Posted by Every morning for the last few weeks I have been going to YouTube and finding a new version of “The Blessing” to listen to. Each morning my heart is melted by the love of God and I feel a bit of the peace that passeth understanding.
“The Blessing” is written by Chris Brown, Cody Carnes, Kari Jobe and Steven Furtick, all of Elevation Church in Charlotte North Carolina. In this time of the corona virus, choirs began singing this song virtually, and it made its way around the world. Elevation Church’s rendition is strongly in the Pentecostal tradition of exuberant worship. The recording below was made early in March before the pandemic forced churches to operate with social distancing.
Two months later they made a recording connecting singers virtually all around the world. Singers from twenty countries in every continent (South Africa, England, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Russia, South Korea, France, Germany, Mexico, Nigeria, Iran, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, New Zealand, India, Singapore, and Kazakhstan) and from 19 states (Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Washington, Florida, Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Texas, Indiana, California, Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi, South Carolina) sang together in a virtual concert. That recording is presented below.
The Biblical basis of the song
All of the words in the song are based on Scripture.
Chorus
The Lord bless you
And keep you
Make His face shine upon you
And be gracious to you
The Lord turn His
Face toward you
And give you peace
This is a common blessing given at the end of many church services. It was originally a blessing God instructed Moses to tell Aaron to give to the people of Israel in Numbers 6:24-26.
Bridge 1
May His favor be upon you
And a thousand generations
And your family and your children
And their children, and their children
Inspired by Exodus 20:6, Deuteronomy 7:9, and Psalm 103:17-18.
Bridge 2
May His presence go before you
And behind you, and beside you
All around you, and within you
He is with you, He is with you
Combines the omnipresence of God (1 Kings 8:27, Psalm 139:7-12, Proverbs 15:3, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Colossians 1:17, and Hebrews 4:13) with the Holy Spirit who lives inside believers (Acts 6:5, Romans 8:9-11, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:16-19, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 5:18, and 2 Timothy 1:14) into a blessing. He is with us wherever we go (Joshua 1:9).
Bridge 3
In the morning, in the evening
In your coming, and your going
In your weeping, and rejoicing
He is for you, He is for you
Regardless of the time of day, location, or emotional state, God is for us (Psalm 56:9, Psalm 118:6-7, Psalm 121:8, Ezekiel 36:9, and Romans 8:31).
Post-Bridge
He is for you, He is for you
He is for you, He is for you
He is for you, He is for you
“The Blessing’s” Message.
The song begins with the ancient priestly blessing of Israel:
“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”
The rest of the song elaborates on that blessing, first in time, blessing one’s family, one’s children, children’s children and their children to the thousandth generation. Second, in space, the blessing will go before you and beside you and all around you and within you. And then third, in all phases of your life–in the morning and the evening, in your coming and your going, in your weeping and rejoicing.” This blessing is for you and your children in whatever you do, whenever you do it, for a thousand generations.”
But that’s not the end. The words I love the most, are repeated over and over again, “He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you, He is for you.” These words come from Paul’s letter to the Romans chapter 8, verse 31: “If God is for you who shall be against?”
Paul answers in verses 32-39: “32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?…
“37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Here are a couple of other versions that I hope will bless you.
See this article on Wikipedia for a partial list of all the covers from around the world. It is an amazing blessing to see people from every tribe and tongue, every race and color, singing this song. Here is a partial list of the available covers.
Be blessed!!
North America
- Elevation Church
- Elevation church global
- Canada
- Living Water Church Atlanta (in Russian)
- Pittsburg blessing
- Elevation gospel version
- Healthcare Heroes
- Bay Area
- Desert Reign Church Assemble of God (California)
- Orlando
- Hawaii
Europe
- UK
- France
- Spain
- France children
- Celtic
- Sweden
- Channel Isles
- Scandanavia
- Germany
- Blessing in German Farsi and English
- Italy
- Coventry Church Collective
- Dutch Blessing
Latin America
- Brazil
- Haiti
- Latin America
Asia
- Hong Kong
- Malaysia
- South Korea
- Singapore
- Tamil
- Indonesia
Australia
- Australia
- Australia/Papua New Guinea
Africa
- South Africa
- Madagascar
- Zimbabwe
- Nigeria
- Ghana
- Kenya
- Mauritius
The Middle East
- The Blessing in Hebrew
- Lebanon
- Arab World
Global
- Around the Globe (Betterment Worship)
- BSL (Basic Sign Language)
- Global dance response
