Introduction (The Power of a Parent’s Blessing)

 The Power of a Parent’s Blessing by Craig Hill

                             Introduction

 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen. 12:1-3).

 God has a plan to bless every family on Planet Earth. That is stated in the promise above, which God made to Abraham the patriarch, foretelliong the blessing to come through Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham. God’s stated purpose in sending Jesus the Messiah was to bless all the families of the earth. It is interesting that He did not say He would bless all the individuals of the earth but rather all the families. In this passage in Genesis we see that the primary unit through which God has committed Himself to work is the family. We can also be assured that if God’s plan is to bless, then Satan has an opposing plan, and that is to curse all the families of the earth.

 So what exactly is blessing and its opposite, cursing? Those terms often bring many different thoughts to mind. Blessing is frequently connected with the receipt of money or some sort of gift. Cursing is oftentimes associated with witchcraft, or someone castinjg a spell or putting a “curse” on another. Other times we think of cursing as someone using profane or obscene language. While blessing and cursing can certainly mean those things, in this book we are talking about something very simple. Throughout the course of this book we will use the following definitions of these words:

   Blessing: God using a human to impart His message and image of identity and destiny to the heart of

      another person.
   Cursing: Satan using a human to impart his message and image of identity and destiny to the heart of

      another person.

 God and Satan both have a message they desire to impart into the heart of every person on earth. However, these two messages are totally opposite to each other. While God’s message conveys love, value, respect, and purpose, Satan’s message conveys shame, a lack of love, and a lack of purpose. At any moment in time parents can be agents of God to bless their children or agents of Satan to curse their children. Parents can impart either God’s message - “I love you; you are precious, valuable, and worthy of my time and energy” - or Satan’s message - “You are unlovable, unwanted, and not worthy of my time or energy.”

In Hebrew, the phrase “to bless” is the word barak. The literal translation of this word is “to kneel before someone.” So blessing comes from an attitude and posture of humility. When most people think of blessing, they usually think of someone standing over another person and blessing him from a superior position. However, Jesus blessed us by humbling Himself and taking human form. From the posture of a despised criminal, He gave his life to pay for our sin. This is the ultimate image of blessing from a kneeling posture.

 While the literal meaning of barak is “to kneel before,” the primary spiritual connotation is “to empower to prosper.” So when you bless someone, you kneel before him in humility and literally empower that person to prosper. Of course, this word prosper is not limited to financial prosperity. If you bless your daughter, you empower her to prosper in every area of her life: her spiritual life with God, her physical health, her emotional well-being, her marriage, her children, her finances, her career, and her ministry. To curse is to do the opposite. If you curse your daughter, you likewise cripple, disable, or disempower her from prospering in all of these areas of life.

 In the Greek, the verb “to bless” is the word eulogeo. The literal meaning of this word is “to speak well of.” This word also means to cause to prosper. Perhaps you have already picked up on its similarity to the English word eulogy, which comes from this same root. A eulogy, of course, also means to speak well of, but it is usually given at a funeral. Obviously words spoken at a funeral will not empower the deceased person to prosper. In order to empower someone to prosper, a blessing must be spoken while that person is living and can receive the blessing. So to curse is to speak evil of someone, or to speak Satan’s vision or image into someone’s life, while to bless is to speak well of someone, or to impart God’s vision and image into a person’s life.

                        Nutrient-Rich Water Or Hydrochloric Acid

 One of the best pictures of blessing and cursing came to me one day as I watched my wife, Jan, watering her houseplants. Jan is an expert at growing houseplants. They thrive as she cares for them, and they grow exceedingly large and healthy. When people come to visit us, they often comment on Jan’s marvelous green thumb.

 When it is time to water the plants, Jan mixes a blue powder containing plant nutrients with water; then she pours just the right amount of the mixtures on each plant. I noticed that after each application of this “blue water,” the plants seem to perk up and become full of life. Suppose, however, that one day Jan decided to pour hydrochloric acid on her plants instead of the nutrient-enriched water. How might they respond? Instead of thriving, opening up their pores, and craving more, the plants would close all their little pores and attempt to repel as much of the acid as possible.

 This example paints a good picture of the power of blessing and cursing. Parents with their words, attitudes, and actions possess the ability to bless or curse the identities of their children. Blessing is like pouring blue, nutrient-rich water over the child’s inner being, while cursing is like pouring hydrochloric acid ove the child. One empowers the child to prosper; the other cripples and disables. Blessing imparts God’s message of identity and destiny while cursing imparts Satan’s message of the same.

             Even Jesus Needed His Father’s Blessing

 It is interesting to note that the blessing of a father is so important that Jesus Christ Himself did not perform one miracle or preach one message until after He had publicly received the blessing of God His Father. In the Gospel of Luke we read:

   And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily from like
   a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”  (Luke 3:22)

 Today the phrase the Father spoke over Jesus is not something we typically hear fathers declare to their children. But I am told that the Jews of that time were used to hearing fathers say, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” I’ve been told that it was common for Jewish fathers to speak those words over their sons when releasing them into their adult life and calling. Thus anyone who had ever attended such a Hebrew rite of passage ceremony would have been familiar with the words God the Father declared over Jesus.

 The only person over whom this phrase could not be spoken was a person of illegitimate or questionable birth. Because of the strange circumstances of Jesus’ birth, many people considered Him illegitimate. Futhermore, because Jesus was not Joseph’s biological son, Joseph probably did not pronounce this blessing over Jesus when He was released into adulthood.

 In His humanity Jesus may have been tempted to feel insecure about this. Have you ever thought about what it must have been like for Jesus to be God Himself living in human form? At some point in His childhood He must have begun to recognize that He was different from all the other kids. He was enterrain-
ing thoughts such as, “I am God. All the fullness of Deity dwells in Me in bodily form.”

 With whom could He have taken counsel? Who would understand? Can you imagine going to the rabbi and saying, “Excuse me, Rabbi, but I have been thinking some very strange thoughts recently. I actually have been thinking that I am God Himself. What do you think about this?”

 Perhaps His mother was the only person who could really understand what life might have been like for Jesus. I believe that in His humanity, Jesus was tempted with the same types of insecurities and fears we face.

 Yet if anyone had any doubts about Jesus’ identity or destiny, those doubts were absolutely set to rest at the Jordan River when the Father pronounced publicly, “You are My beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.” I believe this blessing from His heavenly Father gave Jesus the strength to walk in His true identity and fulfill His destiny on earth. If Jesus needed the blessing of His Father in order to complete His destiny, how much more do our children need to receive a similar blessing from their parents?

                 Restoring A Culture Of Blessing

 Unfortunately in our modern Western culture ceremonial blessing at certain critical times in life and weekly parental blessing have been virtually eliminated in most families. When I speak at conference and in various churches, I often ask the attendees, “How many here were given a blessing ceremony or at least received a powerful impartation of blessing from you father that released you into you adult identity and destiny at or around the time of puberty?”

 I asked this very question just recently at a church conference with around two hundred people in attendance. In that group only two individuals raised their hands to say a father had blessed them at the time of puberty.

 In many groups I continue my line of questioning by asking, “How many here received a blessing from either your father, mother, or both on a weekly basis?” Again, those who answer affirmatively are even fewer in number than those who received a blessing in some sort of rite of passage ceremony around the time of puberty. Furthermore, those who respond affirmatively generally are not from a traditional Western culture.

 The understanding of the power of a parent’s blessing has been systematically stolen from our culture. However, in this book you will learn how to restore a culture of blessing to your family and become an ambassador of blessing to your community and those around you.

 As I studied the topic of blessing and cursing in the Bible, I identified six critical stages in a child’s life when he should receive a blessing from God through his parents, and a seventh time at which children are meanst to bless their parents. These seven critical times are: (1) at conception, (2) in the womb, (3) at birth, (4) during infancy, (5) at puberty (in a rite of passage ceremony), (6) at the time of marriage, and (7) in older age.

 It would have been virtually impossible for someone growing up in the ancient Hebrew culture to miss out on being blessed at these critical times. The culture was structured in such a way that both ceremonial and day-to-day blessing occurred naturally in most families. This resulted in spiritual, emotional, physical, relational, and financial health for families who practiced the blessing regularly. In the following chapters you will learn how to restore an overall culture of blessing to your own family and how to impart a meaningful blessing to your children every week.

 As your read through this book, you will hear the message in two ways: initially as an adult son or daughter, and secondly as a parent to your own children. In each chapter describing the blessing God intended at one of the seven critical times in life, we will look at the power of the blessing and also at the consequences of the lack of blessing or of cursing.

 I encourage you to first receive the message for yourself as a son or daughter. Then you will be able to be God’s agent to impart to your children the blessing at each critical stage in life.

You may find as you read that you have already missed several of the critical times of blessing in your children’s lives. Throughout the book you will learn how you as a parent can still impart the blessing to your older or adult children even if you missed doing so at the appropriate stage in life.

 At the end of chapter 4 through 10 you will encounter sa section I have called the “Blessing Toolbox.” There you will find practical suggestions and prayer models you can use to break the power of curses in your own life and in the lives of your children, as well as prayers you can pray to release the blessing. You also will learn how to close spiritual doors in your family that may have been opened to the enemy and how to open spiritual doors to release God’s blessing upon yourself and your children.

 You may notice that I use the male pronoun “his” throughout this book when referring to children. This is for ease of reading, not because the blessing pertains only to sons.

If you have daughters, I encourage you to adapt the language as needed.

 There is a battle within every family over whose message of identity and destiny will be imparted – God’s or Satan’s. In this book you will learn at exactly what points in your own life and in the lives of your children the enemy has successfully imparted his message and image, and specifically how to replace that image with God’s truth. You also will learn how to intentionally bless your family daily, weekly, and at the seven criticall times of life. In so doing you will not only empower your own children to prosper, but you will also actually create a legacy of blessing for many generations to come.

 You were created to be God’s agent of blessing to your children. As you read the following chapters, you will certainly be equipped to empower your own children to fulfill their destiny in God. However, I believe that as you learn to release the power of a parent’s blessing, the Lord will also prepare you to be part of a growing army of blessed families who are encouraging others to create a culture of blessing in communities around the world!