I bless you with the ability to trust God.

I bless you with the ability to trust God. I bless you with experiencing your Father’s faithfulness, his faithful love toward you, for your emotions to be aware, to know, to savor, to feel, to relish the love your Father expresses toward you. I bless you with experiencing that so often that you can never doubt your Father’s love. I bless you with no anxiety in the present because God has spoken so richly in the past. I bless you with the surety of knowing He will speak again at the right time and the right place. I bless you with seeing so much of his protection that you will trust him implicitly. I bless you in the mane of your Eternal Dwelling Place.

-Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunter

I bless you with awareness of God's presence.

I bless you with an awareness of God’s presence. Spirit, may you have great joy that comes from experiencing the presence of God, sensing him watching over your life. I bless you with experiencing the joy of his presence in private and public worship. I bless you with sensing the presence of God in those things which the world calls problems and pain. I bless you in the name of Jehovah Shamma, God who is always there for you. 

-Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunter

I bless you in the name of the Spirit of sonship.

I bless you with a picture of your identity as God’s child. I bless you with deep heart identity as God’s very own child, securely loved in his family, calling him “Abba, dear Father.” I bless you for your best interest and his ultimate glory. I bless you with the deep knowledge that your Abba knows what you need and has all the resources of the universe to meet your needs. I bless you with confidence that you lack nothing you need in any way. I bless you with certainty that you are an heir with your brother, Jesus, to all your Father’s treasures. I bless you in the name of the Spirit of sonship. 

-Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunter

I bless you with knowing God fights for you.

I bless you with knowing God fights for you. Spirit, your fathers intends for you to rest at peace in Him as He takes care of your enemies. You will stand or move forward doing the things God has called you to do, and He will fight your battles. I bless you with daily steps of obedience in little things and in radical and unthinkable things to position you for God to fight your battles. I bless you with circumstances orchestrated by him to eliminate your enemies, and I bless you with your ways being pleasing to the Lord in such a profound way that your enemies will live at peace with you and seek out your God. I bless you in the name of the Mighty Warrior.

-Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunter 

Blessing you with life-giving relationships.

Spirit, I bless you with life-giving relationships. Your Father designed you to receive life-giving and to be spiritually life-giving. He will bring you people who will cause you to leap for joy. I bless you with people who minister to you, spirit. I bless you with divine appointments where God connects you for a moment or an hour with mighty men and women of God. I bless you with drawing life-giving strength from their spirits. I bless you with God bringing joyful people, with companionship with those who know the joy of the Lord. I bless you with being mutually life-giving. I bless you in the name of the ultimate Life-giver.

-Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunter

Blessing Your Spirit with Knowledge and Purpose

Spirit, today I bless you with knowledge of your purpose. Your Father has a purpose for you. I bless you with being everything God designed you to be. As you fulfill your purpose, you will benefit, others will benefit, and the world will be blessed. I bless you with knowing the things your Father has called you to know and doing the things he has called you to do. I bless you with being able to carry out God’s work with honor, peace, and joy. I bless you with not wasting time or effort doing things God has not called you to do. I celebrate the beauty God has nurtured in you. I bless you in the name of your Creator God. 

-Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunter

Blessing your Spirit with identity and legitimacy.

I bless you with identity and legitimacy. Spirit, your Father made you special. You are a very special person, created and crafted and designed by God, your Father. He planned for you. You are no accident. Your Father made you beautiful and beloved. God invested an incredible amount of effort and concentration in designing you. You are unique, one of a kind. God has thought extensively about you. He smiled on the day He created you. He designed your spiritual heritage. There is a spiritual treasure chest of generational blessings with your name on it. I bless you in the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

-Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunter

Blessing your gift

It is certainly wonderful to see how the Spirit of the Lord has been moving in the last few weeks during the Keeping the Word Alive series. We keep getting testimony after testimony of people's lives being touched and changed because they are now able to identify with their gifts and who God created them to be. People who have been bumping against people all throughout their lives, when all they really wanted was to connect with them, are discovering more and more their part in the master plan. Who am I? What is my purpose? What am I here for? What can I do? 

As we continue to move forward with this series and this teaching, it is my prayer that you continue to find fulfillment in who God created you to be, and that this fulfillment in turn activates in you the desire to pursue your purpose in the Kingdom. Today, as I promised, I am sharing with you the prayers of blessing for each one of the redemptive gifts as well as the renunciation prayer that we all declared during our Sunday service. 

Be blessed, and until next time!

-Kent

Prayer of renunciation:

almighty God and heavenly Father, I rejoice in calling you Father. I come to you acknowledging that you are Righteous Judge of the Universe and my loving Father. I have been deceived, and I acted wrongly out of my deception. I reject the lie that I need to or that I could earn your favor or your love. I reject and renounce my focus on human favor. I reject and renounce every incident in my family line where somebody chose to embrace human perspectives instead and renounce the cultural pressure that causes me to not excel. Father God, I come before your throne in my blood covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. This covenant gives me specific legal rights. I have a legal right to be free from the enemy’s curses and control, to possess my God-given birthright, and to reap good things where I have sown seed. I rejoice that you are the righteous judge of the universe, the Ancient of Days. Open the books in every branch of my family line.  Cover those things with the blood of Jesus in every branch of my family line. Bring that cleansing from the beginning of time to the present, to my physical and spiritual seed to a thousand generations. I command every devouring spirit that has been empowered by these curses to leave now in the name of Jesus and to go and never return to me or my spiritual seed or my physical descendants. OI realize today that there is power of life and death in my tongue and that you have set before me a choice of blessings or curses, life or death. Therefore, I say before the witnesses of heaven and earth that I chose blessings over curses, I chose life over death, and I chose light over darkness, for me and my family in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Blessing Prayer for Prophet:

http://wordalive.org/blessingprayers/prophet_blessing.pdf

Blessing Prayer for Servant:

http://wordalive.org/blessingprayers/servent_blessing.pdf

Blessing Prayer for Teacher:

http://wordalive.org/blessingprayers/teacher_blessing.pdf

Blessing Prayer for Exhorter:

http://wordalive.org/blessingprayers/exhorter_blessing.pdf

Blessing Prayer for Giver:

http://wordalive.org/blessingprayers/giver_blessing.pdf

Blessing Prayer for Ruler:

http://wordalive.org/blessingprayers/ruler_blessing.pdf

Blessing Prayer for Mercy:

http://wordalive.org/blessingprayers/mercy_blessing.pdf

-Credit to Arthur Burk and Sylvia Gunter

The left-brain versus the right-brain and your redemptive gift

Whether a person is right-brain or left-brain is an organic issue. Right-brained people see the whole picture. They are generally more creative and emotional, because emotional concepts and messages are stored in the right half of the brain. Left-brained people see the various parts, process logically and in a linear fashion, and think more strategically. Most people have a fairly effective blend between the two sides of the brain and can transition between them with ease, while some people are dominated by one side or the other.  Each of the gifts will be expressed differently, depending on whether the person is right-brained or left-brained. A left-brained teacher will be different than a right-brained teacher. A left-brained teacher will be more analytical and research oriented, will compartmentalize, and will break down information into bite-sized pieces, but right-brained teachers will express their gift more emotionally and more relationally. Left-brained teachers enjoy spending hours researching in the lab or in the library, and right-brained teachers love to be in the classroom and light up when students “get it.”

Some of the gifts tend more toward being left-brained in their basic God-given essence and in their expression, like prophet and ruler, which tend to be better at being logical, prioritizing, making decisions, and organizing. The servant gift is more right-brained and therefore may tend to be more emotional and expressive through actions, rather than vocally.  The mercy gift is more right-brained, visual, creative, and inclined to the arts and worship. A mercy or servant raised and taught in a left-brained environment may have suppressed those parts of their design that were not seen as acceptable, or they may have acquired organizational skills from watching the parents, but that does not alter the spiritual DNA of their gift. 

Maturity, gender, wounds, and your redemptive gift.

Today we will discuss maturity, gender, and the way wounds can affect the way you see your redemptive gifts. This is very important because once you realize that these factors affect the way you view yourself, it will also allow you to analyze in a deeper level how you perceive your God-given giftedness.

For example, everyone is at a different level of maturity in their personal development and Christian life. A person’s lever of maturity will color how they live the characteristics of their redemptive gift. Those who are immature or are not seeking to live in the fruit of the Spirit will exhibit the weaknesses of their gifts more than the strengths. While nobody has reached perfection, we should all be working on our character issues to grow up to maturity.

Likewise, there are several issues regarding gender and redemptive gifts. It is easy to stereotype certain gifts, such as prophet, ruler, and teacher, as being more masculine and servant mercy as being more feminine. Men often reject the idea of being a mercy or servant because they perceive it as being weak. This is a misconception. The gifts of servant and mercy have some of the strongest spiritual authority. Women with the gifts of prophet and ruler often find it hard to be accepted, validated, and nurtured a church setting because of the natural boldness and strength of the gifts. Both men and women need to dig deeper in order to see the beauty of what God has designed, instead of trying to be something other than who God made them to be.

On the other hand, even though everyone has experienced painful situations and relationships that have left them wounded, many times, those wounds are very specific about how they change our perception of ourselves and of God. For example, someone who grew up with and abusive authority figure may become very self-sufficient and independent because they believe they have to make it through life on their own. This is a very different motivation than the God given independence of the prophet and giver. How we are broken, the pain in our soul, our wrong response to pain, the coping mechanisms, and how we compensate for those wounds will influence how our gift is expressed. Sometimes people build walls of self-protection as a way of surviving painful circumstances. These self-protecting walls may not reflect our gift and may hinder its God-intended expression.

It is very important that you approach these issues with prayer. Once you invite the Holy Spirit into this deeper look into who you are in Christ, He can guide you. After all, as David so beautifully puts it, no one knows you better than the Most High,

You have searched me, Lord,

    and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;

    you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;

    you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue

    you, Lord, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before,

    and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

    too lofty for me to attain. –Psalm 139:1-6

          I pray that you may see that the law of the Lord is perfect. I pray that this same law may convert your soul with the perfect testimony of the Lord, which is sure. I pray that the Lord will enlighten your eyes to see that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous, and I pray for understanding, that you may be able to see clearly, and that you will be cleansed from secret faults.

Be blessed!

Kent.

Birth Order and your Redemptive Gift

Studies have shown for years that there are distinct imprints on a child’s personality based on where they are in birth order. Firstborn children tend to be more driven and perfectionist by nature. The baby of the family is naturally much more relational and horizontally focused. But that does not mean that all firstborns are gift of prophet, and all babies of the family are exhorters. Being firstborn can intensify all the strengths and weaknesses of any gift (double the good, double the challenges).

Still not sure who you are? Parents own redemptive gifts can directly influence a child's inherent gift.

For most people, their dominant gift jumps off the page at them. For others, it is easily narrowed down to a few, but then a final determination is not so obvious. Over the next few days, I will try to walk you through different things that might help you identify your gift.  Some things that we will be looking at are parenting styles, birth orders, maturity, gender, your wounds, the use of the left-brain versus the right brain, as well as your culture and time frame. Sometimes determining a person’s redemptive gift is like looking at an uncut gem. To the untrained eye, it looks like a rock, but if one takes the time to remove the excess layers that have been placed on it over time, the true jewel inside begins to emerge. In thinking about the characteristics of the redemptive gifts, it is important to look at what is leagiftrned or acquired behavior versus the essence of who and what God designed. The following factors are some of the things that will influence how the redemptive gifts are expressed in a person’s life.

Parenting

Every child’s parents have their own redemptive gifts. Their gifts impact how they view the world and how they raise their children. Therefore, the parent’s gift will leave a very significant imprint on the children, regardless of what the child’s own gifts are. Also, the potential character weaknesses of a parent’s gifting can impact the child as well. If a child’s parents are servant and exhorter, for example, the child might grow up in a home where the exhorter is financially irresponsible and is living in denial. In an attempt for the servant parent to help meet the child’s need, the irresponsible behavior by the exhorter parent might be reinforced by the servant, thereby skewing the proper redemptive gift qualities of the child. Thus, the child may grow up lacking the knowledge needed to be financially responsible, although it is part of their God-given design to want to be a good steward of resources, especially if their redemptive gift is giver. On the positive side, let’s look at a child who has the redemptive gift of prophet and is raised by an exhorter. Prophets tend to have difficulty relating to people. Since the exhorter’s strength is the ability to maintain relationship with others, the child will most likely be much more oriented towards relationships than others with the gift of prophet. Because they learned relational skills from their parent, the prophet has the imprint of the parent’s exhorter gifting. 

Keeping the Word Alive--The Mercy Gift

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:-3

On the seventh day, God rested. While Mercy’s heart is capable of many things, this person’s heart is to enjoy God and His presence. Mercy moves at a slower speed because God designed them to extract the deepest amount of insight, understanding, and wisdom from what they experience. Mercy sees God’s finger prints in a more complex way. God created nothing new on the seventh day, yet He celebrated what He had created. Mercy celebrates what is good and true. A Mercy gift gets along with everybody easily. This person is admired and respected, and creates intimacy of soul and physical touch. Mercy hears from God but has a difficult time explaining why. This is a safe person for wounded people to be around because his person can help feel safe.

One of Mercy’s strongest weaknesses is impurity because Mercy desire for intimacy and physical touch can lead to impurity. Mercy is also an enabler and wants to protect others from pain. Mercy is also not confrontational and so, may tolerate abuse and exploitation because of his/her unwillingness to allow injustice to continue.

Biblical example of Mercy—John

Keeping the Word Alive--The Ruler Gift

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them;    male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:24-31

On the sixth day, God made animals and man. God told them have dominion. God designed rulers to organize and administer social units, groups of people. They have a wonderful ability to mobilize people to progress. The ruler gift thrives under pressure and puts the people around him under the same pressure. This people are skilled in time management, in focusing on immediate tasks, and in not being easily distracted. The ruler gift does not need affirmation of others when he has made up his mind. The ruler gift often wants to figure out how to fix it when something is wrong, and can withstand strong opposition.

Their weaknesses are that they can be insensitive because they are so goal oriented. This person may fail to nurture those around and may also apply pressure without moderation. It is easy for this person to compromise ethics and integrity because they often work under the assumption that the end justifies the means. This person often settles for fulfilling his own agenda instead of God’s.

Biblical example of the Ruler redemptive gift—Nehemiah