Bless: December 9, 2010

Today's Word for Thursday December 9, 2010

BLESS

DEFINITION

Consecrate by a religious rite; invoke God's favor upon; make happy; to make fortunate or prosperous; praise.

SCRIPTURE

"Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His only name!" Psalm 103:1.

"Bless those that curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you." Luke 6:28

"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Psalm 34:1.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

When we think of the word bless, we think of probably one of the most significant verses in the Old Testament. Let us explain. In Genesis Chapter 12, God made this promise to Abraham. "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing." God fulfilled His promise to Abraham. Abraham fathered a great nation and God did make his name great. There are not many who do not know about Abraham.

And God goes on to promise: "I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you." This nation today is Israel and God is promising us as individuals that He will bless each one of us that bless Israel. In Acts 3:25 Peter preaches to the people, quoting Moses, "And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Have you thought about how all the world has been blessed through Abraham? First of all God chose him and his descendants to represent God to the world. God's Word, the Bible was given through Abraham to the children of Israel. And the greatest blessing the world has ever received is Jesus Christ who was given to us through the lineage of Abraham. The first chapter of Matthew lists the ancestors of Jesus. The list starts with Abraham.

In Psalm 115:13, the Psalmist says that God will bless those who fear the Lord. Our daily strength comes from God and we can expect His blessing upon our lives when we fear the Lord. God does not give us a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7), but expects us to be obedient to His Word. When God promised to bless Abraham, He put a requirement on receiving the blessing. Abraham had to leave his homeland. He obeyed God and therefore was blessed by God.

The instruction in Luke 6:28 is to bless those who treat you badly and this is very tough to do. Jesus wants us to follow His example and love our enemies. It takes a conscious effort on our part to want to bless those who spitefully use us and to pray for them. A kind word softens anger and prayer does change things. If we can bring ourselves to pray for an enemy our attitude toward them will change. Prayer works because it brings God into the situation and God can change the hardest of hearts.

Our Lord is a God of love and He loves to bless us. In Mark 10: 13 to 16 is the account when Jesus took the children into His arms, laid His hands on them and blessed them. The disciples had tried to keep the children away from Jesus and when Jesus saw it He invited the children to come to Him. When He blessed the children He demonstrated that His blessings are freely given and all are invited to come to Him and He will bless them freely. God "richly blesses all who call upon Him." (Romans 10:12)

A group of doctors, dentists and nurses donated their time and paid their own expenses to go for two weeks into the jungles of the Amazon to operate a medical/dental clinic for one of my ministry clients. They were promised difficulty, hardship and discomfort and they were told it would not be a vacation experience.

Upon her return, one of the nurses said that she had never known that life was anything more than what one could get out of it. She went on to say: "Now I know that the real blessing in life lies in seeing how much I can put into someone else's life. Never have I experienced such a blessing."

Our friend, Dr. Vernon Grounds said: "Put yourself into the lives of others for Jesus sake. You will then experience a fulfillment and a blessing from God beyond compare."

LEARNING

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 16:33

In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer. I have come to overcome the world.

PRAYER

Help me to bless people today. Thank You for the abundant blessings You give to me and my family which are more than I could ask or even imagine. May my life be an instrument that You can use to give a special blessing to someone in need today.