Blessing

Today I encourage you to know the importance of blessing someone.

Genesis 32 ... unless you bless me ...

"So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”  The man asked him, “What is your name?”  “Jacob,” he answered.  Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

There is a deep yearning in our lives to experience blessing. Jacob wrestles with an angel of the Lord and refuses to let Him go unless he is blessed by Him. Jacob knew his life was filled with chaos, lies, deception, struggle and a strange 'wishful thinking' kind of hope. As he yearned for a blessing, his life was being laid out in front of him. The blessing he experienced was a new name, a redeemed identity. God comes into our life to save us, redeem us, lead us in a new direction – this is His blessing!

Pause today ... pause and see how involved God is in our lives – every part of our life. As you pause, give thanks to God for loving us so fully that our lives look different after we encounter Him!

Ephesians 3 ... that you may be filled ...

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Paul desires God to bless the Church. Paul is moved by the Holy Spirit to speak words of blessing to the people of Ephesus and also to us. The blessing is to know, to grasp, to see and to be filled with the fullness of who Jesus is! To know what He is able and desiring to do in us and among us!

Pause today ... pause and receive these words of God to bless you ... to bless you in knowing who God is and how active and intentional He is toward you and I ... as you receive this blessing of God pause and ask Jesus to direct you to someone who is yearning, like Jacob, to be blessed ... then go to them and speak that blessing! (below are some prayers of blessing to share!)

Prayers of Blessing:

The love of the Lord Jesus draw you to Himself,

The power of the Lord Jesus strengthen you in His service,

The joy of the Lord Jesus fill your heart;

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

-- The Alternative Service Book 1980

May the warmth of Christ heal you,

The eyes of Christ gaze on you,

And the peace of Christ shine through you, today and evermore. Amen.

-- Angela Ashwin

The blessing of God, the eternal goodwill of God, the shalom of God, the wildness and the warmth of God, be among us and between us, now and always. Amen.

-- Jim Cotter

Blessing and laughter and loving be yours.

The love of a Great God

Who names you

And holds you while the earth turns and the flowers grow,

This day, this night, this moment and forever.

Amen.

-- Ruth Burgess

Ted