Four Functions of the Blessing and Five Aspects of the Blessing

Have you longed for your parents or someone to bless you? Have you longed to know how to bless your children? Do you have intentions of blessing others (spouses, friends, pastors, teachers, neighbors) but not know what to say?


I have been reading The Gift of The Blessing by Gary Smalley and John Trent.  My plan is to give you the highlights of the blessing so that you can know you are highly valued by God and so that you can use your words to bless others from the blessing you receive from God.

There were four functions of the Blessing in the Old Testament:

1. The word for blessing pictured God's original plan for mankind. One of the very first things God did after creating man and woman was to bless them.  In Genesis 1:27-28 "God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. Then God blessed them..."  This was God's creative purpose.

2. The Blessing was a time to pull together a group (to unite a group)

3. The Blessing was a time to call upon God's protection.

4. The blessing was used to mark an important rite of passage: a birth (Ruth 4:14-15); a marriage (Gen. 24:60) or on the passing of leadership from older to younger generation (Gen. 27:1; 48:1).

The Family Blessing Includes:

Meaningful Touch
- come near and kiss me (Abraham says to Isaac in Gen. 27:26)
- meaningful touch is very important when you say the blessing. Meaningful touch can include kissing, hugging or laying on of hands.
- touch communicates warmth, personal acceptance, affirmation.

A Spoken Message
Some people think they are doing ok just because they are not yelling or bringing their children down by their words. However, "a lack of negative words does not translate into a spoken blessing." (The Gift of the Blessing, pg. 20).  Silence can harm our children. They are left to fill in the blanks.
We need to verbalize to our children how we accept them and love them.

Attaching "High Value" to the One Being Blessed
To bless means to bow the knee. Therefore, we are to share the high value of person we are blessing based on who they are not simply on their performance.

Picturing a Special Future for the One Being Blessed
A child gains " a sense of security in the present and grows in confidence to serve God and others in the future." when they are blessed (pg. 23) This part of the blessing  means we know the gifts and character traits that our child or person we are to bless possesses. Also share with them these attributes or character traits God can bless and use in their future.

An Active Commitment to Fulfill the Blessing
You need to take time with your children to develop a certain skill.   Words alone are not good enough. You need to back up words with commitment.

In future posts, I will elaborate on the five aspects of the blessings with examples.