I’ve been a Christian for nearing 45 years. There’s one thing that I can’t wrap my head around. We’re to come to God with our needs. We’re to praise Him, thank Him and worship Him. It’s my understanding that we’re also to “bless Him.” He blesses us all of the time. I see it in my life all the time. He is everything that is good. He’s able to bless us. What I don’t understand is how we’re supposed to “bless” Him! How do we do that?
The King James version of Psalm 103:1 says, “Bless the Lord O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” Some modern English translations substitute the word praise for bless in this verse. Although the Hebrew words are not the same, the idea they convey is similar. The Hebrew word for bless also means to kneel. When we kneel before the Lord in humility and recognize the extent to which He has blessed us, we are blessing Him.
In the New Testament, Ephesians 1:3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Again, some modern English translations substitute praise be to for blessed be in the first word of this verse. But the same Greek word can mean both. So the idea is that when we’re praising God for all the blessings we’ve received from Him, we’re blessing Him.