How To Bless Your Kids

How to Bless Your Kids

Matthew 19:13-15

February 10, 2008

NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT USED IN MY MESSAGES IS BORROWED FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."

Me: I’ve mentioned in the past how much my father’s acceptance means to me. Even though I’m in my 40’s with children of my own, and been out of the home for longer than I was in it, I’m still wanting to know that my dad thinks well of me.

Obviously, this was even more important as I was growing up, and particularly after my parents split up.

We: Whether we want to admit it or not, all of us long for acceptance from our loved ones – and especially our parents.

When we don’t get it – for whatever reason, then we go through life missing something beautiful, and it impacts us the rest of our lives.

Likewise, when we get that genuine acceptance, it impacts us as well – in ways that allows us to impart a blessing on our kids as well.

We all want to know that we are loved and cherished by those we love. That’s part of how we’re wired as human beings.

Gaining a blessing from our loved ones, and especially our parents, can go a long way to helping us as we go along in life because it can help shape the way we see ourselves and God’s plan for us.

Having such a blessing from our loved ones is great, but not everyone gets one of those, and chances are that very few of the adults here have been given one like we’re going to look at today.

But whether you have ever been given such a blessing or not, you can most certainly give one to someone else.

And if you are a parent or grandparent, you have an opportunity to speak something into your child or grandchild’s life that can have a life-long impact.

I want you to be able to give a blessing to your children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, or any child that you come into contact with.

God: The basis of our time today is Matthew 19:13-15 (p.696) –

13 Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

The reason I’m using this passage again here is because of what I said last week - When you are like Jesus to your kids, they’ll see Him and want Him for themselves.

In this passage we see Jesus welcoming children, not passing them off as nuisances or second-class citizens.

What I want to share with you today is a tool that anyone can use with their children, no matter their age.

I’m going to give you the five basic elements of the blessing. Each of these is important, and should be part of the blessing you bestow on someone.

For our purposes today, I’m not talking about just being a blessing to our kids – although that is something we’d obviously want to be for them.

I’m talking today about giving a blessing – a spoken blessing that includes a physical touch.

And while I’m specifically focusing on giving a blessing to your children, you can also use these to give a blessing to anyone else.

What I’m sharing with you for these next few minutes is taken from the book, The Blessing, by Gary Smalley and John Trent.

If you haven’t read this book, I can’t recommend it highly enough. You can get it from Anchors of Faith bookstore or rent it from the library.

I wish I had time to go into each of these in more detail, but I hope that you’ll catch enough here to go put them into practice. If not, please get the book so you can read more deeply about them, okay?

These five elements surround the ideas of personal attention, affection, and affirmation.

Five elements of the Blessing:

> Meaningful Touch.

I mentioned this a bit last week.

Our children like to be touched by us. A pat on the back, a hand on the shoulder, and of course, a hug.

You don’t have to be a touchy-feely kind of person to do any of that, but it can mean the world to a child who yearns for the acceptance of mom and dad.

A touch can often communicate things that words can’t. It can communicate pride and understanding. It can communicate our love, and it can say, “I’m right here – with you and for you.”