DELIGHT

After Jesus' Baptism He heard:
You are My beloved Son;
I take delight in You! (Holman translation)

When I read this a flood hit my spirit and soul--wonderful God flood.

First I was imagining how Jesus would have felt. Because His father was not his biological father there is a chance He would not have had Bar Mitzvah. This is the time when Jewish boys are validated by thier fathers. Jesus' Father validated Him in an incredible display! Since everything Jesus did on earth was done in His humanity He would have had some kind of emotion about this. From a human standpoint I think it would have been pleasing, exciting, liberating, encouraging and a lot more adjectives besides.

Secondly, it hit me that in this translation they made what was said more PERSONAL. There was something about say, "I delight"...that really spoke to my heart. Then I realized how often we have de-personalized the Gospel. I do not believe this has been intentional but it has happened. Somehow the Gospel was presented to my intellect, not to my heart. The Holy Spirit has been taking it there but when I got saved I repented of my sins and received Jesus as my Savior, even though the words "Come into my heart forever" were part of what I said my intellect was what grew. In fact having an emotional response was taught against. We were not to experience anything spiritual. Yet God wanted to touch me spirit, soul and body. There have been people who prayed for me and I knew deep down that what they were saying came directly from Father to me. Other times I have known the truth of their prayers but the heart of Father was missing.

I have lots of Bible Knowledge but am just getting to know Jesus experientially. Rejection by people and the fear of Father rejecting me caused a fear I was not aware of and it kept Jesus at arm's length. Thankfully that deception has been routed and my relationship with Him is deepening and becoming exciting. I sense Father saying that He's delighting in me too.