Bless and Be Blessed by Peter M. Lord
Chapter 1
The Discovery of This Truth
Bill Ligon, a pastor in Brunswick, GA wrote: "God planned for life to be imparted through the spoken blessing. The Old Testament fathers expected the blessings to release God's favor into their lives and the lives of their children. That same expectation can rest in the hearts of all who accept the challenge to learn the biblical way to bless."
A rabbi shared, "I believe God's blessing on Jewish people is a direct result of Jewish parents regularly blessing their children." He went on to note that a majority of all Nobel & Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded to Jewish men and women. And a large percentage of America's millionaires are Jewish, yet they only comprise 2.7 percent of the population. In prisons the Jewish population is very small.
Lord, talks about how we save our kinds words for people's funerals and they never hear them.
The word Eulogy comes from the Greek words eu meaning well, and logos meaning word. "Together, they convey the idea of a good word. It is interesting to note also that the Latin word for bless is benedicere, which also means to say good things."
Why do we save our good words for when people are gone?
Chapter 2
Why Blessings are So Powerful
How God Made us
Great chapter which talks about how God created us with needs and in his image. "Not only did God create us with needs, he provided the means by which all these needs can legitimately be met. Temptation is nothing more than the enticement to meet a legitimate need in an illegitimate way or a God-given need in a God-forbidden way. God has forbidden us to meet given needs in certain ways because he knows in the long run those choices will hurt us....We were made in the image and likeness of God, who desires and wants our praise. So it is natural for us to need and want praise too."
Mr. Lord lists seven facets of love and challenges us to deliberately praise or bless another person today by expressing verbally one of these to them today.
Appreciation
Acceptance
Approval
Affection
Attention
Affirmation
Admiration
Also, pray for the area you would most like someone to give to you today. He says to remember, "Those who need praise or blessing the most are often the people to whom it is most difficult to give it. Even though the faults of such people may be very prominent, still we must seek to bless them."
Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:13
"Jesus, received blessings from the Father, who proclaimed, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Matthew 3:17"
Chapter 3
A Very Negative World
"We live in a very negative world, where negative things have power and prominence. The negative gets top billing, makes the headlines. In our personal lives this is also true."
What do teachers make on kids' papers at school?- the wrong answers.
Has a policeman ever stopped you and thanked you for driving courteously, for staying in the proper
lane, and for stopping at the last ten thousand stop signs?
Has the government ever written you and thanked you for paying taxes?
When an authority figure calls you in, do you expect rebuke or commendation?
Have you noticed that if you do a hundred good things and one bad thing, it is usually only the bad
thing that is remembered and mentioned?
How often do your children thank you for all you've done and are doing for them? Even when they
are grown up, don't they usually recall the occasional mistakes you made in parenting rather than the
good things you did on a regular basis?
"We need to remember that the darker the night the brighter the light-our positive words and attitudes will stand out in a world of negativism."
Chapter 4
An Important Fact to Remember
"If positive feedback is not given, the negative will automatically be assumed. Identifying the inferior and replacing it with the superior is the way to produce quality products...Developing quality people is not as easy...but even more important."
1) Appreciation is the simple act of recognizing the good in others and acknowledging it...a sincere thank you is always in good taste.
2) When people feel they are not wanted and accepted, it is traumatic and soul shattering. Much of life
activity is geared to seeking acceptance.
3) Give others your stamp of approval. To accept someone is one thing; to approve of him or her goes a step beyond.
4) Caring, friendliness, and words of love are sure ways to express affection. Without affection in regular doses, people feel unloved.
5) Adults crave attention just as much as children. There is a real ADD-attention deficit disorder- in human relationships
6) Learn to affirm. It doesn't take a lot of effort, but the rewards of affirming others are great.
Examples: I have noticed what kind of person you are; you have a wonderful smile; you responded well to that irritable customer.
7) Start an admiration society. Our self-esteem soars when we are told we are special, and it sinks when a negative think is said. Admiration is the expression of sincere esteem.
Chapter 5
The Time for Blessing is Now
This chapter reiterates the theme in chapter 1 of blessing people now while they are alive. A powerful story is shared called Johnny Lingo. "He had learned that if you treat another person as through she were what she could become that is what she would become. Isn't this the way God has treated us? Despite our ugliness-our sin-he traded very highly for us. He gave his only Son for us. And now he treats us as his children."
Chapter 6
Is This Really Biblical
Many scripture references are giving in this chapter confirming how biblical the act of blessing is. Lord says, "The cry of mankind's heart is still. 'Bless me, my father. Speak well of me.' We are all looking for that word, that gesture, the magic formula that will make us feel acceptable. We want to know we are a person of worth."
Chapter 7
What You Should Know About Blessings
There are blessings for the present and blessings for the future. "God backs the blessings he initiates. God has promised that if we invoke his name, he will bless. As you look at people and pray for them, the Holy Spirit will give you things to say prophetically. This is one of the great values of prayer. When Jesus looked at people, he saw the things others could not see."
Chapter 8
Two Levels of Power in Blessings
"Praise and blessing give nourishment to our souls. Just as food meets a physical need, good words meet the soul's need for a full life. While there is tremendous power in blessings on a natural level, there is even more power on the spiritual level."
Jesus said, Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that come from the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4
"When blessings originate with God and are given under inspiration and instruction of the Holy Spirit, the divine power of God is exercised." If you put my name upon the people...I will bless them. Numbers 6:7
We can also bless people on the natural level. "If you love the Lord Jesus and are living for him, he will bless even the things you do in your own strength and wisdom, and he will use them in the lives of others."
Chapter 9
Developing the Ability to Bless Others?
"To be changed internally, so we can act externally and bless others with ease and joy, there are five laws we need to follow.
1) The Law of the Heart
"If our heart is programmed in the negative, then we will see the negative in others; and if our heart is full of the good and positive, that is what we will see most easily in others." Paul wrote to Timothy: The goal of our instruction is to love from a pure heart." 1 Timothy 1:5
"When we concentrate on getting and keeping a renewed heart, our heart becomes pure."
2) The Law of Developed Sensitivity
"If we become aware of something, and if we give expression to that awareness in some positive way, then we will become increasingly aware and conscious of that thing in the future. If we continually ignore something when we become aware of it or if we do not give some outward expression to it, we will soon not be able to notice it at all. In fact, eventually, we will be able to look at it and not see it, or we will hear it and not really be aware of its presence. This law enables us to become very conscious or completely unconscious of almost anything or anybody....we can learn to look for the positive in others."
3) The Law of Deliberate Repetition and Regularity
"Regularity is a law of life. What we use, we keep and develop, what we do not use, we lose...When things are repeated regularly, they empower both the one repeating them and the one who hears them. This is very true in regard to giving blessings."
4) The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus
"Spirit filled living causes us to see and love others as Jesus did."
5) The Law of Understanding Who We Are
"The main reason we do not naturally and spontaneously bless other people is that we do not realize how blessed we are as children of God. The Bible is full of verses that tell us how special we are in God's eyes, and we need to read and believe what God says. Are we aware that the purpose of God's Word is to make us 'adequate, equipped for every good work'?" "When we know how blesse we are now in Jesus, in spite of our past, we are able to see the good in others and call attention to it."
Chapter 10
Accepting Our Blessings From God
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. Ephesians 1:3
"The act of receiving is as definite an act as that of giving. If someone gives a blessing, it must be received before it does any good. It must be taken as the truth, believed, and acted on....If we have a poor self-image (which most of us do), it is very easy to rule out, take lightly, or deny what God is saying to us."
Chapter 11
Enjoying Our Relationship With God
"Relationship blessings are those blessings that God has spoken over us indicating who we are in him, by him, and for him, and who he is to us." This chapter has wonderful confessions that are full of life when we read them out loud. We should bathe in these once a day!
Who I Am In Christ (Right Now)
A Child of God
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And tha tis what we are! 1 John 3:1
Beloved (Esteemed, Dear, Favorite, Worthy of Love)
To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1:7
Overcomer
Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17
Friend
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:13-15
Son
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Romans 8:14
Saint
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 1:1
Heir
And if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:17-18
Ambassador
God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself...and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:19-20
Holy Priest
You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ...But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:5, 9
Figurative Names
"These are the names that the New Testament gives to Christians to indicate how God views us and how he will treat us.
Temple of God
Do you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Citizen Of Heaven
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Philippians 3:20-21
Body of Christ
Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 1 Corinthians 12:27
Chapter 12
Receiving Our Inheritance From God
Below are blessings that God has spoken about us.
Forgiven
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Justified
But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known...This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe...and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:21-24
Reconciled
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. N ow all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
Sealed
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 1:20-22
Adopted
Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind of intention of His will. Ephesians 1:4-5
