Have you ever received a blessing from your father? In my last post I talked about the father vacuum, and if you did not have a good relationship with your father, I would say the answer to the above question is, no. Even if you had a good relationship with your father he may have not known he needed to give you a blessing or how to give you his blessing.

The model of a blessing is found in Genesis chapter 27, which is the story of Jacob stealing the blessing of Esau from his father Isaac.  In this story Isaac tells his oldest son he wants to bless him, but he wants him to go and bring him a meal. While he is gone Jacob and his mother dress him up to smell and feel like his brother, as his father is blind. As Jacob approached him to receive the blessing, Isaac pulled him close so smell his scent. Now most people will focus on how Jacob and his mother stole the blessing, but that is not what I want you to focus on right now.  I want to look at what Isaac did and how he blessed Jacob, and even though he stole the blessing it still remained in effect. So lets look at how Isaac blessed his son, which is found in Genesis 27: verses 27-29:

“Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”  So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, ”Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed. May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earth’s richness—an abundance of grain and new wine.  May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.”

Notice how he pulled him close to him, close enough to smell the scent of him. Men how close do you have to be in order to smell the scent of your wives.  Next Isaac spoke his blessing to Jacob out loud so he could hear the words and the blessing for himself, then he placed high value on Jacob by telling him he would have abundance and nations would bow down to him. Isaac then gave Jacob a special future by describing his role and leader of the family, and he also placed an active commitment to the blessing he gave to Jacob, telling his other son Easu that the blessing he gave Jacob would stand and could not be recinded.

What does all this mean? Well men, I know this is the model we must follow to give our blessing to our children. Remember all the years of teaching your children what you knew while they were growing up, and they looked up to you and thought the world of you, you were Dad.  This was important, but what they may have learned from you is that they need to be just like you in order to gain your acceptance and blessing. I know most fathers stop at the teaching stage for their children, and do not go on to bless them so they can go out and be the man or woman God created them to be. This is what I meant about the father vacuum in our childrens lives. Remember, you teach what you know, but you reproduce what you are. So just don’t teach your children, reproduce your faith in them, and when they get older you can give them your blessing to be that which God has created them to be.

So why don’t you follow this guide to bless your children: 1) Meaningful Touch; put your hands on them and pull them close; 2) Speak out Loud the blessing to them, this way they will know for a fact you mean what is being said; 3) Attach High Value to your child, let them know how much they mean to you and how much they mean to their Heavenly Father; 4) Give them a Special Future. 

If you will bless your children in this manner you will release them from trying to live a life that pleases you and they will not have to live their lives trying live up to your standards. They will then be free to go out and live their lives for their Heavenly Father and they will be free to passionately pursue that which God has made them, pursuing a God filled life doing that which pleases Him. I hope I have let you know how important the blessing is in the life of everyone. Now if you did not receive a blessing from you father, I will pray a prayer for you right now. But if your father is still alive, I want you to go to him if possible and talk about this issue. It is that important. God bless you as you journey on the path to become a Spiritual Father. May God the Heavenly Father bless you.