Numbers 6:22-27 then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying thus you shall bless the sons of Israel You shall say to them the LORD bless you, and keep you the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you the LORD lift up His countenance on you and give you peace so they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel and then I will bless them Shabbat Shalom this is one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible about imparting the blessing of God and putting His name upon the people do you know what that really means all that’s contained in Yahweh the name of God almighty we’re to release His power His glory, His authority and that’s what happens when we pray that Aaronic blessing this powerful blessing that was given to Israel to speak over their children I encourage you every Friday night at the beginning of Shabbat why not gather your family together pray together and speak a blessing over your children I encourage you to look each one of your children in the eyes if you’ve wounded them that week repent, ask them to forgive you but then bless them a powerful way to bless them is not just the traditional blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh and Rachel and Leah but to actually speak this blessing as well from Numbers 6 and you could do that every single day this is so powerful because it’s talking about taking the name of Yahweh and releasing it releasing it’s power over another person the Hebrew says this ye-va-re-khe-kha Yahweh ve-yish-me-re-kha ya-eir Yahweh pa-nav e-ley-kha vi-chun-ne-ka yis-sa Yahweh pa-nav e-ley-kha ve-ya-seim le-kha shalom I’ve got an expanded or an amplified version or translation here and I think this is powerful it says Yahweh which is He who fills all in all He who exists will kneel before you just think of that Yahweh will kneel before you the word Baruch in Hebrew literally means to kneel in front of someone it’s translated in English bless, to bless so when we bless someone usually we do it the opposite the person receiving the blessing kneels the person blessing stands but in God’s culture the one blessing kneels baruch to baruch someone is to kneel before them so this says may Yahweh come and kneel before you presenting gifts He will guard you with a hedge of protection His hedge of protection is around you that’s what it means when you say that first verse may the LORD bless you and keep you the second part may He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you Here’s the expanded version Yahweh will illuminate the wholeness of His being toward you bringing order and He will provide you will love sustenance and friendship that’s what it means may He bless you and be gracious to you and the third part Yahweh will lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace or shalom Yahweh will lift up wholeness of being and look upon you and He will set in place all you need to be whole, complete, nothing lacking that’s what this blessing is I encourage you to pray it as a couple if you’re married pray this blessing over one another everyday pray it over your children at least once a week if not everyday you can use this blessing to bless other people and I encourage you to grab hold of this placing the name of Yahweh over your children over your wife over your family over other people the name of Yahweh is powerful you’re releasing who He is over people which is what He told Israel to do what He told Moses and Aaron to do He said invoke my name on the sons of Israel and I will bless them so blessing is released when you invoke the name of Yahweh over His people so I encourage you to do that starting today why not tonight have a meal pray this blessing over your own family and I’d just encourage you today again love God with all your heart bless people around you and you will be a life changer a world changer you’ll make a tremendous difference in your environment around you today Amen