A Blessing

"Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well."
3 John 2

All through the Bible, we find that blessings are very important. In the Old Testament, blessings were always pronounced on children and grandchildren as one neared death. God pronounced many blessings throughout his Word. God is a God of blessing. He wants to bless his children and he sometimes uses us to pronounce those blessings for him.
    The scripture above was written by the apostle John. He was very close to Jesus and had insights into the life of Christ that no one else had. I believe that while he walked with Jesus, he learned the importance of pronouncing blessings. In this verse, John is pronouncing a blessing over the health of a man named Gaius, to whom the letter was written. When John wrote, he was declaring that his friend's health would be blessed as much as his spirit had already been blessed. He was speaking a blessing that said, "I am believing that your health is going to prosper even as your soul, your spirit, has already prospered." He knew that the same God who transforms our souls is fully capable of transforming our sickly bodies to be in good health.
    John made it clear that he was praying for his friend. The blessing he pronounced was a direct result of the prayers he had uttered many times. All this can only happen when one person genuinely loves another. To pray for someone out of love holds great power in the kingdom of God. John did not use phrases like, "I hope," or "I want." No. He said, "I pray..." There is no greater love than to honestly give up your time and your agenda to pray for a friend. More is accomplished in a person's life through prayer than we will ever know in this lifetime. But eternity will tell the story of those who were changed simply because someone prayed for them and blessed them in the name of Jesus.
    It seems simple, and it is.Praying for someone and blessing them is a simple thing to do, but it cannot be done with only a passing thought. It takes a genuine love for someone, a heart for God, and a desire to see the best God has for a person. Let's start thinking of others, praying for them, and then blessing them because of our love for them. It is easy to get caught up in our own world. Our prayers are often dominated by our own needs. But when we begin to look outside ourselves and develop God's heart for others, our prayers change. Pray for those you love. Bless them in the name of Jesus. Eternity will be changed because of one act of selflessness. And just think, someone is praying for you, too.