Prayers Of Blessing

Prayers of Blessing

May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. Numbers 6:24-26

EVERY DAY, WHETHER IN PERSON or through an audiovisual medium, you encounter hundreds, perhaps thousands of people who need a touch from God. You may not know the troubles and questions beneath the surface—the traumas a person is carrying or the disappointments he or she has suffered—but you can assume they are there. Everyone has them. Some deal with them in the context of their relationship with God. Others don’t even know if God exists. All of them need his touch.

Through prayers of blessing, you have an opportunity to give it to them—to set them up for some kind of divine encounter, whether subtle in the depths of their spirit or dramatic in the circumstances and messages they hear. History is full of stories of those who have suddenly sensed his presence, completely changed their minds about him at a word, or woken up in the middle of the night knowing a change of direction in their lives is needed. In most cases—probably all of them—such encounters have come because someone prayed. When God’s people bless others in their prayers, things happen.

That’s why God instructed Aaron to bless the people of Israel in his name and promised to honor the blessing. We aren’t limited to these words when we pray for God to bless people, but they make a good start. Sometimes such words are best spoken directly to the people we want to bless; more often, they are conversations between us and God about filling lives with his goodness. If his kindness leads to repentance (Romans 2:4), why wouldn’t we want everyone to experience it, even (or especially) those who are thorns in our side? If we bless indiscriminately, many people will.

That’s our calling, even with people who are least worthy of a blessing (Romans 12:14). Our words and prayers are the means by which his grace is applied in the hearts and lives of other human beings. It’s a golden opportunity, and many people miss it. By faith, we can pick it up and change the world.

Until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.