If you are looking for a hope-infusion and life-giving word, the message from Darryl Reid this past Sunday did just that! Follow along as we break open more of what was said. You can also re-watch the sermon to be encouraged and set ablaze with hope and truth, understanding more about the Power of Blessing!
“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us— so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.”
God's heart is to bless mankind. He is good and He is kind and He is powerful! It is the first thing He did when He created man (Genesis 1:22, 27-28), and it was the last thing Jesus did for His disciples before He ascended into Heaven (Luke 24:50). His blessing carries with it the power, the authority and the substance to fulfil what it was sent out to do!
We've gotten accustomed to hearing the word 'blessing', and it has become a word that doesn't carry real meaning – an empty word. Let's get back the understanding that nothing God does is ever without meaning or without power.
Definition for Blessing: Words spoken in the authority of God’s name which bring a tangible, physical, material or spiritual benefit to an individual, family, nation or church – and which may continue from generation to generation.
1) GOD'S GOODNESS
"He wants to prosper us and bless us. God is GOOD. His heart is FOR you!"
God's words are never without power! We've heard that word-curses can carry on to the second or third generation, but the blessing of the LORD continues for a thousand generations! When the phrase 'thousand/thousands' is used in scripture, it speaks of something that is immeasurable. It is another way of saying 'eternal' or 'forever'. His Blessing continues forever!
In the Bible, there wasn't just some goosebumps when someone spoke a blessing. There was an expectation that something was going to happen when a blessing was spoken.
The Aaronic Blessing
Let's take a look at the instruction God gave Aaron and the priests on blessing the people of Israel (remember He is the God of intention, power and purpose.):
Tell Aaron and his sons, "This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 'The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.'"
“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
This blessing is available for all of us, through the Blood of Jesus, and includes:
Protection
Health
His Presence – the nearness of GOD.
His Shalom Peace
When He turns His face towards us, it's not just about His presence, it's about His Shalom-peace. His completeness – nothing missing and nothing broken. Completeness, wholeness and soundness.
In the current climate, it's important to remember that what we agree with, we empower. We have a choice of what we will agree with. Let's agree with the Shalom peace of God. When we agree with that, we give it permission to come and influence the world we live in.
Let's agree with the Shalom peace of God. When we agree with that, we give it permission to come and influence the world we live in.
2) HE BLESSES US TO BE A BLESSING (Genesis 12:1-3)
As He blesses us, He blesses us for the purpose of being a blessing to others. He is so kind and gracious – He set the example from beginning to end!
We just need to position ourselves in Him so that we can walk in the blessing that He has spoken and continues to speak over us.
Here are three conditions mentioned by theologian, Colin Dye, that pertain to walking in God's blessing: 1. Be in the right place. Position ourselves in Him. Obed-Edom was blessed by God simply because he lived where the ark of Yahweh was. 2. Obedience rooted in LOVE. 3. As you are generous to the poor, it unlocks blessing in your life. (2 Corinthians 9 vs 6-15)
This is also a heart issue. It's not about giving to receive – it's not a transaction. It's about being generous, because we carry and portray the heart of a generous Father!
Some verses we can meditate on:
"A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed."
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
3) THE POWER IN BLESSING OTHERS
Repaying evil with blessing
A very important scripture about repaying evil with blessing, can be found in 1Peter 3:8-18.
We read in verse 9 that we ought to repay evil with blessing. Here we see again that what we agree with, we're empowering. We can either inherit the 'justice' that the world craves, which brings no transformation, or we can choose to inherit the Blessing of the Lord – which carries with it Kingdom power, restoration, transformation and deliverance.
Empowering through our words
We get to decide what we agree with. The opposite of a blessing is a curse. Do we want to agree with curses, or God's blessing? God demonstrates this when He creates the world! He didn't think the world into being, He spoke the world into being.
"What are we agreeing with when we speak?"
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Don't just pray in your mind. Transition thought into spoken word. Speak out! Something powerful happens when we speak that doesn't happen when we only think.
4) OVERTHROWING A CURSE WITH A BLESSING
"We can sometimes get so underwhelmed with blessing and overwhelmed with a curse. It should be completely turned around!"
We continue to read in 1 Peter 3:14-15, that we need not ever be afraid! And that when the people around us recognize the hope in which we live, we need to be ready to give the reason for our hope: Our Father is the God of all hope!
God's blessing overrides and takes dominion over every curse! When we align ourselves with His blessing, we're releasing the light of God into darkness, and darkness cannot win (John 1).
We have been blessed with spiritual gifts and the gift of dicernment! We can discern when something is fake, a curse and not worthy of our agreement. We can also discern what is from God and step into agreement with His truth (Acts 3:26, Galatians 3:13-14).
"When the blessing of God is spoken over you, it comes with power to bring change, transformation, and life."
Meditate on these scripture with a renewed understanding of the Power in God's Blessing:
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
Points to Ponder:
From Ephesians 1:3 , we read that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing, through Christ.
What do you think it means to have been blessed with every spiritual blessing?
Here is a powerful song to bless you as you think about the power of God's blessing:
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