To Invoke a Blessing

Luke 24:50 - Then He conducted them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up His hands, He invoked a blessing on them.

This verse comes toward the end of the book of Luke, and I've always read it as kind of a transition to His miraculous ascension to heaven. For some reason or another, I ended up reading back through this a few days ago, and I got hung up on this verse. It has never registered with me before, but it did that day. I paused to reflect on the notion of Christ calling down blessings over them. I realized that this moment went far beyond the ritualistic idea that I sometimes have on 'blessings' in the church - words recited without thought; prayers without real faith in the outcome.

But this blessing...this moment described in Luke 24...there has never been a hollow, vain, ineffective word uttered by Christ Jesus. His blessing was in full faith, complete certainty, absolute assurance of the outcome - that it would be all exactly as He had spoken. This was a perfect prayer prayed over these people. Wow, what I would give to have been in that crowd, to have been included in that blessing!

So my mind started wandering a bit...I wonder if He has ever invoked such a blessing over my life? Over yours? I believe He has - in my spirit, I feel it. Maybe somewhere in the Bible it confirms that. I'm not sure, but I know that He is always praying over us, interceding for us.

My mind is boggled trying to imagine that I would be the recipient of such a perfect prayer; that the Lord of lords would look upon me and feel that His efforts would be best put to use by praying for me, or speaking blessings over me. How could I possibly think of such a thing and not be completely humbled by my complete inability to ever remotely come close to deserving such attention. But He gives it freely. Sometimes still I have to remind myself that that's how He loves me. I don't deserve it. I never will. But I will accept it and I will thank Him.

I pray that my heart and my attitude of faith would be transformed to be like His; that my prayers - more than that - every word I utter - would be full of meaning, fueled by unwavering faith, having the fullest measure of effectiveness; that I would believe as He did on the day He ascended to heaven, having absolute certainty in the result, even before it is seen.

I pray that the Lord would set a guard over my mouth, that in my heart I would weigh the full measure of every word I speak before it is spoken; that my mouth would not be a contradiction to itself by speaking both blessings and curses.

James 5:16 - ...The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power & produces wonderful results.

Isaiah 55:11 - So shall my word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void (without producing any effect, useless), but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.