We may note the contrast between the two [blessings]. On the one hand Esau was promised abundance, fatness, power and dominion--material blessing. But the Abrahamic mission, the blessing of seed and the promise of the land were not bequeathed to Esau, since such a spiritual blessing cannot be conferred by succession but only granted to the one who is deserving of it. 

Prayer serves many aims. It serves to save the inward life from oblivion. It serves to partake of God's mysterious grace and guidance. Yet, ultimately, prayer must not be experienced as an act for the sake of something else. We pray in order to pray. Prayer is a perspective from which to behold, from which to respond to, the challenges we face. Man in prayer does not seek to impose his will upon God; he seeks to impose God's will and mercy upon himself. Prayer is necessary to make us aware of our failures, backsliding, transgressions, sins.

We must avoid the “Santa Claus” mentality which presents God with a shopping list of our desires. What we do when we pray is express the hope that our lives will be marked by the presence of those qualities we consider divine, the wish to act justly, practice compassion, speak the truth and build peace. We acknowledge in prayer that we depend on God for all these qualities, that though we have them in potential, we need the sustaining force we call God actually to practise them in our lives.

Think of a time when you felt "blessed" by someone else through praise, words of encouragement or the like. In what way(s) were you transformed by the blessing?  Have you ever blessed someone else, and what was that like?