Partnering with the One Who Blesses

“Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, LORD, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever” (1 Chron. 17:27, NIV).

Last week, we talked about the irrevocable power of blessing. When God has decided to bless you, nothing in the universe can reverse His decision. You are blessed forever.

Today, I would like to meditate together on how that principle plays into the words we speak to each other. Did you know that we have the actual power to release blessing and life to each other through our words? Holy Spirit is making reference to that power when He instructs us, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” (Rom. 12:14, NKJV) and “Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:10,NKJV).

Our Father is protective when it comes to the ones He loves. That includes everybody alive on the planet.  So He wants us to use the power of blessing even with those who have hurt us. This can be so hard! However, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can learn to operate in supernatural love. Nothing is impossible with God, when we surrender to Him. When we are willing to live this way, we partner with Him to release redemption and transformation into our world.

Here is a further thought about His protective nature. This aspect of His heart is especially fierce when it comes to His adopted, beloved kids. He knows how powerful words released for us or against us are. When someone has used the power of their tongue in the wrong way against us, it stirs up His Defender instinct. We see this reflected in His words to Abraham in Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

From this declaration of His, we learn that we can leave our defense in His powerful hands. Instead of thinking we need to take care of it ourselves, we can instead focus on partnering with Him to release blessing and life into those around us. This includes those that are difficult to love.

We become channels of blessing or cursing with the way we direct our words. As Proverbs 18:21 reminds us, our tongues hold the power of life and death. Understanding this, I have endeavored to only allow words of edification out of my mouth, even when I felt like venting negative emotions instead. For example, I have habitually called my son David, “Handsome man of God.” I have been doing this for years, including during a stretch of time when he was convinced he didn’t want to live for the Lord. In spite of how hard this season was on me, I kept on speaking to his identity, lovingly telling him who he really was. Multiple times a week, I would greet him affectionately with a hug and the words, “Good morning, man of God.”

He would roll his eyes and rebut my words of faith. But God! David had an encounter with Jesus in June 2021 and got baptized the very next day. I am now “eating the fruit” of my words and prayers! He has changed and grown so much since that difficult period.

He laughed cheerfully during a recent conversation with my father. Towards the end of it, Dad called him “Man of God.” David cheerfully remarked in response, “My mom always calls me that too.” Hearing that, I was freshly reminded how our words leave an indelible mark on the hearts of those we love.

This is my prayer for you and me today: May our tongues release rivers of sweet water alone. May what flows out of our lips bring life, wherever this river flows!

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Have you practiced intentionally releasing blessing over your loved ones? Have you said to anyone recently, “I bless you with peace”? Has anyone spoken a blessing over you that uplifted your spirit? I’d love to hear your thoughts on these matters.