How Do Blessings and Curses Work?

Have you ever wondered how blessings and curses work? From a study of Scripture, it's obvious that both blessings and curses can have powerful effects on our lives. Is that effect merely psychological? When someone blesses us, does that enhance our self-image, thereby enabling us to accomplish more? Or does God release some sort of cosmic buzz into us to give us a little extra oomph?

I was recently listening to a teaching by Paul Cox of Aslan's Place in which he mentioned that there is a specific type of spiritual being that has the role of carrying out blessings (if they are on God's side) or curses (if they work for the enemy). These beings are called authorities, and they are mentioned in several passages in the New Testament, including I Corinthians 15:24, Ephesians 1:21, Colossians 2:15, and I Peter 3:22.

When I heard this teaching, it occurred to me (for the first time, I think) that angelic beings are more than spiritual robots. I guess I always thought that an angel was sent from God right to earth with a very specific task to carry out. He performed the specified task and then went back to Heaven for the next assignment. For instance, God might say, "Go bless George with a good night's sleep." The angel would go and minister a peaceful sleep for George and then fly back to Heaven.

Now I'm thinking that the angelic beings ("authorities") may actually have a certain amount of creative freedom in how they administer blessings. They may have an assignment to bless George. It is left almost that vague. The authority then needs to decide how to bless and needs to orchestrate a lot of little events to implement that blessing.

Did you ever have a day where everything just went smoothly? You got in the shortest line at the grocery store, all the lights were green on your way to work, and several people complimented you? You got an encouraging e-mail, your kids were obedient, and you seemed to accomplish more tasks in less time than usual. Maybe some authorities were intervening in your life that day, kind of staying one step ahead of you like a personal valet making sure that everything functioned like clockwork. Those authorities may have had fun that day figuring out how to show you an extra measure of God's love. If you acknowledged your easy day as a gift from God, that surely made the authorities feel that their work was worthwhile. If you barely noticed their work, however, or if you suggested it was coincidence, they may have felt their work was all in vain. Their real object is not just to make your day go more smoothly, but ultimately to bring praise and glory to God.

I like to think about these spiritual beings who are creatively working on our behalf to implement blessings in our lives. It would be a fun job, but only if the blessee noticed the blessings and praised God because of them.

One of the highest compliments Jesus paid anyone when He was on earth was when he said of the centurion, "I have not found such great faith even in Israel" (Luke 7:9) What was so special about this man's faith? I believe that, by extrapolating from what he knew of the physical world that he was able to see to the invisible spiritual world, he demonstrated the type of faith that pleases Jesus. His reasoning was simple. "For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." I think he had discerned the activity of spiritual authorities even without seeing them or having been taught about them. If humans have ranks of soldiers, then certainly God does, as well. Just as those soldiers must at times exercise creative problem solving ability, so the angelic authorities must do so in carrying out their assignments for the Lord.

Believing in the unseen realm carries with it a blessing of its own. As Jesus said, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29). I'm going to have my spiritual eyes open from now on to detect the workings of authorities in my life. And I'm going to praise God when I notice their work!