Scattering Blessings

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 God bless you!

A phrase full of hope and encouragement.  I used to think it was so old fashioned.   Only used by saints in the past.  But lately God has made blessing a vital part of my daily life.

What does it mean to bless someone?  To express good wishes or to offer prayer to God for someone’s welfare and benefit.  What a wonderful thing—to ask for good to happen in another’s life.

God has blessed me so much—and He has put it in my heart to bless others.  So I have been practicing scattering blessing to people—to almost everyone I encounter.  I close most of my e-mails with “God bless you!” or "Blessings!"  As I part from friends, I ask God to bless them.  It has been especially fun to say “God bless you!” to store clerks and flight attendants and almost everyone I encounter.  Their reactions are often surprise, almost always appreciation.  Sometimes I receive a blessing in return.How do we bless as a way of life? 

The most important person to bless is the Lord Himself.  We sing “Blessed Be Your Name,” and that is so appropriate.  Nehemiah 9:5 tells us to “stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting:  Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.”  God is blessed when we praise Him.

We are also admonished to bless others.  Numbers 6:22-26 gives us a model:  “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.”

One way I have practiced blessing those important people in my life is to write blessings for them.  I find Scriptures that I would like to pray into their lives and write a blessing to apply those truths to them.  It provides a very tangible way I can touch their lives.

We are also told to bless our enemies.  Some of us in ministry have real enemies—those who desire to harm us or even kill us.  Most of us only have in our lives those who irritate or cause pain.  First Peter 3:9 gives a strong admonition: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing…so that you may inherit a blessing.”  So just the act of blessing those who might hurt us brings blessing to them and to us.

God has even enabled me to write a blessing for a person who was very difficult in my life. Those words of encouragement were part of what God used to turn that relationship completely around.

My prayer for you is that God would pour out abundant blessings on you and through you!!

A Blessing for You: May you daily fall more in love with Jesus. May you be constrained by His love as you love and serve others. May you know what a treasure you are to others, to God and to His kingdom. May you always walk in the Spirit. May Jesus satisfy your every need and your every desire. May you maintain a servant's heart and a broken and contrite spirit. May you be filled up to overflowing with God's abundant blessings.