There are many ways to bless people. You could mow a neighbor’s lawn, complement a person on how they’re dressed, or buy someone a meal. I’m sure they would be grateful for the kindness that you showed them and blessed that someone cared enough about them to do something special.

This type of blessing is wonderful, but I’d like to talk about another way you could be a blessing to others that includes more than what you can do or offer a person. It is blessing someone in the name of the Lord.

Blessings Don’t Have to Be Formal

Many times when we think of the idea of a blessing it happens at church at the end of a service when a pastor says the benediction. Or there is a special ceremony where a person is blessed by a priest or some other religious leader.

This type of blessing is well attested in Scripture and is a valid aspect of a blessing, but I want to challenge you to be one who blesses those around you on a daily basis. It takes a change of mind and a change of vocabulary.

A Change of Mind

The change of mind comes in when we understand that we can bless people with the words that we speak. A blessing is more than a compliment. It’s more than encouragement. A blessing is releasing the life and power of God in the life of the one being blessed.

There is a valid gift of exhortation that comes from the Lord. It’s where a person speaks words that bring life to your soul. I love this type of person because every time you leave their presence you feel like you are the most awesome person in the world.

An exhorter will speak things that build you up and encourage you in your faith. They’re like a breath of fresh air on a stagnate day. They refresh your soul and leave you feeling loved and supported.

A blessing goes beyond encouraging words to invite the presence of the Lord into a person’s life. We talked about it in Aaron’s Blessing: The Anatomy of a Blessing a few weeks ago. God told Aaron to invoke His name over the children of Israel.

To invoke means “to petition for help or support.” God was telling Aaron to call upon His name to come alongside the children of Israel to help them and support them in certain ways. The reason a blessing is more than encouragement or something we do in ourselves is that it calls on God to help the person. We are going beyond what we can do and invite God to minister His life and bring His ability to the person.

A Change of Vocabulary

If we are going to release God’s blessing upon people, we are going to have to change our vocabulary. The reason for this is that we must invoke the name of the Lord. We must use His name and ask for a certain blessing to be released.

Invoking God’s name doesn’t mean we’re bossing God around. It’s a recognition of God’s desire to bless people. He wants people to experience His life.

A simple way to release a blessing on a person is to frame it using the words “May God.” So simple, yet so profound. May God. The word ‘may’ speaks of possibility and our desire to see this blessing come into the life of the one being blessed. The word “God” brings God into the picture.

A blessing also doesn't have to be long. You don’t have to change the tone of your voice or be religious. It’s simply a spoken word that invites God to work in a person’s life. It can be as simple as three words.

I have a friend that calls me on the phone often. We talk and before he hangs up he’ll often say, “God bless you.” Those three little words have begun to make an impact in my heart.

God bless you. So easy to say. So easy to be taken as a trite statement. Yet, so powerful as to touch a heart and release the blessing of the Lord in a person's life.

I want to give you four more examples of ways that we could release the blessings of the Lord on a daily basis one person at a time.

If Someone is a Blessing in Your Life? Tell Them

I like this one because it includes both encouragement and a blessing. Maybe you’ve been thinking about a person who has been a blessing in your life. A smile comes on your face as you think of the person. You are so grateful for who they are in your life.

Instead of just sitting there and smiling, why not grab your phone, call them up and tell them the ways they bless you? They’ll never know how deeply they’ve touched your life unless you tell them.

If you’re like me, I think a lot of good things about people in my head but rarely tell them my thoughts. I’m not sure why that is, but it is something that I want to change and have been changing over the years.

So you decide to call your friend and tell them what a blessing they are, how can you turn this opportunity into a time of blessing? Here is a possible short conversation as an example.

“Hey Bob, I just wanted to call to tell you what a blessing you are to me. I so appreciate how you always have encouraging words to say to me and make me feel like I’m special and able to do what God has called me to do.”

“Thanks, it’s no big deal.”

“It’s made a big difference in my life. May God give you more and more opportunities to bless others as you’ve blessed me.

In one short sentence, I invoked the name of God and asked him to help Bob touch others as he has touched me. Pretty easy. Very powerful.

If You Catch Someone Doing Something Right

Maybe I’m showing a flaw in my character, but it seems easier for me to correct something that is done wrong then it is to complement that which is done right. I’ve been told often that I’m always correcting people telling them how to do things better.

It’s not done maliciously. It’s done with the idea of helping, but I can see how it would get old quick. So I started thinking about how to catch people doing things right and complimenting them for it.

The other day I was at church and saw someone bend down and pick up a piece of trash. It was a small thing, but one worthy of praise.

I said, “Thanks for picking up that piece of trash. It shows that you care what our church looks like.”

I didn’t say this, but hindsight is twenty-twenty. I could have said, “May God open your eyes to more ways to make a difference.”

Quick and easy, but it encourages the one doing the good thing and opens more possibilities of increase for the future.

If You Leave Someone’s Home

Every Wednesday evening we have a group that meets in our home. It’s usually the same ten or twelve people with occasion guests that pop in.

There is one person who as she leaves always says something like this. “God bless this home.” or “God may your blessing  be on this home.” She does it every time and it is a blessing to me.

Suzette and I have dedicated our home to the Lord and regularly ask for His peace and blessing to be upon our home. You can't believe how many people walk into our home for the first time and mention how peaceful it is.

The next time someone invites you over to their house, as you leave thank them for the invite and invoke God’s blessing upon the house. It will do more good than you may know.

If You Sense God’s Purpose on a Person’s Life: Bless It

Everyone is called of God and has a purpose for their life. The hardest thing for some is to discover what God has for their life and to walk in the reality of that call.

One reason that some struggle with the call of God in their life is that the devil attacks the very area in which they’ve been called. He’ll viciously attack that area to keep a person from entering into the fullness of God's purpose for their life.

Immediately after coming to the Lord, God began to place thoughts in my heart to be a pastor. The answer screaming in my mind was, “Who do you think you are? You’re not worthy to be a pastor.”

This battle raged in me for six months. I was becoming more and more distracted. The battle in my mind with the thought of being a pastor was becoming an all-consuming issue in my life.

One day I sat through a Sunday morning service and did not hear one word of the pastor’s sermon. The battle was raging. I was fighting against the thought of being a pastor. I wasn't fighting God because I thought that I was the one making up the thoughts. I didn't know it was God speaking to me.

I went up to the pastor after the service to shake his hand and greet him. He looked at me and said, “Terry, I think God is calling you to be a pastor.”

I burst into tears so strong that I couldn't talk. I knelt by a chair and sobbed and sobbed. I wasn’t going crazy. I wasn’t making it up. God wanted me to be a pastor.

My pastor didn’t say a blessing over me that day, but he opened my eyes to see what the Lord was doing. A way we could do the same thing as a blessing would be to say, “Terry, I recognize the call of God in your life to be a pastor. May God open your eyes to see the fullness of His plans for you.

Within weeks of the pastor telling me God was calling me to be a pastor, God placed three verses in my mind that would not go away. I was at the church cleaning it for Sunday service. I strongly sensed three verses in my mind, but again thought I was making it up.

The verses would not go away. I didn’t know the Bible very well since I was only saved six months, so I hunted down a Bible so I could see what these verses said. Here is what I read:

16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:16)

9 for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:9)

7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. (Ephesians 3:7)

All doubts about my call vanished.

Go Ahead and Bless Someone

Your words can make a big difference in a person’s life. God’s blessing can release the very thing they need to move to the next level with more confidence and favor. So why not make it your goal to bless someone today?

May God bless your efforts to touch others in His name. See, I just did it to you. I just blessed you. Have a great week.