"Why We Always Rejoice"

"Exalt the LORD our God, and worship a his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy." (Psalms 99:9)
The devil is a liar, always! Jesus called him, "the father of lies," because he loves to deceive people and turn their hearts away from God. I think it's interesting how this verse has the numbers 999, because God's faithfulness is totally the opposite of the devil; God's faithfulness involves Him keeping His word and the simple fact that He cannot lie, while the devil lies all the time and his words can never be trusted. The journey we are currently on right now at church is called, "ABBA Knows Best," which is through the book of 1 Samuel; maybe 2 Samuel too, we shall see. But the greatest lesson we need to know from everything that God has written, is that God loves us and only wants the very best for us; if we would just learn to listen and obey to what He says. I heard a very small portion of a study yesterday, I think it was Pastor Jeff, and he was speaking about Daniel and his three fellow Israelites from the tribe of Judah. The portion that I heard was how God rewards us for being faithful to honor Him, and how they refused to eat the king's meat; and yet, their refusal separated them out, which instead of causing them harm, it caused them to be elevated to positions of importance in the king's kingdom. We sometimes shy away from such bold moves because we think bringing attention to ourselves and our beliefs might upset our standing among nonbelievers; but in reality, most of the time the world is looking for believers that truly believe what they believe means enough to make a difference. Now, whether it's the case or not, and I truly believe that it is, one of the factors in the appearance of these four young men, was the joy of the Lord being evident in their demeanor; besides the fact that God had gifted them with wisdom, everyone found them pleasant to be around, even king Nebuchadnezzar. That might not be the reason we always rejoice, but it sure beats walking abound as if someone had just stolen your little red wagon. The real reason that we always rejoice, is because we know how much God loves us and how much He is for us! He does not love us any more or any less based upon our performance, because His love for us never changes. What does change by our performance, is how much we get blessed by doing what He says to do. It is really that simple: you do what God says, you get blessed; you don't do what He says, not so much; not only do you miss out on some wonderful blessings, but you really don't feel so good about yourself either. So, why such the long face? Stop listening to the flesh; stop listening to the devil; start listening to God and get back into the race, and run like the wind...
"So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, "You must be holy because I am holy." And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of Him during your time as "foreigners in the land." For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold and silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days." (1 Peter 1:13-20) NLT