The Essential Abrahamic Blessing For Your Children

As Abraham fully obeyed God, in Genesis 22:15-18 we see the angel of the Lord proclaiming generational blessings to Abraham and his coming lineage.

The Lord promised that blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants. He swears to Abraham in an oath that there will be an abundance of descendants from him and Sarah. He guarantees that they will be a blessing to the whole earth and that they will possess and control the gates of their enemies. This would mean that new territory and boundaries would be enlarged. This is not something that Abraham himself will see, but it is the promise of God for his descendants. The reason God says He will do this is because Abraham has completely obeyed Him in a given moment.

The generational blessing of God upon Abraham is still affecting us today. Because of his obedience, we as believers but also even unbelievers are touched by these results. Not only this, but we can learn principles from Abraham on how to secure the generational blessings of God for our own family. God was faithful to Abraham and still is because of His covenant. However, this can be our experience as well. Let’s believe God to see the reality of this in us and our generations to come.

First of all, God promises great increase of descendants in his family line. He promises they will be so many, they will be like grains of sand on the seashore, but also the multitude of stars in the sky. One is earthly while the other is heavenly. One speaks of natural Israel while the other speaks of spiritual Israel. There are many theological things that could be discussed from these ideas. However, for the purpose of this book, let’s zero in on us and our generations living in the blessings assigned to us. As God promised Abraham two different seeds, one natural and the other spiritual. I speak about the spiritual seeds more in my book, Receiving Generational Blessings from the Courts of Heaven, and the importance of those spiritual seeds.

God declared that the seed of Abraham—or his descendants—would be as plentiful as the sand on the seashore. In this day and age, big families are sometime laughed at, scrutinized, and criticized. However, this is not the perspective of God. Mary and I have six children. When we were in the years of child birthing and rearing, we were constantly asked if we “knew what was causing this.” This might seem like a cute little saying, but at its core is an implication of irresponsibility and perhaps even stupidity. Underneath this question was the idea that we were giving birth to a group of people who would require the sustenance of food, clothing, housing, and other necessities. It was laced with the concept that we were doing ourselves and society a disservice by having this many children! Those who would espouse this philosophy had bought into the spirit of this age.

I do realize that with children comes great accountability. However, the fact is that we did realize it and did not consider they were other people’s responsibility. They were ours! The subtle little slap of disapproval of those who had adopted an approach that was more demonic than godly was not allowed to determine what we did or didn’t do. Mary and I were determined to allow God to have His way in our family. We knew that Psalm 127:3-5 declared the opposite concerning children.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;

They shall not be ashamed,

But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

Whereas in today’s society children quite often are seen as nuisances at the very least, God claims them as His heritage. The worldview that would look at children in the way I have described is part of the very spirit that drives abortion. Children are not valued; they are despised and seen as inconveniences. However, God says they are His reward. What? God claims that a child born is His inheritance. If we got this, we would quit seeing children as something to push to the side and instead something to invest in.

God sees the little ones as those He will change the world through. If we don’t get this, then our perspective is wrong to expect generational blessings. This verse also says that children are God’s reward to us. This word reward in the Hebrew is sakar. It means “a payment of contract, compensation, salary.” Children are God’s pay to us. We are to love them, nurture them, train them, and equip them. This would mean that they are to be stewarded in such a way that their lives bring benefit. Through them the purposes of God are advanced.

Notice that God likens these children to arrows in the hand of a warrior. Arrows are meant to be launched and shot at a target. This means that those who hold the bow must have an awareness of the target each child was meant for. We must have an influence to direct them in the way that is written in their book for them. One of the reasons why so many children flounder without direction is because of parents who have no prophetic awareness of their destiny. This should be esteemed as one of the responsibilities of parenting. We should discern and encourage children in the God-ordained purpose for their life. We shouldn’t push them to be a success as much as we should push them to fulfill the call of God for their life.

We are also responsible to place within them the characteristics for effectiveness and fruitfulness in life. If we don’t do this for our children, they will never apprehend generational blessings. Abraham was admired by God because God knew he would train his children. Long before he ever had children, the qualities that would allow God to bless him were seen. In Genesis 18:17-19, we see God making the decision to tell Abraham what He is about to do in Sodom and Gomorrah.

And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”

God shared secrets with Abraham, not because of who he was, but because of what he would become. The Lord knew that Abraham had qualities that would allow the promises and purposes of God to be fulfilled in him. This quality was that he would command his children and household after him. Abraham would value and appreciate the generations to come. Therefore, God saw this as a reason to share secrets with him. The Lord knew that He would be able to perform His word because Abraham would instruct the coming generations. Sometimes God’s word is unfulfilled because God can find no one with a generational heart. May this not be said of us.

The Lord wants natural children carrying His heart in the earth. Remember, they are His heritage and our reward from God. We are told in Psalm 127:4 that these arrows are the children of one’s youth. As a result of our perspective on children, we have not raised our children to produce children. I’ve always thought it unique that this scripture pointed out the youth becoming parents. Mary and I began having children around 21 years old. There is 12 years’ difference in age between the first one and the last one. We were married at 18. Again, the common thought would be that we were way too young to have children. However, the results have proven otherwise. Did we struggle? Yes! Were there challenges? Yes! Did we make mistakes? Yes! However, the end result has been a family that is serving the Lord together. I am carrying prophetic words that not only will my children labor in ministry with me, but also my grandchildren.

You can, too.