Fear of failure prevents most adults from developing their ability to discern God’s voice.  So in our family we practice listening to God and listening to each other.  That way, when we’re faced with difficult decisions, we’re comfortable seeking God for direction.

Here’s a delicious and fun way to practice discerning God’s voice and building each other up.

Our family celebrates the holidays that God has set apart. We love creating new traditions within the framework of these holidays.  One tradition for the biblical Feast of Trumpets is to dip apples in honey and recite a blessing asking God for a sweet year.  Since it’s a tradition and NOT a commandment, we adapted to suit our family.

Instead of reciting a blessing, we give each other prophetic blessings.  Prophetic blessing is simply speaking the blessing you believe God has for the person.  Here are a few guidelines:

• Start with listening prayer (we spend about 5 minutes, because that works best with the attention span of our kids).
• Ask God, “Who do you want me to bless, and what blessing do you have for them?”
• When you practice hearing God prophetically, it’s best to share blessings, not directional or corrective messages.  This helps maintain a low risk environment for practice.
• When sharing a prophetic blessing, submit it for consideration.  We don’t say, “Thus sayeth the LORD…”  We say “I have the impression…” or “I sense God saying…” and let the recipient discern for themselves.

After everyone takes time to hear from God, we gather around a plate of apple slices and honey.  We take turns dipping an apple slice in the honey and giving it to the person we want to bless.  Then we speak our blessing for them, and they eat the apple.  Giving them the apple slice makes the blessing tangible, and when they eat it, they actively receive the blessing.  Each person gives and receives several blessings.

We’ve tried it with groups of 4-20 people of all ages.  It forges strong bonds in any group, whether they’re already family, or becoming family. It also demonstrates that it’s fun to speak life, and fun to be generous. We bless everyone present (even the unborn) and everyone old enough to talk can offer a blessing.  Sometimes the blessings spoken by the youngest children don’t make much sense, but often you’ll be surprised how powerful are.  Either way, it’s OK. You’re practicing.

Try this with your family and tell me about it in the comments below.  What did you notice?