Confidently and readily do business with people whom we can affirm are ones who keep their word. People who don’t do this dissolve the grounds for their own enduring success.
Build friendships with those who understand our hearts as well as our lips—who truly perceive what we mean when we say the words we say, and relate to us by fully grasping the spirit of our spoken words.
Establish our marriage covenants with an oath, which according to God’s Word is to be an abiding commitment of truthfulness and fidelity and which, if broken, brings a frightening breakdown of the oath’s power.
Teach our children what is right and with those words seek to relay the very principles of God’s order so that His blessing will be advanced and not reversed as they grow from year to year.
In all these regards, life is transmitted, experienced and multiplied when the tongue speaks its truth and love, while death is inevitable otherwise—through shrinking, withering, suffocating or killing what should or might have been.
You Have the Power!
Early in the Bible, the power of God’s people to speak blessing upon one another is clearly shown. Noah blesses Shem and Japheth for their respect, rather than mockery, of his dignity as their father (see Gen. 9:26-27). Melchizedek blesses Abraham for honoring God for His protection and victory and for Abraham’s tithing instead of conceding to the offers of the king of Sodom to take the goods for himself (see Gen. 14:18-24).
Repeatedly God tells Abraham that his offspring will be instruments of blessing to the whole world—both in their deeds as well as with their words (see Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:16-18).
From these early experiences, the understanding of the power of blessing began to develop, and we see it becoming a practice of parents toward their children.
Isaac evidences the depth and meaning of this practice in his attentiveness to purposefully minister such a blessing to his sons (see Gen. 27). Notwithstanding the twists the story takes, the underlying fact is that this practice of blessing was seen not only as something God would hear and enforce, but also as something very determinative in the child’s life.
The principle is clear: God has given parents the privilege and power to speak blessing upon their children and, with that blessing, to advance life, health, growth, joy and self-confidence! We need to learn to steward this privilege as a dynamic aspect of raising our children and blessing them in every way we possibly can.
