BLESSINGS AND CURSES

“Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;” – Deu 11:26.

A blessing can be defined as an act of invoking the bestowal of good on someone or something; while a curse is the invoking of evil on same.

Blessings and curses are spiritual realties that are not to be taken lightly; both possess inherent powers of carrying themselves into effect in the lives of people.

  

Blessings are intrinsically connected to scripture.

From the very first chapter of Genesis, we see God blessing His creation (Gen 1:22, 28). In the era of the Patriarchs, the “blessing” was something they strove aggressively for. Under the mosaic covenant, the priest was required to “bless” the people. And in the New Testament, the Apostolic writers typically begin and end their epistles with a blessing.

Unfortunately, today, people do not place that much premium on the blessing. “Bless You” is now nothing more than Christian jargon, or something you tell someone when they sneeze. Children go to college/university or even get married without care for their parents’ blessing. And even believers leave services just after the sermon because what’s left is “only the pastor’s blessing.”

However, the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, places high value on blessings and sees blessings as an empowerment to prosper.

Things happen when the righteous bless one another. If you check the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:22-2, you’ll see that God says He will bless His covenant people only after Aaron has uttered the blessing.

In other words, Jehovah blesses His people, but it is the priest who enumerates and outlines the path of that blessing. His words paint the picture of the blessing.

As a trivial example, God may decide to bless you with a house, but the words of the priest outlines the type of house, the things in it, the furniture, the environment, the kind of protection it enjoys, etc.

Today, we as believers have been made priests, (1Pe 2:9; Rev 1:6; 5:10, etc.) and not only is it important for us to intentionally bless each other; we should also be conscious when the blessings come forth and receive them in faith over our lives.

Furthermore, we shouldn’t just pray for our children, we should bless them, in their hearing. Let them hear the words that we wish to come to pass in their lives. And as you do these in faith, grace will be multiplied to them as they go into the world.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN