The
Gift of a Blessing
Scripture: ... because they had not met the Israelites
with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them.
(Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.) Nehemiah 13:2
I am fortunate to only have a short drive to work every day. It takes
me about 8 minutes to get to South Middle School from my house. I do
not have much time to pray and some days I have to make a phone call
before I get to work, so I really have no time left over. I always try
to ask God to fill me with His Spirit, because I know without it I will
not be able to love the way I should love and behave the way I am supposed
to behave.
I had heard so much about how prayer has been taken out of our schools
and when I went to work last year in the Franklin County School System
I was expecting to be discouraged by that. On the contrary, I have found
countless opportunities to pray for people. No, I can’t do it
the way I would do it in bible study, but I am enjoying the clandestine
prayers. It has helped me to do what the bible calls pray without ceasing.
(1 Thessalonians 5:17) As a matter of fact I realized that actually
what I am doing is giving someone a “Blessing”. I may not
know their specific needs, but God does. So in my mind I simply speak
a blessing over them. It may be an adult or a child. It may be a bus
driver or a teacher. It is sometimes the cafeteria workers and many
times the student who comes to the office with a problem. But I simply
ask God to rest on them and meet their needs.
I am blessed because most of my life I have had someone who prayed blessings
over me. But many people have never had anyone pray the blessings of
God over them. I am quite certain that I meet new people every day that
have never been blessed by anyone, only cursed. So even though the movement
to remove prayer from school may have been to keep God out, God in His
mercy seeps through the cracks of this universe and drips onto those
who are not even aware of His presence. WOOW! I bet I pray more because
I can’t actually pray out loud! How cool is that? What Satan meant
for a curse, God made a blessing. Take that Devil!
Maybe the reason I see people I need to pray for so much is because
I deal with children. But really I wish I had been more sensitive to
this opportunity before I came to work at a school After all, the world
is filled with people who desperately need the blessing of God. I hope
that each of you is looking for people to pray over every day. You may
not be able to lay your hands on them and bless them out loud, but simply
speak silent blessings over them, God hears those too. Where are these
people? They are in the grocery lines, the drive-through windows, Wal-Mart,
the doctor’s office, the Post Office, the pick-up lines at schools,
ballgames, everywhere you look someone is needing a blessing from you.
There is song about that... “Make me a blessing...”
Leslie Stephens
Winchester, TN
Prayer: God of endless blessing and mercy, help me
to see opportunities to bless others in your name. Not just in acts
and deeds, but also in silent words of blessing. Teach me to better
see those who need that extra special touch from you. AMEN!
Prayer Tip: As parents we have the power to bless our children
with the power of God’s Word. Speak spiritual blessings over your
children straight out of Gods word. My favorite? Lord, let your Spirit
be upon my children all the days of their life and let your anointing
rest on them in power just as it did Jesus. AMEN!
11-19-07
