The love of God doesn’t come with “rules.” Many, many people—believers and nonbelievers alike—think that if they want God’s love, they have to perform for it. That is, they have to obey all the rules before they can expect His love.

But God doesn’t think according to performance. That just isn’t how He works! He makes a way before we deserve it (Rom. 5:8). Then if something needs to change in our thinking or behavior, He is fully capable of leading us where we need to go (Isa. 30:21).

He is faithful to complete the work He started, and that work isn’t about making sure we follow the rules. It’s about love—the real stuff, which is capable of melting the hardest heart and changing the world.

If you struggle with accepting God’s love for you, or if you feel undeserving, consider the following points.

1. He’s good and He has goodness stored up for you.

Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance,
And the young men and the old, together;
For I will turn their mourning to joy,
Will comfort them,
And make them rejoice rather than sorrow.
I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance,
And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord. (Jer. 31:13–14 NKJV)

Do you REALLY believe God is good? Or is there some hesitancy in your heart because of fear or past wounds?

If you have any misconceptions about God and His love for you, they will start to change as you get to know Him for who He is. He really is good, and He has the best for you. When your heart is centered on Him, you’ll never have a reason to be afraid of His plans for you (Jer. 29:11).

Read the following points as declarations over your life:

• The Lord has plans to turn my mourning and all my sore places into joy.

• He is going to comfort me.

• He is going to give me reasons to rejoice, and He’ll heal my sorrow.

• I will see His goodness in my life.

Prayer: Father, please open my eyes to see Your goodness toward me.

2. You have nothing to prove.

We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. (Rom. 5:7–8 MSG)

God considers you worth the price He paid. There is nothing you have to do to prove your worth. It is already concrete in your Creator’s mind. He bought and paid for you when you “were of no use whatever to him.” So there’s no need for you to try to earn His acceptance.

Read the following points as declarations over your life: 

• God loves me just as I am.

• He paid a high price for me because I’m so valuable to Him.

• I can relax with Him and be at peace with Him.

• There is nothing for me to prove.

Prayer: Father, please help me to see how much You think I’m worth Your time.

3. Get to know His love for you, and choose to accept it without “rules.”

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16 NASB)

Do you actually believe the love God has for you? It’s one thing to hear about it and quite another to experience it for yourself—to know His love the way He wants you to know it. His love is the only thing that can completely satisfy every longing in your heart. Closeness with Him fills you up in a way nothing else can.

Read the following points as declarations over your life: 

• I know God loves me.

• I expect to see His love for me today.

• I choose to believe His love for me. 

• His love is my safe place.

Prayer: Father, I choose to believe Your love for me. Please help me to actually feel Your heart for me today. 

Before you go!

Bill Johnson says, “He is a loving Father, not the caretaker of an orphanage.” A lot of us think God is the second thing—a distant caretaker who doesn’t want to get involved. But that isn’t true. He’s the first thing—the Father we’ve dreamed of having.

This hope of such a Father isn’t too good to be true. It is real, and He’s already adopted you. You live in His house. It’s time to start believing His love for you and that you are who He says you are: the beloved child of God.

Interested in more? Check out some of our other articles and declarations:

• Listening to God’s Voice in Quarantine (Prayers & Declarations)

• Finding Peace in Fierce Storms (Prayers & Declarations)

• Simply Declaring Who God Is

For more information on sex, marriage, and finding the person who is right for you, get a copy of Becoming the One by Salomé Roat. Click here to learn more. The book is also available in Spanish.