I want to talk to you today about being a magnet for blessings. When you honor God with your life, when you keep him first place, God puts something on you called a commanded blessing. The commanded blessing is like a magnet. It attracts good breaks, the right people, contracts, ideas, resources, influence.
You don’t have to go after these things, trying to make it happen in your own strength, just your own talent, hoping that life works out. All you’ve got to do is keep honoring God, and the right people will find you. The right opportunities will come across your path. The favor, the wisdom, the vindication will track you down. Why? You become a magnet for God’s goodness.
You may have seen on the news these heat seeking missiles. The military programs a target into the computer and fires the missile off. It can travel thousands of miles. The intended target can be flying in the air, zigzagging here and there, trying to lose it. It doesn’t have a chance. That heat-seeking missile follows it everywhere it goes, and eventually overtakes it and accomplishes its purpose.
That’s what it says in deuteronomy chapter 28. When you walk in God’s ways, you make pleasing him your highest priority, all these blessings will chase you down and overtake you. One translation says you will become a magnet for blessings. That means because you’re honoring God, attracted to you.
Like a magnet, when I look back over my life, most of the favor, most of the good breaks, I didn’t go after them, they came to me. I was simply honoring God, being my best, and God did more than I could I never thought I could get up in front of people and minister.
I spent 17 years behind the scenes here at lakewood, doing the television production, and I’m not bragging, but during those 17 years, I was faithful. I gave it my all. I made my father look the best I possibly could, go the extra mile to make sure the lighting was perfect, camera angle was just right.
I would even go over to my parent’s house every saturday night, and pick out a suit and a tie for my father to wear the next day on television. My mother would say, “Joel, daddy’s a grown man. You don’t need to come over every week. He can pick out his own clothes”. Problem is I had seen what my father picked out before.
Let’s just say he liked a lot of color, and I wanted that broadcast to be perfect. I wasn’t looking for this position. I was content where I was, behind the scenes. But when my father went to be with the Lord, this opportunity came looking for me. Never planned on doing it, but it chased me down, and God’s dream for your life is so much bigger than your own, and if you will keep being your best right where you are, you will come into favor, promotion, opportunity bigger than you ever imagined. You won’t have to go after it; it will come to you. Because you’re honoring God, like a magnet, you’ll draw it in.
I walked into a jewelry store and met Victoria for the first time, and like a magnet, she couldn’t keep her hands off of me. This is my side of the story, anyway. We went out on our first date and had so much fun, actually here at the compaq center, and the next week, she invited me to come to her house and have dinner, and we laughed I called her the next day at work to thank her, but she was busy and not able to talk. Called her that evening at home and she wasn’t there. Called her the next day, and the next, and the next, and the next, but she was always either busy, not available. But for some reason, she couldn’t talk.
Finally, I got the message. She’s avoiding me, she doesn’t want to see me. I thought, “That’s fine, I won’t call her anymore”. About 2 weeks later, I was sitting in a little diner, eating breakfast early one morning all by myself, and Victoria comes walking in. She saw my car out in the parking lot, and she came and sat at the table, and said, “Joel, I’m so sorry I keep missing all of your calls”. She came back to her senses and came looking for me. She ate breakfast, and then made me pay for it.
But friends, God has the right people in your future. When you honor God, like a magnet, the person God’s designed for you, the right one will come across your path. You don’t have to worry, you don’t have to play games and try to convince somebody to like you. If they don’t like you, let them go. If they don’t celebrate you and see you as a gift, move forward. Don’t hang onto things that are not attracted to you.
The right one will not be able to live without you. The one God designed will think you’re the you keep being your best right where you are, honoring God, and God will do for you what he did for me. He’ll cause you to be at the right place at the right time. Those divine connections will come across your path. But what God has planned for you is much bigger than anything you’ve ever dreamed of.
If God were to show you right now where he’s taking you, the favor, the promotion, the influence, it would boggle your mind. You may think, like I did, that you’re not the most qualified, you don’t have the personality, the talent. That’s okay. It’s not going to happen just because of your talent, your personality, your hard work. It’s going to happen because of the commanded blessing on your life.
God’s anointing on you is more important than your talent, your education, than what family you come from. You can have less talent, but with the favor of God, you will go further than people that have much more talent, and you may not see how this can happen, doesn’t seem possible, but you don’t have to figure it out. If you’ll just keep being your best right where you are, getting to work on time, doing more than you have to, being a person of excellence and integrity, the right people will find you. The right opportunities will track you down.
Now, don’t be frustrated if it doesn’t happen on your timetable. You got to pass some tests. You got to prove to God that you’ll be faithful right where you are. If you’re not faithful in the wilderness, how can God trust you to be faithful in the promised land? You’ve got to keep a good attitude when you’re not getting your way. You’ve got to be your best when you’re not getting any credit. Do the right thing when it’s difficult.
That’s when your character is being developed, and if you will pass these tests, you can be certain God will get you to where you’re supposed to be. The right people are in your future, the right opportunities, the good breaks, the wisdom, the contracts, the houses. God said no good thing will he withhold because you walk uprightly.
I’ve learned one touch of God’s favor can take you in a split second further than you could go in your quit thinking, “Oh, I’m getting behind. I’ll never accomplish my dreams”. No, God has explosive blessings in your future. He has blessings that will thrust you years and years ahead.
You say, “Joel, this all sounds good, but I don’t really have the talent. I don’t know the right people. I don’t have the money”. That’s okay, God does. Everything you need. There are good breaks right now that have your name on it. There are contracts, buildings, businesses that have your name on it. There are ideas, inventions, books, movies, songs that have your name on it.
As you keep honoring God, being your best, like that magnet, you’re going to draw in what already has your name on it. When is this going to happen? At the exact right time. If it hasn’t happened yet, don’t get discouraged, God knows what he’s doing. If it would have happened earlier, it wouldn’t have been the best time. Just keep being and keep living with this attitude that something good is coming your way. When you do that, like a magnet, you’re going to draw in what already has your name on it.