Our ability and opportunity to bless GOD!

Already, I know many of you are asking, “WHAAT?  Bless God?  HOW can I possibly bless the One who has everything already?”

Well, there are countless verses that tell us to bless YHVH, the one living true Almighty God. In fact in a fellowship I sometimes attend, there are numerous hymns they sing from the Psalms.  Over and over, the hymns – taken from King David’s writings (and sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses and other contributors to the Psalms) have that message.  “Bless the LORD Eternal Oh my soul…” is the way one of their hymns begins, taken from Psalm 103.  

If you’re NOT blessing your heavenly Father, you’re missing out on something very important. In fact, when we ask HIS blessing on our food, or on a project on which we are embarking, be sure to also bless HIM who gave us the true Vine and gave us the true Bread from heaven.  

More on this later, but when you add the concept of “blessing YHVH” can also mean profoundly thanking Him – all throughout the day – then blessing our holy Father, as well as Jesus Christ (Yeshua) becomes easier to understand.  More on that in a minute. God wants your WHOLE heart – even when it’s a broken heart, a heavy or sad heart, or even when we’re upset.  Loving our Father with ALL our heart means at all times, with everything we have to present at any given moment. It’s especially in those times when we need to remember to bless, thank and praise Him.

Still not convinced?  OK, here are a few verses just to be sure you know I’m not making this up. 
Be sure to read the rest of this blog to be sure learn about your awesome opportunity – and even a duty – to bless your Maker! And you can start doing this today.  And please pass a copy of this blog on to others.

It’s a very vital topic for all believers to be practicing.  And those of you who already practice this, wonderful! You’re ahead of most on this topic at least.  

So here are some verses that clearly say we are to “bless the LORD”.  

Where it is translated “the LORD” in your English Bibles, I’m going back to the original YHVH, the name of our true living God – which I pronounce as “Yehoweh”.  YHVH or YHWH we know were the consonants in His holy name, which Jesus taught us to hallow (“Hallowed be your NAME…”).  So your Bibles will say “Bless the LORD…” where I have it “Bless YHVH”.  There was no “the” before the word “YHVH” in the original, as nobody would put the word “the” in front of your name either! And yes, he has many titles but ONE holy name that is His signature name – and it is YHVH. My point is-- we ARE to bless our Maker!     

Psalms 103:1-3
BLESS Yehoweh (YHVH), O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 
BLESS Yehoweh (YHVH), O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 
Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,

Psalms 103:20-22
Bless Yehoweh, you His angels who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word. 
Bless Yehoweh, all you His hosts, You ministers [servants] of His, who do His pleasure. 
Bless Yehoweh, all His works, In all places of His dominion.  Bless Yehoweh, O my soul!

Psalms 135:19-20
Bless Yehoweh, O house of Israel! Bless Yehoweh, O house of Aaron! 
20 Bless Yehoweh, O house of Levi! You who fear Yehoweh, bless Yehoweh!

Deuteronomy 8:10
When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless Yehoweh your God for the good land which He has given you.

After King David had prayed a beautiful and powerful prayer asking for God’s guidance and blessing on his son Solomon, and on the project to build the House of God, we read this:

1 Chronicles 29:20
Then David said to all the assembly, "Now bless Yehoweh your God." So all the assembly blessed Yehoweh God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before Yehoweh and the king.

So what does it mean to “bless Yehoweh”?  The answer to that is worthy of a whole sermon, frankly.

First of all, though I admire the original intent behind some of the formal written prayers that some churches or even the Jewish people have, I recommend when you say anything to the Almighty, say it from your heart. ANY father would rather hear his children’s words from the heart – rather than the beautiful words written by an old rabbi or priest hundreds of years ago. Father wants YOUR heart, your thoughts, your concerns and your praises – not someone else’s.  “Give me YOUR heart, my son”, God implores, through His word (Proverbs 23:26).  

Now let’s kick it up a notch or two.

Any child of God who is aware that He is present at all times, anywhere and everywhere we are, in every circumstance of life – is going to be filled with a sense of awe for our loving Father. We won’t be restricting our blessings and prayers to set prayer times, and certainly not just to times of worship and group praise--- but we’ll be learning this is something we do all through the day.

But neither am I advocating what is common in orthodox Judaism: that with virtually every action upon awakening you say a prescribed formal prayer. I like the idea of being aware to bless and thank God often from the moment we wake up to the moment we lie down – but surely NOT with the same formal prayers over and over. They can become meaningless after a while. Yeshua himself even warned against the futility of reciting the same thing over and over. He said “don’t think you’ll be heard for your many (repeated ) words” (Matthew 6:7-8). He said pagans do this kind of thing and WE are not to be like that.  

Now having said that, maybe it IS a good idea when you wake up in the morning, bless your Father. But do so in your own words. Don’t worry about it not being “just right”.  Words from your heart will be just right. Bless Him for providing you with wonderful children or grandchildren – as you pass by their photos on the wall.  Bless Him for the fact you are still alive – whether you’re perfectly healthy or not. Do this often, throughout the day. If you are in good health, praise and bless Him for that.  Thank our Maker – who actually was the One in Genesis 2 who became known as Yeshua – for fearfully and wonderfully making our bodies. Thank Him for giving us the ability to heal, to get better, to let the body mend when we change our harmful ways.

If you’re not in great health, praise and bless Him anyway. You’ll find that in blessing him even in your pain, even FOR your pain (even if you don’t fully understand all that, or why), will bring you more faith, greater joy and peace.  If you have children who are estranged from you and your family and acquaintances don’t want you around – still bless and thank Him for His ability to make all things right, in His time, in His way. Remember that the Son of God said to “bless those who curse you”.  So how much more should we bless and praise our God who is love personified.  SO even in your pain and anguish of soul and spirit – bless and thank Him in all things, for all things, throughout the day.

I promise you this, as I’ve experienced it so many times myself:  in my most painful moments in my life, when I’m terribly worried and upset, when I’m unable to sleep because everything is “going wrong”—it’s those very times that I have to re-set my heart.  It’s those times I have to repent for taking my eyes off of my God and Maker.  It’s in those times when I can start experiencing joy, peace and confidence even IN the pain of my heart --- when I refocus on the big picture. Refocus on the One who holds me in His hand and says He’ll never let me go.  It’s about casting all our cares upon Him and letting go, leaving those burdens at His Mercy Seat, the throne of Grace.

Remember again, God wants your whole heart. Even if it feels shattered into a million tiny pieces at times.  Bring him your shattered pieces. Bring your whole heart – even if it’s down or up, broken or joyfully intact.  We’re all broken specimens of humanity in many ways.

Then bless Him for being there for you.  Bless Him for His plans for you, which HE says words can’t describe and are beyond anything we can imagine (1 Cor 2:9; Ephesians 3:20).  Bless Him for His wisdom in making all things work together for good. Bless Him for simply being your Father – the greatest Father one could ever hope to have. Bless Him for His Spirit. Bless Him for His Way of life. Bless Him for calling you into the Body of Christ. Bless Him for indwelling your body with His presence. Just say it: “Father, BLESS YOU—yes BLESS YOU—for just being YOU!”   

Bless Him when the sun shines. Bless Him when it rains.  We need both. Bless Him for the clouds; bless Him for the clear skies – both in the heavens and in our lives. Psalm 19 says the heavens declare the glory of God and pour forth their speech. Read it.  So whatever is happening in the heavens –bless Him who created the lightning as well as the light breezes and the hurricanes.  Bless Him when things go right and when things “go wrong”. Bless Him when you are being blessed – and bless Him when all hell seems to be breaking loose. Watch what happens when you do!

Remember, even Job did that at the outset when he lost almost everything.  Read Job 1:13-22. He started out very well. Of course the stress Satan put him through would be horrific to have to go through. I’ve lost one child; I can’t imagine losing them all, and that was just part of the story.  By Job chapter 3, he began to lose the perspective of blessing and turned to cursing life.  He should have stuck with what he did at the start: keep eyes focused and keep blessing God.

Getting the idea?  We have a great opportunity to bless our great God.  Let’s get busy doing it.  He’s overdue a LOT of praise, blessings and thanksgiving – in all things and for all things, praying always, frequently – from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed.  Let’s all PRAISE YHVH – HALLELU YAH!