From time to time, I have had people with the gift of prophetic prayer pray over me. Each time, it has been an amazing experience as they have shared the heart of the Father for me. Even more amazing, is that what they shared came to reality in my life and each time I knew in my heart, this was from God. There are wonderful blessings that God pronounces over His people in Scripture, where God reveals His heart for us. One of them is found in three stanzas of Psalm 67.

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.” (Verses 1-2). Now stop and think about this for a moment. What if you knew that today, right now, God was going to be gracious to you and bless you, and more than that, make His face  shine upon you - the light of all His glory and grace as He actually looks at you - you personally, today, now? That is exactly what He is doing right now. And why? So that His ways would be known on earth and His salvation known among all nations as we experience His blessing and share it with others. I hope that changes your day today. It should.

“May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise you, O God, May all the peoples praise you.” (Verses 3-5). This is the only real response to the graciousness and blessing of God! To praise Him. To thank Him. To live with a, “Thank you Jesus,” on our lips throughout our day. God is good and He is powerful and He rules justly. Every breath we take is His breath in our lungs. Every new day we experience is a day of grace from Him. Every tough road we walk is one that He chooses to walk with us. 

God is always there, ready to be gracious to us and bless us. His face always shines upon us. How we respond is our choice, but the response that He is pleased with is one of praise and thanksgiving. There is no situation we face that will not be transformed by an attitude of thanksgiving to God. That is why I practice the discipline of saying, “Thank you Jesus,” dozens of times a day, even when things are going poorly for me, because I know He is there and He is blessing me, notwithstanding my circumstances. 

“Then the Land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.” (Verses 6-7). Twice the Psalmist says, God will bless us as we experience His graciousness and blessing as we live in thanksgiving. God responds to our praise and thanksgiving with even more blessing, because that is His heart for us and He loves it when we live in thanksgiving to Him, rather than in selfishness or even pity for ourselves. His generosity to us results in our generosity to Him in thanksgiving, which results in His continued generosity and blessing to us.  

Let’s make it our goal to live this way today. Recognizing His blessing, living with thankfulness and expectant of His continued blessing.

Father, what can I say but thank You for Your graciousness and blessing to me. Help me to live constantly aware of Your goodness and saturated with thankfulness to You. I bless You, praise You and thank You from the depths of my soul today. Amen.