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Harsh World
We live in a loveless harsh and discouraging world. Grace is a central attribute of God and although grace gets misunderstood to mean “mercy” quite often, the reality is that God is kind, compassionate and patient with us all, including the unbelievers.
Toxic Masculinity
Toxic masculinity is a reality and few places bear more testimony to it that your typical boys school. The culture of dishonor and degrading one another in a destructive “one-upmanship” game is devastating on all parties.
Very few of us have received enough love, enough grace and enough kindness in our lives. Even if we did grow up with dignity and honor there still is so much value in giving and receiving honor.
Praise to a child is like oil to a machine
The value, authority and life giving power we get into others’ lives when we honor them and bless the good that we see in them and affirm and encourage is truly amazing.
Praise Kick Praise
In the seven letters to the seven churches we see Jesus first listing what is right before He, rebukes the churches for the failures. In parenting it is obvious that if we don’t affirm, praise and encourage our children much more, (5 times more is good) than we discipline them we actually degrade the relationship and loose impact. Values can only be transferred where there is a connection.
Recognize Design and Bless It
Arthur Burke points out quite succinctly that in Gen 1:27 God made Man, male & female and then blessed them saying, “be fruitful and multiply”. The implication is that having been made male & female they would be fruitful and multiply in any case, yet God actually went to the trouble of ”blessing” them. God recognized what He had designed them to do and then He blessed them and gave a command that is in line with their design.
The point is that as people we get a lot of criticism and negativity and dishonor in our day-to-day existence. We need blessing, affirmation, and edification.
Much Authority comes from blessing and affirmation.
It is clear in scripture that the blessor (giver) is the senior party and the blessee (receiver) is the junior, or subject party. Seeing as we have the living God inside of us we can and should walk around and recognize good things, especially that which is related to design and bless it.
When we start blessing and affirming people around us, we grow in stature, in the Spirit and in our ability to guide those people later on. One gains authority and credibility by blessing and affirming. Obvious we are not talking about flattery. The blessing and affirmation of God is always true and real. Sometimes it simply amounts recognizing design and blessing to someone who is slightly derailed, or delaminated in their person hood or calling.
Once we start with sharing affirmation and blessing to other the authority and success grows quickly. Walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit wil also increase. Our ability to know, hear and cooperate with the Spirit is always boosted when we engage in this type of ministry.
but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—16. from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:15-16
