WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?
Beloved of the Father
Day 9 Monday
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EXPLORE THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST
For us there is one God, the Father,
from whom are all things and for whom we exist,
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom are all things and through whom we exist (1 Corinthians 8: 6).
ISAIAH 42: 1-7
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
MARK 1: 9-11
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
JOHN 5: 20, JOHN 17: 25-26
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.
O righteous Father . . . I made known to them your name . . . that the love with which you have loved me may be in them.”
CONSIDER
We pick up the first verse from the Isaiah passage we studied Saturday. The servant of the LORD is one in whom the LORD delights. He is the beloved. And we discover that he is Jesus. This prophecy of Isaiah was echoed in the baptism of Jesus when the Father spoke, “You are my beloved Son.”
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PRAY THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
Begin with the Jesus Prayer. Pray it reflectively several times, for yourself or on behalf of another.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Then pray the day’s prayer slowly and repeatedly for at least a minute (that’s about seven times). Allow the prayer to take you into the meaning of the day’s facet of Jesus’ name. Pray it for yourself and/or on behalf of another. Take your time and trust this process!
Lord Jesus Christ, beloved Son in whom the Father delights,
I find his acceptance through you alone.
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LIVE INTO THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
He has granted to us his precious and very great promises,
so that through them you might become partakers of his divine
nature . . . For this very reason, supplement your faith with
virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness,
brotherly affection and love (2 Peter 1: 4-7).
EPHESIANS 1: 3-6 (NEW KING JAMES VERSION)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as son by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he has made us accepted in the Beloved.
EPHESIANS 5: 1-2
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
CONSIDER
The Father has made us accepted in his Son, the beloved one! We are beloved in the Beloved. Because the Beloved One has joined himself to us forever. And the Spirit has joined us to the Beloved One through faith.
So Paul goes on to show us how knowing the wonderful romance of this truth leads to direct application: be imitators of God the way beloved children imitate the parents who love them.
What qualities of the Beloved do you especially wish to show forth this day?
Close by making this French baptismal prayer your own,
For you, little child, Jesus Christ has come,
he has fought, he has suffered.
For you he entered the shadow of Gethsemane and the horror of Calvary. For you he uttered the cry, “It is finished!”
For you he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and there he intercedes — for you, little child, even though you do not know it.
But in this way the word of the Gospel becomes true.
“We love him, because he first loved us.”
James Torrance, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace,
Downers Grove: IVP, 1996.
TODAY'S PRAYER
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