Deut 12 Worship of God- His way

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Deuteronomy 12:1-32
The LORD's Chosen Place for Worship
1"These are the laws and regulations you must obey as long as you live in the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
2"When you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods—high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree. 3Break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Erase the names of their gods from those places!
4"Do not worship the LORD your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. 5Rather, you must seek the LORD your God at the place he himself will choose from among all the tribes for his name to be honored. 6There you will bring to the LORD your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your special gifts, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your freewill offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your flocks and herds. 7There you and your families will feast in the presence of the LORD your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the LORD your God has blessed you.
8"Today you are doing whatever you please, but that is not how it will be 9when you arrive in the place of rest the LORD your God is giving you. 10You will soon cross the Jordan River and live in the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession. When he gives you rest and security from all your enemies, 11you must bring everything I command you—your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your special gifts, and your offerings to fulfill a vow—to the place the LORD your God will choose for his name to be honored. 12You must celebrate there with your sons and daughters and all your servants in the presence of the LORD your God. And remember the Levites who live in your towns, for they will have no inheritance of land as their own. 13Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere. 14You may do so only at the place the LORD will choose within one of your tribal territories. There you must offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command you.
15"But you may butcher animals for meat in any town, wherever you want, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. You may eat as many animals as the LORD your God gives you. All of you, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat. 16The only restriction is that you are not to eat the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water.
17"But your offerings must not be eaten at home—neither the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, nor the firstborn of your flocks and herds, nor an offering to fulfill a vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor your special gifts. 18You must eat these in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose. Eat them there with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns, celebrating in the presence of the LORD your God in all you do. 19Be very careful never to forget the Levites as long as you live in your land.
20"When the LORD your God enlarges your territory as he has promised, you may eat meat whenever you want. 21It might happen that the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored is a long way from your home. If so, you may butcher any of the cattle or sheep the LORD has given you, and you may eat the meat at your home as I have commanded you. 22Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you do now with gazelle and deer.
23The only restriction is never to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. 24Instead, pour out the blood on the ground like water. 25Do not eat the blood;
then all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD. 26Take your sacred gifts and your offerings given to fulfill a vow to the place the LORD chooses to dwell. 27You must offer the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat. 28Be careful to obey all my commands so that all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD your God.
29"When the LORD your God destroys the nations and you drive them out and occupy their land, 30do not be trapped into following their example in worshiping their gods. Do not say, 'How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.' 31You must not do this to the LORD your God. These nations have committed many detestable acts that the LORD hates, all in the name of their gods. They have even burned their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods. 32Carefully obey all the commands I give you. Do not add to them or subtract from them.


Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation

~ Lena’s Journalin’~
Have you ever read in the NT where it says,” may you be able to tell what the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God is?” For certain times in our growth and in the increase of our knowledge of God, we can be in the acceptable will of God, as we gain more and more of the knowledge of God and exercise it with wisdom, we then advance in our growth and live interested in more of a desire to do His will His way. Once our desire changes and we are actually after His will alone, we enter a place of great grace to find and do the will of God alone, erasing any inkling we have to do our own will and desire, in fact our will and desire becomes the same as His for we are one, this is being in the perfect will of God.
As I read here today I so clearly saw that will being outlined. Laws are lines drawn so we would know the perfect will of God and be able to clearly walk in it. When we are wiling to ask, seek and knock after what He wants and how He wants it, we are maturing in our faith in Him, we’ve hit the true place of increase.
I’ve heard people say things like, “I worship God my own way, don’t tell me I should worship God any other way”. What age group does that very statement sound like it comes from? A “I do it myself” age group, who are very young in growth. That’s fine, if you want to worship your way, you can and God will receive it. He’ll receive whatever you are willing to give Him, but there’s so much more. There’s worship the way He wants it. That’s like the difference in giving someone a gift you wanted to give them and giving them the very one they wanted and asked for.
I’ve heard people say, “I don’t like going to church, I don’t want to be with people, they bother me, so I just worship at home by myself, but I love God.”
There’s more than that. There’s a way of change, a way of showing love to God that goes beyond what we think we want or are comfortable with. There’s a more mature love that trusts God with our comfort and safety. Even young children trust their parents. When we show sacrificial love, we show true love, a love that changes for another. God said, “Love Me & and in loving Me, love My people.” He said, “assemble together as a body in unity”. It takes a great amount of faith and of love to unite with anyone besides ourselves. It is not easy to agree with anyone but me. Whether I do this or not is a direct reflection of the measure of my love and trust in My Father God.
Do I engage in the good, acceptable or perfect will of God? This is shown by how much of His will I want to do. Vs 8 says, today you do whatever you please, but that is not how it will be when you arrive in that place of rest God has made for you…offer your sacrifices in the place that God chose, not the place you just want to or are most comfortable. Do you know if we let Him, God will pick our church? Or we can pick our own, the one we are more comfy cozy with and we’ll live out the consequence of our own choosing.
How do you think one gets to that place of rest? Submission to the will of the Father, the will of another. Heaven’s angels and the enemy powers know the power of a submitted obedient people, why else is it so hard on the flesh and soul? The greater the opposition the greater the blessing or love expressed through obedience.
Where will I see promises fulfilled?
Where will there be blessings galore?
Where will I find rest?
Where will I truly live?
Where will I finally possess what belongs to me?
There in that place of willing perfected obedience, in the place of His will.


Daily Recital Verses -
Psalms 118:24 This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Prov 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength.