Learning the Power of Blessing

Last February I was studying and preaching on the power of Blessings. Aaron was given the formula for how to Bless by God himself in Numbers 6:22-27. We often hear it called the Aaronic Blessing, or even Rabbinic Blessing. But what I discovered was that hidden in this simple blessing is the Power of the Trinity! God the Father Blesses and Keeps, God the Son shines His face upon us and gives us grace, God the Spirit lifts up His countenance upon us and gives us peace.

All Blessing comes from God, because of the grace of Jesus and results in the power of the Holy Spirit in our life, whose fruit is peace.

What resulted as an outcome of the study and sermons was learning to bless loved ones using the elements of Aaron's Blessing. Everyone in our church was given help in how to write the blessings, and then given an opportunity to bless their loved ones in the service. It was very powerful!

I found the blessings I provided for my wife, my children and my grandchildren. I wanted to preserve them here:

Blessing for my wife Lydia:

• Holy God, bless my wife and keep her ad the apple of your eye. May she dwell in safety all her days.
• Righteous God, shine your face upon her and may your grace upon grace abound in her life, and may she abound in every good work for Your glory.
• Compassionate Father, lift Your countenance upon her life and may your peace overwhelm her heart and bring forth fruit unto righteousness.
  
• May she be a blessed olive tree that brings forth sweet smelling fragrance unto the Lord. May her children and grandchildren rise up and call her blessed. Cause my heart to praise her.

Blessing for my children as well as their spouses, Ben & Sara, Jimmy & Krista, Ben & Tonya, David & Lindsey, Andy, Geoffrey:

• Father God Bless my children as well as their spouses and may they keep the way of the Lord and may they instruct their children to follow after you.
• May your face shine upon their marriages and may your grace empower them to love each other and understand each other and forgive each other so that Christ would dwell in their lives and homes by faith.
• Compassionate Lord, lift up your countenance upon them and may your peace reign in their hearts and their homes.
• Creator Lord bless David and Lindsey and make her the joyous mother of children from You.
• Father may your light enable them to see that they are raising a precious heritage unto you. Bless them and may their quiver be full!

Blessing for my Grandchildren:

• Almighty God bless my grandchildren and keep them from the evil one. Cause your angels to camp round about them and keep them safe in your loving arms.
• Holy Father shine Your face upon their lives and may the grace of Your Word illumine their hearts until the light of Jesus Christ indwells them.
• Loving Father lift up Your countenance upon them and sow Your peace in their lives.
• May the vine give its fruit, the ground give its produce and the heavens give their dew all the days of their lives. May their children and their children's children follow after You.
  

We prepared some verses which are great to use in blessing. Everyone of these blessings are based upon Scripture. That is what makes them so powerful! Email a request and we'll send them to you.

Does God Really Work?

The God Who Works?
I'm preaching on Phil 2:12-30 this Sunday. This morning I've been think about verse 13, about how it is God who works in us the 'will' and the 'to do' of His good pleasure. A personal maxim of mine is to always give God one more day to show His power. The reason this is a maxim of mine is that early in my life I was very impatient, and I thought much of what happened in my life was up to me. This often meant beating my head against the wall, or worse yet, getting disappointed because God wasn't blessing what I was doing. I thought problems should go away quickly if I was humble and contrite. Then someone told me that God has a MPP quotient. That's 'Miles Per Problem'. Most of the time God is working a goal in our life, and He is getting as many miles as He can out of that problem. His slowness to work is actually by design and with a firm goal in sight.

I understand that God works behind the scenes, but does He work in Me? That is the really important issue. That is what the people listening Sunday are going to be thinking.

I had lunch with a young man who early in life made a profession of faith in Christ. Even though he was 7 at the time and now he is in his 30's, the memories of his fear of dying and going to hell are so vivid that he still trembles. He remembers asking Christ into his heart. But today he says he is an atheist. All he has are a set of personal values and a desire to be the best person he can be. Once he dies it is all over. Has God been working in this young man? What happened to his early faith?
I had lunch with another young man who was aking a similar question, but from a different perspective. He was not very 'religious', and had been shot while driving his work truck. Six 40 caliber shots went into the cab of his rig, and one went through and through his stomach. He wonders how God was working through that.
As a young boy he remembers going to church all the time, but when he got older, it no longer mattered in his life. He is wondering what to do with his life. Could this be God calling Him to a personal relationship with Him? What happened to the other young man?
Does God work in our lives?
The question I must answer this Sunday is not only does He work, but how does He work the "will" and the "to do" of His good pleasure in each of us?