“So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.”
(Acts 5:41)
Don’t get the idea that the will of God is something you have to do. God’s not going to force His will on you. It is something you get to do. When you learn to obey, you learn the joy that’s available in the Christian life. There’s no such thing as a happy, disobedient Christian. It is a contradiction in terms. Obedience and rejoicing come together. It is a lie from Hell that doing the will of God is painful and makes you miserable. The Bible says, “His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).
The reason some of us don’t obey the Lord and fail to understand there’s joy in obedience is that we don’t trust the Lord; we have difficulty taking commands from a stranger we don’t know. Once we get to know the Lord Jesus Christ, we learn that His commands are not grievous or burdensome.
• How have you experienced joy in being obedient to God?
• How have you been deceived into believing that following God is burdensome and grievous?
Make a list of ways you feel God calling you to be obedient to Him this week. Pray over this list, asking God to remind you that joy is found in obedience to Him.