Joel Osteen — Commanded to Be Blessed
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I want to talk to you today about commanded to be blessed. When we honor God with our lives and we do our best to keep him first place, the scripture says God will command his blessing to come on you, and when God commands, I hope it happens, if the circumstances come together.
No, when God commands, there's no ifs, ands, or buts. When God said, "Let there be light," the earth was dark, without form, like a black hole. But God didn't check the circumstances to see if light was possible. He didn't have experts analyze it to see if they thought it could happen. When he commanded light, it came at 186,000 miles per second, and when God commands you to be blessed, he doesn't check what family you come from, where you work, who likes you, how good the economy is. None of that matters to God.
All the circumstances can be against you, the experts may tell you, "You'll never get well. You'll never meet the right person. You'll never be successful". Every voice says, "You're stuck. Just accept it, no way in the natural".
The good news is we serve a supernatural God. When he commands the blessing, all the forces of darkness cannot stop him. With the commanded blessing, you'll go places you couldn't go on your own. Doors will open that you couldn't open. You'll be promoted even though you weren't the commanded blessing will cause good breaks to find you. Contracts, opportunities, business, favor will track you down.
Now, get in agreement with God. Quit saying, "I'll never get ahead, Joel. These people at work don't like me". It doesn't matter who doesn't what matters is the most high God likes you, and he is not limited by who's against you, by who's not giving you credit, who's not treating you right. One touch of his favor will move them out of the way and get you to where you're supposed to be.
Now, don't be discouraged by what's unfair. God sees what's happening. Keep being your best, keep honoring him. You're not working unto people, you're working unto God, and when it's your time to be promoted, you can rest assured you will be promoted. People can't stop you. Bad breaks can't stop you. Injustice can't stop you. The commanded blessing on your life will override every force that's trying to hold you back.
I know a young man that works in the medical field. He graduated from college 6 years ago and he'd been at this same entry level position the whole time. He's a hard worker, he always does more than he has to, but his supervisor never liked him. He wouldn't give him any credit, and these new employees that they hired that didn't have the were being promoted over him, and it wasn't fair, he didn't like it, but he understands this principle: because he's honoring God, there is a commanded blessing on his life.
About 6 months ago, he went to work and found out one morning that his supervisor had unexpectedly resigned. He had a family issue and had to move to another state. The administration called him in and said, "This supervisor has recommended you to take his position". This supervisor never even liked him, he was never for him, but when you have the commanded blessing, God will cause people to be good to you that have never been good to you. He'll use even your enemies to bless you.
And this young man was so excited and so baffled at the same time, he said, "Joel, this man tried to hold me down". But here's the key, people don't have the final say, God does. People don't determine your destiny. They didn't breathe life into you, they didn't call you, they didn't number your days.
You may be in a situation that feels unfair, seems like somebody's stopping you. Don't worry, your time is coming. Keep doing the right thing when the wrong thing is happening. There is a commanded blessing on your life. They can't keep you down. All the circumstances may be against you, but the most high God is for you.
Numbers chapter 22, the israelites were camped on the plains of Moab, headed toward Jericho. When the king of the moabites saw how many israelites there were, he was afraid. There was a prophet that lived in a nearby city named Balaam.
The king knew that the Lord so he sent some of his men with a large amount of money to see Balaam to ask him to come back and curse the people of israel. Balaam said, "I'll pray about it, but I can only say what God tells me to say". He prayed. In verse 12, God said, "You are to not go back with them, for what I have blessed you cannot curse".
Notice when God puts the commanded blessing on you, it doesn't matter what somebody says, doesn't matter what all that matters is God put his blessing on you and everything else is of no effect. They can say it, but if you don't allow it to take root, it's not going to stop you. It may be unfair, it may seem like it's getting the best of you, but if you'll stay in faith, the blessing will always override the curse. God will use it to promote you.
They went back and told the king that Balaam wouldn't come. The king said, "Take some more money, go back, and tell him he has to come and curse the israelites". They went back. Balaam said, "Even if you give me a palace filled with silver and gold, I am powerless to do anything against the will of my God". They spent the night and talked him into going back, and the king said, "Balaam, what took you so long? You should've come back here, I need you to curse these people".
Balaam said, "Well, I'll pray one more time, but I can only say what the Lord tells me to say". He woke up the next morning, said to the king, "This is what the Lord says. The israelites will succeed, and become a great nation, and have descendants too numerous to count". The king said, "Balaam, stop, what are you doing? I brought you here to curse them, instead you're blessing them". He said it again, "I cannot curse what God has already blessed".
If Balaam were here today, he would say the same thing to you, "You cannot be cursed. There is a commanded blessing on your life". And when you go through disappointments, unfair things happen, it's easy to feel like that's clouded your future. Have a new perspective. What God has blessed, nothing can curse. When you understand you have this commanded blessing, you won't be upset because someone's talking about you, worried about your finances, discouraged because of a setback.
You know every force is powerless to change the blessing God put on your life. I love how Balaam was supposed to curse the israelites. They were going to pay him a lot of money. Not only did he refuse to do it, but God had him to start speaking blessings. He started telling how the israelites were going to succeed, and go further, and this is a spiritual principle God was showing us.
When the enemy tells you all the reasons why you're not going to get well, not get out of debt, not overcome the challenge, instead of agreeing with him, do like Balaam, start speaking victory, speak health, speak favor, speak abundance. See, the enemy wants you to curse your future with negative words and negative thoughts. He knows he can't stop you, but if he can convince you to go around discouraged, thinking you've reached your limits, that will keep you from your destiny. You want me to curse my future? I know better, I'm going to bless my future.
"Well, you'll never get out of debt, you'll always struggle". No thanks, you have the wrong person. I will lend and not borrow. Whatever I touch will prosper and succeed. I've been commanded to be blessed. You may have a lot coming against you, every voice says, "It's not going to work out". I'm asking you to be a Balaam, speak the blessing sometimes, it's not our own thoughts trying to discourage us, it's what other people are saying.
People will tell you what you're not going to be, how you're not going to get well, your dreams aren't going to come to pass. Here's the key, they can speak defeat all day long, but they are powerless to change the blessing on your life. Nothing they say or do can remove the blessing. They didn't give you the blessing and they can't take it away. It was put on you by the God who spoke worlds into existence, and he didn't just give you the blessing, he commanded the blessing. There's a freedom when you understand this. Somebody's talking bad about you, your attitude is, "No big deal, they are powerless to stop the blessing".
I talked to a lady that was raised in a dysfunctional environment. She was abused by her father. He constantly told her how she was no good and worthless, would never amount to anything. She was just a little girl, she didn't know any better. She believed these lies and grew up feeling ashamed, at 7 years old, she was taken away from her father by the state and placed in foster home after foster home, never feeling loved or accepted.
She grew up a young lady, on drugs, in bad relationships. She had several children from different fathers, in poverty, didn't look like it would ever change. But in her late twenties, a friend invited her to church and she gave her life to Christ.
She started making better decisions, doing her best to she would listen to our messages about reprogramming your mind and not believing lies that people have spoken over you. And it didn't happen overnight, but little by little, things started to change in her favor. She was able to go back and finish high school in her early 30s. A friend helped her to get into college. A professor there went out of her way to open the door to nursing school. A hospital administrator showed her favor and hired her over several other candidates that had more qualifications. Today, she's in charge of her whole department, several hundred nurses at this what happened? She came in to the commanded blessing.
The commanded blessing will override every person that's tried to stop you. The commanded blessing will make up for what you didn't get. It will cause people to go out of their way to be good to you. It will put you at the right place at the right time. And people may have tried to push you down, but God is about to lift you up. They tried to keep you from your purpose, but they were powerless to change the blessing on your life. And you may have a lot coming against you, but I believe God is about to command some things.
Like he did for her, he's going to command justice, vindication, deliverance from people that are not treating you right. He's going to command increase, promotion, doors to open that take you to the next level. He's going to command freedom, breakthroughs, wholeness. That addiction, those bad habits are not your destiny. He's about to command healing, restoration, strength. That sickness is coming to an end. It may not have happened yet, you're going to see the commanded blessing show out in your life. God is going to make things happen that amaze you, things you didn't see coming.
The scripture says this, when you obey, God's blessings will chase you down and overtake you. I've seen this in my own life. Most of the big breaks, the major events, I didn't go after them. I was just honoring God, being my best, and they came after me. I didn't know the compaq center was coming available, but a man came to me out of the blue, said, "Joel, you need to call the mayor, that should be Lakewood's building". A publisher I had never met came to me, said, "I want to publish your books". Sirius XM came to me, "Here's a satellite radio channel".
That's the commanded blessing. God caused an opportunity, favor, contracts to chase you down. Here's the whole key, you don't have to go after the blessing, go after God. Honor him with your life and the blessing will follow. God will command things to find you. In the scripture, one morning, Jesus asked Peter if he could borrow his boat to teach the people from the shore. Peter agreed and let him use it. When he was finished, Jesus wanted to pay Peter. He told him to launch out into the water, he would catch a lot of fish.
Well, Peter had fished all night. Nothing was biting. Peter was a professional fisherman. He knew the morning wasn't the best time to fish. He didn't feel like going back out. He thought it'd be a waste of his time. But instead of talking himself out of it, he said to Jesus, "Nevertheless, at your word, I will do it". He chose to obey. When he threw out his net, he caught so many fish that the net began to break. He had to call over another boat to help him gather up all the fish.
That's what happens when you walk in obedience. There is a commanded blessing on your life. God will make things happen that you couldn't what's interesting is there were not fish there the night before, but God controls the fish. He knows how to bring things to you. The conditions may not be favorable, you don't know the right people, you've had the addiction a long time. Perhaps no one in your family has really been successful. It looks like that's the way it's always going to be. No, God is about to do a new thing. You tried and it didn't work out last time, but because of your obedience, God is speaking to the fish right now. It's not going to be a little catch, a little break, a little blessing. God's about to do something big, something unusual, something to where people take notice.
They wonder, "What is it about you? How could you lead the company in sales? How could you beat the cancer? I saw the medical report. How could you marry that beautiful girl? How could you start your own business? That doesn't seem possible". That's the commanded blessing. That's God causing the fish to find you, and you may not see how this can happen, neither did Peter. Everything in his reasoning said, "There are no fish out there". In other words, the medical report's not good. I've been single a long time. I don't have the training. That all may be true.
The good news is God is not limited by what you don't have, by who you don't know, by the economy. All he has to do is speak and the fish will not only show up, they'll find you, they'll come to your boat. You don't have to make this place and this commanded blessing, like a magnet, will draw in good breaks, healing, favor, the right people.