Lord God,
You are the jealous God
not in envy,
but in holy love that refuses to share our hearts with falsehood.
You test Your people,
not to trap them,
but to prove them,
to know whether they love You
with all their heart and with all their soul.
You are the God who guards truth with fire,
who will not allow deception to dwell among Your people.
You warned Israel of prophets who would rise,
dreamers whose signs might come true,
and yet whose words would lead them away from You.
For miracles do not make truth
Your Word alone does.
I confess, Lord,
that I am often drawn to what dazzles more than what endures.
I chase the extraordinary
and neglect the eternal.
Forgive me for being moved by emotion
when You call me to be anchored in revelation.
Teach me to love You more than experience,
to trust Your Word more than my senses,
to discern truth not by what impresses,
but by what aligns with who You are.
You warned Your people not to pity what leads to rebellion,
not to spare even what is familiar if it lures the heart from faith.
O God, how hard those words sound,
and yet how kind they are.
For compromise is the slow death of devotion.
Idolatry never announces itself as evil
it whispers as affection misplaced.
So test me, Lord.
Expose what rivals You in my heart.
Let no relationship, no comfort, no success
become a substitute for the Living God.
You said, “You shall walk after the Lord your God,
fear Him, keep His commandments,
obey His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.”
So let those words define my life:
to walk steady in step,
to fear with awe that purifies,
to keep in love that endures,
to obey with joy not drudgery,
to serve in humility and truth,
to cling as one who knows there is no other refuge.
Lord, help me to cling when others fall away.
When the crowd runs toward idols,
let me run toward You.
When culture calls compromise courage,
let me stand unashamed.
When my own heart grows faint,
bind it again to Yours.
Fasten my soul with cords of covenant love,
until obedience is not a burden but a bond of delight.
You commanded that false worship be purged from the land,
not to harden hearts,
but to heal a people.
So purge my heart, Lord,
not with wrath but with refining grace.
Tear down every untrue thing,
and let truth dwell securely within me.
Make me loyal in the unseen places
faithful when no one applauds,
obedient when only You are watching.
You are the God who tests and keeps,
who disciplines to preserve,
who guards the hearts of those who love You.
So let me be found faithful, Lord
a worshiper unshaken,
a servant untempted,
a son unmoved by the idols that glitter and fade.
And when the test comes,
let my answer be love.
For the One who was tested for me
Jesus, faithful to the end
has proven that loyalty to You
is not in vain.
In His holy and steadfast name,
Amen.