"THE BLESSING" - PART OF VICTORY'S D6 STRUCTURE

Beginning this Sunday at Victory Church, I am going to lead and assist our parents in a prayer of blessing over our children!

Blessing our children is part of a rich biblical heritage.

In the Old Testament, fathers regularly pronounced blessings on their children (Gen. 27:26-29,39-40, 49:1-28).

As New Testament believers and priests of God (1 Pet. 2:9), one of our privileges is to bless others. When we invoke God’s name over His people, God blesses them  (Num. 6:22-27).

Each week I will post on this blog a prayer of blessing for our children.  As you pray these blessings for your children, consider pronouncing them aloud, as Old Testament parents did. Hearing you claim God’s blessing on your children will do several things for them.  It will...

1. Build their faith
2. Remind them of their true God-given identity
3. Reinforce your—and their Heavenly Father’s—great love for them.

I'm sure many of you have read the book by Dr. John Trent and Gary Smalley titled: The Blessing.  The blessing is the unconditional love and approval bestowed upon a child and are related in five elements:

1. Meaningful touch
2. A spoken message
3. Attaching high value
4. Picturing a special future
5. An active commitment

The family blessing begins with "meaningful touching."  It continues with a "spoken message" of high value, a message that pictures a "special future" for the individual being blessed, and one that is based on an "active commitment" to see the blessing come to pass.

The prayer of blessing this week will be for the assurance of our children's salvation: Parents, I would like to encourage you to begin praying this prayer over your children:

Lord, lead my children to trust only in Jesus’ sacrifice for their eternal salvation; assure them that their souls are secure in Your hands.

Following are some Scripture verses for this particular prayer:

John 3:16 (HCSB) “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 10:28-29 (HCSB) I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 

1 John 5:13 (HCSB) I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Join us at Victory Church this Sunday to experience this powerful experience!  Also, be sure to check back each week as I post another weekly "prayer of blessing" for our children.