A Prayer of Blessing or a Prayer of Cursing

This post is in response to a recent question I received about praying "prayers of blessings" over our children:

I'd like to submit a definition of a "blessing". A "blessing" is "that which allows a person to see Jesus". By this definition then, cancer or the death of a loved one (parent, grandparent, child, close friend) or the loss of a job or financial ruin could be identified as a a "blessing" if through these catastrophes we see Jesus. I have heard people (inaccurately) refer to these circumstances as "blessings in disguise" if the recipient, by sight (and not by faith) perceives that what they thought was a bad turn of events at first, now sees that it has turned out for his benefit. But, in truth, there is no disguise about it.

These events and circumstances are blessings if (and only if) the person involved sees Jesus through them. On the other hand, people at times seem to call the "good stuff" in life (like big houses, nice cars, financial success, health, well-rounded children who don't do drugs) etc a "blessing". But if all of these things I just listed cause us to miss seeing Christ (for instance: "I would love to go on or give to a mission trip but I can't get off work for that long or can't afford it because of my big house payment or car payment or I'd miss my kids too much or it might be dangerous to go to that place to share Jesus") then it is certainly not a blessing. Indeed it is a curse!

In light of praying blessings over our children, the prayer of blessing, in order to be a true prayer of blessing, must, first of all, conform to the truth that Jesus, through the cross, has given us every blessing we are ever going to possess (that is, because of it, we get to see Him) Eph 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." And secondly, it must include anything that would allow the child to see Jesus.

Do we pray "prayers of blessings" that would give our children only the things that we want them to have like good friends and popularity and to never have their heart broken and to never be sick or injured in a car accident...or if they have been injured to have a great doctor and to be restored to good health as soon as possible...and to live long lives here on earth? Of course these are all good things. I encourage every parent to pray for these things for their children. I will do the same.

But we must understand that they are good things only if through them the child comes to see Jesus. If through them the child comes to care nothing for His name and renown but rather turns his back on Jesus because of all the "cares of the world" that occupy his time, then the child is not blessed, rather he is cursed and condemned. That, of course, would be the opposite of a "prayer of blessing". It would be a "prayer of cursing".