Bless and Be Blessed: How Your Words Can Make a Difference
By Peter M. Lord and Adrian Rogers
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About this ebook
In Bless and Be Blessed, this author and pastor shares how we often neglect to bless others until after death. But it is much more useful to give a good or well-meaning word to our loved ones while they are still alive. Coworkers, children, spouses, and friends all need uplifting messages when they can hear, receive, and be transformed by them.
With wisdom, personal anecdotes, and hands-on exercises, Lord teaches readers everything they need to know to deliver powerful words with life-changing impact today. He discusses the scriptural basis for blessing others, describes how readers can receive their own blessing from God, and teaches them to weave the practice of blessing into their everyday lives.
Peter M. Lord
Peter Lord is a nationally known speaker and pastor as well as the author of several books, including The 2959 Plan, which has sold more than 500,000 copies and been translated into four languages. He pastored the Park Avenue Baptist Church in Florida for 30 years. He and his wife, Johnnie, have five children, nine grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren and live in Titusville, Florida.
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Bless and Be Blessed - Peter M. Lord
© 2004 by Peter M. Lord
Published by Fleming H. Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3325-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Unless otherwise indicated Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture marked NASB is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Scripture marked TLB is taken from The Living Bible © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked NLT is taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked KJV is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
To my friends who always saw more in me than I did in myself, and who regularly let me know it: Joe Boatwright, Gary Kirksey, and Mickey Evans. Their encouragement has meant far more to me than they will know this side of eternity. Thanks, men.
A special thank you
To Van Savell, whose editorial skills and good suggestions made this book possible, and
To all the good people at Baker Book House, with whom it’s been so easy and pleasurable to work.
CONTENTS
Foreword by Adrian Rogers
Introduction Miraculous Life Changes
Part 1 Can I Really Bless Others?
1. The Discovery of This Truth
2. Why Blessings Are So Powerful
3. A Very Negative World
4. An Important Fact to Remember
5. The Time for Blessing Is Now
6. Is This Really Biblical?
7. What You Should Know about Blessings
8. Two Levels of Power in Blessings
Part 2 How Can I Bless Others?
9. Developing the Ability to Bless
10. Accepting Our Blessings from God
11. Enjoying Our Relationship with God
12. Receiving Our Inheritance from God
13. Living in God’s Provision
Part 3 Where Do I Start?
14. Simple Ways to Give Blessings
15. How to Begin and What to Say
Conclusion Simple yet Powerful Words
Notes
FOREWORD
Some books are mere books, and others are transformational books. Believe me when I tell you that this volume by Peter Lord is transformational.
When I first received the manuscript, I could not put it down until I had gone through to the last page. When I finished reading, thoughts began to fire off in my mind and heart. I said to myself, Adrian, you need to put this into practice in a greater way in your life. Then I thought of my children and said to myself, I want my children to read this book. I told Joyce, my wife, You will love Peter’s new book.
Peter Lord has a mind that is incisive and a great heart that cares for people. These gifts enable him to speak with a freshness and penetrating insight that make his teaching relevant, practical, and biblical. This volume speaks of a quality that we all need—encouragement. If we say we do not need encouragement or do not want it, we are probably not telling the truth. Yet we have all found that it seems easier to criticize than to speak well of others. It does not take much to criticize.
May this book cause all of us to obey the Scriptures and speak well of one another.
Most likely you will not pass this book on. Why? You will want to keep it for yourself, but doubtless you will want to purchase others to give to friends.
Read it and be blessed and also be a blessing.
Adrian Rogers
Senior Pastor
Bellevue Baptist Church
Memphis, Tennessee
INTRODUCTION
MIRACULOUS LIFE
CHANGES
Gary was such a hell raiser in the seventh and eighth grades his principal hoped he wouldn’t return to school for ninth grade, but he did.
On the first day of that school year, he was ordered to a counselor’s office. There the counselor talked with Gary. As a result, Gary excelled that year, receiving honors for his work and behavior. He is now a pastor of a church in Lubbock, Texas. Gary credits what was said to him as the beginning of his changed life and behavior.
What did the counselor say to him? The same basic things that were said to a matriarch in a church:
Pastor Joe had incurred the wrath of a woman in his church, who over the years had obtained much power. She would not speak to his wife and seldom spoke to him. One day Pastor Joe sat down and wrote her a note. (By his own admission his pride prevented him from mailing it for a few weeks.) After receiving the note, the matriarch became a different person. Her attitude toward the pastor and his family completely changed.
What did he say in this note? The same basic things said to another troubled student:
Bill was in the seventh grade in a private school. His behavior was such that the principal was constantly on the phone with his parents. One day a school employee called Bill’s father and talked with him about his son. The father told his son why the school had called. Later the school principal said that from that day forward the boy’s behavior changed dramatically.
What did that school employee say? The same things said to an American Airlines employee:
An official at a Texas airport was having difficulty with the work ethic of an employee. No matter what the official said or threatened, the work habits of the employee didn’t seem to change. But one day the official spoke certain words to the worker, and in three days the man became a model employee. He even began coming to his supervisor and asking for more work.
What did the supervisor say that made such a difference?