The Power of Blessing Others!

 

Good news all the time and especially good news this month--as we've just finished Ramadan! Thanks for your prayers! And over 5,000 benefited from food boxes, financial aid, clothes, toys, dinners, bread and more.--A lot to celebrate. As well, below is something I hope will bless your life--how to bless others intentionally  through your words. And...you can be blessed by blessing others. Praying you all have a blessed May, with safety, happiness, health and provision. Love in Jesus, Jacki 

If you feel led to help our field in the Mideast you can send to Paypal, the ID address is: Jkiscott@gmail.com 

THE POWER OF BLESSING OTHERS.

There is power in “blessing” someone, even a simple “God bless you.” And anybody can do it. Recently when reading through the Old Testament & seeing how people would bless others it was apparent we have lost an ancient privilege & secret to bettering & adding to others’ lives in a powerful way.  A blessing was sacred & people knew when they blessed someone, that the God would follow up on it.  When you bless someone, the Lord does it. The Lord takes you at your word, & every word counts.

You can see this when Jacob stole Esau’s blessing. Jacob disguised himself as Esau to get his blessing, so when Isaac pronounced the blessing over him, Jacob received the full blessing, anointing, prosperity & favor of the Lord—even though Esau was supposed to get it. It proves there is power in the words of a blessing. Esau then asked Isaac for a blessing too, but it wasn’t like Jacob’s. There is power in blessing others, & God is behind it.  Blessings & cursings were really serious things back in Bible times, it wasn’t just empty words. And the blessings were there not just for the one person who was blessed, but their children too, for generations!—The blessing usually covered & included their houses, possessions & well-being.

Now we say, “God bless you” so repeatedly & redundantly that we have become so accustomed to it that  it’s lost much of its meaning, we’ve become numb to it. But if you want to bless someone, & you say it with intention & as a prayer, that person is blessed, because the Lord will honour His Word. It’s a vow He will keep. We can bring back this powerful gift into our lives by sincerely saying to people, “God bless you” not just as a by-word or non-thinking habit, but as an intentional prayer, & the Lord will add blessing to their life. You can also add what kind of blessing you want to give. You can say, “God bless you with a safe trip”, or “God bless your work today to be fruitful”, or “God bless your pregnancy & keep you safe & healthy”, or “God bless your children to grow up knowing the Lord.” You can bless strangers or those you meet, such as to the taxi driver, “God bless you with a safe day”, or to a teacher, “God bless you with joy in your work & teaching the next generation.” But as the household of God we are especially privileged to bless each other. What do you want the Lord to do for those in our Christian Family? Give them a good financial state? Joy & happiness? Health & a safe life from Covid?  Protection from accidents?  A blessed home life full of love?

In ancient times blessings were so powerful a prophecy would sometimes accompany it. These blessings were coveted, respected & sought after. The Patriarchs many times just before they passed on to their heavenly reward, would gather their sons & grandsons around them & bless each one. For example, Jacob, before dying called his 12 sons that became the 12 tribes & blessed each one & a prophecy followed telling how the blessing would be fulfilled in their future. Quite amazing! (Asher, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin.)

To give an idea of how a blessing was used, which was even a sacred rite, here are a few examples:

Gen_12:3  If you want to be blessed, you get a blessing for yourself when you bless others. It comes back to you. “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.”

Gen_27:36 Blessings were like money, they were valuable & came to pass.  “And Esau said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? And Esau said unto his father (Isaac), Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept…”  The blessing for Jacob included prosperity & inheritance for generations, “And God Almighty bless thee (Jacob), and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people.”

Gen 32:26 Jacob wrestling with the Lord demanded a blessing.  You can request a blessing from the Lord—if you’re doing your part.   “And Jacob said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.”

 

Gen_39:5  Because we are blessed, others that we work & live with can be also blessed because of it. Our blessing rubs off on even the unsaved.  “And it came to pass from the time that Potiphar had made Joseph overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.”

Exo_23:25  Blessing over food & water & against sickness. Pray that your food will be blessed—good one during Covid.  “And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.” 

 

Lev_25:21 You can command a blessing for people to be prosperous.  “Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.”

Aaron's Blessing. The priests were commanded to bless the people, so the Lord could follow-up on blessing them. Here is a prayer you can use to bless others. Blessing the people was an assignment & part of the priests’ job & ministry so that they could be blessed, even up until Jesus’ time.  Num 6:23  “Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them: The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:  The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:  The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put My name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” This blessing is still good today!

 

Num 23:19  The power of a blessing, to be taken seriously: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?  Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.”

 

Deu_23:5  If someone does curse you, the Lord can turn it into a blessing!—That’s powerful!  “Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD  turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.”

 

2Sa_6:20  You can ask the Lord to bless people & their homes. “Then David returned to bless his household.”

 

2Sa_7:29 You can ask that your family be blessed for generations. “Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee: for thou, O Lord GOD, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.”

 

1Ch_4:10  You can ask the Lord to bless you in keeping you from evil. Blessings are for the asking. “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast (territories & lands), and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.”

 Mat_5:44  Jesus asks us to even bless our enemies, & He will do it.  “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

Rom_12:14  “Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.”

1Pe_3:9  If we bless others who are mean to us, we will inherit a blessing! “Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.”

And God bless all of you as you read His Word, work for Him in the harvest, pray for others, & be His light in today’s world. God bless you with strength, wisdom, love, patience & endurance to run the race & finish well.  God bless you with passion for the mission He’s called you to, & blessed with all the support & tools to do the job! And God bless you as you bless others with His love.  In Jesus’ name!

--

Jacki Scott | Founder & President e: jkiscott@gmail.com | w: handsonhope.org m: +962 78 748 4445

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What’s with the Water?

 What’s with the Water? by Jacki Scott

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Sometimes I think that living and working in the Middle East is giving me a little bit of a heads-up on future events concerning politics, current events, and even such things as water shortages. So, if I can pass on what I’m learning, maybe it can also be a help to you.

Recent photos of the Euphrates drying

Tanks installed in remote areas of Jordan and in Palestinian camps

Water is one of the greatest gifts we can give to people, farms, and animals, so they can live and prosper

Trying to find water, sometimes walking a kilometer, with no guarantee of finding it

Hezeron and children

That brings me to water. We can only live three or four days without water. So, after air, water is the most important thing we need to live. The Bible has given us some foreshadowing about water in the future. For example, “…the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared” (Revelation 16:12). Usually big events like this are gradual, over decades sometimes and not sudden, so we have time to adapt—if we are tuned in.

The Euphrates is not far from where I am. Recently I read reports of how it’s drying up, and farmers are moving since there’s no longer enough water to make a living. So, for me, this is not something in the distant future, but it’s already knocking on my door.

The fact that a huge river like the Euphrates is vanishing sends up a red flag, even if rivers drying up weren’t predicted in the Bible. I think we can pretty much agree that water issues are becoming a common concern worldwide. In the U.S. at present, over half of the country suffers from drought. A street vendor in Egypt could not afford the rise in the cost of bread to feed his children, so he set himself on fire. The rise in bread prices was due to droughts in the U.S. and Russia, the main global producers of wheat, which caused the price increase of wheat around the world. So already we’ve seen the repercussions of the lack of water, and we’ll be seeing more.

So, what can we do? In Jordan the last three years we’ve had the “Water Tank Project” for families who have no water or whose tanks are rusted or leaking. A new tank helps to ensure that a family has enough water for household use.  This stops water leakage, and we can teach them to conserve water and use their gray water. (The tanks are only for water for household use; they do not serve for drinking water, which has to be bought in bottles.)

Here are some interesting facts about water in Jordan:

• Jordan has one of the lowest levels of water availability, making it the country with the second-least amount of water. Water is rationed to each house, coming in only one day a week, and soon it will come in only twice a month.
• Jordan is on schedule to exhaust underground fresh water as early as 2050, if not before.
• Jordan is facing continuous challenges due to the additional refugee population, leading to more than a 22% increase in water demand.
• Water per person in Jordan is 88% less than the international water poverty line of 1,000 cubic meters annually.
• Jordan can expect up to a 60% decrease in rain and a one-to-four-degrees-Celsius increase in temperatures as a result of climate change.
• The cost of electricity used in water pumping has increased 220%.
• Jordan, one of the world’s driest countries, is losing water due to aging infrastructure. The amount of water lost nationwide every year could satisfy the basic needs of 2.6 million people.

Our water tank project is an investment in survival and a solution for Jordan’s thirsty. Here is Hezeron’s story:

She is 36 years old, a single mom, and she lives in a village with her four children. She received a water tank for her family, which is essential because the water is salty in this area. Before that, she had no water tank! The water truck charges her for 4,000 liters of water even though she only has a 2,000-liter tank!—Either she pays for 4,000 liters or she doesn’t get any water at all!

She needs another tank as she doesn’t have water for her goats. Her goats are her livelihood.  To find water for the goats, Hezeron has to take her goats at least one kilometer out into the desert in hopes of finding a small amount of water. Sometimes there is no water at all there, and she has to walk them back again without water.

Although a water tank is relatively cheap, she can’t afford it. She works the fields picking vegetables from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., then she works cleaning houses, and doing any available jobs to support her children (just to buy them school uniforms and the basics). She has doubled her goat herd, because she is very industrious. She built a room for them with her own hands.

If Hezeron had a water tank she could save money, water her goats, and increase her business. Hezeron is one of hundreds of families with a similar story!

(Good news: Hezeron now has a water tank for the goats!)

“For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.”— Isaiah 44:3 NKJV

I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and that it has been insightful for you. Perhaps you need to invest in water storage where you are. Or if you feel led to help with a water tank in Jordan, donations can be received at my PayPal address here: jkiscott@gmail.com 

Thank you so much! God bless you and keep you hydrated!!

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Latest News from Humanitarian Project in Benguela Angola

The boys on the football team of our after school project in Benguela Angola received their football uniforms. Missionary Ana on right and volunteer Margaret from Lisbon on the left.

At the orphanage Casa do Gaiato not far from our neighborhood in Benguela, the boys received backpacks with school material.

The children from the project in Benguela Angola with their new clothes which they received in April, 2019.

Thanks to the visit of two volunteers and one missionay from Portugal, Association New Dimension was able to send the clothing for the children. Also the table clothes have made an added improvement to the tables the children use for their after school activities, homework, and then for their evening meal. The best meal of the day for many of them.

The association has also been able to buy a small plot of land to begin to construct a small football field, plus a school/dining room, and living quarters for the school teachers and or missionaries involved in the project. 

Thanks to the support of many little people and their faithful help, the project has moved forward since its beginnings last May, 2018. I would like to thank everyone who has participated. The neighborhood has changed and the children are happier with greater hope for their future. Together we can make a difference.

In the month of May 2019, the association has also been preparing humanitarian aid to send to Mozambique due to the recent hurricanes that destroyed the city of Beira which had some 500,000 inhabitants. The founder of the association, Maria Paula, has been able to find various companies willing to contribute items for hospitals in Mozambique. The association has also prepared clothing and foodstuffs that will be filling a container and shortly be on its way to Beira, Mozambique. Thank you for collaborating. If you have not helped yet and would like to, please let me know. Dennis

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The Project in Angola Continues!

Here are some recent photos from December of the progess made!

The tables have arrived. Now the children can eat properly and have better school time.

Good second-hand sports shoes were bought for all the children who needed them. Thanks again to  those who contributed to make all this possible! God bless you.

A campaign was done locally to obtain Christmas presents for the children.

Ana and some of the girls from the project ready to sing Christmas Carols for local friends and supporters! God is good and all things are possible to them that believe!

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