The Blessing Prayer
Elevation Worship, Kari Jobe
Compiled by Dee Wieninger
By Faith Ministries
The Lord bless you and keep you,
make His face shine upon you
and be gracious to you
The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace
May His favor be upon you and a thousand generations and
Your family and your children and
their children, and their children
May His presence go before you
And behind you, and beside you
All around you, and within you
He is with you,
In the morning, in the evening
In your coming, and your going
In your weeping, and rejoicing
He is for you, He is for you
AMEN, AMEN
Numbers 6:24-26; Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 7:9; Psalm 103:17-18; Psalm 139:7-12; Psalm 118:6-7; Ezekiel 36:9; Romans 8:31
PRAYING GOD’S WORD
By Dee Wieninger
We have all heard the expression, “be careful what you pray for”; probably alluding to the possibility of receiving your answered prayer may not be all you hoped for. Today, I would encourage all of us to “be prepared for what we pray for” because He is listening and to those who delight themselves in Him, He wants to give the desires of our hearts. Psalm 37:4. I would also suggest that we don’t really know what the desire of our hearts are, so He gives us the desires of HIS heart!!
My devotional writing just a few days ago:
Father, I don’t just want head knowledge about your love and grace, I want to feel your presence and know your unconditional acceptance of me. Help me to love others this same way. Let me recognize and care that some of these things with which I struggle, others do also. Help me to invite them to find love and caring in our friendship, especially the most difficult! I love you Father God, Jesus and Holy Spirit. Thank you for this day you have made and let me rejoice and be glad in it. In Jesus name I pray!
I have recently been introduced to the song The Blessing by Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes. I’m not just singing a song; I’m singing and receiving a prayer over me. I would weep at the words as I felt filled to overflowing that my God would bless me, keep me, turn his face toward me and be gracious to me. Not only to me, but to my family, my children and my children’s children. What an amazing promise God is offering me!
Then, two days after my devotional prayer above I read:
I Chronicles 16:15-17 “He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:” God’s Word names names; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (and to ALL Israel) it struck me so deeply that His blessings are for ALL who love Him. He names me by name and He names you by name. He names those with whom I have been angry and those with whom I disagree. His word commands me to love my enemies, but He knew I hadn’t a clue what that really looked like. I asked for a heart-knowledge of God’s grace, love and unconditional acceptance toward myself…and others. As I said earlier, since I didn’t really understand the desires of my own heart, God was about to give me the desires of His!
God knows my propensity to focus on myself in my times of prayer. He knew I would never comprehend His unconditional acceptance for me until I deeply knew that same unconditional love and acceptance for others, especially those who have hurt me. God knows when I would pray my flesh-driven prayers for my enemies that my emotions were still in the way blocking that love he commands in His Word. He took this song that I have cherished for weeks and had me turn it around to everyone BUT myself, especially those with whom I’ve been in discord.
I began to sing The Blessing prayer song again, this time visualizing the faces of my family, my friends, my church family, my colleagues, and those who have hurt me, those with whom I disagree; praying God’s powerful Word over them, not my emotionally tainted prayers. My heart exploded with love for them. How do you pray for your enemy and still stay angry with them? Matthew 5:44 says “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Until now, my attempt to live out these words has been, regrettably, not leaving these relationships, grinning and bearing, long suffering my way through them. I didn’t have God’s unconditional love, grace and acceptance of these “friends”. As I sang the blessing prayer for them and over them, I saw their faces and the faces of their spouse and each individual child and even a place-card picture of their grandchildren’s children. Tears streamed down my face as God’s love filled me to overflowing. What amazing love to pray this Blessing to and for others! If God is for them, how dare I be against them!
I have a new love for those who have hurt me, rejected me, ignored me and possibly hated me. I feel reborn all over again, remembering my elation and joy when I accepted Christ. This is that all over again! God’s favor is on me and my favor is now on others! He has filled me to overflowing and given me the desires of His heart! May I never desire otherwise.
*Copyright © 2020 Worship Together Music (BMI) Writers Roof Publishing (BMI) Capitol CMG Paragon (BMI) Kari Jobe Carnes Music (BMI) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com), Elevation Worship Publishing (BMI) (admin at EssentialMusicPublishing.com). All rights reserved. Used by permission.