How To Live the Blessing Life
Still working the final post on the wrath of God. In the meantime . . .
Our life ‘in Christ’, while filled with blessings, is really meant to be a life of blessing others. You know, “blessed to be a blessing”. The truth is that a life of meaning and purpose is not a life about our blessings, although God does bless us. It is a life so committed to Jesus that we can be used by Him to, as I like to say, release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world — to release light into the darkness, or “rescue them from the dominion of darkness and bring them into the Kingdom of the Son”. Same thing.
The real, true blessing comes from being used by God as we live with HIm in the Kingdom of God to release spiritual blessings into the world through intercession, healing prayer, and prayers for and encouragement of others who are broken-hearted and struggling with the darkness in their lives. When we say “Jesus, use me” and really mean it from our heart, God will take us up on our offer. God uses us in ordinary circumstances and ordinary places — really, wherever He places us — to be a blessing and to be blessed. For example, at a wedding.
As Judy and I parked the car at the wedding of one of my nieces, I asked Jesus “to use me tonight for your purposes”. He did.
First, I sat behind one of Judy’s brothers at the wedding ceremony. For about 24 hours he had excruciating back pain. That night at the wedding he was in so much pain he could hardly talk. After the ceremony, I put my hand on his back and prayed “back be healed, pain go — in Jesus name”. Shortly after that the pastor who had married the couple prayed the same prayer. We sat with Judy’s brother and his wife at dinner. About 30 minutes after the prayer for his back, I asked about the pain. He answered “it feels a lot better”. It must have because he spent much of the rest of the night on the dance floor.
Next, God directed me to speak with a young man I didn’t know. He was probably 25. I went up to him to ask him about Jesus. He began to share his story with me. This young man was raised by his grandmother. His father abandoned him when he was an infant and his mother was in jail, released only a few weeks before we talked. But he knew Jesus. Still, he was struggling with the shame that comes from rejection, devaluing, and feelings that he didn’t belong. As I listened to his story I sensed the hurt and pain in his heart. I also heard echoes of the lies satan uses to keep all of us in bondage: you are not good enough, you are powerless, your life is hopeless. As I shared with him about these universal lies I saw the light of recognition shine in his eyes — those are lies he has heard in his entire life. “I will never forget your words”, he said. I prayed for him to receive the father’s love. It was a powerful moment for both of us.
Then he told me that up to now he had never been able to have a conversation like this with his mother. I sensed that he had never had another person really listen to his story, especially an older man. To have an older man listen, and them give a word of encouragement and pray in the name of Jesus was a big deal for him. He experienced a degree of spiritual and emotional healing.
Later that night I prayed with one of my wife’s sisters whose husband is very ill. She will be his caregiver for the rest of his life, apart from a healing miracle. I prayed for her strength, patience, and to be the wife her husband needs at this point in his life. It was an emotional moment for both of us.
While Judy and I were in line to have silly pictures taken, I glanced at a woman behind me. God said “she is a strong woman of God. Tell her that”. So I did. She looked surprised, shocked really, and said “how did you know” (she is a pastor’s wife). I told her that God pointed her out to me and wanted her to know that in His eyes she is a blessing to many. We talked some more later that night and shared more in a few seconds than most people do in hours of conversation. That is the basis for Christian community — Christ in you meets the Christ in me. She was African-American. She and I both knew that we were sisters and brothers in Christ — united by the Kingdom of God.
The night before the wedding at the rehearsal dinner I stood in line to get food and then looked for a place to sit. All of the seats next to people I knew were taken so I sat next to a woman and her husband I didn’t know. I introduced myself to the wife and then we had a 30 minute conversation about the power of God, intercessory prayer, praying for the land, and healing. She was the wife of the pastor who was going to marry the couple the next day. Later he and I spoke and found out that we had many similar experiences in the power of God and shared perspectives on Scripture. God told me to connect this pastor with my pastor in North Carolina. He has work for them to accomplish together.
These are just some of the experiences I had Friday and Saturday at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. If we are open to the move of the Spirit, God will use us to bless many — ones we know and love, even complete strangers. But the key is to be living in the Kingdom of God. You can’t release what don’t have. This is the ultimate path to fulfillment — release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit to push back the darkness and take back the territory. You see, the prayers and conversations I had during those two evenings connected the recipients with the unseen real in some way to push back spiritual and emotional darkness and devastation and even to heal woundedness and physical pain. These are the ‘blessings’ that only a believer can bestow in the name of Jesus. They are much more than feeding the hungry or caring for the poor, which alone are good, but not enough. They touch people’s spirits and hearts. If these parts of their lives are not healed, they will continue to live their lives in places of pain, loneliness, and separation from God and themselves. These are the ‘killing fields’ of satan — the places in our hearts where he can accomplish his mission to steal, kill, and destroy.
Of course this is a wedding in America far from the violence and pain of places like Syria where persecuted Christians are ministering in ways far more dramatic. But light and life break out in all kinds of places, and we should never despise small or simple beginnings.
We don’t bless others so that we will benefit. Blessing others in the spiritual realm is not just a ‘nice thing to do’ or even a ‘kind thing to do’. Blessing others is one of the ways we carry the war to the enemy. All Kingdom men and women are all called to bless others in the spiritual realm, although not all in the same way. It is an effective tool of warfare. The darkness all around us is spreading — America is seeing horrible things in the open that for generations were only done in the darkness, or not done at all (I am referring the the demonic realm). We all need to push deeper into the darkness, take more risks, put ourselves ‘out there’ by talking with and praying for the people God puts in our path. Is warfare real for you? Is it real for the Church in America? The real war is going on all around us. Blessed to be a blessing is not a ‘nice’ slogan. It is a call to arms.
I pray for a warriors heart.
John