In past blogs, I have been posting about the truth that part of your identity is that you are a priest! You are to function in The Church as a priest. I encourage you to go back and read the other blogposts if you have not read them yet! This is who you are as a born again follower of Jesus!
1 Peter 2:9 says this, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”
As a priest, there are certain privileges that you get. Because of Jesus, we have been made a priest who gets to do three things:
“At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister and to pronounce blessings in His name, as they still do today.”
Today, I just want to talk with you about the third part of being a priest: “to pronounce blessings in His name”.
The word “bless” is “barak” and means “to kneel; to bless”. This is because in the days of the Old Testament, people would kneel
to receive a blessing. That blessing usually entailed a declaration of God’s favor over your life and material prosperity. In the New Testament, it was more along the lines of spiritual blessing.
Blessing is not as much about making someone feel good, as it is about aiming them toward their destiny. We have been given the privilege as a priest to bless others, by setting them on a spiritual trajectory for their lives.
Here are 5 elements of blessing that John Trent wrote in his book “The Blessing”:
Spoken Words: these are words that encourage and declare God’s Word and purpose over their lives.
Laying Hands: touch symbolizes a transfer of what God has empowered you with, to them. Touch is empowerment.
Attaching High Value: honoring them by sharing and showing them how valuable they are to the Kingdom of God.
Giving Vision: picture for them a future; for without a vision, people perish; “I could so see God using you in this way.”
Making Commitment: offering your genuine commitment to pray for, encourage, and help however you can to see their God-given purpose fulfilled.
To truly bless another in this way, it requires one very important element: Spiritual Sight. You have to learn to see someone not as they currently are, but as God made them to be. You need spiritual eyesight to call them up to the purposes of God in their life. I always ask the Lord, “What is Love saying about this person? What are You saying about this person?” And whatever the Lord shows you, share it. Whether you understand it or not, it will be exactly what that person needs.
See someone not as they currently are, but as God made them to be.
Proverbs tells us that life and death are in the power of the tongue. We live in a world filled with criticism, bullying, and judgement. That is the spirit of the evil one. We have the opposite Spirit, and we are needed desperately to speak in that opposite Spirit with kindness, value, honor, future and love.
So, what are you calling forth in those God has in your path? The things God called forth were life-giving. May we follow our High Priest, Jesus, and become a person who offers blessing to those around us! Our world so needs it!!!
Set yourself a goal to bless one person a day and see what the Lord does through you as you partner with Him in this way! Comment and let me know how it goes!!!
You are loved,
Jena
And don’t forget to begin planning to start your small group, joining us in January for the LOVE study! It’s going to be oh, so good! Get your book and DVD, and grab you some girls and let me know that you are leading so that I can place you in our Facebook group “Sisterhood Central” to help you in this step of obedience!!! https://www.jenaforehand.com/smallgroups