"Bless Me!!"

A few weeks ago I had just put my youngest son Jesse to bed. As I walked down the hallway to put his older brother to bed, I could hear him begin to scream something. I didn't feel the need to discern the words he was yelling...I just know he needed to be disciplined and put back down to bed. So I turned and walked down the hallway with his cries growing louder and louder as I approached the door.

I opened the door and walked straight over to his crib, fully intending to discipline him, and then lay him back down for bed. As I picked him up I could tell that he had been really crying and not simply throwing a fit. He began to say to me over and over, "Bless me....Bless me...Daddy Bless me!"

Then it dawned on me. In my haste to get him down for bed, knowing that I still needed to put his brother down for bed, I spoke some quick, mindless, prayer over him and laid him down. That wasn't going to cut it. Normally I would intentionally speak the blessings of God over him before bed and this 23 month old little boy could definitely tell the difference and wasn't about to be gypped by my hurried prayer.

Prayer is powerful. Speaking blessing has real life and transformative power. The tongue really does have the power of life and death. (Proverbs 18:21)

Scripture is very clear that there are some blessings that are never released until they are spoken.

How many of us have missed out on blessings because of other's silence?
How many people around us have missed out of blessings because of ours?

Abraham blessed Isaac. Isaac blessed Jacob. Jacob blessed his 12 sons and 2 grandsons before his death. In fact, this is one of the acts of faith that gets Jacob listed in the "Hall of Faith." (Hebrews 11:21)

Who is inwardly crying out for you to bless them this week?