Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. It's really something you can train yourself in, and so don't despair, and don't let the false guilt come in, you know, and think, Oh, I've messed up.
It's too late. It's never, ever too late to receive or give blessing. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new life. I'm Daniel Britt sitting in the studio today with Pastor Alan, as we celebrate launch week of a brand new book, The Power to Bless by Pastor Alan Wright. So, Pastor Alan, it's good to see you here as the book launches tomorrow.
We're on the eve of launch day, an exciting week. And as I've been saying, you know, maybe the pen to paper journey has taken maybe a couple of years, but it's a longer journey than that for this book, especially. Well, it's a little bit like people ask me often, how long does it take to prepare a sermon? And I want to say my whole life.
And how long did it take to prepare this book? And truly, this is my whole life. But certainly, blessing is something I've been thinking about, preaching about, and practicing for close to 30 years. Something that in our own congregation we put into practice with an actual New Year's blessing service where we start out the year blessing people. And it's something that has been woven into my daily life and really is the primary parenting strategy that we've had for the spiritual formation, growth, identity formation of our kids. And all of that is to say that I'm so thankful for the insights that the Lord has given me about this. And I'm so, so thankful that I learned so much about this many years ago, and that I'm continuing to learn. What a journey it has been to learn about the biblical idea of blessing, and especially a very mysterious blessing, the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh, these obscure sons of Joseph, that becomes the lens for understanding all of blessing.
It's a life message, Daniel. I think I could honestly say I feel like the most important book I've written. And by God's grace, I think the help I've had of a great editor and lots of time to really have a lot of input from a lot of people, I think it's the best book I've written because of its far-reaching importance in showing how the grace of God can really be released through our speech towards others. And tomorrow being the launch day, it's important for us to encourage you and remind you that today is the last day that you can pre-order the book and receive as a free gift, no extra charge, a copy of the book in audio form, audiobook version of The Power to Bless alongside The Printed. So if you'll go to your favorite bookstore, Amazon, or come to pastorallen.org, we'll link you up there. Today again, the final day to pre-order.
Tomorrow the book launches worldwide, and it's an exciting time here. I just got to be honest, as I'm reading this, as I've been hearing you talk about blessing in our discussions here, it is so incredibly biblical, right? And even the word itself is not a foreign word to believers. It almost could be one of those words that some people might call Christianese.
You have to read, not redefine it, but you have to take some time to over explain it because the word gets used a lot. But the concept seems a little bit foreign, especially in evangelical circles. And it's something, it's like when you go and look at the Jewish traditions, I guess it's more common.
Why do you think that is? Something that's so obviously biblical, but it gets overlooked. Well, I think that it's one of those things that just very simply, when you read the Bible, if you don't have an eye for it, you can just sort of miss it. Or you could say, well, I see the Hebrew patriarchs blessing their children, but maybe that was just a Jewish thing. Without stopping to realize, think about even when Jesus was born, God appointed a man who appeared, Simeon, who took baby Jesus in arm and blessed him. So, he was blessed. He was blessed at his own baptism. And when people were bringing their children for Jesus to lay hands on them, what was he doing? He was blessed. They wanted him to bless them.
And the very last thing Jesus did on the face of the earth was he actually lifted his hands and he blessed the disciples. And you start realizing, wait a minute, it's there. I just haven't had eyes to see it. So, part of it is we just need to have our attention drawn to this. And I think that we also, Daniel, in the Christian life, we have had so much attention put on the spiritual disciplines of prayer and devotional Scripture reading which is so, so important that we just neglected this as an ongoing practice in the Christian's life. But what we see so pointedly in the New Testament is the power of words and the continuation of the Old Testament theme that there's the power of life and death in the tongue.
And then we come all the way to James who is speaking about how powerful the tongue is. So, it's one of those things that's just been missed. It's been neglected. And there's no real reason for it except to say it's part of the reason we need to write a book on this. There's so little written about it. And it's part of the reason I just want every single person to know about the power of blessing that is arguably the story of Scripture and the greatest tool of transformation in the world.
And I want everybody to know about it. Well, you know me. I'm not critical of what you're teaching here at all. But I have to say, and maybe this is the wrong phrase, I'm so blown away by such a concept that as I'm reading your book, Pastor Alan, I'm almost approaching it from a little bit, maybe the word may be cynical, maybe that's not the right word of like, is this really something that I was calling something else? Like, I grew up in the church. And I grew up in some great teachers. And I'm like, well, surely I was just doing it without some other name?
Or was it happening to me under some other name? Right? Yeah, right, right. When something is that eye opening to you, you can feel that way. But the amazing thing is that Daniel, for all these years of doing conferences, and almost always at the end of the conference, I would have a little teaching on blessing, and then bless the people. And I would say 95% of the time, people would say to me, I've never heard of this. I've never done this. I've never practiced blessing. I've never had someone bless me. You know, and you think about it, I just like our listeners, has someone ever looked you in the eye, and seen deeply enough to affirm your worth, call out your giftedness, speak about your virtue, apply biblical principles to it, and then speak a positive future and destiny over your life.
And most people haven't experienced that. We hardly get somebody to give us a compliment in today's world, much less a spiritually infused blessing that is much more than a compliment. And it's not just mere encouragement. It's different than prayer.
It is an actual, well, it's an actual impartation. And I like to say, Daniel, it's mystical, but not magical. And so there is a part of it that is something you don't fully understand. But boy, when you read the Scripture, you realize that the people in the Bible understood that there is something happening when you bless another's life that is actually empowering to them. And that's conveyed in the book. So when you read the book, my prayer is that you will sense the power of that blessing coming in your life. That is not just an intellectual exercise when you read this book where you go, oh, this is what blessing is about. You actually get to experience that and learn then by the end how you can craft a blessing. And it's something anybody can do. It's something challenging me. I'm excited to present it to you in this form as well.
Just in this discussion with Pastor Alan today on the new book, The Power to Bless, releasing tomorrow. So that brings the urgency of today. You can still pre-order. And if you can do that really by midnight tonight, then not only will you help this have a broader audience.
And we've got to contradict the negative in the world with something powerful here in a good way. But then you also receive as a special thank you. Alongside the purchase of the book, you'll get the audiobook version.
And today really is the final day for that. You can do that at pastorallen.org. We'll connect you up there or go to your favorite book outlet, bookstores, online vendors, the same.
Amazon.com is a great one. So Pastor Alan, tomorrow being the release day, what is your prayer for this book as people really start reading it? And for some who breeze through it in a day or two, or maybe for the next month as people are taking it page by page. What is your prayer that people will discover about themselves? Well, someone who has pre-ordered the book and got an early digital copy wrote me this week and said, I'm halfway through the first chapter and I've already paused because the tears are blurring my eyes. And I know that God's going to use this book to change many, many lives. Because in the opening chapter, I'm talking about the blessing that I never knew. And talking about what I missed from my own dad, who I loved so much, and yet didn't grow up in a generation where dads were quick to openly verbally affirm their kids, but also some of his own issues.
That sweet man that didn't have the capacity, the skill, the understanding of how important that was. And so my first goal and prayer for this book is that for everyone who missed the blessing, that this will be an impartation. That if your dad wasn't there and didn't have the ability emotionally perhaps to say, I love you, I'm proud of you, I want to point out the gifts that I see in you and tell you that I think you have a beautiful and wonderful future. And that God has wonderful plans for your life. And I bless your life. I bless you to be able to be everything that God made you to be. And I bless those gifts that I see inside of you.
And I affirm a very positive direction for your life. For anyone who didn't have that, I pray this book is going to just reach so many, many thousands of people. And it's going to begin a healing journey where that blessing that was missed is found. That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series.
It's launch week. The power to bless is Pastor Alan Wright's latest book and releasing this week. You can get it wherever you find great books sold, including amazon.com, or we'll connect you at PastorAlan.org. Not only will you be blessed by reading this book filled with blessing, but you'll also learn step by step how to be a blessing to others by imparting your words of blessing into the lives of those around you. The power to bless releasing this week by Alan Wright Ministries.
Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. I know many people listening right now, not only did you not receive that blessing, but instead you heard words of curse. Gary Chapman, who was so kind, the author of five love language, so kind to endorse the book said simply, you know, our home, our home sometimes feel like morgues, where there's the sound of cursing. And, and I appreciate him affirming that this book can help our homes become places of life. The subtitle of the book, How to Speak Life and Empower the People You Love. So I also believe and pray, Daniel, that this book will empower people to create a new environment, starting in their own homes, because of the words that they speak. I'm praying that it'll change environments and workplaces and organizations where people get hold of the principle. And in your own daily life, you have a mental tape recording, you know, going in your brain. And it's saying something to you about who you are. And a lot of times, it's a self-sabotaging type message. And I pray that this book is going to empower people to learn how to bless their own lives rather than curse themselves.
I also just believe, Daniel, that one of the things the Lord's going to use this book for is to just let everyday ordinary people, all of us, know this is not something for the spiritually elite. This is not something for the poetic people and the people who have some formal occasion to bless others. This is something that's just as simple as daily life. It's something as simple as just the way that you discipline your kids.
You can learn to discipline with blessing. It's something you can train your tongue to do. It's not something that just happens in church when the pastor lifts his hand for the benediction.
It's not something that just happens in some formal setting in our homes, but just in everyday life. And I just think, how much would this world be a different place if it got filled with people speaking blessing that was forecasting a positive identity and people began living out of that? Well, that's the kind of thing I think could, Daniel, could actually change the world. So if you believe that maybe there's something missing in your life that has kind of held you back, or maybe put a ceiling over your life, or there's some gnawing continued anxieties and insecurity, you wonder what you're missing. If your life feels like it's got too much drift and not enough purpose and direction, it's very possible this is what you're missing is the power of blessing. And that's why I wrote the book.
This is God's plan to change your life and to change others that you love and know as you bless their lives. The book is The Power to Bless by Pastor Alan Wright. It releases tomorrow wherever good books are sold in stores, online, maybe on your e-reader. Today being the final day to pre-order, it's our urge to you that if you'd like to get this extra special audio book at no extra charge, then today's the day to order the book. And you can do that and find out the information at pastorallen.org or again wherever you normally buy your books. And we'll be so encouraged to know that you're part of the pre-order team which will also help propel this to a larger audience come tomorrow when it releases worldwide.
I like to say you're on the inside track a little behind the scenes here as we are celebrating release week of The Power to Bless. This week with Pastor Alan in the studio, and you touched on this, this is not just some dry theological book. It's not written from an academic point of view, although it is sound. But you really go into a lot of personal stories talking about your own journey of your own life and then propelling into parenthood, fatherhood.
I think that what people report to me, you know, is that they're going to you laugh some, you cry some, and you learn a whole lot. But it is a book that's full of story and it's full of inspiration. I like for when I write, I like for it to be not just informational but inspirational. So, I want it to be read like a story. And in many ways, Daniel, it really is. I set it up as even though it's obviously a non-fiction book, you know, it reads like a story because it's my story. It's Jacob's story. Jacob who was a conniver and a deceiver until the very end when he finally got it and he blessed his grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh. It's a story that maybe is all of our stories. You can move from having a sense of feeling unblassed to being blessed and that's the greatest transformation you could ever have.
Daniel, here are the opening words of the book. Some people try hard to succeed so they'll feel blessed and other people try hard to succeed because they already feel blessed. It's the difference between striving and thriving. It's the difference between death and life.
And for most of my life, I was the former laboring for the blessing that I never knew. So, in a lot of ways, Daniel, it's a story. It is our story. It's the story, the big story of what God has done for us to move us from unblessed to blessed, to move us into his favor and all he's accomplished for us in Christ. It's not empty.
It's not fluffy. But it's not difficult to understand. You know, I think some of the deepest, deepest principles of God's Word are simple. And I hope that's what the book does, too, is it takes something that's vastly deep, endlessly rich in its implications for our lives, and yet makes it very accessible and understandable and simple for the reader to grab hold of. Pastor Alan's new book, The Power to Bless, releases tomorrow. So today's the final day you can pre-order the book. And if you'll do that, you'll also get, at no extra charge, a copy of the audio book. And it's our way of saying thanks. And being part of the pre-launch here at the team is exciting because of what it can mean for tomorrow and the following days, as we seek to not only teach people how to bless, but I think you'll receive a blessing by reading the book as well.
You do plenty of that. In fact, you wrap up the book with an extended blessing, and we talked about that some last week here on the program. Pastor Alan, it's not too late to even say, okay, well, maybe I don't have kids, or maybe my kids are grown or whatnot. It's not too late to even act as maybe a surrogate or a mentor to someone imparting blessing, right?
Exactly. Well, one of the things I explained in the book is that the blessing that I miss from the Father that I love so much, but who was not emotionally available to me to share all that I needed with me, and who died 10 years ago, well, that didn't prevent me from realizing that nonetheless, my life could be blessed. And one of the things that I have been given by the grace of God is a spiritual father, Dudley Hall, who people who listen to our program hear me quoting Dudley in sermons. And I dedicated the book to Dudley, spiritual father.
He really became a spiritual father to me. And you can have people in your lives. And I hope that listeners, you will allow me to at least partly be in that role through writing this book and through speaking blessing to your life. You let people that really love you, that care about you and see into your life and understand God's word and understand the power of blessing, you let them speak into your life and it begins to replenish.
It begins to speak into those empty places in your heart. So it's never too late to receive blessing. Don't ever say, well, I miss the blessing and so that left me handicapped and hindered and I can't get it back.
That's not the way it works. You can receive blessing even if your life had been one in which people that you needed it from had more curse than blessing to give you, or maybe you experienced a lot of isolation and abandonment. You can be blessed now. And that's part of the reason I wrote the book, as I think when you read it, you're just going to receive it and just drink it in and find other people in your life that you trust that can speak into your life.
I will say this, Daniel, and I mentioned this in the opening chapter of the book. Once I started learning about blessing and we were going through a time in which there was, well, relationship with dad was in a real positive turn and he'd been through some healing and my brothers, my two brothers and I and dad had an opportunity to meet with a counselor a couple times. And I just said, dad, there's something I'd really like.
I'd love for you to bless me. Well, he didn't really know what I was talking about. And interestingly, the counselor didn't know what I was talking about.
Not many people seem to know what this is all about. And I said, I mean like what the Hebrew patriarchs did when they spoke a positive vision over their sons and grandsons. And he said, he'd be happy to do that. And he came back the next week and he had a little card, an index card with a blessing for each of us written on it. It wasn't necessarily super profound. It wasn't filled with scripture. It wasn't all it could be, but it was special to me.
And I gobbled up like a starving person would grab a crumb of bread. There are people even now in your life that you might need blessing from that it might be that you're going to find the strength to just ask them, say, would you give me your blessing? And maybe they'll say, well, what do you mean by that? And you'll have read the book and you'll be able to tell them. So, don't ever think it's too late. And don't ever think that it's too late to learn to bless someone else.
I think it's one of the things we'll find. You know, people will be reading the book, Daniel, and I think that they'll start, they might start swallowing hard to complain. Oh no, I have not been doing this right. You know, I wish I hadn't been speaking to my kids the way I have. Well, one thing for sure, the book doesn't condemn you.
It's just going to help you. And we've all messed up and it's never too late to begin changing right now. And none of us speaks blessing perfectly. And yet, in the most important things in life, we should devote ourselves to learning and becoming better and better at it.
It's really something you can train yourself in. And so, don't despair. And don't let the false guilt come in. You know, don't think, oh, I've messed up.
It's too late. It's never ever too late to receive or give blessing. It's launch week. The power to bless is Pastor Alan Wright's latest book and releasing this week. You can get it wherever you find great books sold, including amazon.com, or we'll connect you at pastorallan.org. Not only will you be blessed by reading this book filled with blessing, but you'll also learn step by step how to be a blessing to others by imparting your words of blessing into the lives of those around you. The power to bless releasing this week by Alan Wright Ministries. Tomorrow is the release day for this new book by Pastor Alan.
It is the power to bless. And that means that today is the final day to pre-order since it launches tomorrow. And by pre-ordering today, many things happen that propels this message far and wide and you really get to be a part of that. But you also receive at no extra charge an audio book of the book at the same time. So please come and do that at pastorallan.org.
You can link over to Amazon or you can go wherever fine books are sold and do that. Whether you do that today or even at some point this week, we are so grateful that you're part of the power to bless. And I think you will be blessed when you devour it as well. Pastor Alan, thanks for spending some time here as we discuss it.
And we're looking forward to tomorrow when it is actual release day. Daniel, thank you. And I just leave our listeners with my own blessing to say, may God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh, the words that have been spoken over Jewish children in their homes by their dads for 3700 years. And in the remainder of our programs this week, Daniel, we're going to learn more about what that means to have someone say, may God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh. It's my blessing as we end the day. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.
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