I read the book of Ruth recently, and near the end of those few chapters is a blessing, spoken to Naomi:  “Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel!  And may he be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age….” (Ruth 4:14, 15)

A couple of things impressed my heart as I read this blessing—the first thought that came to me was the phrase “God Bless you” and how totally uncreative, general and unspecific it is.  What did Naomi need?  A restorer of life and a sustainer in her old age, and that is what the blessing addressed.  The other thing, probably most important but sometimes I’m a little slow, is that the Lord is blessed when the people who trust him are blessed.

Here are some blessings you can find in the Bible:

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24, 25).

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 1:2).

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (Romans 16:20).

God blesses us with comfort in tribulation so that we can also bless others with comfort:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted” (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4).

When you read the last few verses of most of Paul’s writings, you will find that he is very good at blessing people.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14).

“Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity” (Ephesians 6:23, 24).

“Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way.  The Lord be with you all…The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all” (2 Thessalonians 3:16, 18).

“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ to who be glory forever and ever” (Hebrews 13:20, 21).

I find it interesting that God honors blessing ourselves, as seen in the prayer of Jabez; however, Jabez’s prayer was more about breaking a curse and calling on God to bless him so that his life would not cause others pain:

“Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez [He will cause pain], saying, ‘Because I bore him in pain.’  And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!’  So God granted him what he requested” (1 Chronicles 4:9, 10).

Something that goes beyond my incredibility scale is the fact that we as mere humans can bless our infinite God!  It is so easy to live with a “one-way” blessing mindset—heaven to earth; that we forget blessing goes both ways, we have the opportunity to bless God by our choices, our attitudes, our praise—our very lives!  The book of Psalms is a very good resource for blessing the Lord…

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:  Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:1-5).

“Oh, bless our God, you peoples! And make the voice of His praise to be heard” (Psalm 66:8).

“Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day” (Psalm 96:2).

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him and bless His name.  For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations” (Psalm 100:4, 5).

“Behold, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who by night stand in the house of the Lord!  Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord” (Psalm 134:1, 2).

“I will extol You, my God, O King; and I will bless Your name forever and ever.  Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever.  Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable….All Your works shall praise You, O Lord, and Your saints shall bless You” (Psalm 145:1-3, 10).

Today I bless you, my friend, with joy and peace in the Holy Spirit—I pray that you will prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers, that God will be your sufficiency and provision, and you will continue to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I bless you, in the Name of Jesus, with wisdom and creativity in speaking God’s blessings to others.

Bless me Lord with creativity, patience, knowledge and favor, so that I can bless others with wisdom and generosity; bless me with grace to honor you in all that I do and say.  Let every word spoken to me and intended as a curse be turned to blessing—let the love of Jesus exude from my words and my actions so that the name of Jesus will be blessed.

I bless you, O God, from the depths of my heart for you are good and your mercies are new every morning.  I praise you for loving and accepting me when others do not find me acceptable.  I bless you because that is the song of eternity—the songs that will endure forever.

“’Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!’  And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:  ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!’” (Revelation 5:12, 13).

“Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever.  Amen.”  (Revelation 7:12)