A few years ago, I heard God say, “Sometimes the best defense is a good offense!” Have you ever heard that saying? That’s a saying you’ll sometimes hear when talking about sports — if your opponent scores points on your defense, it won’t really matter if your offense can score at will and completely overwhelm the other team! Game over. You win.
In a spiritual or prayer context, I interpret that to mean going strong on pouring out blessings, declaring God’s goodness, and proclaiming His promises and His Word over people and places. The enemy doesn’t stand a chance against God’s offense.
God is love and Jesus dwells in unapproachable light. In Him there is no darkness at all. When we invite Jesus into the situation and invoke His kingdom, darkness has to flee! God’s love, forgiveness, kindness, and mercy is way more powerful than anything the enemy can throw at people! The absolute and total victory of Jesus Christ at the cross, is a flood of love, forgiveness, healing, truth, and life for our weary and wounded souls.
Speaking blessings over people and places is one way God has equipped his church to turn on the light and bring God’s overwhelming love and goodness into circumstances where we might feel like we’re losing. One of the most familiar Biblical passages about speaking blessings comes from Numbers 6:
The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
“‘“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’
“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
(Numbers 6:22-27, NIV)
Do you see the instruction and the promise in this verse? First, blessing people was God’s idea, and He promises that when the priests obey and bless in this way, they will “put my name on them” and “I will bless them.” So blessing someone is like painting a target on people to receive God’s blessing!
In the Old Testament God gave the Levites – the priests – the role and privilege to pronounce God’s blessings on the people. Deuteronomy 10:8 describes their role in the nation:
At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today. (Deuteronomy 10:8)
Notice that the job of blessing the people was connected to stewarding and ministering to the Presence of God. It’s still true today. In Christ Jesus we have been made people of the Presence of God – a royal priesthood and a temple of the Holy Spirit. That’s where the power and authority to bless truly comes from. Blessing people is a privilege we have as Holy Spirit-filled children of God to speak blessings over people and places and expect that there to be a supernatural impact.
When Jesus sent out his disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons in Matthew 10:8, he says “Freely you’ve received, freely give.” Blessing is an act of freely giving away the treasures of the Kingdom of God, which have been given to you entirely by His grace. We don’t bless others because they deserve it, we bless others because God blessed us when we didn’t deserve it!
I love talking about blessing because it’s one part prayer ministry (healing broken places) and one part prophetic declaration (calling forth God’s plans) — and none of it depends on us! The Bible says our words are powerful. The power of life and death are in the tongue. God spoke creation into existence. He told Ezekiel to speak to the dry bones. Jesus spoke to the storm and it was calm.
Like a prophetic declaration, when we speak God’s words and heart, they carry a grace to actually make them manifest on the earth. As we step out in faith and release the words, God releases His grace and power. Our words aren’t powerful because of what we’re saying, our words are powerful because we’re speaking out what God is saying!
By actively blessing people and our communities, we are participating as sons and daughters of our heavenly Father, giving away His gifts to people who need them. As co-laborers with Christ we get to participate in the unending generosity and loving kindness of God.
What an amazing privilege!!
