People on mission trips hope and pray to bless the people they serve. What often happens is the mission team themselves receive the greatest blessings. How does that happen? Mission trip teams go with abundant resources—including prayer warriors back home, supplies for those they seek to serve (including Bibles), and their presence. The combination of blessings from both the team and those on the mission field causes them to bless God. We think of giving to others as blessings. But what does it mean to bless God?
Where Does the Bible Talk about Blessing God?
The passage most visited when we think of people blessing God is Psalm 103, where King David begins, “Bless the LORD, O my soul” (103:1).
David’s psalms contain the most instances of telling people to or of himself blessing God (seven times we see “Bless the LORD” as an exact match). Yet David used many terms of praise for God throughout his writings. In Psalm 68:26, David said, “Bless God.” In Psalm 145:21, David said, “My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.”
Moses tells the people they will bless the Lord when they eat and are full when they come into the land the Lord would give them (Deuteronomy 8:10). The song of Deborah and Barak in Judges 5 twice directs people to bless the Lord. Psalms 104:1,35; Psalm 134:1,2; and Psalm 135:19-20 all have the phrase "Bless the Lord" (the author is unidentified in each). Psalm 135 includes the author praising God for His greatness.
In Nehemiah 9:5, we read about a group of leaders who spoke to the people of Israel, “Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, ‘Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.’”
The Old Testament contains the most times that the phrase, “Bless the LORD (God)” is used, but we also see it in the book of James, often called the “Proverbs of the New Testament.” James 3:9 admonishes readers on how they use their tongues. People bless God and then turn around and curse others “who are made in the likeness of God.”
How Can Humans Bless God?
We can list God’s attributes—his holiness, his creating the heavens and the earth—and ponder that we receive myriad blessings from Him. He is the giver of life, and life in Christ is our ultimate blessing. He blesses us with salvation, His Holy Spirit, His kingdom, brothers- and sisters-in-Christ all over the world, and the record of blessings goes on
So we may wonder, “How can I, a mere sinful being, bless our mighty God?”
But many people throughout Scripture, as we saw above, indicate not only the possibility of blessing Him, but they indeed do bless Him. How?
King David, we can say, was a master of blessing God, and his psalms show us how. When we look at the context of the passages, it’s plain to see that to bless God means to praise Him. To bless God, as used in David’s psalms, is the Hebrew verb barack. It’s an act of adoration and praise, for it also implies kneeling.
David begins Psalm 145 by saying, “I will extol You, my God and King, and bless Your name forever and ever.” Extol is also a word meaning praise and adore. Through blessing God, we lift Him up for proper worship as “high and lifted up” (Isaiah 6:1).
Yes, through all this, we see humans can bless God. In fact, He welcomes our blessings.
The following list of actions we can take to bless God is predicated on God being sovereign, holy, and good. His attributes include self-sufficiency, eternality, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, incomprehensibility, self-sufficiency, and immutability. It’s a very good thing we will have all of the rest of eternity to bless Him once we reach glory because of who He is and how awesome and amazing He is.
When we pray, the Bible tells us the Spirit intercedes for us when we groan in our weakness, not knowing how to pray as we ought (Romans 8:26). As David did many times, beginning our prayers by exalting, praising, and blessing God leads us to pray as we should. We pour our hearts out to Him, knowing He hears us. This blesses Him because we are leaning in to Him for all our needs (including the need to bless Him as we ought).
What Actions Bless God?
Looking at the various Bible passages that mention blessing God, we see many things that create a means to bless him. We bless God when we do the following:
We display reverent fear and awe of Him (Deuteronomy 6:1-2; Hebrews 10:31).
We thank Him for who He is and for what He has, is, and has promised He will do (Deuteronomy 15:4; 1 Chronicles 17:27; Isaiah 1:18, Psalm 100:4; 103:2).
We acknowledge Him for who He is (Psalm 104:1).
We praise Him for how He loves us (1 John 4:19).
We exalt Him above all else (Psalm 99:9).
We live lives that reflect who we are as His (2 Corinthians 3:18).
We glorify Him to others (Psalm 129:8).
We gather with other believers to worship Him (Psalm 26:12; 68:26; Hebrews 10:45).
We spend quiet time in His Word (Luke 24:45; Romans 15:4).
We pray in His name (Luke 11:1-4; John 14:6).
We are obedient (Isaiah 1:16-17; Psalm 103:20; Luke 6:28; Romans 12:14; 1 Peter 3:9).
We love Him (Jesus) with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength (Matthew 22:37).
We love others as ourselves (Luke 10:27).
We praise Him for His counsel (Psalm 16:7).
We share the Gospel (Romans 1:16).
We bow in reverent fear and awe of Him (Psalm 115:13).
We remember His works (Psalm 134:3; 145:10).
It’s impossible to list all the ways we can bless the Lord in this short space. A good study would be to look through Scripture for a revelation of the myriad ways we can bless God. He’s certainly given us a treasure of passages about blessing Him in the Bible.
A Prayer to Bless God Today
Father God, it is a privilege to bless Your holy name. Who am I to speak to the Creator of the heavens and the earth? But You hear me, Lord, and I am in awe of You. I, like King David, praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I do not have enough human words to express the praise You deserve. But I know and trust Your promise of what’s to come. You alone are worthy, and You alone know my deepest emotions and needs. I surrender all to You, my Lord, and I wait expectantly for You to manifest Your glory through me as I exalt You.
One day, at the name of Jesus, every knee in heaven, on earth, and even under the earth will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to Your glory, O, most gracious heavenly Father. To you be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Further Reading:
How Can Believers Be Both Blessed and a Blessing to Others?
10 Morning Blessing Quotes to Begin Your Day
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/masalskaya
This article is part of our larger resource library of popular Bible verse phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy to read articles that answer your questions about the meaning, origin, and history of specific verses within Scripture's context. It is our hope that these will help you better understand the meaning and purpose of God's Word in relation to your life today.
No Rest for the Wicked
Fight the Good Fight
Wait on the Lord
With Contrite Heart and Spirit
Faith Can Move Mountains
