The Father’s Blessing

Introduction

I have recently become a father; Joshua is exactly 8 Months and 21 Days today. Part of what we are going to do today is to dedicate him to the Lord. Since I became a Father I realised I want to be a good Father to Joshua.I think all fathers want to be good fathers ,they just don’t always know how because we haven’t always had the best examples of what it means to be fathers. My biological father disappeared from my life when I was about 7 Years old and I never saw him again. I also didn’t always have the best male role models in my life,most of the men in my life, were womanisers, they were drunk a lot, divorced, abused the woman in there lives and were constantly fighting.They were never even involved much in the lives of there children. So that didn’t give me a very good example of what it means to be a Father but I don’t want that for Joshua. The good news is we don’t have to be the product of our circumstances. We can impart into the lives of our children and families, either blessing or cursing.The choice is ours. When we become born again, it is the first step to experiencing the blessing in our lives, our earthly fathers may not have always been good but we have an awesome heavenly Father who loves us more than words could say and He wants us to experience His blessing.

Text

Matthew 7:7-11(NKJV)7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!.
God the Father wants to give good things to those who ask Him.
Matthew 7: 7-11 (Message)“Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?
God conceived us in love.. We are the focus of His love.

Text Verse

Matthew 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Our heavenly Father loves us so much. He wants to give us good things.He is a good, good Father. It is who is, and we are loved by Him. He loves us so much and He wants to bless us. Do you believe that or what is your image of a Father?

The Father’s Heart

How do you see God today? Many people today see God like an old Man with a big stick, who can’t wait to pour out his wrath on us when we fail to keep His standards. When I grew up that is exactly the picture of God that I had, an Old Man, with grey hair, a white beard, holding a big club waiting to hit me/ on the head when I sin, my picture was God who didn’t smile and was very old. Have you ever asked yourself why do we see God that way? Maybe because we think that is what Fathers look like. What we don’t realise is that growing old is part of the curse that came upon the earth because of Adam’s sin. In heaven there is no curse, in heaven people are forever young. So that is not what God looks like. God is a God who spoke to Abraham as a friend, who parted the red sea so the Israelites could walk through on dry ground to deliver them from slavery, who made a young shepherd boy David, King over all of Israel. God is forever young, forever strong and forever loving! He is not holding a club ready to punish you, His arms are spread wide open, ready to embrace you and love you and He wants to bless you.The problem is Do you still see an angry God today or a God who is smiling at you and ready to embrace you with His loving arms? What is your image of a Father? What is your image of THE FATHER…?

The father problem

Many people today are walking around with a Father wound; they have been wounded by abusive Fathers, experienced rejection because of absent Fathers, or never knew there Fathers at all which also leaves its own set of scars. This generations of fatherlessness have never received the blessing from there fathers and it’s either made them rebellious or a generation of people trying so hard to earn there fathers approval. Fathers, contrary to popular belief play a very big role in the lives of children and families. Studies have shown, as supported by scientific data, children from fatherless homes are more likely to be poor, become involved in drug and alcohol abuse, drop out of school, and suffer from health and emotional problems. Boys are more likely to become involved in crime, and girls are more likely to become pregnant as teens.Now in saying that, if you come from a broken home like many people do, it is not an excuse to say, all the bad things I have done or am doing, or not doing is my fathers fault. We all have a choice at the end of the day of what type of person we will be one day.
Deuteronomy 30:19This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.
God’s Grace is enough for us, and through a loving intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father, spiritual Parents and spiritual family called church, we can be healed and restored, but we have to make the choice to allow God into our live and into our hearts.
John 10:10 (Msg) A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
Jesus came so that we can have life and have it in abundance. The amplified Bible says, in abundance, to the full, and until it overflows, a blessed life! God can heal our Father wound, if we allow Him to and be the Father you never had.
Psalm 68:6 NIV God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.
God the Father can be the Father you never had, and heal you of all your brokenness and give you an abundant life. He can give you a family you never had andHe can bless you in every aspect of your life. Actually, He has already but we don’t realise what Jesus did for us on the cross.
John 17:6 (Message) I spelled out your character in detail to the men and women you gave me.
He came and showed us the Father heart of God.
John 17:26 (Phillips)“I am not praying only for these men but for all those who will believe in me through their message, that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, live in me and I live in you, I am asking that they may live in us, that the world may believe that you did send me. I have given them the honour that you gave me, that they may be one, as we are one—I in them and you in me, that they may grow complete into one, so that the world may realise that you sent me and have loved them as you loved me. Father, I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am; I want them to see that glory which you have made mine—for you loved me before the world began. Father of goodness and truth, the world has not known you, but I have known you and these men now know that you have sent me. I have made your self known to them and I will continue to do so that the love which you have had for me may be in their hearts—and that I may be there also.
Jesus came and showed us the heart of the Father. The Bible tells us God loved the world so much, that He gave His only son, that whosover believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The Bible says this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and gave His only son as an offering for sin. God loved us so much, that while we were sinner, that because of sin, deserved death, He gave us His only son, so to die in our place. How much does God love us? The value of something is determined by the price that was paid for it. You don’t pay the same amount for a mini that you do for a Laborgini, the Laborgine is worth much more, so you pay much more for it. How much are you worth? God was willing to pay heavens best for you.
Romans 8:32 NIV He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
If God was willing to give Jesus in your place, how much value does that place on you, how much does your heavenly Father love you? What we don’t realise is that with Jesus God gave you everything.
Ephesians 1:3 NKJV Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
When God blessed us with Jesus; he blessed us with every blessing in heavenly places. Everything that is in heaven became ours. We became heirs of God and join heirs with Jesus Christ.

Joint Heirs

Romans 8:16–17The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…
When we are born again, we are no longer “slaves,” but sons and daughter of the Most High God. And God does not just call us His sons and daughters. He also calls you “heirs” through Christ (see Galatians 4:7). In fact, Romans 8:17 say that we are “joint heirs” with Christ.As a joint heir with Christ Jesus; we inherit everything that He is. How precious Jesus is to the Father, is how precious we are to the Father. The way the Father loves Jesus, is the way the Father loves us!
How accepted are you by God today? Look at Jesus. That is how accepted you are! Christ is the measure of your acceptance. How favored are you by God? Look at Jesus, who is seated at the Father’s right hand. You enjoy that same favor today because whatever Christ enjoys, you enjoy!As a joint heir with Christ Jesus, you also inherit all that He has obtained from the Father. How much Jesus has, is how much you have. How prosperous is the one who made all things, and who put the gold, silver and diamonds in the earth? As Jesus is So are we in this world (see 1 John 4:17)!
I used to read the Bible to find out how to be a successful and victorious Christian. But now, I read it to find out more about Jesus because I know that when I find Him, I find my every blessing in Him (see Ephesians 1:3, 2 Peter 1:3).
All that Jesus is in heaven today, we are in this world. All that belongs to Him belongs to us. That is why it is in your interest to know Him more, to see Him in all His glory and beauty. And because Jesus is so glorious, it will take you a lifetime to discover everything that He has done for you and has for you.We are heirs of the Most High God. We are joint heirs with Christ Jesus. It is time to find out all the blessings that are part of our rich inheritance and start walking in them today! We are blessed. When we start to receive this blessing it imparts into our lives which was broken. His blessing will make whole that which was broken. How do we receive the Fathers blessing into our lives?

The Jewish Blessing

God the Father wants to bless us. Jewish people realise this. That is why or orthodox Jews, on Friday evenings in their homes, the father lays his hands on his children and pronounces God’s blessings over them. No wonder Jewish children grow up to be winners in life! Statitistics show us that, they become some of the world’s greatest inventors, bankers, musicians and entertainers.Although a minority race, the Jews has produced the most number of Nobel Prize winners. I believe that it is because they bless their children in the same way the patriarchs of the Old Testament did. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob released God’s blessings upon their children by laying hands on them and speaking God’s blessings on them. This comes from the Bible where Fathers would declare the blessing of God over there children. They believed in the power of the blessing of a Father. We need to speak the Blessings of God over our lives, over our childrens lives, our spouses and everyone that God has placed in our lives. Today we have lost sight of the power of a blessing. Today when someone sneezes we say: “bless you “, but we don’t know what it means. That actually comes from one of the black plague in England, which was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, they say it resulted in the death of between 75 to 200 million people in Asia and Europe from 1347 to 1351.One of the symptoms of the plague was coughing and sneezing, and they say that Pope Gregory the great suggested saying “God bless you” after a person sneezed in hopes that this prayer would protect them from death. We even say when something bad happens, that is a blessing in disguise, and we don’t know the difference between a blessing and a curse. Blessing is not even the things we have; our car is not a blessing, our house is not a blessing, even though we often say it is.

The Blessing

Traditionally, most Christians and people consider the things they possess – cars, houses, clothes and money – as “blessings.” Often when people study the word bless in the Bible, they see bless, blessed, and blessing as being “happy or fortunate.” Others say it is a “form of pleasure” or “an emotional, physical or financial condition.” They focus more on the effects of the words rather than the words it self. The Bible shows, us these “things” are not blessings at all. Instead, they are simply the results, or the effects, of God’s blessing. For example, some people define the wind by what they see and hear. We’ve all heard the sound of wind chimes and seen tree leaves as the wind blows and said look at the wind. We’ve even heard the wind howl. What you’re hearing and seeing, however, is not the wind, but the wind’s effect. You see what I mean? They only represent the manifestation of the wind’s presence but not its nature.
The same is true of the word blessing. Happiness, money and pleasure are only by-products of the blessing. It’s fine to look at the results of the word, but we need to look and know the nature and origin of the blessing. We need to know what the blessing is made of, because the substance of a thing is greater than its effects. It is like having electricity, I can have electricity and it can even work in my life, but if I have the thing that electricity is made up off, its substance, I can not just have electricity I can produce electricity. If I have the blessing it can produces blessings in my life.
So what does the Bible say about the Blessing: :
Proverbs 10:22 (NKJV) The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it
So to more accurately define blessing we have to see God’s blessing as “an endowment of power, which results in prosperity and success; a sign ofspecial favor.”
To endow means “to bestow, to clothe, the crown and to lavish upon.”
So, the Lord’s blessing is the nature of His power, ability and anointing of God to bring about prosperity, success and favor. In clearer terms, the blessing is God’s empowerment to prosper. Think of God’s blessing this way. It’s His ability on your ability. It gives you the ability to do what you could not do before. Simply put, it is His super on your natural, giving you supernatural ability to do anything. I like that! Circumstances and situations can only change for the better when the blessing shows up!
Proverbs 10:22 (NKJV) The blessing of the LORD makes one rich….
The question is, what does the blessing make rich? The blessing makes whatever is needed at the time rich. For example, when the blessing shows up in a poor man’s life, it makes him rich with money. If the blessing is activated in a sick person’s body, it maketh him rich with healing. If a marriage is falling apart, the blessing maketh it rich in whatever that marriage needs to prosper and succeed. The blessing can take on any form and manifest itself however and whenever it’s needed. Now that’s powerful stuff!
The blessing is a positive force. It has an opposing force, however – a curse. I call it the backside of the blessing. Unlike a blessing, a curse is “an empowerment or endowment to fail.” When someone is under a curse, he experiences more than the loss of material goods. He experiences failure in every area of life – finances, family, work, etc. Simply put, the negative force of a curse works against everything! We don’t have to live under the curse. We can live under God’s blessing, and please here me, it is more than just experience an increase in material goods – everything goes well for them. That’s the blessing. So the blessing of God makes us excel beyond your natural ability. So how do we get the blessing to operate in our lives?
1) Inheritance. 2) Petition 3) Impartation.
We received the blessing by inheritance; the Lord’s promise to endow Abraham with power wasn’t for Abraham alone.
Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “AND TO YOUR SEED,” who is Christ.
The Bible tells us Jesus is Abraham’s Seed – and Jesus is the heir to the blessing. But it doesn’t stop there. When we got born again, we, too, became Abraham’s seed. In other words, you were adopted into a blessed family.
Ephesians 1:3-5 (NKJV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
Galatians 3:13-14 (NKJV)13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Jesus redeemed us from the curse so that we could be endowed with the blessing. Our born-again status in Christ makes us equal heirs or the promise of the blessing.
Romans 8:17 (NIV) 17 now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Galatians 3:29 and if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
What are we heirs of according to the promise? We are heirs of the blessing of Abraham. When we become born again, we become Heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; we receive that same blessing by inheritance. Are you born again: The blessing is yours!
There is also another way to receive the blessing it can be invoked. Invoked blessing is different. It is transferred through spoken words or through physical touch. For example, according to Genesis 26:1-12, although Abraham’s son, Isaac inherited the blessing by birth, God spoke the blessing over his life. And like his father, Isaac made an exchange of obedience for the endowment of power. God blessed him because he obeyed Him. Not only that, Isaac pronounced his blessing over his son, Jacob (Gen. 28:1-4).
Then there is the the imparted blessing, the imparted blessing comes through association or connection. When Jacob worked in Laban’s fields, the harvest increased. Genesis 30 tells us that because of Laban’s association with Jacob; he experienced the effects of the blessing in his own life. You see, the blessing was made manifest as favor in Laban’s life because he hooked up with Jacob – who was a blessing carrier.
We need to associate with people who are blessing minded. We need to stop allowing the spirit of poverty to operate in our lives. People with a poverty mentality are the ones who always have the poor, nothing-ever-seems-to-go-right-for-me mentality. Instead of looking for the blessing, they confess curses over their lives and see the results.
What was the result of the blessing working in Abraham’s life? The root for what happened in Abrahams life is the blessing, but what did the blessing produce?
Genesis 13:2 New King James Version (NKJV)2 Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. The man was loaded! The blessing of the Lord made Abraham rich.
You see, the evidence or result of the blessing in Abraham’s life was his wealth. God’s wind of blessing blew strong in his life, and its sounding chimes (or effects) was visible. In other words, Abraham possessed the intangible root to the fruit. He possessed the blessing and it produced wealth. We have that same blessing, what will you do with the blessing from your Father today?

Closing

We need to know, it is God’s desire to bless us. In biblical times, there was High Priest, that represented the people before God, the first high Priest was Aaron, and God told Aaron the way to bless His people: He said speak this over the people of Isreal, this is how you are to bless them:
Numbers 6:24–26: The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace”
God said through speaking these words over His people they would be blessed. It is a very powerfull declaration which says: God will kneel before you presenting gifts and will guard you with a hedge of protection. God will illuminate the wholeness of his being toward you bringing order and he will give you comfort and sustenance. God will lift up his wholeness of being and look upon you and he will set in place all you need to be whole and complete. God said the way to bless was by speaking words of blessing, the way to curse is to speak words of cursing.
Deuteronomy 30:19This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.
How do we choose? By the words we speak:
Proverbs 18:21 (NKJV) 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
That is what the Bible says, God’s word and whether we realise it or not, or believe it or not, words have great impact on our lives. I remember as a child there was a saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” As an adult, I realize how false that actually is. Bones heal much faster than emotional wounds. The wounds caused by words can change an individual for his or her entire life. By the same token, positive words spoken to and about us can make a powerful difference in our lives.
Our tongues have the ability to bring blessings or curses to those around us, especially those we love the most. The Bible has a lot to say about this.
James 3:5, 9–10 NKJV “Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things…With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
Proverbs 12:18 (NIV) Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
1 Peter 3:9NKJV “Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing”
God wants us to use our Word to bless and not to curse. From the beginning, we see how God blessed people:
Genesis 1:22, 27–28And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth’…So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth”
We have the choice between a life of blessings or curses. We find the the result of the blessing working in our lives listed in Deuteronomy 28. In part they say, “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out” (Deuteronomy 28:3–6, NASB). In Hebrew, “to bless” means to endue with power for success, prosperity, fruitfullness, and longevity. In his book The Family Blessing, Rolf Garborg gives this definition: “The intentional act of speaking God’s favor and power into someone’s life, often accompanied by a gesture such as laying hands on the person. This is the kind of blessing spoken by Isaac to his son Jacob, and in turn by Jacob to His sons. It is the type of blessing Jesus gave His disciples (Luke 24:50) and also the blessing that Jesus gave to the children.”
We each make choices every day. God has blessed us with every blessing, but we have to speak the blessing over our wives, families, children and parents.It doesn’t matter where we started, we can begin to turn that around today, by choosing the blessing. God wants to restore our lives through the power of the blessing. Choose His ways today, and begin to walk in the Fathers blessing.