Read an Excerpt

The Power of Blessing

Bethany House Publishers

Chapter One

A single phrase or sentence can change a life. When a man and woman say to each other, "I do," it catapults them into an entirely new relationship. When a judge declares, "Not guilty!" those words produce enormous relief for the accused. When a firing-squad commander calls out, "Ready. Aim. Fire!" the blindfolded prisoner flinches for the last time. When the boss calls you in to say, "We're letting you go," everything changes.

Joel, my youngest son, enjoyed playing Little League baseball. During one season he struggled with confidence each time he came up to bat and frequently struck out without swinging. In his last at-bat of that season, his older brother Matthew—who was sitting on the bleachers watching the game—bellowed out "Swing!" just as the pitcher released the ball. His voice carried to the next county. Joel swung hard, connected with the ball, and sent it sailing into the outfield for a base hit. A single word from someone he trusted turned the end of the season into a victory celebration.

This book addresses, in part, the most powerful and life-changing tools at our disposal—words. These simple sounds, expressed in a particular way or order, powerfully shape us whether we hear them in an office cubicle, at a meal table, on the phone, or out on a baseball diamond.

The Power of Positive Words

Mary Ann Bird's personal story, recounted in The Whisper Test, highlights the life-changing power of positive words. She was born with multiple birth defects: deaf in one ear, a cleft palate, a disfigured face, a crooked nose, and lopsided feet. As a child, she dreaded other children staring at her and asking the embarrassing question: "What happened to your lip?"

"I cut it on a piece of glass," she would lie.

Each year the children had their hearing tested at school. The classroom teacher would call each child to the front desk and have the child cover first one ear, and then the other. The teacher would then whisper some simple phrase to the child, such as, "The sky is blue" or "You have new shoes." This was the whisper test. If the child could repeat the phrase, then their hearing was apparently fine and they passed the test. To avoid humiliation, Mary Ann always cheated on the test, casually cupping her hand over her one good ear so that she could hear what the teacher said.

One year, Mary Ann's classroom teacher was Miss Leonard, one of the most loved and popular teachers in the school. She exuded gentleness and loved the children deeply. When the time came for Mary Ann's hearing test, Mary Ann cupped her hand over her good ear as she had done so many times before and strained to hear what Miss Leonard would whisper. "I waited for those words," Mary Ann wrote, "that God must have put into her mouth; those seven words that changed my life." Miss Leonard did not say, "The sky is blue" or "You have new shoes." She whispered, "I wish you were my little girl." And those seven positive, powerful words became a watershed moment in Mary Ann Bird's life.

Nothing really changed for Mary Ann Bird. She remained disfigured and deaf in one ear and the object of her classmates' painful ridicule. But everything changed for Mary Ann Bird. She began to see that her classmates' judgments were neither the only words about her nor the final words. She started to understand herself as loved and lovable and dared to envision a future not constrained by her circumstances but a future that could transcend them. Indeed, following in the footsteps of the teacher who set her free, Mary Ann Bird herself became an acclaimed teacher known for her compassion and kindness.

God-Given, Life-Shaping Words

Mary Ann Bird's experience comes as little surprise to anyone who reads the Bible. Words have always held sacred, God-touched, grace-filled, life-producing potential. Indeed, the first recorded blessing in human history comes from God himself in the garden of Eden. After creating Adam and Eve, "God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it'" (Genesis 1:28 NASB). We shouldn't understand this as a mandate but as an opportunity. God's blessing made procreation, habitation, and dominion possible and positive. Without His blessing, these things become difficult, twisted, and even burdensome.

When God extended to us the gift of communication, He intended it primarily for the sacred task of building, nurturing, and deepening relationships with others. In a fallen world, however, we more often use words for personal gain or to threaten, intimidate, teach, set goals, or produce. But language that ends there stops short of the divine model. Words that serve only to inform or entertain fail their foundational purpose.

Language is not an evolutionary development but a divine gift for community. It has not arisen accidentally in the course of human history. Rather it initiated human history. God spoke everything into being, and His words not only created life but they continue to extend love and grace. His words—and ours—have a sacred and sacramental quality.

Of course, no one teaches us more about the power of words and blessings than Jesus himself. Even in the first few chapters of Mark's gospel, we see it over and over. When a leper came to Jesus begging for healing, Jesus said, "I am willing. Be clean" (Mark 1:41). When a paralyzed man was lowered through a roof to Him, Jesus said, "Son, your sins are forgiven" (Mark 2:5). When Jesus encountered a demon-possessed man near the Sea of Galilee, He said, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" (Mark 5:8). When a woman, afflicted with a bleeding problem for twelve years, touched the hem of Jesus' garment to be healed, He said, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering" (Mark 5:34).

Healing, deliverance, and freedom became reality with these words of Jesus. His words imparted grace in a world devoid of it and desperately needing it.

Blessings in the Ancient World

Men and women of all cultures throughout human history have known the power of a blessing (a "good word") to change a life. In the ancient world, blessings—largely overlooked and seldom expressed in our day—could turn a life around.

Over the centuries, Jews have traditionally greeted each other with shalom—a term that loosely translates as "peace." The term, however, is not just a greeting but an invocation: "May God grant you peace, goodwill, good health, prosperity, and well-being in every way."

In ancient Israel, the Lord told the priests to bless the sons of Israel by saying to them:

    The LORD bless you and keep you;
    the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
    the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

And the Lord added, "So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them" (v. 27 NASB). The priests spoke these words loudly and publicly, calling on God. And the words prompted action and produced a new reality. Blessing someone was a prophetic act.

When the Old Testament patriarchs faced their own deaths they would commonly gather their sons together and pronounce a blessing—not as wishful thinking but with the conviction that carefully chosen words would produce real results. The blessings established a covenant between the patriarch, the son, and God. And since God himself would not die, the blessing was bound to be fulfilled.

In the first century, at the time of Jesus, Jewish mothers would ask local rabbis to speak a blessing over their children. Indeed, Mark records, "People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them ... and he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them" (Mark 10:13, 16). The Jews knew that God created the world with words. He didn't squeeze the planets into shape with His hands. He said, "Let there be ..." and there was. From the very beginning of time, words have created, produced, shaped, and blessed.

The Blessings of Jesus

Blessings were sought, exchanged, and deeply valued in the first century. Thus the opening words of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) carried special weight. As He opened His mouth, His first word was, "Blessed." It surely caught everyone's attention. Who will be blessed? What will the blessing be?

"Blessed are the poor in spirit.... Blessed are those who mourn.... Blessed are the meek.... Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.... Blessed are the merciful.... Blessed are the pure in heart.... Blessed are the peacemakers.... Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness...."

These blessings strike us as very odd. On the one hand, they sound like good news—especially for those who are beaten, abandoned, down-and-out, hurt, weak, discouraged, and oppressed. On the other hand, the blessings completely invert the cultural norms of Jesus' day and ours. We expect Him to declare the middle-class mantras of our time:

    "Blessed are the wealthy, for they have everything they need."
    "Blessed are the healthy, for they will prevail in the struggle for survival."
    "Blessed are the educated, for their knowledge gives them superior leverage."
    "Blessed are the powerful, for they call the shots."
    "Blessed are the famous, for they always have admirers."

But Jesus sees greater blessing in qualities we usually dismiss or avoid. And in eight short couplets—just seventy-two words in the original Greek language—Jesus lays out blessings that provide deep insight into the abundant life and the Kingdom of God. His blessings take us by surprise because He does not attach prosperity or power to them. He speaks blessing to the marginalized of society, and those blessings focus more on the heart of the recipient than on their circumstances. And in those few compact words, Jesus casts a vision for the Kingdom of God that completely contradicts what we teach and expect in the kingdoms of this world.

Author Andrej Kodjak suggests that the opening of the Sermon on the Mount was designed to shock the audience as a deliberate inversion of standard values. Perhaps as we explore these Beatitudes they'll prove as much a shock to us as to anyone over the past twenty centuries. But these blessings—as unusual as they may sound—will strengthen, renew, and shape us positively.

If we could restore the status of blessings in our day—Kingdom blessings—our lives might change dramatically. May our journey into these ancient blessings—the blessings of the Beatitudes—be life-giving and life-changing for us.

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from The Power of Blessing by David Timms Copyright © 2010 by David Timms. Excerpted by permission of Bethany House Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---