And I Will Bless ThemSample

## The Father Heart of God Our desire and ability to speak blessing over others comes from knowing and believing the astonishing, world-changing fact that God loves us. The very idea of blessing is rooted in the heart of God. He welcomes us into a relationship founded on love and compassion. We see this beautifully in Jesus’s parable of the prodigal son, perhaps one of the most famous stories ever told. Two thousand years after the telling of the story, there are still numerous famous paintings and books about the parable. The prodigal son returned home, hoping for nothing more than the most meager welcome. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." (Luke 15:20 NIV). The father in the story is an illustration of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who has welcomed you and me. The One who has always loved you and longed for you, dreaming of putting forgiveness to work in your life, of redemption and of an eternity of unstoppable love. Jesus came to reveal the heavenly Father as Abba, Daddy (Romans 8:15). He broke the lies and traditions that held people in dark captivity, because the Father desperately wants to be revealed, to be found. All along, He has been present in our loneliness, pain and grief. In times of sin or rebellion, God has been the patient, longing Father waiting to run and greet us at the slightest sign of our looking towards Him. He grieves over our blindness and the lies, caricatures and deceits that have distorted our understanding of who He is. We only have to take a step, and He comes running to grab us, hug us and weep over us. He is a Father who has been grieving over our absence and is inconsolable until we return. Knowing the character of God will provoke our passion for others as we take hold of the idea that we can and should pronounce blessing for people and communities. In what ways does our understanding of God influence our words to others and to ourselves? Why would knowing God’s love for us provoke us to love others more?