November 9, 2024 - 1 John‬ ‭5‬:‭3

“Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:3 NLT

Lord, we want to love you in a way that has us longing to keep your commandments. Grow our love to the place where walking in your ways is a joy because we know it brings joy to your heart. We don’t want it to be hard to say no to sin or our selfish desires. When you ask something of us, we want to walk in joyful obedience, regardless of what it might cost us. You have sacrificed so much for us and proved your love for us again and again. There is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to trust you fully. Anything in our life that says differently is not aligned with your truth. If we fully trust you, know that you love us, and understand you always want the best for us, there should never be a reason we can’t willingly say, “yes” to anything you ask of us.

Lord, work in us and help us to grow our trust in you. Show us the places where we are not keeping your commandments. Show us the places where we are finding it burdensome to do so and help us transform that area so that we are joyfully obeying. Lord, we ask that this would not just be in the case of the commands that we read in the Bible but help us to walk in joyful obedience to everything you ask of us individually day to day as well. We never want obedience to you to be a burden or something we force ourselves to do, but let it be something we are excited to do because of how much we love you. Help us fall deeper in love with you. Let love for you be at the core of our lives and what drives us forward in all that we do.

In Jesus name, amen.