HOW WE CAN BLESS THE LORD
Blessing the Lord is a way of walking your Christian life by thanking God and letting Him know you see Him in every aspect of your life. Want a closer walk with God? Start blessing Him, here's how...
This morning I woke up to a frosty covering of snow on the ground. The world around me was white and peaceful and calm. Â What a blessing! God had blessed me with one of my favorite things…snow! This made me think about “blessing”.
I understand God as the one who blesses, not man. He is the one with the storehouse of goodness and in His grace rains (and in this case, snows) those good things down on us.
I wondered how can WE bless the Lord, isn’t He the One who blesses us? Then why does
David say in the Psalms… Â
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is in me bless His holy name.Â
The word “bless” comes from the ancient Hebrew word “BERAKHAH” (bra-KHAH’).
This word is related to the Hebrew word for “knee” and the verb “to kneel”.
The ancients had a wonderful everyday visual image for this word. Berakah is the action of a camel as he knees down (Genesis 24:11). Â
Berakah carries the idea that when we “bless” the Lord we mentally and spiritually bow down on our knees and worship Him and acknowledging that He is the source of all blessings. Â
Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:20 that we should be Â
“always giving thanks to God the Father for everything”. Â
This sounds like an overwhelming task to bless God for everything. I could go on and on every second of every day giving thanks! Â
For the ancient Jews and the Jews of Jesus’ time blessing the Lord was entwined into their daily life.
They would say a brief prayer honoring God as the source of everything good. Â
In Jesus’ time, these prayers began with …
“Blessed is He” or “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe”. Â
They would bless God upon waking and bless God that each part of their bodies was working properly. They would bless God when they got dressed saying, “Blessed is He who clothes the naked”. Â
When they would see the change of the seasons, or spring grass, or the flowers blooming on trees in they would pray, “Blessed is He who did not omit anything from the world and created within it good creations, like the changing of the season, or this good new grass or good trees for people to enjoy”. Â Â
When they would hear thunder it would remind them to thank God, “Blessed is He whose strength and power fill the world”. Â
Praying in this way brought God close to them. He became the very center of their daily lives.
It also reminded the Jews that God was good and the source of all blessings.
In good times and in bad they prayed. Â When a happy, long-awaited event like a wedding or a birth happened they would pray, “Blessed is He who has allowed us to live and sustained us and enabled us to reach this day”. Â In times of grief, the Jews would bless God. They would spiritually bow their knee in worship. They would say, “Blessed is He who is the true Judge”. Â This was a reminder that God would not let any bad deed or evil go unpunished. He IS the judge and has all things in His just hands. Â
We might think, Wow! that’s a whole lot of prayer! And we would be right. Â In filling our lives with blessing the Lord, something miraculous happens!
Our point of view changes and so does our attitude about almost everything! And it changes for the better! Â
When we bless the Lord, when prayer gets entwined in our daily lives we begin to see “THAT THE WHOLE WORLD IS FULL OF HIS GLORY”. Isaiah 6:3 Â
When we bless the Lord we will begin to see God’s presence everywhere and see His bountiful hand in all things! Â
Blessing the Lord also reminds us that He is keeping a watchful eye on us like a loving parent watches over His precious child. It is a reminder that we are under His constant care! Â
“BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL: AND ALL THAT IS IN ME BLESS HIS HOLY NAME”!
Bless the Lord, for the beauty and wonder of the snow he provided this morning out of His love and goodness! Amen.
 What are you blessing this Lord for this frosty winter morning? Â
Thank you, Yvonne, for your reminder to acknowledge and be grateful for God’s blessings. Gratitude brings joy.
How I love your Sunday morning posts pointing us to the Lord………Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me Bless His Holy name…….a FAVORITE worship song of mine ……haven’t sung it in ages in church. Thank you for reminding us to Bless His name …….
Yvonne, I feeling that this is MORE than 1 Thessalonians 5:18; GIVE THANKS IN ALL THINGS FOR THIS IS THE WILL OG GOD, IN CHRIST JESUS.
Can you help me understand the difference?
Glenda
Blessing God is an act of worship! Just beautiful worship!
My dear Yvonne, I love all of your blogs but your Sunday one is especially my favorite and I love hearing your words about the One, True God. I find them moving and inspiring. I also hope you are feeling better than on New Years eve. As soon as I heard I remembered you in a special prayer and have since for you and your family. May God richly bless you for sharing with us all.
Thank you Anita!
Wonderful message, Yvonne! Sadly, I think the majority of people have forgotten how it is to be thankful….we take everyday blessings for granted, and mumble when we don’t like what’s going on in either or lives, or around us. Mumbling cost the Israelites 40 years of wandering in the wilderness…. perhaps that’s where we are today…in the wilderness for our lack of blessing the Lord.
If he is indeed “in charge” of everything…AND HE STILL IS!….we’ve no reason to fear or complain….
what he allows, he allows for good reason, and always to bless us in the end. PTL!
“What need to worry then or fret…the God who gave his son, holds all our moments in His hand, and gives them one by one.”
Love your messages, Yvonne. Thank you for blessing us! Ginny
Beautiful comment Ginny
When my flowers are in full bloom and I see beautiful white clouds in the brilliant blue sky, I thank God He created colors in our world instead of a dark,drab place for us all to see. Our God is good,
Me too, Barb. God is worthy of our praise in blue skies and in drab places!
Yes, it just occurred to me to know what I’m saying. In other words; I now know what it means to bless God the source of all blessings
and also to bless my fellow human being.
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