Blessing on Purpose

Matthew described in chapter 10 of his testimony a Kingdom mission that Jesus sent him on with the rest of the apostles. Included was a bit of information about blessing or condemning people along the way.

Jesus sent out these 12 after giving them instructions: “Don’t take the road leading to other nations, and don’t enter any Samaritan town. Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, announce this: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, drive out demons. You have received free of charge; give free of charge. Don’t take along gold, silver, or copper for your money-belts. Don’t take a traveling bag for the road, or an extra shirt, sandals, or a walking stick, for the worker is worthy of his food.

“When you enter any town or village, find out who is worthy, and stay there until you leave. Greet a household when you enter it, and if the household is worthy, let your peace be on it. But if it is unworthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town. I assure you: It will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
(Matthew 10:5-15 Holman Christian Standard Bible® ©)

They were not on a church-planting mission, but on a Kingdom-announcing mission. They were instructed to be intentional about blessing with their peace the home that made them welcome. Also, if they were rejected, they were told to retract the blessing. Their judgement of the home or village would be enforced later.

It is in your power and under your authority to extend blessing. It is within the scope of your authority as a citizen of the Kingdom to speak into existence, or just to intend or will it into being that people are blessed. It is also in your power to retract blessing and to even extend curse or judgement.

The missions we are on in the earth are Kingdom oriented. This includes alignments with other believers that Jesus called ekklesia in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18. We should not take it for granted that what is in our hearts toward each other or toward outsiders is right or just. We need to frequently ask the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts and to give us the fruit of Who He is to influence our responses to and intentions toward everyone with whom we come in contact.

We should be very intentional about how we influence communities and people in the Spirit.