The Blessing Strategy

First Published on Dec 27, 2012, Dave Ferguson stated how to bless a city.

He says, From the very beginning, God's way of reaching and restoring the world has always been through what I would call a blessing strategy...how do we in a very practical way that's theologically grounded explain to people how they could bless people in places they are incarnating? We came up with this...

B-  with prayer. We want you to ask, 'God how do you want me to bless the people in the places you've sent me to?'

L- Listen. Don't talk, but listen to people, their struggles, their pains, in the places God sent you. 

E- Eat. You can't just check this off. It's not quick. You have to have a meal with people or a cup of coffee. It builds relationships. 

S- Serve. If you listen with people and you eat with people they will tell you how to love them and you'll know how to serve them.

S - Story. When the time is right, now we talk and we share the story of how Jesus changed our life. 

I took Daves five principals & contextualized them into life actions for me. I have found them quite fruitful, however Covid impacted my practice of them significantly. Plan to resume them now that isolation restrictions have lifted.

The Blessing Strategy Part 1

Begins with prayer. 

"God how do you want me to bless the people in the places you've sent me? In my community. The people with whom you have called me to share life. Open my eyes to the opportunities for your goodness to be seen & experienced. Actions that do not serve my self interests but the interests of my neighbor." Amen

The Blessing Strategy Part 2

Listen. Don't talk, but listen to people, their struggles, their pains, in the places God has sent you. 

Lord where & with whom have you called us to be in regular proximity? Cause us not to listen with our own agenda to change people. Help us to care enough to be quiet & let your Spirit teach. Let the truth about them & their lives flow from a safe presence. 

The Blessing Strategy Part 3a

Eat. You can't just check this off. It's not quick. You have to have a meal with people or a cup of coffee. It builds relationships. 

This part will have sub parts to explore its full blessing potential. Remember to see this as part of a reaching & restoring process. 

Lord help us to see the opportunities we already have to listen & build relationships where we eat or coffee. Help us also to create opportunities where hospitality & generosity can be experienced. Where we can learn about each other & relational barriers can be crossed. 

Cause us to think more wholistic about the simple tasks of eating & drinking in relation to your call on our lives.

The Blessing Strategy Part 3b 

Coffee: Think about these as you stop for coffee regularly or if you hang out at coffee shops.

1. Being kind, & generous to those who serve you is in itself a blessing to them. I have talked to many who see & hear our Christian identity. They have shared with me that we as believers are not distinctive in kindness or generosity. But you can be!

2. When your face, name, & kindness become familiar to the staff & other regulars, you will be in a good place to listen.

3. If you have a friendly familiar relationship with the staff, customers seem more open to interaction. Familiarity seems to drop barriers to conversations.

4. Many people who go to coffee shops are looking for, or are at least open to social interaction. It is often a unique safe " third space" for people who are reflective, troubled, or lonely but don't want to be alone. All of which present opportunities to listen & engage with people.

5.  If we listen & observe, the Holy Spirit will show us opportunities to engage.

One time I observed 2 college students doing math homework at 7am. It wasn't hard to discern a way to bless them. I told them that anyone doing high level math at that time of the morning deserved respect & a treat. So I gave them a free coffee card. Their laughter & thankfulness illustrated the power of the blessing strategy.

The Blessing Strategy Part 3c

Food out:

1. Some of us go "out" to eat at least one meal regularly at a regular place, In which case 3b thoughts would also apply here.

2. Most of us select where we eat mainly by what we want to eat, or can afford. How would your life change if blessing the business owners, other customers, & your local community became the basis of your choice? 

3. Usually we eat out for convenance or for treating ourselves. I remember some business advice that said never go out to lunch alone, always use the time to meet or invite someone to build relationships. Could the same be said said for us in sharing meal time with people?

4. Once again without being dogmatic, were we are present, & how we invest our time & money for food can affect others. When was the last time you shared a meal time with a non believer?

The Blessing Strategy Part 3d

Food in: engaging people with food at your place.

It was a common practice not so long ago for people to invite folks over for a meal, often just to get to know them. Not so much in today's fast paced world with so much prepared food available & diet complexities. So food at your place may need to be more intentional & strategic.

1. Are there people in your neighborhood, work, or folks you are encountering regularly that God has put on your heart? Maybe an informal simple reason & simple food can start the process. For example, "it's 85 degrees today, our family always eats watermelon when it hits 85, want to come join us.

2. How about calendar triggers that can be used to create a reason for a casual mini event. Casual enough to be able to visit, yet special enough to be remembered. Neighborhood Bbq? dog days of August potluck? Just ask someone God has put on your relationship radar.

3. A relationship threshold is often crossed when we invite people to share holiday meals or other very special occasions. Inviting people who live alone, or who are a long ways from family is a real blessing to them.

So my whole point in spending so much time on food, is for us to just grasp how God has built into our need for food the very means to bless other people. Blessing that leads to relationship, that may lead to discipleship, that leads to.... 

But food is not all there is.

The Blessing Strategy Part 4

Serve. If you listen to people and you eat with people they will tell you how to love them and you'll know how to serve them. 

It seems so simple doesn't it. Yet often our attempts to to serve people, or help people, are based on our own ideas of what they need or should want. 

What makes this strategy different is that each step creates enough relationship to move to the next with knowledge & caring. 

So this is the part where Christ's love is experienced in some tangible way. The Holy Spirit will direct your heart, mind, & action for the revelation of that love.

The Blessing Strategy Part 5

Story. When the time is right, then we talk and we share the story of how Jesus changed our life. 

So what makes the time right? Here are a few things to consider.

1.  When we have gained credibility & trust through an authentic relationship & witness. This is not necessarily a deep friendship but enough that your sharing will be a normal discourse.

2.  When asked because some distinctive aspect of our lives is noticed & stimulates inquiry.

3.  When some life event or crisis happens that allows us to speak comfort & life into the situation.

Once again as with all of the steps, we need to let the Holy Spirit create relationship & rhythm to do the work.

Thanks for listening.

Trust & trustworthiness

Businesses spend huge amounts of money as a result of their inability to have confidence in the trustworthiness of employees. Every thing from security services to work process’s full of permission steps, all because of lack of trust. Additionally employees can become fearful, angry, cynical and less productive if not trusted.

 

A wise man once told me that the worst thing about lying is not necessarily the damage of the lie. It is the fact that a liar can’t trust anyone else and becomes locked into a life wasting behavior pattern. The same thing can be true of a workplace where there is no trust and trustworthiness.

 

Business Author Steven Covey teaches that trust and trustworthiness are characteristics of highly effective people, that pride and tradition are built on trust. It makes sense because people tend to live up to the expectations you have of them. Also people are more open, more likely to do what you request, try something new, and work hard to accomplish important goals if they trust you.

 

Being trustworthy involves more than just being honest in what you say to people. It also involves people knowing that you are honest and fair in your actions as a leader. People need to be able to trust that you are looking out for their best interest as well as the company’s.

 

I try very hard to be trustworthy. I make a conscious decision to trust people flat out and I try to make a point to tell them that I do. If for some reason trust is broken, I work out a process to reestablish trust. I simply don’t want to waste the time and energy fooling around building defenses because of lack of trust.

 

Everyone starts a new job with a trust account, (like a bank account). Each day your actions either build or deplete your account. If your actions build up your account, you will likely grow into an influential leader. If you withdraw more than you put in you will be toast as a leader.

 

Sometimes people confuse performance indicators and performance tracking tools with trust issues, which should not be the case. An example is professional baseball. Every player has a gazillion stats kept on them around everything they do. The purpose is to monitor and improve performance, not for lack of trust.

 The Word 

In your quiet space, take some time to think about Gods word.  Are you meeting the Lord in His scriptures? Would you agree that it is the primary way He has chosen to make himself known to us?

Studying & memorizing the word are good things because it is a lamp unto our feet. But the most important thing is that our relationship grows because we know Him better. Are you satisfied with the time you spend in the word? Do the books & commentary of others crowd your time in the word? Do you think you know Him more than you did five years ago?

Take some quiet time and just hold your copy of the scriptures in you hands. Think about the significance of you having in your possession the very words of God.  What place should it have in our lives if we are to grow into Christ? Why do you think you have such great access to it when so many other believers do not?

As you are able, try to spend a bit more time in the word. Every moment we spend feasting on His word is an investment in our relationship with Him. It never returns void, some fruit will always come of it. 

Sometimes we don't fully understand a passage until we do what it says. 

Some Bible study thoughts

• I try to take it as literally as possible. I believe it says what it means & means what it says. Word is meant to be understood simply. 
• Respect good scholarship & accurate translation. Not always the case in some bibles today.
• Recognize difference between allegories, illustrations, & direct instructions.
• Many men have died for the privilege of us reading & understanding it ourselves.
• The Word is living, spoken to them for their time, but also for us in ours. Helps to understand their culture, but more important to get past ours to the truth.

 The value of being on time

There have been career consequences to almost everyone I know who is habitually late for things. I firmly believe that if you are late more than a very small percentage of the time, you will have a stunted career in management.

 

Being on time is something you have control over and needs to be a habit. A solid habit will fully accommodate the truelly unexpected events in life that may cause you to be late.

 

You will always be a distraction to the group and speaker if you enter meetings or class’s late. You generally miss the welcome, purpose, and sometimes critical instructions. If the facilitator (could be your boss or some other powerful person) has to repeat all that for you, it will kind of tick them off and they will remember you in a negative way.

 

There is always a cost for other people if they have to wait for you. Their time is valuable and they will form an opinion about you. That opinion will likely be: You don’t care about others, your not interested, or your not committed.

 

In any case the end result we be that you will increasingly find yourself “ out of the loop” on many things. That’s a difficult place to lead from.

 Feasting at the Lords table, a great banquet in the Kingdom of God.

How many of you have been to a banquet? Wedding? Business or sport recognition?

In biblical times banquets & feasts were big deals. Meals were culture & communication events.

What are the Characteristics of a banquet?

• Generally someone or something was honored & celebrated.
• Sponsored, planned, & payed for by someone.
• Invited guests - honor of your presence to share in our rejoicing.
• Feasting - choice quality or special food & drink. Generally more than one could eat.

Scriptures speak of the messianic promise - there is a coming banquet.

Isaiah 25:6

Luke 13:29

Actually 2 banquets are mentioned, I believe one is an extension of the other.

Read Luke 14:15-24

Do you recognize your invitation?

They were good excuses & they said please.

Read Matthew 22

We are kingdom dwellers right now in part.

The banquet he has prepared is for us now as well as in the future.

Read revelation 19:6-9

So are you feasting at the Lords table right now? What’s being served?

• Grace- unmerited favor, Gods love, acceptance, & forgiveness. You can’t do anything to make him love you more or anything to make Him love you less.
• Peace- unlike the world, not dependent on circumstances, Paul had a song in prison, passes understanding.
• Holiness of life - victory over sin, likeness to Christ.
• Gladness of fellowship- 1 John 1:3 - wonderful relationship with father, son, & HS, & sisters & brothers.
• Purpose in life - praise, joy of service, reason to get up every day.
• Love of scriptures - is spoken of as bread, milk,water,meat, & honey. Way we know the person & mind of God.
• Suffering for all- 2cor 9:8, great hope, able to meet all our needs & everyone else’s.
• Close with Song of Songs 2:4 what the bride saw, welcome to the banquet.