The Lord said to Moses "I have heard the cry of my people" Ex. 3:7-10
The Lord has also heard the cry of the Church for revival. He has come to us with an answer of survival............get back to the root. If a branch is even partially severed from it's source, it will eventaully begin to wither and it's life will slowly ebb away. The Church as a whole (not individually) has seperated herself from her Hebraic roots in many different ways and for many different reasons. Paul calls this action ignorance and deadly.
1- Rom 11:13-19 says:
I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to
the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14 in the hope that
I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save
some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of
the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the
dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy,
then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the
branches.
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you,
though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the
others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive
root, 18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider
this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
Paul goes on to say that God can cut the wild branches off just as He cut the natural ones. If we are disconnected from the nourishing sap of God's covenant with Israel (Heb. 8:8) we are in a place of starvation and mal-nourishment. In that comdition we are bound to eat junk food and become even sicker and weaker. But we might not know it for quite sometime because we are functioning on a false "sugar" high.
2-Gen 12:3 saya:
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
a- an ancient root of “will be blessed” is a form of the word:
GRAFT or INTERMINGLE
1- “I will curse” excommunicate
2- “who curse you” ignore
3- What are you grafted into?
Heb 8:7-8
But God found fault with the people and said:
"The time is coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
4-Revival can only come with a rightly connected branch
a-Rom 11:15
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
5- Method of natural grafting.
a- natural tree planted by design.
b- wild tree a product of wind (seed dropped in field alone)
c-for tree to produce fruit there has to be cross pollination
1-lone trees don’t produce fruit –olives- even though they
look like natural olive trees, they blossom but the
blossoms don’t produce olives like the natural tree.
6-beginning of process:
a-branches are cut off of natural tree and laid at base of tree
b-branches of wild tree a cut and secured into place where
natural branches were
c-the wild branches have a different DNA then the natural
1-because of this it is difficult for the wild branches to get
nourishment from the root like the natural branch
2-so the cultivated natural tree has to literally force its sap
into the wild branches so they can live.
7-this process goes on for 3½ years without any sign of fruit.
a-after 3½ years holes are drilled into the natural tree next
to the grafted in wild ones and now the natural branches
are grafted back into the tree
8-the cultivated or natural bran have have the same DNA as
the tree so they are able to draw the sap from the root and C
come to life.
9-they grow together and are nourished for another 3½ years
a-after a total of 7 years the tree begins to yield a double
portion of fruit – namely olives – oil – fruit of the spirit
10-IF THE NATURAL BRANCHES WERE NOT GRAFTED
BACK IN AT THIS TIME, THE WHOLE TREE WOULD
DIE FOR LACK OF NOURISHMENT – PROPER
FEEDING.
Rom 11:19-32
19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
"The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins."
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you.
Luke 15:11-16:1
11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20 So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
31 "'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"
"THE POWER OF THE BLESSING"
In the last few weeks I have been living the scripture that....”the grace of God is sufficient for me” and I know that some of you in this room have experienced that and the sad thing is that some of us in this room are having the opportunity to experience that and not choosing to rely on the grace of God because if you rely on your own strength and your own understanding and your own power — you’re only going to be worse and you are going to struggle and be bitter instead of better and you are going to have misery instead of joy. But if you rely on the grace of God you will be overcome ...
Grace means “divine enabling power...” It doesn’t mean God does not see anything you do. Grace doesn’t mean “You do it and it’s covered over” it means the “divine and enabling power of the living God” so His grace, His Divine enabling power is sufficient for whatever circumstance you find yourself in. And instead of the circumstance dragging you down, God makes us eagles... we lift up and we rise and we fly above the storm. Instead of being in misery, you have joy and that’s where it surpasses understanding because no matter how miserable the situation is, how hurtful, how scary, when you can find yourself in the presence of God in the midst of that, then that joy is our strength. It’s not just joy when everything is good, it’s the joy that in the midst of the storm He can raise you up and that is your strength. There’s no other way to experience it, but going through it and allowing God to be sufficient. Later, no matter how hard it was, when you look back, if you’ve experienced that ...you’ll say, “I wouldn’t trade it for anything” because that’s what brings us closer. Aliyah means to go up. When Jews go home to Israel we say they are making Aliyah because they are going up to Jerusalem. We’re on a journey and He’s calling us...He’s calling us to journey and go upwards into His presence. The journey takes work...you know, you go through a wilderness and you go through a storm. If you go on a journey and you journey like they used to in Biblical days, you didn’t jump in your car and so if you kept going — you went up, you made it, you made it to the mountain of the Lord, but it didn’t come without pain and toil but when you arrive in His house and you’re in the presence of the Living God...you wouldn’t trade it...there is nothing more...and there’s not, too many other ways to get it but through pain.
The word for this year is the “Power of the Blessing” and this is another word we are going to examine. We think, “Well...blessing is blessing...” “What are you talking about? Blessing is blessing...this is good, of course we want blessings...” but that’s not what we are going to talk about today because the power of the blessing is something that is at the heart and soul of Biblical Judaism. There are a million religions...but BIBLICAL JUDAISM...not rabbinic Judaism, not the Judaism that we see today, not the Christianity that we see, but we are looking at the way that Jesus lived...what He taught and what He walked in. Biblical Judaism is there is one faith, one baptism, one God...He said one faith...so at the heart of that true faith, Biblical faith is a power that God gave us and it is in the blessing.
Ps 103:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
That word ‘bless’ is barak -...that’s the root word and many words stem from it, but what it means is to kneel...and the other part of the word means to break down. So sometimes before we can kneel, our knees have to be broken...there has to be a breaking before we can get to that place to kneel out of a humble and submissive heart. We can kneel on the outside and worship God...you know, how many times we come to a service and worship God on the outside but inside you’re angry, inside you’re mad, inside you’re complaining, inside you’re tired or whatever...that is not blessing the Lord. It’s when we break down and sometimes that’s the only way...when we throw ourselves between the porch and the altar and just break down...that’s when we finally submit and do what Yeshua said, “Not my will but THY will be done”. He was truly blessing God; He was kneeling in His heart. The word brakhah is another form of the word and it means a “benediction of prosperity”. A Benediction is a declaration. The Aaronic Blessing is a benediction of prosperity. Prosperity means “a reservoir” which means that it’s just ongoing. It’s an ongoing flow of a blessing, of a pouring on, of a pronouncing of something that is tangible and alive. God created the act of blessing.
Genesis 1:22 and Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
That is the only places during creation in those chapters when He said this....He said it to one of the creatures and then He said it to Adam and Eve. He didn’t put His blessing on anything else but He said, He blessed them and He said “Be fruitful and multiply”. It wasn’t just “God bless you, God bless you” there was something that was going to happen from that pronunciation over them...they were going to produce, they were going to be prosperous, they were going to be producers - fruitful. And there was going to be an action...something that was going to happen.
Genesis 2:3
And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
To be sanctified or holy just means to be set apart, not just another apple in the bunch... “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it...” because in it He rested.. So that day was set apart from all the rest. He did his work and His labor and His creation on all the other days and on the seventh day...He set it apart and He blessed it...so there had to be something of that seventh day blessing that was going to become an expectation of prosperity. Something about that seventh day was going to be very different and holy for us if we enter into that understanding. The heart and soul of Biblical Judaism stems from the act of blessing but it speaks of bestowing goodness and provision with a supernatural power. There is a supernatural power that comes with a Biblical blessing not just lip service but a heartfelt Biblical blessing. The word Barak is a verb...bless...so when a Jew blesses, he says, “I will MAKE a blessing” They make a blessing. They don’t just say, “God bless you.” It’s an action where a result is expected. There’s a cause and effect. When we read the word “praise” or “thank” in our Bibles, and if you look in the Hebrew, most of the time, that word is ‘bless’. So we can sometimes change what we are reading from “I will praise You oh Lord” to “I will bless you oh Lord” rather than “I thank You Lord” it is “I bless You Lord”. Ancient sages wrote that one should make 100 blessings a day. In Judaism there is a blessing for everything–even going to the bathroom... It is taken from scripture...every blessing is taken from scripture so how could you go wrong...
Deuteronomy 8:10-20
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.
So the sages have decided that they are not going to fall into this trap of forgetting what the Lord has done, and so, they made a blessing for everything so that they would NEVER forget what the Lord has done. In the morning, from the minute their eyes are open, they begin to bless the Lord –“this is the day that You have made...I will rejoice”. There is a blessing for everything because in every situation there is a circumstance that could make it not be so. So there are even blessings in Judaism for terrible things because God is acknowledged in every situation...you don’t just keep your hand out for the good and just walk away from the bad because otherwise you are not blessing. Remember that the word means to kneel and to be broken down and the only way that we can bless God is if in every circumstance and situation we are willing to kneel and be broken down and that is what making the blessing to the Lord is...in EVERY circumstance and in EVERY situation. That is the first power of the blessing ... to be able in every circumstance, in every situation, to Bless the Lord. It is good to make a habit of blessing the Lord. If you have an alarm on your phone, set it and let the alarm ring every 10 minutes and when that alarm rings, no matter what circumstances you are in the middle of, anger, whatever, say “Bless You Lord” We can reprogram ourselves...and that is the power right there...if we can reprogram our thinking, our heart, our mind, our words, if we can do that, there is such a power in that. There’s the power of the blessing. We will be transformed. We will look like Him...can you picture Yeshua walking around complaining? And He was in some circumstances and situations and He knew it wasn’t going to get any better. And we pray and we sing, Lord make me like you He blessed the Father... He blessed God in all situations. The Talmud has 63 tractates...volumes. The first volume has nine chapters dealing with different aspects of the blessing and prayer. Three of the chapters deal with the Shama, which also deal with blessing...two are on prayer and four are on the various requirements. We can say that we don’t want to make blessing a religious thing. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. As long as it is coming from your heart...better to make a religion out of blessing than to make it out of something else...you can’t go wrong, even if you are doing it out of rote...at least you are doing something in a very positive way. The ancient sages made a specific formula to make the blessing proper because sometimes it is not a kosher blessing if it doesn’t have all the components but God will accept all our blessings. But in Judaism there’s a particular formula and every blessing has 3 components and it falls into different categories that are described in the Talmud. The first one is the declaration of God’s blessedness. That is called the barukh. We say “Barukh Atah”. That means “Blessed are You” and while we are saying that, “Blessed are You” we are humbly submitting. We are not just saying the words “Blessed are You” because we are saying, “We are kneeling to You, we are submitting and humbling ourselves to You.” So the first part is to declare, because there is a power again in that declaration...we are declaring the blessedness of the Lord...now does He need that? No. WE need it...like it tells us in Deuteronomy that when we find that we have this and have that, don’t forget the Lord, so we declare His blessedness.
Psalm 95:6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
That’s to bless God. That’s it in a nutshell. That’s to bless God....worship, bow down, and kneel.
The second component of the formula for blessing is to declare the object of the blessing the name of God ...so it’s “Blessed are You oh Lord our God”. That’s the second part and that’s the prayer that is said before meals before lighting the candles...after dinner...those parts of the blessing are usually present...
The third is the description of the one being blessed and the motive behind the blessing. That is called the Malkhut...which means king. So it’s “Blessed are You oh Lord our God. King of the universe...” and then you can add whatever you want...Who protects us, feeds us, gives us our daily bread...cares for us....add the motive for the blessing...
That’s not just a little fancy saying, those are the components that go back to ancient times...ancient components in the blessing because it, right up front, sanctifies it and separates it from all others...like when you sneeze “Bless you” that’s not it...there is something very holy about making a Blessing.
Genesis 24:26-27
And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD. 27 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren.
1 Chronicles 29:20 And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the LORD your God. And all the congregation blessed the LORD God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the LORD, and the king.
As you read through the scriptures, you are going to start to see these three components present when the people are addressing God...they are calling Him king and bowing down, they are calling Him by name and they are stating the motive for their blessing. Within Judaism, there is no separation of the sacred and the secular. The blessing could go “Oh Lord you are the king. Blessed are You oh Lord who provided an apple when I was hungry....when you gave me that parking space...when you gave me salvation...”Do you understand what I am saying? There is no separation between the sacred and the secular. God is the author of ALL life. We are all made to worship the Lord, we are all made to bless the Lord...so whether we are cooking or whether we are praying, that is a blessing that should come out of our hearts to the Lord...because we are made to live and function on this earth as His people. Not separating on Sunday or Friday I go to church and on Tuesday I do laundry and dishes...so on Sunday I put on a dress and go to church and pray and sing but on Monday and Tuesday I put on my rags and wash the dishes and complain. There is no separation in the mind of God and in the hearts of His people. Even though we know that and we say it and Judaism teaches it...of course that doesn’t mean everybody lives it. But if you are going to look for the teaching, that’s what you are going to find...the heart and the soul of it is that God is in every situation in everything, and so for that we bless. Avinu Malkenu means “Our Father and Our King”. That is a beautiful way to address God. When you come to God and you start to pray... you are saying it all in a nutshell, He is your Daddy but He is also your Sovereign Ruler and if you put those two together you are always going to bow down and submit before Him because He is a good daddy but He is also the One Who owns us and we will never “get” in God’s face...what a disrespectful expression. The other day I got an e-mail, it was prophetic and beautiful up until the point when he said, “so let’s get in God’s face” I’m sure he didn’t mean it irreverently, but it was like cold water thrown on me...we don’t get in God’s face, we seek His face. God’s face is always turned toward us. It is our face that turns away. The word face...means to turn....because His face is always here. If He says, “Seek My Face” then we always have to turn. Did you ever try to turn the face of a nursing baby towards the breast? If you don’t know how, we usually take the baby’s opposite cheek and apply pressure. This will cause the baby to push back and turn away from the breast, toward the place of applied pressure because natural instinct is to turn toward the way of the pressure. And that’s what we do...the full-breasted One is waiting for us to turn and look at His face and we are just constantly going towards the pressure of what we feel pulling us and then we pray... “Lord I want to seek Your Face...” and He is saying “My Face is right here” He has never turned His face. But if we start to get in the habit (it’s a habit) of blessing, blessing, we are more and more going to be sensitive to Gods presence and we will slowly be able to have that kneeling in our heart. There is a famous rabbi named Bratliver—and he said, “Every word of your prayer (he is calling blessing prayer) is like a rose which you pick from a bush...you continue until you have formed a bouquet...a complete blessing and until you have pleated it, a wreath of glory unto the Lord” So if we can perceive,, every blessing, every prayer, that’s little by little by little being pleated together..that’s the blessing to the Lord that is on His Head and brings Him glory because it is His people who are praising Him, who are blessing Him and who are crowning Him with glory. And it is the glory He has given us that we give back to Him in the form of acknowledging that and blessing Him We are blessing Him in the presence of His enemies. We are blessing Him in the presence of His biggest enemy and that is what spiritual warfare is. Blessing God while the enemy is looking for us to curse God. Job’s wife said, “Curse God and die” because the devil was waiting for this to happen and Job’s wife couldn’t understand... just give up and just lay it all down. Did she mean to profane God? No, but by not submitting, she cursed God because that’s the opposite of to bless. By not submitting and humbling, he would be cursing God in the presence of His enemies...by not yielding and saying the Lord gives and the Lord takes away...what did he say? “Blessed be the name of the Lord” so she was telling him don’t say that and don’t have that attitude that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away...like who is the Lord? Just look at this, just turn away and just lie down and die because it is not going to get any better. And it didn’t for a long time but at the end of it all Job said “I heard You by the hearing of my ear...” and really that’s where most of us are until we go through... but Job said...”But NOW I see you with my eyes” because he finally turned his face and was able to experience the power of the Lord...the goodness, the grace of the Lord.
Yeshua was greeted with the same three component formula of the blessing.
Matthew 21:9-11 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" 10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?" 11 The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
Hoshiahna means save us. So what they were crying out was “Save us blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord”. They were already making their declaration of who He was, remember the word Blessed means to bestow a benediction of prosperity. The word prosperity means; to get us over, to get us through...it doesn’t mean a new Cadillac and a new house, although it could come with that...but it means to get us to the other side. So they were saying “Lord save us...blessed are You the One Who is going to get us there..the One Who is going to give us the power and the grace and the sufficiency to get us there. Lord save us the One Who is able to...” That is taken from Psalm 118 so that’s not a New Testament thing.
Ps 118:25-26 Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
Do now what we need to get us through...send what we need to make it...”Blessed are You Oh God” I kneel and I submit to anything that needs to be done in me to get me to where You want me to be. I think I want to be somewhere but when I hear about how I have to go to get there then I don’t think I really want to be there. Right? If you knew that the prayer you prayed yesterday was going to cause what happened today, you probably wouldn’t pray that prayer or you would and trust God and bless Him and go through. But His grace is always sufficient.
Yeshua Himself used the same pattern of blessing:
Matthew 14:19 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.
Religious Jews pray after they eat. They bless God as it says in Deuteronomy “When you have eaten and are full, THEN bless the Lord Your .God. They pray after they eat...and also before they eat as they do the hand washing ceremony. Remember that there’s a blessing for everything — so there’s a prayer for the bread, for the wine, for everything... — for whatever you are going to do...a blessing...so Yeshua is speaking to people who do this, who know this and this is not a new thing, He is doing this pattern, He is doing this ancient, powerful gesture that provokes a response. It is a verb...so He looks up to Heaven, the Son of God looks up to His Father because He understands the power of what He is saying and what He is doing ... and He blesses His Father, not the bread. The people needed to eat to get them over this day. That was the prosperity of this blessing and He understood what He was doing.
Matthew 19:13-15 Then were there brought unto him little children that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven 15 And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.
(Whenever you see something in italics in your Bible, it is not in the original) so His is not in there...so it says, “that He should put hands on them and pray”
Now that was the act of blessing...He laid hands on them...it doesn’t say His hands even though His hands were special and powerful. But the laying on of hands is a Biblical gesture that bestows a powerful action of blessing. There is a song “He put His name on the children”. When the high priest would say the Aaronic Blessing over his people...he would make the sign of the Shin with his hands, which represents the name of God and they would pray that blessing and put the name (HaShem) over the people...exactly as the scripture says...put the name...His name on the people. He would then make the blessing because there is power to joining what God says to do, and understanding it and doing it. Because God said it and because you are obeying, there is a power to that.
Mark 14:22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and when he had blessed, he brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take ye: this is my body.
Again, He prayed that pattern. When it says, “blessed” we can guarantee he prayed the pattern. He did the three part component...He directed it to the object of the blessing, included the motive, and addressed it to the King.
Luke 24:50-53 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
Yeshua’s last act on the earth was to lift up His hands and bestow an action of blessing, In the same manner the High Priest would bless the congregation of Israel. This was a very prophetic, in that it revealed new ministry as our “Great High Priest”. There was power in that blessing...it wasn’t just a “God bless you see you later” there was something that was expected from those lifted up hands. Yeshua passed that power and that three component pattern on to us in the expectation that that we would continue in it. Jesus also reaffirmed this same three part component when asked by His disciples how to pray. They were expecting something new and instead Jesus expounded on a pattern of prayer they were already using.
Luke 11:2-4 He said to them, "When you pray, say: "'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'"
Do you hear those three components? It is exactly the ancient pattern of the blessing...Our King in heaven, blessed be Your name... it is that same coming together of the pattern that God set out. If we are going to separate from the things that He said is going to bring us through and expect to end up with the same results...somebody once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results ---- if we keep doing the same wrong thing over and over again and expect to get the results that God said and we don’t see it...well, maybe we are not moving in what He wants us to move in...we don’t just say a formula to do a formula but if He gave us something that is appointed, that Jesus Himself did that is ancient there, is something to it, even if we don’t fully understand it We do a lot of things we don’t understand because the Lord said it in His word, but we are so worried that we are going to get religious and maybe start a little ritual...but we do it all the time any way. We might as well make it a scriptural ritual rather than an unscriptural one...I’d rather do it out of a ritual knowing that I am humbling and submitting to something He said and trusting that He’s going to make me understand it, than ignore it, because I don’t yet feel it and understand it. There is a time and there is a place when you see something and you want God to give you a rhema on it, which is good. There are other times when we see something in the word and just obey without the full understanding. Many times we don’t understand it because the words are changed. But if we just look at the "Our Father” you will see ancient pattern of blessing that was taken from 1 Chronicles 29.
1Chron 29:11
Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
Is that a new prayer? Is that something new that Jesus said? No He just said, “You want to know how to pray? You know already. You got the scriptures, it’s there...this is nothing new. Just do what you are supposed to do and stop looking for something new, when you can’t do the old thing yet.” And He just brought them back to the original. Bless the Lord and acknowledge that He is the King of the universe...acknowledge Who He is; acknowledge that to get us over we have to be broken. Now how do we translate that besides setting our clocks and starting a new habit of blessing? How do we put an alarm in us to break the bad habits and start to translate this pattern of blessing into our lives so that it has power. It is the power of the blessing that changes...there is a power when you Partner with God. In the ancient scriptures we see that every matter was settled by the word of two witnesses. That law still has power. If you agree with the enemy, by complaining, accusing or disobeying God, you are the second witness with him. The enemy is always in rebellion to the truth of God’s word he is the accuser of the brethren and when you agree with him by professing with your own mouth a curse or slander...you just sided with the enemy as the second witness and it shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. But if you are the second witness with the word of God, if you are a second witness with the heart of God, you are now putting power to that positive word rather than that negative word. That negative word has the same power because you are that second witness with the enemy. But if you bless you obey God’s word and you are now the second witness with the Lord. That’s how you move in the supernatural power of the blessing. Now how do we practice that in our lives?
Luke 6:27-28 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you......... But I say to you who hear and DO...love your enemies...and here it comes...bless those who curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you...we are not just talking about people hurting us on accident, it means on purpose. There is ignorant hurting and spiteful hurting but Yeshua tells us, and He is taking it from the ancient scriptures. So we are talking about a verb...something that is going to bring an action or a reaction so if we are talking about those who are who are cursing us there is going to be a powerful reaction if not in them, definitely in us.
Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
God always gives us an option. He is always showing us the opposite. If you are not blessing, you are cursing. So here we have bless and not curse those who are our enemies, and now he tells us to take it a step further. He is calling us to bless with a humble submission. That is powerful because if you are doing the blessing with the correct pattern you are doing it with a humble submission. You are not just doing it with a wrong heart...you are humbling yourself to God...you are putting yourself beneath yourself and you are humbling yourself to yourself instead of rising up within yourself and reacting. You are humbling your own self. “Bless the Lord oh my soul....and all that is within me. Bless His holy name”. it is our soul that reacts and it is our soul that says it all wrong without humility....but if we can humble ourselves first to ourselves than we are going to be blessing the Lord because we are going to be breaking down our idols our number one idol. Then there will be a powerful reaction because as we begin to do that there is power that is going to come out of our mouths. When we bless, we are bestowing prosperity and something is going to come on our enemies that is going to cause them to get through and get over. That is what witnessing is all about it is not just about giving out tracks. It is about doing something to bring them in and to make disciples and so He tells us if we are going to bless the ones who bless us what is that? Good! But there is no effort in that no power in that either but blessing your enemies and blessing those who persecute you. We hear stories of martyrs....those are real stories of people that have come to the place of blessing the Lord and submitting and humbling themselves to Him and they are able to bless those who persecute them and they are pleating a wreath of glory for the Lord in the presence of His enemies and that is the highest form of spiritual warfare.
Proverbs 18:21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
There is fruit that comes out of our mouth...be fruitful and multiply — He blessed them and said be fruitful and multiply...fruit is something that feeds and produces...and starts to take over...like a garden...it automatically multiplies...so if you are producing this fruit and it multiplies out of the power of your tongue...you are going to eat what you are speaking. What comes out of our mouths is food for our souls...if it is blessing it is going to come back as fruitful prosperity for our souls...if it is cursing....we will eat its fruit... You are what you eat If we are able to come into this place of blessing those who persecute us...we are going to start to eat that fruit and it is sweet fruit and food for our souls. If we don’t we are eating the fruit of death...the blessing brings life and the curse brings death. If we walk around cursing we eat the fruit of death. By cursing, you understand. I’m not talking about vulgarity; I am talking about negative, complaining words. We can look at the parts of our lives where we may have spoken a curse and are now walking in death in that area. So how do we move into the habit of the blessing? It is a habit like anything else...we first need to see the need. And then we have to start to reprogram ourselves.
Hebrews 11:20-21 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. By faith he did it....God showed him something and he did what he was shown and told. By faith he did it and it took effect, it was a verb that took effect...by faith Jacob when he was dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped. It is only an act of faith...how do you bless somebody who is persecuting you? Only by faith that the Lord’s word is true, that there will be a reaction to the action. Only by faith in the Lord’s word and His power. Only by faith in the knowledge that He is receiving the glory somehow from what we are blessing Him with. The word faith means trust. We have to trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding.
1 Peter 3:13-17
Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
You are set apart and given the grace to get through...sanctify Him by first giving Him that place in your heart and allowing Him to rule over it....if you begin to do this...it is going to be very visible. People will see you dealing with negative things in a different way and you will have a reason to answer people...they will be watching. You are going to cause quite a reaction in some people. Some people are going to call you stupid. Some may say you are letting people walk on you....you won’t get a pat on the back. He is preparing you....one day, maybe we will never live to see it this side of Heaven, but there will be a fruitful reaction to the Blessing. It is a choice, to bless or to curse.
Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.
Now why would you think there is sorrow to the blessing because if we start to move in the power of the blessing we will get persecution...there will be things reacting from it but if we stay in that frame of mind of blessing, there will be no sorrow in it but there will be joy.
“For the joy set before Him he endured the cross.”
Because the blessing of the Lord makes one rich and He adds no sorrow to it. We add the sorrow, complaints and murmuring and we heap it on bigger and bigger until before we know it we can’t get ourselves up out of it. But His mercies are new every morning. And if we purpose that we are going to wake up tomorrow morning with a blessing in our heart and on our lips and know that the minute we bless we will stub our toe or spill our coffee....immediately there is an opportunity for the double portion of blessing...over and over again but God gives us the opportunity to practice it and there is a definite supernatural power.
I Bless you in the power and authority of the mighty name of our Lord and savior Yeshua the Messiah.
