Testimonies and ideas from friends who have had blessing ceremonies for their children

We want to tell you how deeply we appreciate the FFI ministry …there has been a visible transformation in the lives of many families not only through the seminars but also through the Bat Barakah/ Bar Barakah ceremonies now commonly practiced by many families in our church. 

For those families whose children were over 12 years old when they became aware of this teaching, instead of the usual debut parties parents give in honor of their 18 year old daughters, there is now the Bat Barakah ceremony, and at 21 for the young men.  Many are also doing it now for their 12 year old sons, and daughters who reach the point of puberty. We were just analyzing it and it really amazes us, for many families who have released sons and daughters to manhood or womanhood and the fathers giving the blessing publicly to their children in this way, there has been a visible blessing returned on their families. One family who has lived in rented apartments all their married life moved into a new home, this time their own, just recently.  One family who has been in poverty level received a new business, and now this business has turned their financial lives around.  One couple who released a son and a daughter to adulthood in two consecutive years are now experiencing that son and daughter really filled with the spirit, and the overflow is spilling over to their lives, and the floodgates of heaven are pouring upon this family in a supernatural way, literally in the way the Bible describes it, "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, poured into their laps."

My own daughter had her Bat Barakah ceremony last December, and now my own 20-year old son, who heads the youth group of our church, is soaring with the spirit of worship and intercession, and we just know God is doing something eternally significant in our midst.  This is just to name a few. Words are not enough.

We have held three blessing ceremonies - one for each of our three children. We have a daughter who is now 19, and two sons, 17 & 15.

We held each of their ceremonies for their 14th birthdays - and did each ceremony basically the same each time. We did it for their 14th mainly because our daughter was about to turn 14 when we first took the AP seminar, and we felt our boys weren't quite ready at 13.

We didn't go "all out" financially as our finances would not allow us to, so we just did what fit our family. I'll try and give you a
brief overview of what we did.

We sent out invitations to about 40 people for each ceremony - our pastor and his family, elders, youth leaders, our FFI team, close friends of ours and of the child. Our families are not believers, so we did not invite them as it would have hindered what we did and said.

We decorated rather extravagantly with a colour theme chosen by the child - balloons, matching table cloths and napkins, candlesticks for the boys' ceremonies, floral arrangements for our daughter's. We had a cake made for each ceremony with a scripture verse on it that the Lord had given us for each of them - it was a different verse for each of them. We ordered in pizza - lots of it with a variety of kinds - and also had chips and pop. Again, this is what fit our family and the quantity and variety made it an extravagant thing for our kids.

We asked each person invited to come prepared with either a word they felt the Lord had given them for our child, or scripture, or a prayer. After the meal, we seated the child in front of everyone and presented them with a ring and their Dad prayed for them and promised to help them choose a suitable mate. Then we gave them the meaning of their names (first, middle and in our case - Murray being our last name - we were also able to do their last name), quite elaborately done with anything prophetic we felt the Lord was saying about them and their names. We then invited everyone to come and join us at the front and after we as parents had pronounced a blessing over them, we invited everyone to pray for them or give them a scripture or a prophetic word. We taped the blessing and prayer time so we could transcribe it later. We then served the cake and ice cream and had an evening of fellowship.

For our daughter, the impact was almost immediate. She had been getting a little rebellious, and that vanished right away and never returned. (We've had 5 years to watch the impact on her, 3 years for our middle son, and a year for our youngest.) We noticed a difference in all of our kids from that point on in comparison to other kids their age. A greater level of maturity, a greater degree of respect and honour given to parents and others in authority. They just generally have seemed to handle life better than most of the kids their age. Their decisions seem to be based on long term consequences rather than short term gratification and they seem more self-assured. I'm not saying there haven't still been challenges in their upbringing, but they just seem to come at things with a greater level of maturity and understanding and they seem to take responsibility for their actions and decisions in a greater way than others their age.

Well, this gives you a bit of a rundown on what we did and how we felt it impacted our kids. As a final thought, I guess I'd have to say we have never regretted doing these ceremonies! They are "flags planted" in their lives. Aside from the power of
actually praying blessing over them, the fact that we went to the trouble and expense and that others came to be a part of it spoke acceptance and blessing into their lives as well.

One last thing. We made sure that a few weeks before the ceremony we went to the child whose ceremony was coming up and repented of the things we had done to hurt them as we raised them to this point. I believe that is a key to giving the blessing room to go into their heart. If their heart is cluttered up with wounds and unforgiveness, the blessing will just bounce off. Asking them to forgive you for your shortcomings as a parent makes the pathway clearer for them to receive.

If you have any questions, or if I haven't covered something you want to ask about, feel free to contact me. I'm happy to pass along anything we may have gleaned through our experience in holding our kids' ceremonies.

Blessings and all the best as you undertake this for your children!

Clinton & Marsha Murray
Office Manager & Seminar Coordinators, FFI Canada
Niverville, Manitoba, Canada
canada@familyfi.org 

We have done several blessing ceremonies here in Spain and can share - please feel free to write us questions - we saw definite changes in our son and daughter after their special evening.  We started with a time of reminiscing about key moments in their lives, times where we saw God spare or touch or lead them specifically.  We read letters from their grandparents (as they could not be here), had Terry pray a specific blessing, I prayed one, we opened it to their friends, etc.  With our son, we did the chair thing and with Allyson had her go from the girl's side to the women's side.  It was very emotional. 

Terry & Marilyn Day
Family Foundations National Coordinators
Madrid, Spain
spain@familyfi.org

We have now had 2 Bar Barakahs in our family. My oldest son, Peter, was 16 when we did his and my youngest son, Nicolas, was 15.

We did not have the resources to do a large scale ceremony so we kept it simple. We let our sons take part in the invitation list, inviting their close friends and adults who were close to them and were trusted to speak a word into their life.

I started the ceremony with them by telling them how they got started in this world and my thoughts as I was carrying them, etc. I also included the meaning of their name and how we came to choose that name for them. I also included words that the Lord had given me for them and visions that the Lord had given me about them.

As I concluded, I kissed them and released them to be the man that God had created them to be.

We had set up a passage way with a ribbon tied across it that our son had to cut before he crossed over to his Dad waiting on the other side for him. That was very powerful in itself. For us it represented cutting the ties of boyhood and being mom’s little boy and passing over into manhood.

Dudley then spoke many things over them and powerfully affirmed how proud he was of them.

He gave each a cross necklace that was a reminder of that day as well as a reminder of who they are in Christ and their destiny in the Kingdom.

After we as their parents had concluded our part, we then asked our Pastor to come and bless them. After that we opened it up to all who would like to come and bless them and speak a word to them from the Lord. That was an awesome time as well. My oldest son had many of his friends who came up and blessed him and told of the impact he had had on their lives.

Needless to say we cried most of the night!

Both events were very powerful times. Making the blessing a public event helped to seal and make the blessing even more powerful. It was done before God and before witnesses. Now they know that they know!!!

Some of the extra things that we did:

• I set up a memento table with pictures throughout his life. On the table I placed a memento book that people could sign and record their thoughts for my son.
• I also had a picture drawn by a local artist that showed a vision that the Lord had given me of their destiny, what God had put on the inside of them.
• I of course recorded the event with pictures and video.

Even though we had to do both events on a smaller scale, it did not take away from the power of the blessing!

Blessings to you,
Dudley & Martha Harris
Church Seminar Coordinators - Christ Chapel
Florence, Alabama
dudley-marthaharris@familyfi.org