God: “Stop asking me to bless you.”

How many times have you prayed, “God bless __________”? We naturally pray for God’s blessing on us, on loved ones, and on things we do or things we care about.
 
But one day as I sincerely prayed God would bless me, I sensed this impression as a reply: “Stop asking me to bless you.”
 
What?
 
Then I sense God’s prompting: “Be the kind of person I am pleased to bless.” And the same thing went for my church: “Be the kind of church I am pleased to bless.”
 
I thought about that—a lot. Then I started to pray that way: “God work in me to be the kind of person you are pleased to bless.” And, “Work in our church to be the kind of church you are pleased to bless.”
 
Praying this way has made me part of the answer to my own prayer. I no longer ask God to bless something human, as if he were ever interested in doing that. Rather, I ask him for the grace to change and grow ever-increasingly into his image, something he naturally blesses.
 
This all-involved, life-changing prayer is changing me and changing my church. And as I change, I’m being blessed—both spiritually and materially. So is my church. I see more blessings than if I had merely asked God to bless who I already was or what I already did.
 
This is one of the best win-win options in town, not because we get more blessing but because this kind of prayer and thinking makes us the kind of people God intends us to be.
 
So I encourage you to pray, “God, work in me to be the kind of person whom you are pleased to bless.”
 
Do it, consistently, and find out for yourself. Be truly blessed.