Proverbs 18:21 (English Standard Version)
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
Parents and guardians have the crucial responsibility of being the first prophets in the lives of children, especially in this age of social media where there are influences coming from every direction. Building a child up must start at home. What are we prophesying over our children? Are we building them up or are we tearing them down? Are we speaking life or death over our children? Parents must be the first ones to speak positive words of affirmation over their children or else they will go out into the world seeking validation from people who may not have their best interests at heart.
We casually say, “Have a blessed day.” But I wonder if we grasp the importance of what it means to bless someone. Blessings were important in the Bible. In the Bible it is common for the parents to speak blessings over their children. The greatest patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all blessed their children. “To be blessed” meant ‘to be favored by God’…Thus to express a blessing is like bestowing a wish on someone that they will experience the favor of God.”[1] So when you tell someone to have a blessed day, you are really telling them that you want them to experience the favor of God during their day.
In the Bible, when parents bless their children, they are speaking God’s favor over their lives. These blessings chart the course for their children’s lives. These parents knew what world they were sending their children into. They knew the world could be rough and is filled with many negative influences. Therefore, parents made sure that they had the greatest influence over their children. Their children knew who they were, who they were descended from, and who they were destined to be so that they could lead successful lives.
But not only were these parents speaking God’s favor over these children, they were instilling a warrior mentality in them as well as holding them accountable for their actions. One of the most prominent blessings is in Genesis 49 when Jacob blessed his 12 sons:
“All these were the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.”[2]
Jacob was very specific to each son giving each a custom blessing. And each son went on to fulfill the destiny spoken over them by their father.
There are hurting people out there who need someone to prophesy good things over them. Your words could change the entire direction of someone’s life. Speak life today. Prophesy over someone. You never know, God could be using you to change the entire trajectory of someone else’s life.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessing
[2] Genesis 49:28