Our God loves to bless His children—such as you and me. You will find scriptural blessings everywhere, with this priestly blessing one of the most known:
May the Lord bless you
and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor
and give you his peace.
(Numbers 6:24-26)
So, it is no surprise that our God also wants us to be channels of His blessing to others, and for us to choose to bless the people in our lives, whether family, friends, neighbors—or even enemies.
We often bless others when we meet a need, or do a favor, or sit and listen. And those are beautiful blessings in action.
But we can also bless with words written or spoken or prayed.
Sometimes, we are good at saying “God bless you” when someone sneezes or sets off on big trip or adventure. But most of us aren’t comfortable saying what seems like a trite phrase, and we surely don’t know how to speak a specific blessing to someone.
So, let me try to help. 15 years in a prodigal wilderness taught me a lot about giving and speaking blessings to our wanderer.
Scriptural Blessings From God’s Word
I find the Word of God gives me many ways to shower blessings on the people in my life. When I read Scripture, sometimes the words jump out at me that “that is just what someone I care about needs.” Or perhaps I think someone could use patience, or hope, or wisdom, or forgiveness. I look for Scripture to pray that for that person. And I often turn that Scripture into a blessing.
So, how do scriptural blessings work? Here are some examples.
Perhaps a loved one or friend has had some hard days. You read this in Jeremiah 32:40: “And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them…”
You could write or speak or pray a blessing over them: May you know that it gives God joy to always do good to you.
If someone you care about has experienced painful, even traumatic, loss in their life, you might claim Joel 2:25 for them: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…”
