›› Bless Your Family

Pray (or speak) a blessing on your family members. Anyone can do this, but I’m going to talk to the men reading this right now. [Read Numbers 6:22-27 about the blessing Aaron and his sons were to give the Israelites.] Like Abraham, we are to be channels through whom God will provide, protect, and profusely spread His blessing. Men (and caregivers), as priests of our homes, God wants us to transmit that blessing to the children.

My wife and I have done this together. With our hands placed gently on the heads of our girls, I’ve prayed a blessing on them. Your children won’t forget, and neither will you. It’s not something to be done casually. But this is what a life of prayer is all about. It’s not just words and requests and routine. It’s love and power and relationship and heart and soul.

Speak a blessing over your wife or husband, too. As I prepare to leave home for work, I occasionally will cup my wife’s face in my hands, kiss her gently, and say, “The Lord bless you real good today, sweetheart,” or “The Lord’s blessings be all over you from head to toe!” She often blesses me in the same way.

One word of caution: be sure your life supports whatever your lips speak. Words that are spoken in blessing are invalidated when a child (or spouse) hasn’t sensed the daily touch, concern, interest, availability, and care of the blesser. We must take care to build a platform of relationship from which to bless. Remember, the life we lead backs up the words we speak.

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Source: Randy Maxwell. If My People Pray: An Eleventh-Hour Call to Prayer and Revival. Pacific Press Publishing Association, Boise, Idaho, 1995. 187 pp.