All This for You – God’s Stunning Blessing!

The church has been hungry to see the blessing that the Word of God talks about. What does it actually mean to be blessed?

“To bless” is the Hebrew word bāraḵ, and it means to kneel, to be adored, to praise, or salute. The first mention of it was in Genesis 1:21-23 on the fifth “day” of creation with all the living creatures of the waters/sea and the birds:

21God created huge sea creatures and every living creature that moves of every kind—swarming in the water and flying in the sky, according to their species. God loved what he saw, for it was beautiful. 22God blessed them, saying: “Reproduce and be fruitful! Fill the waters of the sea with life, and the earth with flying birds!” 23Evening gave way to morning—day five.

The Passion Translation (TPT, emphasis added)

Prior to this, the realm created in “days” 1 through 4 included: light, day, night, sky, waters/seas, dry land, plants and vegetation/trees, stars, sun, moon, and time. They were created, loved, found pleasing, and pronounced beautiful, but not specifically blessed (Gen. 1:3-13). 

The second mention of the word “blessed” is on the sixth “day” of creation when God created creatures that move along the ground and humankind. 

26 Then God said: “Let us make a man and a woman in our image to be like us. Let them reign over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the livestock, over the creatures that creep along the ground, and over the wild animals.”

27 So God created man and woman and shaped them with his image inside them. In his own beautiful image, he created his masterpiece. Yes, male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them in his love, saying: “Reproduce and be fruitful! Populate the earth and subdue it! Reign over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every creature that lives on earth.”

Genesis 1:26-28 (TPT, emphasis added)

The second blessing came when God created humankind in His image and likeness, male and female. When God blessed humankind, He kneeled, adored, praised, and saluted humanity. This should not be such a shock. What do we do as healthy parents who wildly love our babies/children? We kneel down to their level, we adore them, we praise them and recognize them with expressions of kind wishes, courtesy/honor (the meaning of salute). As babies and children, they definitely need us to be the parent—training, correcting, and encouraging. It is crucial that babies/children are not allowed the “rule the roost,” which would be to everyone’s harm. However, we treat them with high regard while not relinquishing our status a parents. This is how God views us and blesses us. 

Note, with the blessing came the command and empowerment to not only be fruitful and multiply, but also to have rulership over all the living creatures on land, sky, and sea. We get confused over rulership because with the fall, power has been corrupted for personal gain at others’ expense, violating Love. But rulership over the seen/physical realm was and is to be as God’s rulership over all things. He is the King, Lord, and High Priest (Divine, upper case “K”, “L”, and “P”) over all creation, including us. We are lower case “k” kings, “l” lords, and “p” priests (1 Tim. 6:15, Rev. 5:10, Rev. 17:14, Rev. 9:16, Rev. 1:5-6). 

God’s dominion brings life more abundant to the full until it overflows (John 6:33 and 10:10). It is the dominion of Love. Love does not tread under, but Love lifts up and brings life. Indeed, humanity was blessed and given dominion to be a blessing, as was revealed to Abraham, the father of faith (Gen. 12:3, Gen. 18:18, Gen. 22:18.). 

Note too that the rulership given to men and women was given over all the seen realm, but not given for one gender to rule over another. 

God then iterated the provision He made for them and expressed His delight!

29And God said: “I give you every seed-bearing plant growing throughout the earth, vegetables, and every fruit-bearing tree with its seed within itself. They will be your food. 30They will also be food for every animal and bird, and every creature that moves on the ground—every creature with the breath of life.” And so it happened.

31God surveyed all he had made and said, “I love it!” For it pleased him greatly. Evening gave way to morning—day six.

Genesis 1:29-31 (TPT, emphasis added)

The third blessing mentioned is on the seventh “day.” 

1And so the creation of the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2By the seventh day, God had completed creating his masterpiece, so on the seventh day, he rested from all his work. 3So God blessed the seventh day and made it sacred, because on it, he paused to rest from all his work of creation.

Genesis 2:1-3 (TPT, emphasis added)

God blessed the seventh day and made it sacred because it was the day He rested from all His creative work. The idea of a set-apart, sacred, or sanctified day is all about rest as sacred. Hebrews 4:9-11 says:

9So we conclude that there is still a full and complete Sabbath-rest waiting for believers to experience. 10As we enter into God’s faith-rest life we cease from our own works, just as God celebrates his finished works and rests in them. 11So then we must be eager to experience this faith-rest life, so that no one falls short by following the same pattern of doubt and unbelief.

TPT (emphasis added)

So, what is going on here? God blessed the animals, God blessed humanity, and He blessed the day of rest. There is a message for us. God not only knelt down to our level, literally becoming human while holding onto divinity, but adores us, praises us, and recognizes with expressions of kind wishes, courtesy, and honor (blessing us). He also provides EVERYTHING for us and invites us into His rest, helping us to cease from our striving and toil. Brian Simmons, lead translator of The Passion Translation, comments on Hebrews 4:9:

“The Aramaic can be translated ‘He arose to be the Sabbath for the people of God.’”

    (emphasis added)

God literally is our “day” or place of rest that we so desperately need. To experience this, we need help believing it. This is where He is convicting/convincing and healing us of our doubt and unbelief in His goodness, mercy, kindness, and His ability to provide, protect, heal, and restore. We can’t rest if we are fearful. This is why He, as Perfect Love, casts out all fear (1 John 4:16-19). 

Under the Old Covenant of the Law of Moses, when you did good, you were blessed, and when you did badly, you were cursed (Deut. 28:1-18). This was NEVER God’s heart but how humanity saw and often still sees Him. The Old Covenant blinded and still blinds legalistic people to Who God really is (2 Cor. 3:14-17).

You are not under the Law of Moses, but you are under the New Covenant of faith/grace/forgiveness and the Law of Love/Christ/Spirit/freedom. For more on this, I invite you to dive into my Podcast Episode 141: Liberty and Lawlessness. https://youtu.be/eUoLJzEHHkk

Under the New Covenant of faith/grace/forgiveness, when you do badly, you are forgiven and positioned to be healed and restored and then invited to be a conduit of healing and restoration. Our blessing is not based on our performance, but on Christ’s. It’s all about Christ and our position in Him, which is already blessed. The more we trust and rest in God (believe in Him/have faith), the more the evidence of God’s blessing flows. Galatians 3:8-9 says:

 8And the Scripture prophesied that on the basis of faith God would declare gentiles to be righteous. God announced the good news ahead of time to Abraham:

“Through your example of faith, all the nations will be blessed!” 

9And so the blessing of Abraham’s faith is now our blessing too!

    TPT (emphasis added)

In King David’s Psalm 32:1, the Hebrew word for “blessed” or “happy” is asher, which carries the meaning of “a happy progress.” Romans 4:6-8 picks up on this, linking our blessing to our righteousness that is apart from our own performance, but is because of Christ’s performance on our behalf. 

6Even King David himself speaks to us regarding the complete wholeness that comes inside a person when God’s powerful declaration of righteousness is heard over our life. Apart from our works, God’s work is enough. 7Here’s what David says:

What happy fulfillment is ahead for those whose rebellion has been forgiven and whose sins are covered by blood.

8What happy progress comes to them when they hear the Lord speak over them,

“I will never hold your sins against you!” 

TPT (emphasis added)

This idea of YOU and me being blessed rings out so triumphantly in Ephesians 1:3-4, which says:

3Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus—all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate him with all our hearts!

4And in love he chose us before he laid the foundation of the universe!  Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence.

Brian Simmons has commented that “ordained” in one Eastern Aramaic text can be translated “He marked us with his love.”

It is simple—God has blessed us because He loves us, passionately and completely. You are marked by Love! You are outrageously blessed!

I hope this has encouraged you today and stirred your faith and childlike trust to experience more and more how utterly blessed you are. I’d love to hear how this has impacted you!

Much Love,

Catherine