John Hagee - Born To Be Blessed
What is the blessing? The blessing is the impartation of the supernatural power of God into a human life by the spoken Word of God's delegated spiritual authority. I've said a lot in a very short sentence. In ancient Israel, God commanded the high priest, in this case, Aaron, to speak the blessing over all Israel. Once that blessing had been spoken, God instantly began to pour out his supernatural riches on that nation. I will bless them. Say that with me, I will bless them. You were born to be blessed, not because you deserve it but because you have a Heavenly Father who wants you to have absolutely the best things in this life.
Begin with the fact that his grace knows no limit: that his love has no measure: that his compassion has no boundary: that his mercies are renewed every morning: that he is the glory and the lifter of your head: that he is the way, he is the truth and he is the life. When you don't know what to do, he can tell you what to do and tell you how to do it. He is, as Isaiah said, the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father and the Prince of Peace. He is the friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He is our comforter. He is our Savior. He is our deliverer. He is our shield. He is our buckler. He is our fortress. He is our high tower. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. All the gold and silver are his, saith the Lord. And he wants to bless you and you and you exceedingly, abundantly, above all you can ask or imagine! Give him praise in the house of God.
By your words, you shall be condemned or justified. That's what the Bible says. But your speech is so supernatural that there is a miracle in your mouth looking for an opportunity to be spoken into existence. I'm going to say that again for some of you who have just dialed in. There is a miracle in your mouth looking for the opportunity to be spoken into existence. Let me give you the Bible to back that up. Matthew 17:20, Jesus said to his disciples, quote, "If you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain", you'll do what? "You will speak to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move and nothing shall be impossible unto you".
Continuing with Romans 4:17-18, the same validation. God said to Abraham, who is the father of all who believe, he said to Abraham, "To speak of those things which do not exist as though they did exist". Think of that. How did Abraham become the father of many nations? Because he spoke of those things which God was going to do, validated by the Word of God and it was born in reality. So I urge you as believers, who live by this text, to stop saying, "I can't" and start saying, "I will by the grace of God".
Father, you are the high priest of your house. The most powerful gift you can give to your children is to lay your hands upon them and speak a blessing over them. In that instant, you release God's supernatural power into their lives, power that protects, power that controls their destiny, power that shapes their self-esteem, power that gives to them self-confidence, power that speaks to them levels of success for the rest of their life.
You have that power through the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Think about that. The purpose of the blessing is to take charge and to shape the destiny of your child's life. Listen to me. If you don't take charge of your child's life, someone else will. Someone else will. And if not you, who? And if not now, when? If there was ever a time that America needed godly, spiritual authorities, fathers especially, it's right now to lead our homes. Millions of America's children live under a curse spoken upon them by their parents some time inadvertently. Some of you live under a dark cloud of parental curse. Your parents told you at some time in your life, you're dumb. And those toxic words destroyed your self-confidence.
Parents, when you say to your child, "You'll never amount to anything", you have just cursed your child's future. You have cursed their self-esteem. I want you to stop screaming at your child. You're the one with the problem. You're the leader. Leaders don't scream: they lead. Jewish fathers and mothers bless their children every Friday and every sabbath meal. When their children get 13, they have a bar mitzvah for boys, a bat mitzvah for girls. And they put their hands on them in house of God and bless them in the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Have you ever wondered why the Jewish people are so prosperous as a group of people? I submit to you it's because they live under the power of the blessing that is spoken over them by spiritual authority, their fathers. They represent about 2.7% of the world's population and they win about 80% of the Pulitzer prizes, master merchants, medicine, arts, finance. Why? Because their children go out of their houses and live under the anointing of that blessing that have unlimited success. King David blessed Israel in Psalm 1: blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. But he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of living water. His leaf shall not wither. Say it with me, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish rabbi, began his public ministry with a sermon on the mount with eight blessings. Blessed are the poor in spirit. That doesn't mean what 99% of you think it is. Blessed are those that mourn. Blessed are those that hunger and thirst. Blessed are the peek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. It was God's intention for you to understand you were born to be blessed! Jesus stopped in the middle of his teaching to bless children. Traditionally a Jewish rabbi never stops once he starts teaching. Remember when the children came to Jesus. The disciples tried to stop the children because that's what tradition mandated. Jesus said: suffer the little children to come unto me. And he took them in his arms, the Bible said, and he blessed them.
If Jesus blessed children, why don't we? What did he say? He said everything that was in numbers 16, and then he spoke the prophetic blessing. What's the difference between the priestly blessing of numbers 6 and the prophetic blessing? The priestly blessing is written in numbers 6. The prophetic blessing follows the priestly blessing. It is the anointed proclamation of the spiritual authority following numbers 6. The last thing Jesus did on this earth as he was lifted up into heaven to leave his disciples was to bless them. The Bible says: as he rose into the heavens, he lifted his hands and blessed them. The fact is the first thing Jesus did on the Mount of Olives was to bless. The last thing he did as he left this earth was to bless.
He saw the importance of that. Why don't we? Well you say, it stopped there. It never stops. Read Paul's 13 books. Every book Paul writes (that's saint Paul). Every book saint Paul writes begins with this blessing, grace and peace from God our father. From the Lord Jesus Christ, be multiplied unto you. That's a blessing. Why? Because he understood the supernatural power of the blessing spoken by spiritual authority to bless the life of the reader or the listener. Consider the power of the blessing in spiritual warfare. Proverbs 26:2 says, "Like a darting swallow, an undeserved curse cannot come to rest". You've seen a swallow fly through the air. And they can fly just in unpredictable patterns. Solomon says: as a darting swallow, an undeserved curse... Do you hear that? Cannot come to rest.
The Bible says: bless and curse not. The Bible says: bless those that persecute you. Why? You overcome evil with good. How? When I bless you in the name of the Lord, an invisible shield surrounds me. Call it a prayer closet. Call it a blood covering. Call it what you will but you become a teflon Christian. If people curse me and I curse them back, their curse sticks to me. It stays in my mind and it controls me. But according to this body of scripture, if I bless them, the curse returns to them. When someone says something evil about you, bless them in the name of the Lord and all of the hate, all of the bitterness, all of the poison ricochets right back to them. It's returned to sender. The power of the blessing gives you the power to have the last word.
Consider the power and the consider the power and the consie prominence of the blessing. Once the blessing has been spoken, it cannot be removed by anybody. Think about that. Here's the Bible record. Isaac, the aged father, he's almost blind. He's been deceived by his wife and Jacob, the second born son, the heel catcher, deceived into giving Jacob the blessing. You see Jacob is the second son. Esau is the first born son. The first born son is the one who is to receive the best blessing from the right hand. The second born son gets a whole lot less. So Esau's arms were hairy. Jacob covered his arms with lamb's wool so that when his blind father reached out and touched him, he would think it was Esau. Isaac said to his son, you feel like Esau but you sound like Jacob.
I want to tell you there is a sermon there that just jumps off the page at me. How you present yourself and who you really are, are two different things. I'll preach that on another day. He blessed, in deception, his second son. Esau heard about it, comes dashing into the tent. He's angry. He says to his father, bless me. I am your first born son. Isaac says and this is written in your scripture. I have blessed Jacob and he will be blessed. Message: once the blessing has been spoken, I cannot reverse it. No one can reverse it. And he said, bless me anyway. So his father spoke a blessing over him that was more a curse than a blessing, saying that you will serve your brother and your descendants will serve your brother the rest of your lives.
And history proves it happened exactly like that. Once spoken, the power of the blessing becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. And every word that he blessed those two boys with became reality. Jacob, on his death bed, called his twelve sons in, leaning on his cane and he spoke a prophetic blessing over their lives. And everything that he spoke in their lives became exactly true. In this book, I take you a walk through history. And you will see that Jacob sculptured world history through the lives of those twelve boys. Think about that, how exact that was. In the Old Testament, the right hand is the greater blessing. The left hand is the lessor blessing. The Bible says that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. That's a position of power. That's where we get the phrase "He is my right-hand man". That's the position of power.
Jacob, the grandfather, is going to bless his grandchildren. He blesses Manasseh, the first born: and Ephraim, the second born. Now follow this: when the grandchildren come in, the grandfather crosses his hands. He puts his right hand on the second born and his left hand on the first born. Joseph, the father, tried to stop him. He could not. The grandfather refused. He said, this is not a mistake. Get your hands off me! It was a foreshadowing of the cross, because everything that happened in the New Testament is foretold in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is God's will concealed. The New Testament is God's will revealed.
Stay focused. Jesus is on the cross. What does that have to do with this blessing between Jacob and his grandchildren? Jesus is on the cross. He is the first born of his father. He deserved the right hand of blessing. He deserved the best blessing. He did not get it. On the cross, he cried, "My father, my father, why have you forsaken me"? The sun refused to shine.
And in the darkness, the father said, "I have not forsaken you, my son. Today I have put my left hand of blessing upon you and my right hand of blessing upon the gentiles. The gentiles are outside the covenants of Israel. But today I'm bringing them into the family of God. They are aliens without hope and without God. But today I am making them sons and daughters and heirs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Today I'm giving them the blessings because I choose to bless them that they maybe born to be blessed. I am giving them everlasting life and taking their death. I'm giving them health and healing and I'm taking the sickness on my own body. I'm giving them mercy and I'm taking their judgment. I'm giving them forgiveness. I'm taking the pain. I'm giving them acceptance. I'm accepting their rejection. I am becoming the Lord of their lives".
Hallelujah for the cross! There we receive the covenant of the blood covenant of the son of the living God and the blessing! Give him praise in the house. God is calling fathers to be spiritual leaders: fathers, who will love their wives as Christ loved the church: fathers, who will bless their children on a regular basis: fathers, who will train their children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord. And then the Lord will make your house, the Bible says, as the days of heaven on earth. If you want your house to become a thing of joy, turn off the television and start bringing the blessing of God into your house and see what difference the anointing of the Holy Spirit can make in your life!
Thirdly, the blessing of divine guidance. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. The shepherd guides and provides. I read a book written by a professional shepherd. And he said, "One of the foremost responsibilities of a shepherd in the time of Christ", and a shepherd remains today, "Is to anoint the sheep with oil in the nasal passages to prevent flies from placing eggs in the cracks of the nasal passages because those nasal passages will produce worms, flies and worms". Do you know what the word "Beelzebub" means? It's a name for the devil. Lord of the flies. I'm telling you that the prince of darkness is looking for any breach in your life wherever he can find it to plant a resentment so that it will fester and destroy every relationship you have that you consider precious. And the only thing that can drive it out is the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit that will bring you relief.
Listen. Listen closely. Those worms crawl up the passages, the nasal passage of a sheep into its brain. And the sheep, trying to find relief, will run from pasture to pasture, and pound its head on one rock after another trying to find relief, and will not find it until the anointing oil comes or death comes. Some of you in this room and some of you watching by television have a problem in your life, a problem that is causing you to hit your head against a rock, a problem that you have not been able to solve. Stop! I want you to receive this morning from the Holy Spirit, an anointing oil that will come from the chief shepherd, Jesus Christ. And let the oil of joy and the oil of gladness bathe your broken heart. I want peace like a river to flood your mind and your soul. I want the oil to remove the pain of rejection from your life. Let the offense that has been tormenting you be conquered, in the name of Jesus Christ right now!
The blessing of health and healing. He is Jehovah rophe, the Lord our healer. The Bible says: I am the Lord that healeth all of your diseases. Jesus said: by his stripes, I am healed. Some in this audience have received news that your doctor has given up on you because you have a major disease. I'm here to tell you that the healer is in the house. And whatever your sickness or disease, Christ will heal you!
The blessing of purity and holiness. Listen. His name is Jehovah m'kaddesh, which means holiness. Listen. Holiness is inward likeness to God. Listen. Holiness has nothing to do with stupid religious rules that someone told you have to keep to get saved. Holiness is what happens to you when you go to the cross, you confess your sins and Jesus washes you whiter than snow. Now you're holy. Now you are sanctified. That's where we get the word "Saint", sanctified. Sanctified, how? Not by keeping rules but by the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin. Well I've had people say, well holiness is not possible. You're obviously out of a Pentecostal church. I assure you: holiness is possible.
The Bible says: be ye holy as I am holy. Our faith is the holy faith. Our book is the holy Bible. Our God is the holy God. Our Savior is the holy child Jesus. Our city is the holy city of the new Jerusalem. Our song is "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty who was and is and will forever more be". I know people who say, well I'm not interested in holiness. The Bible says: without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Are you interested now? Ya. Let me tell you. You will never know the Lord without living in purity. You will never know the Lord without living in purity. You can come in this church and sing "Amazing grace". And if you live a life of filth Monday through Saturday, you've got a problem. You need to get cleansed of your sin, for who confesses and forsakes his sin shall have mercy with the Lord.
In closing, the blessing of peace. Jehovah shalom, shalom. That word in Hebrew is an umbrella. It covers everything. It's an all-inclusive word. It's the cornucopia of heaven, shalom. It means may you be blessed in your family. May you be blessed in your health. May you be blessed in your relationships. May you be blessed in prosperity. May you be blessed with the peace of the Lord that surpasses all understanding. May everything you put your hands to be blessed, because you have the shalom of God.
Some of you here today have married children whose lives have been shattered by divorce. Your grandchildren have been scarred and they are hurting. You have been deeply grieved. You have been waiting for God's answer for an extended period of time. I want to give you this proclamation from the Lord that God is bringing an answer for your family that will bring joy and peace beyond your wildest dreams. Hold on, child of God. The answer is on the way! Joy cometh in the morning! God's delay is not God's denial. He has not forgotten who you are or where you are! Good things are going to happen because you were born to be blessed! Give the Lord praise in the house of God! Come on! Get excited about the good things of God! Bless his name! Amen. Bless his name! Glory!