Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
Know that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.
– Psalm 100
Devotion
“Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing.”
Soon after God used Moses to deliver the Israelites from bondage to Pharaoh, things weren’t going very well and the Israelite people complained, “Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.’” (Exodus 14:12) God sometimes uses “wilderness” experiences in our lives to teach us to serve Him with a positive attitude even when things aren’t going well. The temptation is to focus on what we see as negative and say to ourselves, “I’d be happy if…I felt better, I wasn’t tired, my boss was nicer to me, I had a better job, my kids were more cooperative, etc.”
We all serve someone or something. Whatever the case may be, Colossians 3:23 provides great perspective: “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord, rather than for men.” If we develop this attitude then to “come before His presence with singing” will be a natural expression of respect, honor and devotion as we serve God.
The Big Question
When you are going through a difficult time, do you allow the circumstances to dictate your mood, or are you able to experience the joy that is always available because of your position as a child of God?