed them.
Today, God still has appointed places of worship for every one of His children. Back to the three questions:
1. Are you not seeking or attending a church right now? My secondary question is, “What are you waiting for?”
God has an appointed place of worship for you. You need to only pray about it and allow Him
to guide you. Trust me….He will lead you where He wants you to be. Even if you end up working on Sunday mornings, churches have services at other times…some on Wednesday nights, others on Saturday and Sunday nights. The time to get started is now.
2. Are you currently seeking a church home, worshipping in different churches until you find the right one?
Two words for you if you are in this category: keep looking. And while you’re looking, never give up hope. God has an appointed place of worship for you and will lead you to it. Be patient and wait for Him to reveal that place to you.
3. Are you currently attending one church regularly?
If you answered yes to this question, great! You are already know that God has an appointed place of worship for you. But I do have a secondary question for you as well…”Are you so deeply rooted in your church that you would be unable to pull up those roots if God called you to?” For God just might do that. There’s nothing to say that He won’t want to send you to a different appointed place during the course of your life. Consider what pastors endure. Seldom do they just lead one congregation in the course of their ministry careers. No…they go where the Lord calls them to go…to their appointed places of worship. We should be ready to respond as well.
So there you have it. Three different worship scenarios. One constant…that being God. He has an appointed place of worship for you, and I and every one else. Thanks be to God for that. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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