Prized Sample

“Prized will draw you into the very heart of the Savior who loves you beyond measure. Jennifer gives us a fresh take on timeless truths, marrying solid wisdom and lyrical writing. Spend thirty days relishing the tender love of the Savior.”

—Jennifer Rothschild, author of Lessons I Learned in the Dark and Me Myself and Lies, host of 4:13 podcast and Fresh Grounded Faith events “For anyone who’s ever felt undeserving of God’s love, Jennifer Kennedy Dean opens a fresh page of encouragement in Prized: Experience the Tender Love of the Savior. With each reading, with each truth shared, you will not only experience God’s love for you, you will encounter the living words of Jesus as they speak to your heart.”

—Linda Evans Shepherd, author of When You Don’t Know What to Pray and When You Need to Move a Mountain “Leave it to Jennifer Kennedy Dean to teach us how to see ourselves as God sees us—favored, strong, beloved, brave—while never once taking the spotlight off God! Don’t let the fact this little volume covers just thirty days fool you; Jennifer packs more transformative truth into two pages than most writers do in an entire book! Even those who have a clear sense of who they are in Christ will find renewal and refreshment here, along with a deeper sense of who God really is . . . and how incredibly much He adores us.”

—Jodie Berndt, speaker and author of the best-selling Praying the Scriptures book series for children, teens, and adult children “Are you drowning in negative self-talk? If so, allow Jennifer Kennedy Dean’s Prized to be a lifeline directing you back to God’s beautiful truth about you.

As one who’s had the privilege of hearing Jennifer’s masterful teaching, I believe Prized is a take-home treasury of Jennifer’s wisdom and faith. Give

yourself the next thirty days and allow God to reshape your perspective in a powerful way.”

—Barb Roose, speaker and author of I’m Waiting, God: Finding Blessing in God’s Delay and Winning the Worry Battle “Jennifer Kennedy Dean has the amazing ability to share the deep and rich truths of God’s Word in such a way that you will be transformed from the inside out. You will live an impactful life. She invites you into His living presence. You will see His Word come alive in every chapter of this book. You will be invited to live out His Word so you can fulfill the great calling God has created you for. Don’t miss out! Get ready to walk and live an incredible Spirit-filled life that will overcome anything that stands in the way! Begin today by reading this book from Jennifer Kennedy Dean. Then share it with others so they too can live an extraordinary life in Christ.”

—Sally Burke, president, Moms in Prayer International “In a world where we compare ourselves to people on social media and feel like we never measure up, Jennifer beautifully reminds us we are loved dearly by Jesus. She uses Scripture to remind us not only does Jesus love us, but He also cherishes us. This is a much-needed reminder for believers today.”

—Cyndi Spivey, fashion and faith influencer at cyndispivey.com “We know God loves us, but sometimes we don’t realize just how much.

Jennifer’s book, Prized, helps us marinade in in God’s love thirty ways in thirty days. This is a wonderful treasure that will leave you feeling cherished by the One who loves you most.”

—Sharon Jaynes, bestselling author of Lovestruck: Discovering God’s Design for Romance and Marriage and Sexual Intimacy from the Song of Solomon

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Other New Hope® Books by Jennifer Kennedy Dean Altar’d: Experience the Power of Resurrection Clothed with Power: A Six-Week Journey to Freedom, Power, and Peace Conversations with the Most High: 365 Days in God’s Presence Heart’s Cry (Revised Edition): Principles of Prayer Life Unhindered! Five Keys to Walking in Freedom Live a Praying Life®! Open Your Life to God’s Power and Provision Live a Praying Life® Workbook (10th Anniversary Edition): Open Your Life to God’s Power and Provision Live a Praying Life® in Adversity: Why You Keep Praying When You Want to Give Up Live a Praying Life® without Fear: Let Faith Tame Your Worries Power in the Blood of Christ Power in the Name of Jesus The Power of Small: Think Small to Live Large Prayer Fatigue: Ten Ways to Revive Your Prayer Life Pursuing the Christ: Prayers for Christmastime Secrets Jesus Shared: Kingdom Insights Revealed through the Parables SEEK: 28 Days to Extraordinary Prayer Set Apart: A Six-Week Study of the Beatitudes Synced: Living Connected to the Heart of Jesus

Prized Experience the Tender Love of the Savior

Jennifer Kennedy Dean

Birmingham, Alabama

New Hope® Publishers 100 Missionary Ridge, Birmingham, AL 35242 NewHopePublishers.com An imprint of Iron Stream Media IronStreamMedia.com © 2019 by Praying Life Foundation All rights reserved. First printing 2019.

Printed in the United States of America No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher.

New Hope Publishers serves its authors as they express their views, which may not express the views of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Dean, Jennifer Kennedy, author.

Title: Prized : experience the tender love of the Savior / Jennifer Kennedy Dean.

Description: First [edition]. | Birmingham : New Hope Publishers, 2019.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019018830 | ISBN 9781563092473 (permabind) Subjects: LCSH: God (Christianity)--Love--Biblical teaching. | Bible--Devotional use.

Classification: LCC BT140 .D43 2019 | DDC 231/.6--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019018830 All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIrV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIrV” and “New International Reader’s Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version.

Scripture quotations from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Italics in Scripture quotations reflect the author’s added emphasis.

ISBN-13: 978-1-56309-247-3 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-56309-159-9 1 2 3 4 5—23 22 21 20 19

Contents Introduction: Tender Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Day 1:

Treasured. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Day 2:

Beloved. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Day 3:

Beautiful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Day 4:

Pursued. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Day 5: His. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Day 6:

Indestructible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Day 7:

Fruitful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Day 8: Formed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Day 9: Favored. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Day 10: Watered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Day 11: Named . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Day 12: Clean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Day 13: Risen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Day 14: Nourished . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Day 15: Marked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Day 16: Glorified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Day 17: Satisfied. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Day 18: Strong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Day 19: Armored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Day 20: Captivated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Day 21: Insider. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Day 22: Destined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Day 23: Known . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Day 24: Steadfast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Day 25: Planted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102 Day 26: Brave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Day 27: Crucified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Day 28: Unburdened. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Day 29: Enlightened. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120 Day 30: Rich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124

Tender Love Would you spend thirty days with me letting your heart marinate in the incredible, unbelievable, astonishing love of the Lord for you? His love is a force that will transform you at your spiritual cellular level— the essence of who you are rather than just surface fixes. Deep change that will start on the inside and show up on the outside. His boundless, immeasurable, tender love will work in you to make you newer and newer every day.

Brand New When we are young, the cells in our bodies continually turn over and are renewed. With time, that cellular turnover slows down, and we age. New advances in medicine and nutrition promise to act at the cellular level— working deep in the structure of the body to energize the cells and create cellular renewal and perhaps cell turnover. But no matter what advances we make to stave off the effects of aging, we will age. New will become old.

In the spiritual realm, just the opposite is true. Our spiritual veins are flowing with Jesus’ life like a vine’s life flows through a branch, and we are sloughing away old and letting new emerge.

Paul puts it this way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Your old-you cells are dying off and being replaced by new Jesus-life cells.

The process has been set in motion. The old pre-Jesus cells are being exfoliated and new life, abundant life, Jesus-life cells are taking their place.

Instead of getting progressively older, you are getting progressively newer.

You are changing at the cellular level, spiritually speaking.

Our bodies keep on getting older, keep on aging. But the opposite is occurring in our spirits. “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Renewed.

Made new again and again. Newer and newer. xi

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For our aging bodies and our aging skin, we are bombarded with promises of elixirs and serums that will turn back the hands of time and make us like new again. These are nothing more than false promises. Nothing can still the march of time and its effects on our anatomy. But in the spiritual realm, there is a balm. There is a transfusion. His name is Jesus. Your renewing started the day He transfused you with His life and came to live His life in you. But when we deliberately expose our hearts to His tender, transforming love, the process accelerates. When we immerse our thoughts in His Word and let its living, active power (Hebrews 4:12) suffuse our minds and recreate our thought patterns, the process set in motion at our new birth advances more quickly.

I grew up in church. My parents enrolled me in Sunday school when I was three days old, attested to by a cradle roll certificate I have in my baby book. I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t know that Jesus loves me. I knew it, and I believed it, but I didn’t comprehend it. I still can’t fully wrap my mind around it, but I understand it better every day. I’ve realized that the more I give myself to Him, the more His love for me becomes real in my experience, not just my theology. The power and effect of His love for me has changed me. Changed me deep down. Not simply changed my behavior or even my attitudes but changed who I am. Many of the behaviors and attitudes I tried hard to change have now sloughed away. Who I am becoming inside is the wellspring from which all my outward actions and thought patterns flow.

See what might happen if you commit thirty days to letting His love be your full-frame focus; turn your heart toward Him like a face to the sun.

Absorb the radiance of His love deep into your life. Live new life.

Setting the Scene As we commit to these days when we will take a deep dive into the tender love of Jesus, I want to show you the canvas on which we will invite Him to paint the picture of His heart toward us.

Why would the Beloved become the despised? Why would heaven’s Darling become the lightening rod for heaven’s wrath? Why would the One who, from eternity, was surrounded with cries of “holy, holy, holy,” come to earth to hear cries of “crucify Him, crucify Him”? As I shared in my book Pursuing the Christ:

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I wonder what that moment must have been like. When heaven’s great Treasure shed His kingly grandeur and donned mere clay, did the angels for a moment hold their breath and look on in astonishment?

When He who was from the beginning took upon Himself the form of a servant, did the eternal realm halt—just for a heartbeat—and stand speechless with wonder? When the King of kings exchanged His majestic robes for swaddling clothes, surely it was the most beautiful, awe-inspiring moment in all eternity. . . . It was something never before seen and never to be seen again—when the King became a Servant.

Paul describes that moment like this: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

—Philippians 2:6–8 If the King of kings, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the One whose name is above all names . . . if He had come to earth as the most powerful earthly king, it would have been an unfathomable step downward. But He came to earth as a servant. On purpose. By choice. Why would He do that?

If you think about it, there’s not much in it for Him. He doesn’t gain more glory. “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (John 17:5). He doesn’t get more power or authority. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:1–3). So what does He gain?

The writer of Hebrews says, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). What was the joy set before Him? What did He

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have after the Cross He didn’t have before the Cross? What did the Cross gain for Him? It gained Him you and me. Nothing else. Just us. And He considered you and me worth the price He paid. You are His goal. You are His prize.

Prized In the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, the writer is wrapping up a discourse in which he calls to our attention the faithful obedience of the Old Testament heroes whose lives and experiences serve as witnesses to the trustworthiness of God’s promises (Hebrews 11). As he pulls it all together, he sets the stage in a sports arena with those faithful witnesses having finished their races. He suggests that we are now running “the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). We run that race with our eyes fixed on Jesus. “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus” (vv. 1–2). The Greek word translated “fixing our eyes” means to look away. Look away from everything and everyone else and fix your gaze on Jesus. When you are running the race marked out for you, look at Jesus.

Don’t focus on your own progress. Don’t focus on other runners. Don’t measure how far you’ve come or how far you have to go. Look at Jesus.

Why? Because He is the “pioneer and perfecter of faith” (v. 2). He is the forerunner—the one who ran the race before us and marked the way; He is the pioneer—the one who paved the way. He is the perfecter—the one who will bring us to the finish line.

When the Word became flesh, Jesus, as a man, ran the race marked out for Him. He ran it with His eyes on the prize. “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (v. 2). The finish line for Him was being seated at the right hand of God. But the race didn’t win that for Him. He had that before. That was His rightful place. No one but Jesus would ever sit at the right hand of God. But after the Cross, the right hand of God had another dimension for Jesus. The word perfect means to reach a goal, to win a prize, to bring to completion. Jesus is the perfecter of our faith. He won the prize.

The writer of Hebrews instructs us to lay aside anything that will slow us down. “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” (v. 1). Serious runners strip themselves of anything that will slow their gait. Sleek and spare is what a runner looks for in their running attire.

Tender Love xv

We are fixing our gaze on Jesus, who stripped down—laid aside His own heavenly glory—and ran the bruising course that won our salvation. He ran with determination—single-minded in His pursuit, tenacious in His resolve.

When He hit the wall, He powered through. He ran to win, and He won the prize. He is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Is that the prize? I don’t think so. What was Jesus’ heart so set on that He “endured the cross, scorning the shame”? You already know. Can you believe it? Read it for yourself. “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6–7). The prize that motivated Jesus and kept Him at His task was the promise that when He sat down again at the right hand of God, we would be seated in the heavenly realms with Him. We have a saying that is meant to demean the value of someone. “She’s no prize,” we might say sarcastically. Isn’t it amazing to know that Jesus thinks just the opposite? “What a prize you are!” He says to you. “Worth everything you cost Me!” To those angels who watched Him lay aside His glory and then take it up again He says, “Look what I won!”

When Jesus chose to run the race marked out for Him, He did it to take hold of a promise—that you and I would be with Him where He is (John 12:26; 14:3).

He wasn’t running just to run. He was running to win the prize.

Thirty Days Each day of this study focuses on a word of tender love Scripture uses to describe how Jesus cherishes you. At the end of each day’s thoughts you will find: Transforming Truth—how does this truth change me and make me new?; Reflect—a prompt for taking a moment to let the day’s thoughts take hold; Respond—a place to write out your response to His love; Relate— questions you can use for discussion to interact with others on the journey.

Let me clarify a couple of issues you might have questions about.

When I use a Scripture that references God but I expound on it, I reference Jesus: In the Old Testament, any reference to God by any of His names is the Triune God: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit acting in such perfect harmony that They are one being. Jesus is fully present in any reference to God. We see Jesus claim in the New Testament the I Am name as His own.

For example: “Before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58). Jesus said He and the Father were one, and having seen Jesus, you have seen the Father

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(John 10:30; 14:9). John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

What about promises made to Israel in the Old Testament? Can we transfer access to those promises as our own? Let me quote Mark Batterson on that: God promised Joshua that He would give him every place where he set his foot, but there is a little addendum at the end of the promise: “as I promised Moses.” The promise was originally given to Moses. Then it was transferred to Joshua. In much the same way, all of God’s promises have been transferred to us via Jesus Christ. While these promises must be interpreted intelligently and applied accurately, there are moments when the Spirit of God will quicken your spirit to claim a promise that was originally intended for someone else. So while we have to be careful not to blindly claim promises that don’t belong to us, our greatest challenge is that we don’t circle the promises we could or should circle.

—The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and Fears

Prayer for Your Journey I pray the living, present, indwelling Jesus will speak His words to your heart.

I pray His Spirit will disclose to you all the riches to be mined and will lead you into all truth (John 16:13). I pray His voice will be clear to you because you do have ears to hear (Matthew 11:15). I pray He will enlighten the eyes of your heart so you can know—at deeper and deeper levels—all He has for you (Ephesians 1:18).

Day 1

Treasured Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession.”

—Malachi 3:16–17 In Malachi 3:16–17, God is speaking of the remnant of His people who were faithful to Him in the midst of a society that had largely ignored or marginalized His Law. The words of Scripture have a true and historical context, but they are also eternal. The Scripture itself shows us how we can hear and understand truths spoken at a moment in time to translate into our present moment. Peter writes: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

—1 Peter 2:9 Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

—Titus 2:14 In our focal passage, “my treasured possession” refers to the king’s private collection, his personal acquisition. Everything in the treasury is considered the king’s property, but he will have had some objects he chose for his own 1

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particular property. In 1 Peter, the word translated “God’s special possession” means something acquired or purchased. The same word is used in Titus. It has the same sense as “treasured possession.”

You are His treasure. He was willing to pay top price for you. His own life, laid down by His own choice in unfathomable suffering and agony, was not too high a price to pay.

It is said that something is valued by the price someone is willing to pay for it. You are Jesus’ most valuable purchase. He didn’t even haggle or try to get the price down. He paid what you cost. He left heaven for earth for one purpose—to redeem you, to purchase you out of slavery. If you are going to set your value by what someone is willing to pay for you, then you are the world’s most precious, most beloved, most adored.

What does it mean to treasure something? It certainly has connotations beyond simply possessing or owning. I have things I like, and I have things I value, but then I have another category altogether. I have things I treasure.

The things I treasure out of all my other possessions are one of a kind.

Irreplaceable. I treasure something because either someone made it for me and it speaks to me of their love or it was handmade by an artist and is not mass-produced.

You are one of a kind. Handmade. Carefully designed. Irreplaceable.

Not interchangeable. A work of art.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

—Psalm 139:13–14 Your hands shaped me and made me. . . . Remember that you molded me like clay. . . . Did you not . . . clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.

—Job 10:8–12 Both of these passages paint the picture of the fact the Creator took great care and attention to detail in weaving you together. You are an

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expression of the Artist. You show His skill to great effect. He is proud of you.

Everything about you is designed and shaped by God’s hand. Your personality type. Your drives and ambitions. Your talents and gifts. Your challenges. Your appearance. The setting into which you were born. The circumstances of your present experience.

You are carefully crafted. Treasured.

Do you know what I do with things I treasure? I display them. I place them where I can show them to others. I love for people to notice them so I can tell them the story of my treasures.

Jesus is proud of you. You are His treasure. He positions you so your life displays Him. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

—Isaiah 61:3 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

—Ephesians 2:6–10 Jesus displays Himself through you. When He lives His life in you, and then through you, Jesus is who people see. When Jesus uses me to express Himself in my world, I think of my life as Jesus in His Jennifer edition.

Transforming Truth When you embrace how Jesus treasures you, you are free to love others.

You won’t have to try to prove your worth or get your sense of value from others. You can just love them.

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Reflect Jesus, You treasure me. I’m all battle scarred and broken and scuffed up. It hardly seems plausible that I’m Your treasure, but I release my heart fully to that truth right now. Would You work it deep into my understanding how precious I am to You?

Respond How do you respond to Jesus right now? What are your true feelings about being treasured? Tell Him. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Relate How do you spontaneously respond to the idea that you are treasured?

What lies has the enemy worked into your sense of yourself that contradict the truth? (Remember, his lies feel true.)

What thought or idea did the Holy Spirit highlight for you today?

Day 2

Beloved Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.

—Deuteronomy 33:12 The words of Deuteronomy 33:12 come from Israel’s history as Moses prepared to die and Joshua prepared to lead them into the Promised Land.

Moses spoke a word of blessing over each tribe, and these are the words he spoke over the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was the youngest and favored son of the patriarch Jacob. These eternal words speak to us today as beloved of the Lord. Similarly, Paul cited a passage from Hosea and applied it to believers in his present: As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

—Romans 9:25 ESV Speaking across the ages, the Holy Spirit reassures us that, for no reason other than His longing for you, the Lord has made you His beloved. You are His deeply loved child.

Observe how the Lord interacts with His beloved. “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him” (Deuteronomy 33:12). He invites you, His beloved, to lean into Him. Rest the weight of your life on Him. Whatever worries you, whatever frightens you, whatever burdens you . . . relinquish ownership and hand it over to Him. Let Him bear the heft of it for you.

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Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

—Matthew 11:28 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

—1 Peter 5:7 More easily said than done? Does it seem a little bit esoteric and hard to put into action? Let me set out the case for why releasing all your burdens to Jesus not only makes the most sense but makes more sense than carrying the weight yourself.

Only Jesus knows everything about your stresses and has known even before they entered your experience. In His knowing, He has planned and arranged every detail for your benefit.

Only Jesus has the power to create an outcome with the big picture in view.

Jesus knows everything about both your future and your past, and He knows how to cause all things to work in concert for your profit.

Jesus knows your personality and has already taken into account all your quirks and idiosyncrasies. Your personality is no hindrance to Him. Jesus is always for you, not against you. He is always on your side.

How can you activate the kind of faith that allows you to cast your cares on Jesus? I’ll tell you some of my processes and some of the rituals I use.

First let me talk to you briefly about rituals.

Rituals don’t have power or influence on God. Yet God set up rituals for worship. Why? Because He knows us, and He knows rituals that have their roots in spiritual reality—not mysticism or imagination—give us tangible ways to connect our faith to intangible realities. Rituals such as I am going to describe are for us, not for God. Here are some rituals that work for me. Use rituals that work for you.

I write out the issue I’m struggling with in detail. Everything that comes to mind. Everything that stresses me about it. Everything I fear might happen. Then I write over it in a red marker: “Yours.” And then I date it.

Sometimes I write something that indicates to me my burden. A word, a phrase, a printed out email, something I understand. Then, as I talk it through with Jesus and come to a place where I decide to embrace His

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invitation to bear my burden, I seal it in an envelope, date it, and put it in a box I keep such things in.

Remember you are His beloved. It is His extravagant love for you that compels His actions for you. His love for you is why you can utterly abandon all your cares to Him. Beloved of the Lord, rest secure in Him. What happens when you lean into Him? “He shields [His beloved] all day long” (Deuteronomy 33:12). I love the word shields. What does a shield do? It comes between the blow and the target of the blow. The shield takes the force of the blow. The power of the punch is spent on the shield. The Lord stands between you and any blow headed your way, and He takes the brunt of it for you.

At some point in the depths of my grief at the loss of my husband from brain cancer in 2005, I asked the Lord, “If You bear my burdens, then why do I have to feel this pain?” I thought about an experience when my son Kennedy asked me to put my hands against his punching bag and hold it steady for him. Big, strong Kennedy put all his power into the punch.

On my side, it stung my hands just enough for me to say, “Ouch!” But it was nothing like the pain I would have experienced had the punch landed on me. I’d have been knocked out!

The Lord seemed to say to me: I stand between you and any blows headed your way. If the pain you feel hurts, just imagine the pain you would have felt had I not absorbed the blow for you. Jesus does not promise life without pain. He promises to be a shield from life’s knockout punches. All day long.

Next we see the most beautiful description of how Jesus’ beloved— that’s you—is positioned: “The one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders” (Deuteronomy 33:12). This is where you find yourself when you cast all your cares on Him. You come to rest pressed against His heart. He wants you to be close to Him, so close you hear His heartbeat. So close His strong arms are ever surrounding you, shielding you, sheltering you. The picture He paints of His love reminds me of the sling young parents carry their babies in. It holds the baby right up against the parent’s chest. The parent carries the weight of the baby, and the baby just leans in.

He Himself stands between you and anything that could possibly come against you. Nothing gets to you without going through Him first. And nothing gets past Him. You rest between His shoulders.

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Transforming Truth When you realize you are His beloved, that He shields you and holds you close, you can live life without having your emotions held hostage to fear and worry. When you rest in Him, you do not become passive but are energized because you are directed to the works you were designed for, instead of being hijacked by stress.

Reflect Jesus, I am leaning in to You. Right here, right now. I’m letting the cares and burdens of my life roll off my shoulders and on to Yours. I’m letting your arms hold me, and all my trust is in You.

Respond How do you respond to Jesus’ invitation to dwell between His shoulders? ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Relate What would it mean in your life right now to rest in Jesus?

What keeps you from experiencing the release of knowing He is working on your behalf?

What idea did the Holy Spirit highlight for you today?

Day 3

Beautiful You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.

—Song of Songs 4:7 Most scholars agree Song of Songs is a metaphor for the love story between Jesus and His people, His church. He loves His church, and He loves each individual one of us who make up His church. His love is not diluted because it is equally as available to all of us as it is to each of us. You can hear the words, “You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you,” directed to you from Jesus.

Few of us feel beautiful. I know women universally heralded as beautiful who never feel beautiful enough. We always tend to see our flaws first. We see others who are more beautiful, we think, and the comparison causes us to feel less than. Not good enough. We measure our beauty against the Instagram version—airbrushed, edited, fixed, de-flawed—and we come up short.

Why does beauty matter to us? Because we believe it to be a measuring stick for how worthy we are, how desirable to others, how loved we might be.

But we are talking about inner beauty, right? “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Do we feel any differently about our inner beauty? Aren’t you keenly aware of all your flaws and imperfections? Do you believe in your head Jesus loves you but feel in your heart there must be caveats to that love? Surely He would love you more if you were more beautiful inside? And when you read, “There is no flaw in you,” you think, “That can’t be right.”

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Let me astonish you with a truth. Jesus finds you beautiful, inside and out, right now, just like you are.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. —2 Corinthians 5:21 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

—1 Corinthians 1:30 The only work you are required to do is to believe on Jesus. “Then they asked him, ‘What does God want from us? What works does he want us to do?’ Jesus answered, ‘God’s work is to believe in the one he has sent’” (John 6:28–29 NIrV). Have you believed in Jesus? Then you are beautiful in heaven’s view. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it is said. When Jesus beholds you, He is enraptured by your beauty.

Because you are so beautiful to Him, He will keep on cleaning you up when you get messy as you do life and washing you clean when grime clings to you as you walk through the world. Not to make you more beautiful but to show how beautiful you are.

Not convinced? Let’s take the thought apart and see how the parts fit together.

He is your Designer. As Designer, He put detailed thought into every aspect of who you are.

Whatever your artistic expression, the brilliance is in the details. When I visit an art gallery, I am fascinated by the way an artist can capture the minutest component. I love to get right up close to a painting and look at the details. “Look! He painted the hair on his knuckle.” “Look! He caught the dust particles in the sun’s ray!” It takes me a long time to view a painting.

I’m astonished by the details.

The Artist who created you is expressed in every detail. Every fine point has His full attention. He designed you how He saw you in His heart before you came to be. He designed you to be beautiful to Him.

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He designed your personality type, with both its strengths and its weaknesses. He will work all the weak places out of your strengths and transform your weaknesses into strengths. You are a work in progress, certainly. But every stage of the work is beautiful.

He designed your outward appearance. Since He created you so your inside is housed in a flesh-and-blood body, He put careful thought into that covering. You look just how He designed you to look. If you would live a happier life clothed in a different body, Jesus would have designed a different covering for you.

The minute Jesus becomes your Savior, His perfect righteousness is imputed to you, and you became clean and beautiful. I know. We have facets of our human nature that need to be refined and cleansed and forgiven.

But let me repeat what I said earlier. Your sanctification is not to make you more beautiful to Him but to show how beautiful you are in Him. Now, here’s the most important part. Let this sink in. When you came to faith in Jesus, He moved in and took up residence. You have clothed yourself in Christ. Paul writes: “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14). And again, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27).

Beautiful Jesus lives in you and lives through you. Everything He so carefully designed about you is constructed to show Jesus at His best. We are not meant to be self-conscious. It is not how we are designed. We are created to be Christ-conscious. When we fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2), we lose the obsession with our own perceived imperfections and become enthralled with the Jesus who adores us.

Because you are beautiful to Him, He invites you into such intimacy with Him that marriage is but a pale shadow.

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.

—Hosea 2:19 As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

—Isaiah 62:5

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My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. . . . Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.” . . . Show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”

—Song of Songs 2:10, 13–14 Living in the awareness of our belovedness is the axis around which the Christian life revolves. Being the beloved is our identity, the core of our existence. It is not merely a lofty thought, an inspiring idea, or one name among many. It is the name by which God knows us and the way He relates to us. —Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child

Beautiful one, the love He has for you is unbridled, exuberant, unrestrained, joyous. His love cannot be removed or shaken. You can’t lose or even diminish it.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

—Isaiah 54:10

Transforming Truth When you realize you are beautiful in every way, just as you are, you are free to stop trying to earn and deserve love. You don’t have to make yourself appealing. Now you can see others as beautiful and love them freely.

Reflect Jesus, You are beautiful to me. To think I am beautiful to You takes my breath away. But I choose to believe it and to relish it and to let it set me free.

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Respond How do you respond to Jesus when He says you are beautiful? ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Relate Why does beauty matter to us?

What stands in the way of fully embracing that you are beautiful just as you are right now?

What stood out for you today?

Day 4

Pursued Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life.

—Psalm 23:6 NLT Psalm 23:6 assures us—the sheep of His pasture—that His love, in the form of His goodness and His unfailing love, will pursue us. You may be more used to hearing the New International Version translation, which words the verse this way: “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” But the word pursue is a more accurate translation.

I love the verb pursue. It’s such a strong word. Chase after, hunt down, go after with intention and focus. Put your heart into it.

It surprises me all over again each time I am reminded that Jesus pursues me. His love is neither conditional nor passive. His love is not following along behind me. His love is hunting me down. He initiates. He reaches. He desires.

My role is to respond. My role is to say yes. My role is to receive.

I have a scene in mind. Imagine one of those swashbuckling, boisterous adventure movies that take the hero into the bowels of a cave. Suddenly, a great body of water breaks loose, and the hero runs with all his might— breathing labored, sweat flying, face flushed—working as hard as he can to escape the relentless wall of water that is pursuing him. Finally, the water picks him up and floods over him. The water takes over all the effort, sweeps the hero up into its mighty vortex, and rushes him to safety. The hero is rescued by what he put so much effort into resisting. Can you see it?

That’s the picture this promise paints. God’s goodness and unfailing love are chasing us down. All we have to do is slow down our self-effort and let it catch us up and sweep us along in its wake.

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When you stop and let this truth wash over you, do you feel the restfulness it brings? Are you released from trying to suss out how and where to find His love and goodness? Let His tenacious, determined, stubborn love catch you up and carry you in its flow.

Let the force of His unfailing love move you along in its current. Surrender to its momentum. He is so bent on flooding your life with His goodness and mercy that He pursues you with intention and focus.

You can’t find a place where He does not pursue you. You can’t make such a mess of your life that He gives up on you. There is no hiding place from His love and mercy.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

—Psalm 139:7–10 In His love, He surrounds you day and night. Whichever direction you might look, there He is. “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me” (Psalm 139:5). Robert Alter translates “you lay your hand upon me” like this: “You set Your palm upon me.”

Let’s take the time to mine the riches in these thoughts. The all-powerful, all-knowing, supremely loving Creator, who knows you more intimately than you know yourself, pursues you with such determination that you can’t escape His love if you tried. The palm of His hand—pierced and scarred for your salvation—is upon you.

When my three sons were little boys, they were very active. The world was a place to be raced through, climbed on, or dug up. When we were out, I always wanted either my hand or my husband’s hand on them. I wanted to be certain their energy and enthusiasm didn’t take them where I couldn’t find them. Had it been possible for me to be both behind them and in front of them, I would have been.

They were not focused on me, so I had to focus on them. I had to pursue them and keep them close enough to me that my hand could be on them. When the situation called for it, like when we crossed a busy street, I would make sure they were holding my hand. And, if one of

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them resisted and tried to pull away, what did I do? Did I let go? No, I held on tighter.

Jesus put it this way: “No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:28–30).

You are tightly held.

Jesus surrounds you with His presence and keeps His hand on you. You are so loved by Him and so precious to Him you can’t find a way to hide from His love. His love pursues you, chases you down.

He surrounds you, hems you in behind and before. He is in front of you, and He is behind you. In the Old Testament, as the Israelites journeyed through the desert, God’s presence appeared as a cloud in the day to lead them, and as a cloud in the tabernacle. When I read that He hems me in, or encases me, it makes me think about a cloud covering me. Not a wispy vaporous cloud as in the sky but the kind of cloud that led the children of Israel on a way they had never traveled before, hid them from their enemies, and sheltered them. Big, strong Jesus covers you like a cloud. He never abandons you. Stubborn love pursues you wherever you go.

Some of Jesus’ most tender parables depict that pursuing love. For example, in Luke 15 He told the parable of the lost sheep. He tells it to a crowd that has in it both the very religious and self-righteous as well as the outcasts and sinners. The religious elite is critical of Him for welcoming those labeled “sinners” into His company. So He addresses the situation with a parable.

The sinners were all up close, crowded in to hear Him; and beyond them—keeping score, taking notes—were the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. Jesus directed His attention just past the gathering of sinners to the very, very righteous ones on the edge of the audience. “Which one of you, if he has one hundred sheep,” He began. Maybe a little humor was evident in His voice. Then He proceeded to spin a story of a shepherd who has one hundred sheep but loses one. “Wouldn’t he leave the ninety-nine and go search for the one lost sheep?” Jesus painted a picture of a shepherd who brings his herd in from the fields at the end of the day and counts his sheep as he puts them in a pen built out in the open field. His count tells him one sheep is missing. The shepherd in the parable searches for his one lost sheep until he finds it. When he finds it, he puts the sheep over his

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shoulders and carries it home. This is a picture of tender, careful, extravagant love. His joy over this one little sheep is so great he can’t contain it himself and has to call in friends to rejoice with him.

Now imagine you are the sheep. In your carelessness or your rebellion you wandered away, and now you find yourself alone and defenseless.

Imagine the moment you hear the familiar voice calling your name, and you see your Shepherd striding over the hill, intent on taking you home. You are swept up in His strong arms and gently carried in His embrace.

That’s Jesus for you. Relentless Pursuer.

Transforming Truth When you know you are so deeply loved Jesus will pursue you no matter where you go, and will cover you and keep His hand on you, you can begin to live fearlessly and adventurously.

Reflect Jesus, I thank You for never letting go of my hand. Thank You for loving me enough to pursue me with Your love and mercy all the days of my life.

Respond How do you respond to knowing Jesus pursues you? ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Relate What does the word pursue bring to your mind?

Can you see ways Jesus has pursued you?

What stood out for you today?

Day 5

His Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

—Isaiah 43:1 The words of Isaiah 43:1 addressed God’s people in their time of captivity, assuring them that even in difficult times and circumstances, He was working on their behalf. He identified Himself as “he who created you . . . he who formed you” (v. 1). He revealed the exquisitely personal nature of His relationship with His people. You are one of His people. He formed and made you; He redeemed you.

“You are Mine,” He says. Not only because He redeemed you—bought you with a price—but also because He made you, shaped you, thought you up, invented you. You are His masterpiece. You are His idea. He is connected to you in a deep and personal bond.

I’m in the stage of my life where grandchildren are being born. I can’t think of anything that compares to seeing the face of my newborn grandchild after the months of anticipation. Now, to be honest, for the most part newborn babies look like newborn babies. Their faces are squished and swollen and scrunched. When I excitedly show the picture of my justborn grandchild to a friend, exclaiming over him or rhapsodizing over her, I imagine the true thoughts of my friend are, “Yep! That’s a baby all right.”

Because all newborns look like newborns.

Unless that newborn is yours.

When the baby is yours, you see him or her with different eyes. This baby is not a generic newborn like most other newborns. Instead, this baby is unique and one-of-a-kind. Like no other baby ever born. Your heart leads 18

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your eyes to zero in on every detail. Look at the particular way her eyebrows arch! Did you see the shape of his lips? Can you believe how wide her forehead is? That hairline! What long, narrow feet! Not one detail is unnoticed.

Every component is beautiful and endlessly fascinating.

Standing outside the newborn nursery looking at the crop of newborns, I am very likely to say to anyone who will listen, “That one’s mine.”

Jesus says to you, “You are Mine.” Everything about you. Not one detail about you is mass-produced. He rhapsodizes over you. He is effervescent about you. You are His. And He has called you by name. “I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”

When He calls you, He is not sending out a blanket call for just anyone.

When He calls you, He calls you.

Jesus considered the truth so important for His followers to understand and believe that He dedicated time to teaching it carefully and fully.

One of the ways He focused on this reality of His relationship with His people was by comparing it to a shepherd and his sheep. His audience knew the ways of shepherds and their sheep, so the metaphor resonated with them.

The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. . . . I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

—John 10:2–3, 14–15 Jesus is contrasting Himself, the Good Shepherd, with a hired hand—someone for whom the sheep are just a job. “The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep” (John 10:12–13). A hired hand is a person who considers that the sheep are there for him; he is not there for the sheep. Jesus is making the point that He is the direct opposite of the hired hand. By contrasting Himself with the hired hand, He is emphasizing what He wants His people to

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clearly see about Him. He knows His sheep. He calls them by name. Each of His sheep is precious to Him. He wants to make sure His point is unambiguous. He doesn’t mean He simply knows what name to call His sheep; He knows His sheep. “I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father” (v. 14).

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

—Psalm 139:1–4 You are an open book to Him. He knows you better than you know yourself.

He understands the things about you that you do not understand about yourself. He knows you like no one else knows you, and He loves you at a depth you cannot fathom. He speaks to you and interacts with you in ways tailored to who you are. He does not treat you as though you were “everybody.” He sees you right where you are and deals with you there. He works in your life as though you are the only sheep He has. You are His. “I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me” (Song of Songs 7:10).

Transforming Truth When you realize you are His, with all that entails, you will begin to see yourself differently. The sense of not being good enough will lose its grip on you, and you can discover the freedom of not feeling compelled to prove yourself.

Reflect Teach me to rest in the knowledge that You delight in me because I am Yours. Still the thoughts trying to convince me I’m on my own, unlovable, unworthy.

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Respond How do you respond to knowing you are His? ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Relate Why do you think His assurance in Isaiah 43:1 that you are His is introduced with, “Do not fear”?

How does knowing you are His quell your fears?

What particularly spoke to you today?