Month: January 2015

May the Lord Bless You!

numbers6.24

The Priestly Blessing at the end of Numbers 6 is one of the most beautiful scriptures in the Bible. God told Moses to tell Aaron to bless the people of Israel with a very special blessing.

“May the Lord bless you and protect you.

May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord show his favor and give you his peace.

Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.” (NASB)

All blessings spoken, prayed, or thought in God’s name carry the power to change those being blessed and those doing the blessing.

The power of this blessing is understanding that God blesses me in my blessing of others. The same is true in my forgiving, extending grace, and loving as He desires. What a floodgate opened when I allowed this blessing to wash over my heart!

This blessing may have been for the Israelites, but Christ opened the door for me to become one of God’s children and receive His blessing when He chose to come, to love, to die, to rise, and to bring God’s Holy Spirit to a world desperately in need of blessing.

God knows blessing others in His name changes who I am. Christ expanded on these scriptures when He taught me to love, forgive, and bless my enemies. That turns my world and theirs upside down, and that is precisely what God intends. God’s blessing comes when I am willing to be turned upside down, and it brings a peace that defies description.

I don’t have to understand the why or the how of this cycle of blessing, but I must be willing to let God open my heart to possibilities I cannot imagine on my own. Nothing opens the gate to my heart more powerfully than blessing others. It is the heart of the Priestly Blessing, and it is the key to drawing nearer to God. I cannot live in a vacuum and expect God to pour blessings down upon me. He created me to connect to Him and to others, and there is no better way to connect than to bless. No one knows that better than God.

 

 

 

A Time to…

Ecclesiastes 3_1Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 is a beautiful reminder that there is a time for all things in life.

“There is an appointed time for everything.

And there is a time for every event under heaven

A time to give birth and a time to die;

A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.

A time to kill and a time to heal;

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to weep and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn and a time to dance.

A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

A time to search and a time to give up as lost;

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;

A time to be silent and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate;

A time for war and a time for peace.

What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?

I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.

He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor-it is a gift of God” (NASB)

Understanding there is a time for everything isn’t about better scheduling or mastering multi-tasking, and it isn’t about being all or doing all. It is about living life and rejoicing in doing good in this lifetime we are given. I love a new beginning, birth, planting, building, embracing, laughing, and keeping. I do not like an ending, death, tearing, mourning, weeping, or giving up. Ecclesiastes reminds me to look at the seasons of life in a new light, an eternal one. God sets my mind and my heart toward eternity, and that changes the way I see the beautiful seasons and the dark ones.

God doesn’t promise a life without death or weeping. Life must be filled with both good and bad if I am to grow and learn as God desires. There is no better time than New Year’s Day to change my view of time. Giving up my agendas and plans allows God’s plans to fall into the open space they leave behind. I cannot be well seasoned unless I go through all the seasons of life. I am learning to embrace, but not hold tightly to, the good times and lean upon Him and not stop during the difficult. The journey is meant to prepare me for eternity. That brings a sweet new perspective and changes the way I love and live my life.